Faculty Bios
Last name begins with "S"

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Barry Sager studied Music Therapy at Florida State University. He has taught problem solving and life skills to special needs children for over twenty years.  In 1989 he began building and playing Pan pipes and soon began giving workshops teaching others to build Pan flutes.  He has conducted his Pan pipe building workshop in diverse venues working with students from ages five to ninety-five.

Sakim and Guy Davis

Janet Siegmann Salter resides in Hagerstown, MD where she is an instructor of Art History and Studio Painting/Drawing at Hagerstown Community College. She has led a group of 25 professional artists in the Wednesday Portrait Group for the past three years and serves on the Advisory Committee for the Washington County Arts Council. Her portrait “Miss Virginia,” shown recently at the Washington County Museum of Art, received honorable mention as the most popular work in the 79 piece juried Cumberland Valley Artists Exhibition.  This is her sixth consecutive year at Common Ground.  A landscaper/gardener, Salter appreciates the natural world that surrounds us and has chosen to use that as the subject of her workshop this year.  She is an alum of The Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), Baltimore, MD. 

Kathy "Wan Povi" Sanchez is an educator, potter and Co-Director of Tewa Women United, an indigenous women's organization advocating for positive social change.  She was born and raised in San IIdefonso (Tewa) Pueblo located, 24 miles north of Santa Fe, New Mexico.  Her artistic abilities were nurtured under the loving guidance of her mother, Anita, her grandparents, Adam and Santana Martinez, and her great-grandmother, Maria Martinez., all world-renowned potters of the traditional black ware pottery.  Kathy's pottery is an outlet for her visions, insights, and feelings that reflect upon our cultural and environmental situations.  Among the Tewa people, the pattern of natural art are highly symbolic and play a significant role in the spiritual awareness of self and surroundings.  "I love to work with clay because it gives me a way of sharing myself, and my eco-systemic sustenance messages with others. Sharing is an integral part in maintaining our interconnectedness to all life upon our Mother Earth."  Kathy is well known for her workshops, lectures, and demonstrations of pottery-making, Pueblo culture, women's issues and issues impacting ingenious peoples. www.mariajulianpottery.com/ancestry.cfm?personalID=157

Sankofa Dance Theater was founded in 1989 as a Baltimore-based cultural arts organization. Sankofa means "reaching back to move forward," knowing your roots to build your community. Director Kibibi Ajanku launched Sankofa with the firm belief that Afro-centric culture is a way to open the doors of love for all mankind and is a way to build esteem among African-American youth. Sankofa performs nationwide, as well as in Africa. Their dance and drumming classes, performances and concerts, many led by Kibibi's son, Jumoke Ajanku have received enormous acclaim from audiences nationwide.  www.sankofadancetheater.net

The Santa Cruz River Band, from Tucson, Arizona, is a group of celebrated Southwestern troubadours.  The group performs in English, Spanish, Welsh, and American Indian languages, presenting intriguing and powerful music filled with the history and mystical lore of the Great American Southwest. With outstanding vocal harmonies and masterful musicianship, their music is authentic, original, and deeply rooted in the musical styles and traditions of the United States and Mexico. Teodoro "Ted" Ramirez is a vocalist, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist and founder of the group. He is an 8th generation Arizonan and a descendant of the first Spanish people to settle in the Southwest in the mid 1700’s. Named Tucson’s "Official Troubadour," Ted is a gifted songwriter and singer and a noted music and cultural preservationist.  A 4th generation Arizonian, Michael J. Ronstadt is a vocalist, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. His family came from Germany and settled in the Southwest in the mid 1800’s. Michael, a recognized and powerful folk artist in his own right,  is the brother of pop star Linda Ronstadt and has appeared on many of her albums. Ted, Michael are prolific songwriters and gifted live performance artists, sharing equally the leadership of the Santa Cruz River Band. Petie Ronstadt rounds out the trio on bass and sonorous vocals, bringing a new energetic dimension to the band.  They tour continually in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Europe.  www.ronstadtramirez.com

Venissa Santi is a Cuban American singer, songwriter and vocal instructor originally from Ithaca, New York. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Jazz Vocal Performance from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA.  After studying jazz and classical music, she delved into her roots and pursued music study in Cuba, making annual trips to Havana and Matanzas to study art, technique, dance and style with some of the finest Cuban rumba and orisha singers, such as  Gregorio "El Goyo"Hernandez,  and "Minini", of Afro-Cuba de Matanzas. Her recent release, Bienvenida, has won rave reviews and the support of Reuben Blades. www.myspace.com/venissasanti

Eileen Carson Schatz is the founding director of  Footworks Percussive Dance Ensemble, celebrating 30 years of presenting multicultural percussive dance and music, performing, touring, and offering arts-in-education programming nationally and internationally. Footworks has performed in such venues as The Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, the London production of Riverdance, and created international touring programs for the Smithsonian Institute.  Eileen has received a National Endowment for the Arts Choreography Fellowship, a Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Choreography Award, Best Gospel Song in the national Chris Austin Songwriting Competition, a Celebration of the Arts in Maryland award and was selected 2006 Artist of the Year by Young Audiences of Maryland. Throughout her career, Eileen has shown an inspired commitment to teaching for all ages and backgrounds. www.footworks.org 

Joyce Schaum is a nationally known, award-winning basketmaker from Maryland.  She was a full-time basketmaker for 15 years, exhibiting in the top art shows in the country including the Smithsonian Craft Show, the Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show, Cherry Creek Art Festival, many American Craft Council shows across the country, and other shows.  Demonstrations and presentations have included the Museum Conservation Program at the Winterthur Museum and the Renwick Gallery of the National Museum of Art.  Her work is based on traditional techniques, influenced by Native Americans, Shakers, and New England traditional baskets with a contemporary flair and form, incorporating color and patterning.  Awards she has won range from Best of Show, First Place Fiber, Best in Fiber, and First Place in the Miniature category among others. www.carr.org/~joysch/about.htm

Linda Schrade:  See Dave Kiputh & Linda Schrade

Carolyn Seabolt is a native of Maryland and a graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art. She holds a BFA and MFA. She has been working with various media in art for over 30 years. In her Westminster studio (Cat Tracks) she creates works in silk, batik and handmade paper, along with watercolor paintings and hand built pottery. Her inspiration comes from her two Siamese cats, Oliver and Roxanne, plus other cats that visit the studio gardens filled with butterflies, birds and beautiful flowers. When she is not creating she is teaching privately for Carroll Community College. She also works for McDaniel College as a supervisor of student teachers.

Suzanne Seibert Director of College Writing and member of the English Department at McDaniel College, has been teaching literature and writing for over 20 years to both undergraduate and graduate students. A native of West Virginia and longtime resident of Tennessee, she grew up reading and coming to love the regional literature, particularly women’s literature, of southern Appalachia. Appalachian women’s fiction and poetry figures prominently in the many literature courses she has taught over the years and has shaped the feminist perspective she brings to classroom discussions on race, sexuality, gender, and class. Among her varied committee appointments during her tenure on the Hill, Suzanne has served as the College’s affirmative action director. She is also an editorial consultant and, commissioned by the former first lady of Maryland Frances Hughes Glendening, editor of a comprehensive study of accomplished Maryland women, Women of Achievement in Maryland History. 

Jon Seligman, has taught at McDaniel College since 1993, including percussion lessons, percussion pedagogy, percussion ensemble and world music.  He also teaches at Carroll Community College, including jazz combo and music theory.  Jon’s performing and recording credits include the McDaniel College Faculty Jazz Quintet, Michael Formanek’s Minor Infractions Ensemble, Jon Metzger, the Global Percussion Trio, the Lancaster, Reading and York Symphony Orchestras, Robert Macht, Tim Jenkins, the Roya Ensemble, and the Towson State University Faculty Jazz Ensemble.  His formal studies include Berklee College of Music; Summer Institutes in Cuban, Hindustani, Turkish and West African music, history and culture at the New England Conservatory; the Arabic Music Retreat at Mt. Holyoke College; and private lessons with Eddie Moore (drum set), Arthur Press (concert percussion), Glen Velez  (frame drumming), Michel Merhej (Arab tambourine), Roya Bahrami (Kurdish daf) and Ganesh Kumar (South Indian kanjira and solkattu).  He holds an MAT from the School for International Training in Brattleboro, VT. 

Joe Selly has appeared with Phoebe Snow, Vassar Clements, Barbara Eden, Melissa Manchester and Tex Logan and toured nationally with the Lombardo Orchestra. He is featured on countless recordings and is in demand as both performer and instructor in bluegrass, jazz and swing.  Joe is the guitarist with Margot Leverett and the Klezmer Mountain Boys from New York City.  Joe is an adjunct Professor of guitar at Bergen Community College. 

Rick Smith has been a lover and worker of wood for most of his life. "Let the Chips Fly" has been offered at Common Ground since 2006.  At McDaniel College, where he has been a member of the Chemistry Department for 37 years, he teaches the course, "Trees on the Hill: The Science of Wood." He is also the woodworking artist of Firewood Treasures, a small business that he and his wife, Marilyn, run.  They create standard and miniature pieces from all types of native, American hardwoods, but specialize in wood from The Wye Oak, the Maryland State Tree www.firewoodtreasures.com.  Rick has spent many years researching and documenting his family history back to the early 1700’s in America.  He writes a monthly newspaper column, "Tracks in the Sand," that chronicles the history of Chincoteague Island, Virginia in the 1800’s.  He has developed an extensive database and website, www.accomacroots.com, that provides a wide range of genealogical information for those interested in researching the family trees of African American families in Accomack County, VA.

Maria Isabel Sosa is a disciplined, dynamic and passionate Mexican, with extraordinary sensibility to perform Mexican folkloric dance. She is the founder and artistic director of the Folkloric Group San José, of Hanover, Pennsylvania.  She studied dance in Mexico City and Veracruz, two places rich in Mexican culture and art; and also studied with Bertha Delia GarcÌa, a successful alumna of the world renowned Folkloric Ballet of Amalia Hernandez. Isabel has performed in major theaters in Mexico City including the Ciudadela and the Metropolitan Theater, and has performed throughout Pennsylvania, including the Harrisburg Capitol itself.  "The true satisfaction of dance is to bring a little joy to the people, to entertain, to celebrate, to give thanks."

John Sosnowsky is a graduate of Towson State University and a native Marylander current residing in Frederick County.  With his wife Debby he has been teaching, demonstrating and creating jewelry full time for over 29 years under the name Sozra Studio.  He has been the onsite juror of the Pittsburgh Three River Arts Festival, served on the Maryland Renaissance Arts and Craft Board and the Artist Market Chair of the Frederick Festival of the Arts.  John is a contemporary jeweler.  His work is sold through various juried shows, gallaries and on the web at www.sozra.com

Ralph Stanley & the Clinch Mountain Boys  Now 81 years old, Ralph Stanley has been performing professionally since he and his older brother, Carter, formed a band in their native southwestern Virginia in 1946. Between that date and 1966, when Carter died, the Stanley Brothers and the Clinch Mountain Boys became one of the most celebrated bluegrass groups in the world, rivaling in popularity such titans as Bill Monroe and Flatt & Scruggs.  After Carter's death, Stanley shifted the band's musical emphasis from hard driving bluegrass to an older, sadder less adorned mountain style.  As a bandleader he nourished such young talents as Ricky Scaggs, Keith Whitley and Larry Sparks all of whom eventually graduated to distinguished solo careers.  While he has long been revered by enthusiasts of folk, bluegrass and country music, Stanley has lately been commanding the kind of honors due a musical original. He has won Grammys for Best Bluegrass Album, Best Country Male Vocalist Performance as well as Album of the Year.    Ralph is this year's recipient of the Robert H. Chambers Award for Excellence in the Traditional Arts, presented by Common Ground on the Hill. "A master performer without an expiration date ....."  Rolling Stone drralphstanley.com/index.shtml

Barbara Steele maintains a schedule of lectures and demonstrations, designs herb gardens and consults with those who desire to create their own garden of delight.  She develops herb products for market and is always exploring old and new usages of herbs.  She and her husband, Roger, operate Alloway Creek Gardens on their pre-civil war farm just south of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.  The farm is open for plant sales and tours from April through mid-July and is well known for the Garden Faire that is held the first Friday and Saturday in June.  The Faire features juried craftspeople, country music and herbal food in a garden setting. As a Maryland Institute, College of Art BFA graduate and former public school art teacher; watercolor, digital photography and acrylic painting fill her “spare” time. www.allowaycreekgardens.com

Suzanne and Jim have been full-time touring professional entertainers for more than 15 years appearing at festivals, concert halls, civic events, universities, museums, libraries and schools. The duo blend their voices and instruments in songs from an earlier time, and the stories told by these old songs not only recall a bygone era but open a window into the origins of our modern culture. The duo’s performances are researched from archived collections of historic music and they have three recordings. Jim Hale has enjoyed as varied a forty-year career in Americana Roots Music as anyone: co-founder of S.L. Mossman Guitars of Winfield, Kansas; producer of the first Canadian Bluegrass Festival - "Bluegrass Canada" in Carlisle, Ontario; leader of the legendary Chicken Spankers - one of the first "new time" old time string bands; columnist for music publications Sing Out! and Banjo Newsletter; skilled luthier specializing in difficult restorations of vintage guitars, mandolins and banjos; innovator in the clawhammer banjo style and instrumental music teacher. His playing has been featured in Home on the Range and in Warner Brothers’ TV mini-series, The Wild West.  Suzanne Jaroszynski has earned national recognition as a song stylist. Suzanne has been a repeat first place winner at the prestigious Mount Airy, North Carolina Fiddlers Conventionî in Folk Song category. From Michigan, she spent many years in Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina immersed in old time music and clog dancing. She is an accomplished guitarist, percussionist, playing spoons, bones and tambourine and is a classically trained flute player. www.suzanneandjim.com

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