Heather Bellerud – Guided Pathways Specialist, Visual, Performing, and Applied Arts

Heather Bellerud (she/her) joined the staff at SFCC in December 2016, shortly after moving to Spokane with her family. She has a broad range of experience in education and the arts; she has worked as a cultural and natural resource interpretive ranger for the National Park Service in New Mexico and Arizona, taught art and environmental education in Colorado and Western Washington, and managed museum education programming for school and family audiences. Heather is an artist, a gardener, a bit of a bookworm, and a cargo bike nerd. She is happy to be serving as a Guided Pathways Pathways Specialist in the Visual, Performing, and Applied Arts Pathway.

Mariah Boyle – Fine Arts Instructor

Mariah Boyle creates life-sized mixed media drawings and installations that reference the landscape and personal or public memories associated with passing through or spending time in a place. Life in the Northwest has had a strong influence on her work. 
 
Mariah received her BA from Eastern Oregon University and her MFA from Washington State University in 2012. She taught studio art at both of her alma maters before joining the faculty at Spokane Falls Community College, where she teaches drawing, color and design, and art appreciation. In summer of 2015, she spent time as an artist in residence at the Sitka Center for Art & Ecology in Otis, Oregon and the Centrum Foundation in Port Townsend, Washington. She is a member of Saranac Art Projects in Spokane.

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Rachel Colton – Administrative Assistant, Visual and Performing Arts

Rachel joined the staff at Spokane Falls Community College in 2021. Rachel has a foundation in the arts and is a mother of two. While working as a file clerk at a local law office and the Ceramics Instructor for the SFCC Summer Youth College, she received an Associates of Arts from SFCC in 2009. After a move to Missoula, she achieved a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts from the University of Montana in 2012.

While starting a family, Rachel worked as a retail associate and manager while volunteering as a Ceramics instructor at the Urban Art Co-op. As an alumnus of SFCC and the Arts, Rachel is excited to be a part of a team to help guide the success of emerging artists in the community.

Jennifer Day – Administrative Assistant, Visual & Performing Arts

Jennifer has been at CCS since 2012 and with the vsual and performing arts division since 2015. With a background in cultural anthropology, she has long loved the arts, both as reflections of the everyday and as windows into society. She particularly enjoys classical and jazz music as well as clay, fiber, and glass. She enjoys listening to music students sing and 'jam' in the hallways and getting the chance to view the variety of student work across the division. 

She enjoys being back in an academic environment, working with faculty and students. Before moving to Spokane, she worked in global health and development programs and research in Africa and Asia, after initially serving in the Peace Corps in Nepal and earning her master of public health (MPH). 

Since arriving in Spokane, she has been active in the local community, serving on multiple non-profit boards and supporting sustainable development, walkable neighborhoods, and public health, here and in low-income countries. Aside from her role as administrative assistant to the visual and performing arts division at SFCC, she is also adjunct faculty at EWU's MPH program at the College of Health Science and Public Health, and guest lectures in various departments at SFCC.

Ashley DeMoville became the dean of visual and performing arts in July of 2023. Dr. DeMoville brings more than 20 years of experience working in the theater and more than 10 years of experience as an arts educator and leader in higher education. She came to SFCC in 2017 and has served as the Director of Drama and Chair for the Department of Communication Arts, Modern Languages, Film, and Drama. She is also active in multiple regional theater organizations and is currently Co-Chair of the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival, Region VII.

She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Theater from the University of Hawai'i at Mnoa, a Master of Fine Arts in Directing from Victoria University of Wellington, and a Doctor of Education in Organizational Change and Leadership from the University of Southern California.

Patty Haag – Fine Arts Instructor

Patty has been a member of the fine arts faculty at Spokane Falls Community College since 1980. She has taught many art classes, including drawing, painting, portfolio, and non-western art. 

Patty's work has been exhibited throughout the Pacific Northwest, Midwestern United States, and Canada. She is influenced by everyday occurrences as well as her travels to many parts of the world. These influences can be seen by her use of rich, saturated colors and bold images of common everyday objects.

Tobe Harvey – Fine Arts Instructor

Tobe teaches introduction to art, drawing fundamentals, and watercolor classes. He was born in Eastern Montana and since moving to the area, he has been featured in the Spokesman Review, the Spokane/Coeur d'Alene Living Magazine and has displayed his work in local galleries. Tobe is married to the love of his life and best friend, Wendy. 

Education 
Northwest Community College - AA
Montana State University - BA
Washington State University - MFA

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Peter Jagoda – Fine Arts Instructor

Pete teaches jewelry making and produces limited edition and one-of-a-kind knives as well as custom jewelry, metalwork tables and home furnishings. He and his wife have been involved in animal rescue since they moved to Spokane and operate River's Wish Animal Sanctuary and Thumpqua, a rabbit sanctuary. A portion of his sales go to support this effort. His work has been shown at a variety of local galleries in Spokane. 

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Lenora Lopez Schindler – Fine Arts Instructor

Lena first joined the fine arts faculty at Spokane Falls Community College in 2001 and taught on the main campus and the Fairchild Air Force Base satellite campus. She returned to the department in the spring of 2013 and currently teaches classes in art appreciation and fundamental drawing. Lena also teaches art history and studio classes at Eastern Washington University and has been a faculty member at Whitworth University. She has also taught art students of all ages at the Spokane Art School. 

Lena received her MFA from University of Montana in sculpture, her post-baccalaureate from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and her BA in art and art history from University of Puget Sound. Her work has been exhibited regionally and in private collections. Her focus has moved from sculptural assemblage pieces to works on paper. She is interested in the intersections of nature and pattern, and is always ready to try a new material or technique.

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Megan Martens-Haworth – Fine Arts Instructor

Megan teaches figure drawing, oil and acrylic painting, color and design, art appreciation, drawing classes as well as our portfolio. She has been living, working, teaching and creating art in Spokane since 2002. Additionally, Megan teaches study abroad programs for the Washington State Community College Consortium for Study Abroad (WCCCSA) and travels extensively. She serves on several important committees such as the Curriculum Committee and ITALIC (Institutional Teaching and Learning Improvement Coordinating Committee). It is important to Megan to keep an active exhibition record and display her work regularly.

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Rob Mckirdie – Fine Arts Instructor

Rob joined the fine arts faculty in 2015. He teaches classes in drawing, 3D design, and sculpture. In his artistic practice, he primarily works with wood and metal, which he integrates with found and fabricated objects. Rob also focuses on mold making, fabrication, as well as aluminum, bronze, and iron casting. 

He earned a BS in sculpture and a BFA in studio practices from Portland State University and an MFA in sculpture from Rhode Island School of Design. Rob's work explores the intersection of technology and material culture. It has been shown nationally in galleries and museums.

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Tybre Newcomer – Fine Arts Instructor

Tybre joined SFCC's fine arts faculty in 2016 and is teaching ceramics. He received his BFA from Missouri State University and his MFA from the Rochester Institute of Technology-School for American Crafts in ceramics and ceramic sculpture. Tybre was an artist-in-residence at the Tainan National University of the Arts in Tainan, Taiwan and at Midwestern State University and in Wichita Falls, TX. In addition to teaching, he maintains an active studio and exhibits his work nationally. 

Having grown up in southwest Missouri, most of his youth was spent with a tool in his hand, fascinated with all things mechanical and structural. It was during this time that he realized that the tool is an extension of his hands and has since held a great importance to him and his work. By presenting the tool as a devotional object and contextualizing the maker's workspace as sacred, Newcomer sheds light on this indescribable relationship between makers and their tools. 

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Cozette Phillips – Fine Arts Instructor

Cozette Phillips holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in Metals from the State University of New York at New Paltz and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in sculpture and illustration from the Columbus College of Art and Design. She has gained a diverse perspective through experiences as an artist, educator, and curator; all of which heighten her sensitivity toward the subject matter of art and the populations it serves. She approaches art making, research and exhibition practice as opportunities for cultural enrichment and engagement with diverse communities.

Before joining SFCC as Fine Arts Instructor and Gallery Director in 2021, Cozette has served as Curator for the Washington State Arts Commission, Associate Professor of Art at Columbia Basin College, Resident Artist at Lademoen Kunstnerverksteder in Trondheim, Norway, School for American Crafts at RIT in Rochester, NY, Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, TX, and the Metal Museum in Memphis, TN.

Carl Richardson – Fine Arts Instructor (Department Chair)

Carl has been a professional artist and educator for over 18 years. He currently teaches drawing, color/design, printmaking, portfolio, exhibit, and advanced design classes. Art is a way for him to give life to thoughts that he cannot or chooses not to express verbally, "because words fail, I choose paint, ink, canvas, paper, film, pen, charcoal and/or a squeegee to give a voice to thoughts, feeling and emotions within me." In 1990 he received a BS in fine arts at Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University and his master of fine arts from Washington State University in 1994. Carl is the advisor to the Art Club and the Black Student Union on campus. 

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Garric Simonsen – Fine Arts Instructor

Garric joined the fine arts faculty at Spokane Falls Community College in 2013. He currently teaches classes in drawing, color and design, art appreciation, and multi-media. 

Garric earned a BA from Evergreen State College and an MFA from Washington State University. The basis of his artistic research explores the possibilities of integrating traditional printmaking techniques on surfaces of wood, encaustic, and other oil-based mediums. 

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Bradd Skubinna – Fine Arts Instructor

I love decorativeness and the possibility that decoration can transcend itself; I use the word "transcend" cautiously. 

My work is self-referential (about itself). I try to capture some sense of an experience I have had, or one I would like to have. I make art with the intent of clarifying for myself the meaning of my original vision. I want art that is beautiful, humorous and somehow self-evident. The art should be its own justification. 

Objects, materials or simple actions from my surroundings present themselves as possibilities for art making. The inspiration comes first, then I try to locate its meaning. 

Professional artist for 20 years; currently teaching art at Spokane Falls Community College and Whitworth University in Spokane. 

Exhibited in Seattle, New York, Portland, Oregon, and Spokane. 
BA in art and art history from Eastern Washington University in 1989. 
MFA from School of the Visual Arts in N.Y.C. in 2000. 

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Lydia Wallace – Instructional Tech, Fine Art

Lydia found her footing within visual creativity attending an art based middle school in Salt Lake City, UT. That footing eventually led her to SFCC where she later graduated with the class of 2019 with an Associate’s of Fine Art.

Following graduation, she moved to Cardiff, Wales and spent a year studying ceramics at Cardiff Metropolitan University. Ceramics is the medium she is the most educated in, however, there is no medium she prefers to another. Printmaking, drawing, and painting all serve as outlets in translating her feelings into visual representations.

“I’m a real fan of creating stuff, the process of thought and consideration is what draws me to fine art forms. After college, it has become important to me to be around other artist making their work rather than always be concerned with my own”.