Visual arts representative exhibit covers almost 40 years worth of PEL students, instructors

Jim Crane
A New Day
September, 1999
Symbolizing the Program for Experienced Learners

 article and photographs 

by Anne W. Anderson

Over the almost 40-year history of the Program for Experienced Learners, or PEL, many students have discovered or rediscovered the importance of creating and understanding art. By Professor Arthur Skinner's "unofficial count," PEL has produced at least eighty-four students who majored in the visual arts. More students minored in the subject, and even more students took an art course or two during their journey. More than thirty instructors have helped shape PEL students and, thereby, the Tampa Bay arts scene and beyond.

Attending the reception were (above, l-r) PEL visual arts
instructors Rebecca Skelton and Rose Marie Prins with
Betsy Orbe Lester '93, who also became an instructor,
and Cal Brown '16 and (below, l-r) Lisa Sibley '12,
Karen Mitchell Tremmel '12, Annie Culbertson '09,
and Betsy Orbe Lester '93

As a tribute to the PEL visual arts program, Skinner recently curated a representative collection of work produced by PEL alumni and instructors. Some of the pieces are part of the College's permanent collection, some are from Skinner's own collection, and others were loaned by the artists for this showing. The exhibit was mounted in Cobb Gallery and ran from May 14 through graduation day, May 21. Artists and their families were honored at a reception on the 14th, and many of the people who attended the PEL Celebration on Saturday, May 20, took time to view the exhibit.

Scroll down to the end of the article to view a slide show of the exhibit. 

 Look familiar?

Two of the works were very familiar to students, faculty, and staff members who saw them in the PEL offices but may not have realized the connections. 

Jim Crane's A New Day, seen above, was presented to Dr. J. Thomas West in 1999 in recognition of West's forty years of service to the College. West had begun as the College's first admissions director and assistant professor of psychology  in 1959 at what was then Florida Presbyterian College. West's obituary, linked above, notes he "hit the road in 1959, barnstorming across the state, knocking on doors, persuading students to come to a school that had no tradition, no accreditation, no campus" (Jamal Thalji, Tampa Bay Times, March 18, 2010). West also began the Program for Experienced Learners in the late 1970s and was its longest serving professor.

In 1999, the College wanted to recognize West's service and suggested Jim Crane, one of the founding professors in the Art Department, create a piece of artwork for West. Crane, a cartoonist, painter, and collage artist who joined the faculty in 1963, asked West what he should paint. According to Crane's note (below), mounted on the back of the acrylic-and-plaster-on-wood painting, West had asked him to "paint something that would symbolize PEL." West, in turn, gave the painting to the Program for Experienced Learners.

For the last several year's, Crane's work hung in the back area, visible across the length of the offices. Pamela Jones' 92 untitled work (below) hung in the reception area.

PEL visual artists impacting their worlds

What does one do with a degree in art? As the brief biographies of the PEL graduates whose work was included in the show indicates, many alumni continue working as artists, have become teachers -- including here at Eckerd --and work in related fields:

1980s

Pamela Jones '92
Untitled
Mixed Media
Until it was removed for the exhibit,
this work hung in the reception area of the PEL offices.

Margaret Brommelsiek ‘80 (Art History and Design) subsequently earned an M.S. in Communication and a Ph.D. in Arts Education/Arts Administration. She is an Instructor in the School of Nursing and Director of Interprofessional Education charged with developing a humanities-based IPE program for the health sciences schools at the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC). Brommelsiek has more than twenty years of experience developing interdisciplinary and interprofessional programs and curriculum connecting the fine arts with the life and health sciences. The image included in this exhibit is part of Brommelsiek’s 2014 one-person show, Books of Common Prayer, presented in Elliott Gallery at Eckerd College and was given to the College at the conclusion of the exhibition. (http://sonhs.umkc.edu/directory/margaret-brommelsiek/)

1990s

Pamela Jones ’92 (Visual Arts) subsequently earned her MFA through the University of South Florida and teaches Visual Problem Solving in the residential program at Eckerd College. Jones also works as an admissions and outreach counselor at the College and is the site coordinator for the Florida campus of the National University of Health Sciences. The untitled work included in this slide show hung in the PEL office reception area for many years. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/pamela-jones-137a8a20)

Betsy Orbe Lester ’93 (Visual Arts) subsequently earned her MFA through the University of South Florida, and she also teaches Visual Problem Solving in the residential program at Eckerd College. Her work has become part of a number of permanent collections and was included in the 2015 issue of the Eckerd Review. (http://theartlofts.com/betsyorbelester/) 2000s

Laura Irmis ’06 (Visual Arts) currently teaches 3-D studio art at Boca Ciega High School in Pinellas County, is a freelance graphic designer and fine artist, and is a certified childbirth trainer and postpartum doula. (http://laurairmis.com/#about)

Pamela Callender ’07 (Visual Arts, minor in Human Development) subsequently earned her MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts from Goddard College in Plainfield, Vermont. Until recently, Callender was the house curator for the Fogartyville Community Media & Arts Center in Sarasota. Her art-making practice is shaped from years of experience as a dance educator in the Florida public school system, as a regional sports director (and Frisbee competitor and adjudicator) for Wham-O, California, and as cargegiver to her mother and home. In the fall of 2016, Callender taught a course in Environmental Art at Eckerd College. (http://www.pamelacallender.com/index.html and www.becomingagardenho.com)

Lori Loveberry George ’08 (Visual Arts) studied printmaking at Ringling College of Art and Design (1983), owns and operates a decorative painting business in Sarasota, is a teaching artist with the Sarasota County Schools and Sarasota County Libraries, and is a member of the Association of Florida Teaching Artists (AFTA) . (https://artiststelltheirstories.blogspot.com/2015/10/lori-loveberry-george-mixed-media.html and http://loveberryart.weebly.com/)

Annie Culbertson ’09 (Visual Arts). No information available.

Debra Mixon Holiday ’09 (Visual Arts), who also holds a B.A. in English from the University of South Florida, is a printmaker and mixed media artist currently living in St. Augustine. She exhibits her work across the Southeastern United States. (http://www.debramixonholliday.com/)

2010s

Kirk Daniel Palmer ‘10 (Visual Arts) served more than twenty years in the USMC, including a tour as a Middle East Foreign Area Officer and Arabic linguist at the American Embassy in Caro, Egypt, before deciding to pursue the creative life more fully. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Eckerd College, recently earned his MFA at the Maryland Institute College of Art, and lives and works in St. Petersburg. (https://www.kirkdanielpalmer.com/)

Jim Rolston ’12 (Visual Arts) transitioned from working as an executive for public utilities to working as an artist and as an advocate for the arts. Rolston works from his studio in St. Petersburg and serves on the boards of the St. Petersburg Arts Alliance and the Dunedin Fine Arts Center. (http://redzenart.com/about-the-artist.html and https://vimeo.com/144921454)

Angela “Angie” Marshall ’12 (Visual Arts) worked as a web designer for corporations and is currently a Technology and Digital Multimedia teacher at Braden River Middle School in Bradenton. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/angie-marshall-81b22477/)

Lisa Sibley ’12 (Visual Arts) subsequently earned her MFA in Visual Art Photography from the Lesley University College of Art and Design (formerly The Art Institute of Boston) in Cambridge, Mass. She is a photography artist, educator, and juror, teaches photography at the Dunedin Fine Arts Center), and her work appeared in the 2015 and 2017 issues of the Eckerd Review. (http://lisasibley.zenfolio.com/about.html)

Karen Mitchell Tremmel ’12 (Visual Arts, Sculpture) works in many media from her studio in St. Petersburg and has, for many years, written a newspaper column, “Back to Nature,” which appears locally in the Tampa Bay Newspapers (Seminole Beacon, et al.). (https://www.linkedin.com/in/karentremmel/ and http://www.mymuddypawsstudio.com/)

Michael della Penna ’13 (Visual Arts, Art History) is working toward an M.A. in Luxury and Fashion Management from Savannah College of Art and Design. He owns Della Penna Fashion in St. Petersburg. (https://www.linkedin.com/in/dellapennafashion/)

Ralph Samples ’14 (Visual Arts). No information available.

Cal Brown ’16 (Visual Arts) worked as an advertising agency art director and creative director and attended St. Petersburg (Junior) College and the University of Florida before graduating from Eckerd College.

 Anne W. Anderson was director of blended and online learning in PEL 

and was co-editor of The PEL Connector.