Home > College of the Arts > Art Department > History of the Art Department
History of the Department of Art
> Inspired by the Past: VSU Art Faculty >
In 1906, one year before Pablo Picasso painted Demoiselles d’Avignon in Paris, and two years before photographer and impresario, Alfred Stieglitz, exhibited works by European avant-garde artists Rodin, Matisse, Cezanne, and others in his 291Gallery in New York City, Georgia State Normal College, later renamed Valdosta State University in 1993, was founded in Valdosta, GA.
Seven years later, in 1913, on the eve of the outbreak of World War I, the International Exhibition of Modern Art, also known as the Armory Show, opened at the 69th Regiment Armory in New York City. In the same year Frances Ruth Carpenter, Georgia artist-teacher and graduate of Teachers College, Columbia University, began teaching art and manual training at Georgia State Normal College, a teacher training institution for women in South Georgia.
Energized from living and studying in New York City where modern was brewing, and coupled with her studies at Columbia with Arthur Wesley Dow, Carpenter brought new ideas about art and teaching to South Georgia where she and her small handful of female students first had classes in Converse Hall, later moving to West Hall.
Carpenter’s thirty-six year career would last until her retirement in 1949 where she and her students would feel the effects of World War I, experience flappers and the Jazz Age in the 1920s, tighten their belts in the 1930s during the Great Depression, support the war effort during World War II, and afterwards welcome men studying on the G.I. Bill to the former all women’s college campus.
Today, nearly 100 years after Frances Ruth Carpenter first started teaching art at Valdosta State University, much change has occurred. The Department of Art is now housed in the Fine Arts Building and the University Center South. The department has increased from a handful of female students in 1913 to a diverse population of more than 340 students at present. Finally, a department that began with one faculty member has now blossomed into one with seventeen full-time faculty members whose careers have been inspired by past artist-teachers like Frances Ruth Carpenter.
> Paula L. McNeill
> Associate Professor or Art - Art Education
Emeritus Faculty & Retired Faculty - Department of Art at GSWC / VSC / VSU
 |
 |
Frances Ruth Carpenter Professor Emeritus of Art Georgia State Women's College / VSC, 1913-1949 Education: |
 |
 |
Joseph Willard Pember Education: |
 |
 |
Lee Medler Bennett Education: |
 |
 |
Ellen Harris Anderson Education: |
 |
 |
Donald Charles Penny Education: |
 |
 |
Russell G. McRae Education: |
 |
 |
Robert Bruce Wallace Education: |
 |
 |
Mary Irene Dodd Education: |
 |
 |
Ruth C. Kahler Education: |
 |
 |
William H. Martin Education: |
 |
 |
Stephen P. Andersen Education: |
 |
 |
Lanny Milbrandt Education: |
 |
 |
Joyce M. Davis Professor Emeritus of Art Valdosta State College / VSU, 1992-2004 Education: |
 |
 |
Ronald M. Zaccari Education: |
Additonal Faculty Images
Faculty Timeline / Chronology - VSU Department of Art
| Frances Ruth Carpenter 1913-1949 State Normal School of Athens Georgia, B.S. NYC - Teacher's College Columbia University, M.A. |
Stella White 1919-1920 Graduate of South Georgia State Normal College |
| Mary Small 1927-1931 Graduate of South Georgia State Normal College |
Clifton Huntington White 1941-1954 Emory University, A.B. / M.A. |
| Joseph Wilard Pember 1948-1980 University of Georgia, A.B. / M.F.A. |
Lee Medler Bennett 1952-1985 Oklahoma State University, A.B. Florida State University, M.F.A. |
| Ellen Harris Anderson 1964-1971 Valdosta State College, A.B. Forida State University, M.A. |
Donald Charles Penny 1966-1990 Georgia State University, B.B.A. Florida State University, M.S. |
| Russell G. McRae 1966-1985 University of Georgia, B.F.A / M.F.A. |
Noel G. Lawson 1968-1970 Kansas City Art Institute & School of Design, B.F.A ./ M.F.A. |
| Theron N. Bucy 1968-1969 Murray State College, B.S / M.A. |
Robert Bruce Wallace 1969-1979 University of Chattanooga, B.A. Florida State University, M.F.A. |
| Mary Irene Dodd 1967-2002 Duke University, B.A. University of Georgia, M.F.A. |
Martha Hargett 1970-1971 University of Tennessee, B.S. Valdosta State College, MS.Ed. |
| Ruth C. Kahler 1970-1986 Moore College of Arts - Philadelphia Florida State University, B.S. / M.A. |
William H. Martin 1971-1988 Ohio State University, B.S. / M.S. Ball State University, Ed.D. |
| Claud Singer 1975-1980 Wichita State University, B.A.E ./ M.F.A. |
Mary Hammond 1976-1977 University of Georgia, B.F.A. / M.F.A. / Ed.S. |
| W. Alan Park 1980- present East Tennessee State University, B.F.A. / M.F.A. |
Hollis Barnett 1985-present University of Arkansas at Little Rock, B.A ./ M.A. University of Memphis, M.F.A. |
| Harry P. Ally 1985-present Texas Christian University, B.F.A. Texas State University, M.F.A. |
Stephen J. Lahr 1985-present University of Nebraska, B.F.A. / M.Ed. / Ed.D. |
| Stephen P. Andersen 1988-1999 Southern Illinois University, B.A. University of Colorado - Boulder, M.F.A. |
Lanny Milbrandt 1990-2002 Mankato State University, B.S. / M.S. Arizona State University, Ph.D. |
| Joyce M. Davis 1992-2004 Univerisity of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, M.A. University of Georgia, B.F.A / Ph.D. |
Clyde L. Edwards 1994-present Georgia Southwestern State University, B.F.A. University of Cincinnati, M.F.A. |
| A. Blake Pearce 1994-present Valdosta State College, B.F.A. Ball State University, M.A. Southern Illinois University - Carbondale, M.F.A. |
Karin G. Murray 1995-present Troy State University, B.F.A. University of Alabama, M.F.A. |
| Paula L. McNeill 1996-present Arizona State University, B.A. University of New Mexico at Albuquerque, M.A. University of Missouri-Columbia, Ph.D. |
Richard Bjornseth 1997-2002 Iowa State University, B.S. Florida State University, M.F.A. / A.B.D. |
| James L. Hornsby 1997-present Memphis Academy for the Arts, B.F.A. Memphis State University, M.F.A. |
Richard Peterman 1997- present (Art Studio Supervisor) Valdosta State University, B.F.A. Florida State University, M.F.A. |
| Deborah L. Brooks 1998-2002 (first Interior Design faculty) University of North Carolina - Greensboro, B.S. / M.S. |
Michael T. Schmidt 2001-present University of Wisconsin Whitewater, B.F.A. Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, M.F.A. |
| Selena C. Nawrocki 2001-present Mississippi University for Women, B.F.A. University of Memphis, M.F.A. University of Mississippi, Ph.D. |
Ronald M. Zaccari 2002-2008, Seventh President of Valdosta State University - PA, Slippery Rock, B.S. University of Pittsburgh, M.Ed. Pennsylvania State University, Ed.D. |
| Julie Bowland 2002-present Florida State University, B.F.A. Arizona State University, M.F.A. |
Danielle Harmon 2003-present Memphis College of Art, B.F.A. University of Memphis, M.F.A. |
| Lai Kent Chew Orenduff 2004-present University of Texas, B.A. / M.A. City University of New York, Ph.D. |
Victoria Douglass 2005-2007 (currently VSU architect) University of Kansas, B. / M. of Architecture Texas A&M University, Ph.D. |
| David L. Rodgers 2005-2008 Indiana University, B.F.A. / M.S. / M.F.A |
Brad Finson 2006-present Kansas State University, B.F.A. / M.F.A. , University of Oklahoma, M.A. / Ph.D. |
| Kyoung-Im Park 2007-present Kyungpook National University, B.F.A. / M.F.A. Florida State University, M.S. |
Jessica Goldsmith 2008-present University of Florida, B.D. / M.I.D. |