Julie is a junior in Art Teacher Education. She is also Deborah’s  work/study student assistant in the Art Education office.

Hometown:  Carver, MA
Now Live in:  Artists Residence
Favorite color:  Prussian Blue
Favorite medium:  watercolor
Favorite place:  Salem, MA
Favorite animal: bunny
First pet:  Butterscotch, a rabbit
Interests besides art:  genealogy, literary debates
Reason I got into art education:  I want to do art therapy, and art education is a good basis for it.
Artistic influences:  an awesome high school art teacher, Cara Yahrling
Favorite thing to do to relax:  draw pictures of super heroines and watch Doctor  Who
Looking forward to: visiting my sister in Seattle for genealogy research
Dream plans:  being a book conservator at the Bodleian Library in Oxford

Some of the animals at Julie’s family’s homestead–a peaceable kingdom in Carver, MA

Eleanor is a graduate of MassArt, MSAE 2002, and is the web developer for this department website and other college-wide educational technology projects.

Hometown:  Baltimore, MD
Now Live in:  Somerville, outside Davis Square
Favorite color:  Purple
Favorite medium:  Collage, mixed media, and photography
Favorite place:  Anywhere with a beautiful vista. Something about a “long view” always lifts my spirits.
Favorite animal: Cats, big and small.
First pet:  Probably one of the many baby birds my grandfather raised.
Interests besides art:  Technology, music, gardening, cooking.
Reason I got into art education: I was drawn to education while achieving success as both a magazine art director and businesswoman who mentored and trained colleagues in technology in the arts. I felt I could offer real world advice and encouragement to students and young artists.
Artistic influences:  I was lucky, I spent a lot of time in museums as a kid. Early influences would have to be the Impressionists, whose paintings I loved and could get lost in. Also, Christo, whose work I was exposed to at a young (impressionable) age. Art didn’t have to be something hanging on a wall! Once I was in high school and discovered the work of Duchamp and the Dadaists, I knew I wanted to be an artist too.
Favorite thing to do to relax:  Sit by the fire, listen to music, play cards, sketch.
Looking forward to: That first real snowfall that closes school. Some things never get old.
Dream plans: Someday I’d like to own a little hideaway with a long view.
Website: elramsay.com

Deborah is the Administrative Assistant in the Art Education office.  See her blog and her gallery.

Hometown:  Born in New York City, but lived overseas half my childhood–in Australia, the Philippines, and Germany.  My first hometown as an adult:  Rockport, Mass.  For the last twenty-five years: Boston.  In the future: ?
Now live in:  Jamaica Plain, right near the Pond
Favorite Color:  somewhere between pink and lavender, but I also love many other colors. Color is and always has been a passion of mine.
Favorite medium:  writing, photography,  and collage
Favorite place:  England
Favorite animal:  domestic: dog;   wild:  ducks, squirrels, birds–because I’ve gotten to know and love these animals over many years at Jamaica Pond
Favorite thing to do to relax:  lying in my chaise longue reading and having tea after walking  around the Pond and  playing with the animals
Interests besides art:  literature, children’s books, architecture, interior design, tea, collecting china and books, England and New England
Reason I got into Art Education:   I didn’t;  I was an English major.  Now I’m a member of the Professional Organization of English Majors (POEM).
Favorite writers:  Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Louisa May Alcott, Sarah Orne Jewett, Mary Wilkins Freeman, Jane Austen, Beatrix Potter, Kenneth Grahame, Barbara Pym, May Sarton, among many others
Looking forward to:  retiring and taking back control of my time, so I can do the work I want to do for the rest of my life
Dream plans:  having a house or cottage in a small coastal or country village