Meet the Faculty
Noah Buchanan
Title: Assistant ProfessorDegrees: B.A., UC Santa Cruz; M.F.A., New York Academy of Art
Teaching Experience: Since 2002
Career Highlights: Exhibiting in New York, Philadelphia and San Francisco since 2000. First solo show at John Pence Gallery, San Francisco in 2012. 11 foot Altar pieces for the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse, WI. Teaching Figure Drawing at the Art Students' League in New York City in the same room where Robert Beverly Hale once taught.
Hobbies: 25+ years guitar player. 10+ years surfer
Quote: "First we draw what we see ... Then we draw what we know ... Then, we know what we see."
– Robert Beverly Hale
Diana Corvelle
Title: Assistant ProfessorDegrees: B.F.A. Rhode Island School of Design, M.F.A. New York Academy of Art
Teaching Experience: Since 2011
Career Highlights: Exhibited across the country and internationally, curated group and traveling exhibitions for a number of New York galleries, and served as a contributing writer for Artists on Art, PaintGuide Magazine and the Blue Review.
Hobbies: Visiting museums, traveling, volunteering, reading
Quote: "Don't give up. It's really important to trust your impulses as an artist no matter what anybody else says." - Judy Chicago
Aina Ferrer-Clotas
Title: Assistant ProfessorDegrees: B.A., M.F.A., Universitat de Barcelona (Spain), Universidade do Porto (Portugal), Barcelona Academy of Art (Spain)
Teaching Experience: Since 2015
Career Highlights: Exhibits internationally. Taught for Barcelona Academy of Art, La Salle University and Florence Academy of Art Sweden.
Hobbies: Filmmaking, literature, reading, traveling
Quote: "All painting is an intellectual activity. As Motherwell said, it is an intellectual decision to paint emotionally. I would add that it is an emotional decision to paint intellectually" - Vincent Desiderio
Bismillah Iqbal
Title: Professor
Pantea Karimi
Title: Professor
Susan Matthews
Title: Assistant ProfessorDegrees: B.A. Art, University of California Berkeley; M.F.A. Art, San Francisco State University
Teaching Experience: Since 1978
Career Highlights: Teaching art constantly renews my personal vision. Exhibiting pulls my work together. Researching Afro-Cuban folklore in collaboration with a team of Cubans and Americans, traveling and exhibiting with them in Cuba and Alaska has opened my mind to more questions than it has provided answers.
Hobbies: I speak Spanish and I love to travel in Spain, Cuba, and Latin America, and more recently in Africa. I play bongo in a salsa/son band called Nuevo Mundo. Studying music with great drummers in Cuba has given me new approaches to teaching art and new insights into being a student.
Quote: "I have become a questions addict." – Robert Irwin
