Faculty Bios
last name begins with "W" or "X" or "Y" or "Z"
Kelsey Wailes is a senior in college who in her spare time does as much art as possible. Growing up watching Japanese movies, and reading manga, the Japanese art style has greatly influenced her work. She travels up and down the east coast and sells her work at anime and manga conventions and performs at Super Art Fight competitions. She has gotten many art awards locally and has a growing following on the internet for her humorous manga comics. When she graduates, she hopes to pursue a career in art education and illustration. ccartists.com/Artists/KelseyWailes.html
Shura Wallin is a Green Valley Samaritan. She grew up hearing from her parents that "if people are in need, you help them." That spirit of sacrifice for others followed her. With a promising career ahead as a music teacher, having studied dance with the Royal Ballet and piano at the American Conservatory of Music, eventually earning a teaching degree at the University of Illinois, Wallin instead set her sights on a variety of causes. After serving with Planned Parenthood and the Population Council in New York, an organization that provides family planning and contraceptive access to the poor around the world, she coordinated food programs for the homeless in Berkeley, California, where in 1996 she was selected as The Outstanding Woman of the Year by the Berkeley Commission on the Status of Women. Retiring in Green Valley Arizona in 2000, she became involved with Humane Borders, a humanitarian group that puts water tanks and 30’ flags in areas where there is a lot of migrant traffic. Working with them, she began to realize the enormity of the problem of migration and teamed up with Tucson Samaritans and eventually co-founded Green Valley Samaritans. "Our mission is to save as many lives on the desert as we possibly can - in short, no more deaths! We walk on the desert carrying backpacks of food, water and medical supplies, calling out in Spanish, 'Somos Amigos, Somos Los Samaritanos, Necesita ayuda?" Shura works every Tuesday in Nogales, Sonora at an aide station, providing food, water, medical help and above all taking time with people, letting them know that her heart is with their hearts. www.gvsamaritans.org
Ian Walters is a consummate blues keyboard player, equally at home on the acoustic piano and keyboard. His influences run the gamut of classic blues roots musicians and include Hound Dog Taylor, Hollywood Fats, Otis Rush, Professor Longhair, Jimmy Reed, Bobby Blue Bland and many, many more. He leads the SwampKeepers, a popular working band in Washington, DC., and for years has been on staff at Blues Week at the Augusta Heritage Workshops.
Photo by Frank Bien
Denise Barnes Warfield "After all, the importance is not to make art, but to be in that wonderful state that makes art inevitable." ~Robert Henri.
Deniseís journey as a photographer began as a dreamy kid with an instamatic camera back in the 1960s, then continued as an art major in the 1970s. It wasnít until she became the staff photographer for the Catholic Review Newspaper however, that she found her passion in photography. The opportunities she found throughout 21 years documenting the human condition for the paper soon led to additional opportunities with national and international newspapers, magazines and books. When life dealt quite a few changes in 1999 - 2000, Denise found herself resurrected as a teacher at Westminster High School. Teaching graphics at WHS has led to recent opportunities teaching Honors Digital Photography and Video Production there as well. She mentored with Larry Fink at the Cape May Photographic Workshops, and with Sue Bloom at the Maine Media Workshops. Denise creates fine art digital collages and paintings using her floral and fauna photographs and graphic designs, and collages that capture the essence of family history. In 2006 she earned her MS in secondary art education at McDaniel College. Moderator of the WHS Photography and Video Clubs, Denise also volunteers photographic services for local charities. She also teaches private lessons in Photoshop and digital collage. Denise is married to photographer Owen Warfield, and the couple operates a small local photography business called Creative Imaging of Westminster. They have nine grandchildren between them, and live with their five cats and dog in Westminster.
Danny Weiss has been singing and playing guitar for over 50 years and has been in love with bluegrass and country music at least that long. He was a founding member of the seminal pioneering newgrass band Tony Trischka and Skyline, which recorded and toured extensively during the 1980s throughout the United States and Europe. Danny has performed in countless concerts, venues and clubs nationally and around the world. He has appeared with the likes of Vassar Clements, Jorma Kaukonen, Tex Logan, and David Bromberg, and was featured on the soundtrack of Walt Disney's 2002 motion picture release, The Rookie. He is currently the guitarist and lead singer with the acoustic trio Silk City and freelances in the NY metro area with many different performers and groups. Along with his singing partner, Mary Olive Smith, he co-leads the NYC based roots country and honky-tonk band, Reckon So. In his free time Danny moonlights as the Director of the Fanwood (NJ) Memorial Library
Wayne Werner is a third generation metalsmith from Baltimore. He has made his living as a maker for over 15 years, following in the footsteps of mentor, Jon Fix. He has traveled around the world to learn with metal workers from Italy and Egypt to Java and Bali. Specializing in cold forging precious metals, Werner has incorporated the traditional techniques of gold and platinum smithing with his artistic vision of paying homage to the fertility cults of the ancient world. Wernerís work explores the relationship to metals liquid opus and the opus of mankind, both being a product of the earth cooling down. Through his work Werner attempts to remind people of the miracle of life and the cosmic happening that we all are. Primarily making a living retailing his work, Werner has participated in over 200 high-end craft shows nationally. He has received many awards for his work including the World Gold Councilís Gold Distinction award and the MJSA Vision award for Mokume Gane. Werner is a former instructor at the Fuji Studio in Florence, Italy, and is adjunct faculty at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore Md. In 2006 He was asked to demonstrate his craft at The Mint Museum of Craft and Design in Charlotte, NC. An event marking his 40th birthday. http://waynewerner@mindspring.com
Christopher Westhoff is a multi-instrumentalist, actor, and educator. He attended Hampshire College, in Amherst, Massachusetts, where he received a B.A. in documentary studies. He relocated to the Midwest in 2005 to work with Bob Lucas at Mad River Theater Works. In addition to his work in the performing arts, he has worked as an art handler and installer at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, The Henry Ford, and The University of Michigan Museum of Art. He’s proud to be a member of the Common Ground community.
Al White is a veteran professional musician, having toured with bands such as the Bluegrass Alliance and the McLain Family Band, and has taught traditional Appalachian stringed instruments at Berea College for 12 years. Al has also served as the director of the Berea College Bluegrass Music Ensemble and the Berea College Country Dance band. For the past several years, Al has participated as a member of Berea’s Traditional Music Celebration planning committee, and multiple times as a performer. He is a frequent staff member for the Mountain Folk Festival and the Christmas Country Dance School (both at Berea College); the Cumberland Family Dance Camp, Hindman Folk Week, and other dance camps and music festivals around the region. A typical week for Al might include rehearsals and performances with contra and folk dance bands, bluegrass bands, traditional music duos or trios, and many student banjo, guitar, fiddle, and mandolin lessons.
Donna Wiggins is a Native American (Seminole/Creek/Cherokee) artist and teacher from Oklahoma. She began in traditional Native American crafts during her high school years when elder Native American women would come to ìIndian Clubî to teach beadwork, leatherwork and other traditional crafts. Donna teaches these crafts at tribal reservations, museums, community colleges and community centers. Her students are primarily Native Americans who are just learning the crafts that their ancestors practiced because these crafts had been gradually lost as they were no longer being taught in the home. All of Donna's classes not only concentrate on the technical aspect of the craft, but also include sharing of native ways, teachings and beliefs. Donna also frequently dresses in traditional Seminole or Cherokee regalia. In addition, she participates in Living History events and has given Southeastern Indian cultural presentations in Oklahoma, North Carolina and New York. She enjoys sharing her culture and skills with all students. She is looking forward to her first teaching experience at Common Ground on the Hill.
Phil Wiggins, a National Heritage Fellow, is a gifted songwriter and singer and one of the greatest acoustic blues harmonica players alive. He has played with blues greats Archie Edwards, John Jackson and Flora Molton. Phil performed with John Cephas as Cephas & Wiggins for 30 years. They received the W. C. Handy Award for Blues Entertainers of the Year and Best Traditional Blues Album of the Year. Currently, he is performing and recording solo and with other great artists all over the world.
Marshall Wilborn's bluegrass credentials include membership in some of the music's most respected and influential traditional bands - Jimmy Martin, The Johnson Mountain Boys and Longview. His vocals, energetic and soulful with a primitive edge, are spotlighted in every show, along with many of his fine original works. Other artists have recorded Marshall's songs as well, including Alison Krauss, Rhonda Vincent, Doyle Lawson, The Johnson Mountain Boys and, most recently, Jeannie Kendall. Marshall's instrumental album on the Pinecastle label, Root Five, is a tribute to the banjo and bass playing that has inspired him throughout the years. The album was nominated for Instrumental Recording of the Year by the International Bluegrass Music Association.
Sule Greg Wilson Playing five-string banjo, ukulele, and percussion, Sule shares more than thirty years of folk and world music experience. From school days as a dancer and drummer in his native Washington, DC, to artist's residencies in Hermosillo, Mexico and Antrim, Northern Ireland, Sule brings spirit, expertise, commitment, and, above all, his feisty intelligence to all he does. http://www.sulegregwilson.com/
Cary Wolfson has been a soulful and award-winning radio talent in Colorado for over 30 years and has produced the syndicated Blues From the Red Rooster Lounge program since 1985. He founded, and for 12 years edited and published, Blues Access, one of the world’s most distinguished blues periodicals. He is a two-time winner of "Keeping the Blues Alive" awards, in both broadcasting and journalism, from the Blues Foundation in Memphis. Cary’s alter ego, The Red Rooster, will be hosting Common Ground’s Blues Night for the 15th consecutive year. He is the author of What Do You Know About the Blues?, a set of knowledge cards published in 2006 by Pomegranate Communications. He has compiled the CD collection Rooster Music: The First 2000 Years as a companion to his Common Ground on the Hill class. In addition to his work in music, Cary is a digital photographer whose work has won numerous awards, including first place in the Landscape Division of the 2010 Louisville, CO, Art Association National Juried Photo Competition. In early 2010 his first one-man show opened in his hometown of Boulder, Colorado, featuring digitally manipulated images taken in Maryland, New Orleans, Italy and his wife Nancy's garden.
Jeremy Wright is a multi-talented former Common Ground student who has mastered many of the art forms studied here from ceramics to harmonica. Born Cree from the north-west plains of Canada, he was raised Quaker in Maryland. Recently graduated from the American Art Design and Marketing Program of Hocking College in Ohio, Jeremy is currently attending Ohio University to complete his BFA in Ceramics. He is considering continuing in that program for his MFA. Jeremy hopes to apply this knowledge to opening and marketing his own ceramics business and to continue to teach and do ceramics workshops.
Dede Wyland Dede's pure and compelling voice has enchanted audiences around the globe, and her driving rhythm guitar work has powered the sound of many a bluegrass band including the popular Tony Trischka & Skyline, one of the leading progressive bluegrass bands of the 1980's. Since moving to the Washington, DC, area in 1990, Dede has become a sought-after vocal instructor both regionally and at music camps throughout the United States. A six-time winner of the Washington Area Music Association's Wammie award for Bluegrass Singer of the Year, Dede uses her deep knowledge of the human voice and her inspiring and supportive manner to help amateurs and professionals alike realize their vocal potential. Singing with artists from Vince Gill to Blue Oyster Cult, Dede's vocal versatility is astounding. Her recent solo recording on Patuxent Records, Keep the Light On, is a tour de force and has received rave reviews. www.dedewyland.com
Pam Zappardino See Charles Collyer and Pamela Zappardino
Carol Zaru was born in Jerusalem and lived in the city of Ramallah, Palestine most of her life. After graduating from college in the USA, she went back to Palestine where she worked and lived with her family until the summer of 2001. She is fluent in both Arabic and English. She has been living in Maryland since 2001 and has been enjoying teaching Basic Arabic at McDaniel College in Westminster since the fall semester of 2007.
Bob Zentz Performer, songwriter, recording artist, music store owner and event producer, Bob has long been the cornerstone of the tidewater Virginia folk music community. He is a singer of songs, old and new, about people, places and times gone by, as well as a player on dozens of the usual, and unusual, unplugged folk instruments. He is a collector of stories in verse, a teller of the tales behind the songs, a commentator on the ecology of the human spirit and a scholar of the evolution of homemade music. With a strong sense of history, humanity, and humor, Bob's repertoire ranges from traditional Celtic tunes and ballads to science fiction songs and sea chanteys, from tales of oldtimers and old rhymers, to poetry set to music. www.bobzentz.com
Skye Zentz is a Singer-Songwriter from Norfolk, VA who has been a part of Common Ground since 2001. Her soulful vocals and folk lyrics, blended with the tropical swing of the ukulele, create a fusion of eclectic sound. Skye's debut album, Legitimate Bohemia, received a nomination for "Album of the Year" at the 2008 Portfolio Music Awards. This year, Skye will be releasing her second studio album. www.myspace.com/skyezentz
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