2021 ALWCA LeaDERSHIP GROUP
Amanda Banks – ALWCA President
Amanda Banks is a Huntsville local multi-disciplinary artist who works in the Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math (STEAM) research field. Her artistic practice is varied, from metalworking to textiles, but her primary focus is developing site-specific and community-based installations. In 2020, Amanda earned a BS from the University of Alabama in Huntsville and currently works as a Research Associate with their Industrial Systems Engineering and Engineering Management Department, investigating new ways to think about system architectures. She has been a member of ALWCA since 2017 and has served as both Vice President and Treasurer. When she isn’t developing new ways to bring the arts into engineering environments, Amanda can be found at home with her partner of 14 years, Kyle, and their children, Bee (15) and Kit (9).
Amanda Banks is a Huntsville local multi-disciplinary artist who works in the Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math (STEAM) research field. Her artistic practice is varied, from metalworking to textiles, but her primary focus is developing site-specific and community-based installations. In 2020, Amanda earned a BS from the University of Alabama in Huntsville and currently works as a Research Associate with their Industrial Systems Engineering and Engineering Management Department, investigating new ways to think about system architectures. She has been a member of ALWCA since 2017 and has served as both Vice President and Treasurer. When she isn’t developing new ways to bring the arts into engineering environments, Amanda can be found at home with her partner of 14 years, Kyle, and their children, Bee (15) and Kit (9).
Daria` Hammond - ALWCA Vice President
Daria` Hammond is a full-time Huntsville based artist, educator, arts-in-health professional, and founder of Mosoul Arts L.L.C. The formative years of her career involved her working in the medical field which is what has deeply impacted the healing artwork she creates today and the passion she has to lead. She took a leap of faith from the medical field to full time artistry in 2018. And ever since, Daria` has not been striving, but thriving as an artist to build connections and become a mentor for many in the Huntsville community.
Daria` has learned to develop her artistic voice and to break the tradition of fine art and aims to teach other creatives to be authentically themselves and do the same. She is currently an artist-in-residence for the Women and Children’s Hospital of Huntsville Hospital in Alabama. Apart from Arts-in-Medicine, she also teaches multiple workshops and is the owner of Mosoul, an educating home and studio for artists, art lovers, and art collectors. When she is not creating or teaching, she is enjoying her life as a wife and dog mom.
Daria` Hammond is a full-time Huntsville based artist, educator, arts-in-health professional, and founder of Mosoul Arts L.L.C. The formative years of her career involved her working in the medical field which is what has deeply impacted the healing artwork she creates today and the passion she has to lead. She took a leap of faith from the medical field to full time artistry in 2018. And ever since, Daria` has not been striving, but thriving as an artist to build connections and become a mentor for many in the Huntsville community.
Daria` has learned to develop her artistic voice and to break the tradition of fine art and aims to teach other creatives to be authentically themselves and do the same. She is currently an artist-in-residence for the Women and Children’s Hospital of Huntsville Hospital in Alabama. Apart from Arts-in-Medicine, she also teaches multiple workshops and is the owner of Mosoul, an educating home and studio for artists, art lovers, and art collectors. When she is not creating or teaching, she is enjoying her life as a wife and dog mom.
Phoebe Burns – ALWCA Membership Chair
Phoebe Burns is a current intern of ALWCA, who is presently working on the membership directory. She is actively working to get a place at Lowe Mill to be more a part of the art community. She has experience in design, digital art, photography and computer science to help maintain the ALWCA directory and advertise to women to join our community.
Phoebe Burns is a current intern of ALWCA, who is presently working on the membership directory. She is actively working to get a place at Lowe Mill to be more a part of the art community. She has experience in design, digital art, photography and computer science to help maintain the ALWCA directory and advertise to women to join our community.
Jessica Ann Nunno – ALWCA Secretary & Exhibitions
Jessica has always found herself fascinated by the arts. Ever since she could hold a crayon, she’s been using color to show her perspective of the world. She grew up in Connecticut, very close to the border of New York City. Where she would later go to college. Jessica holds a BFA in Illustration from the School of Visual Arts in NYC. She now lives in Huntsville, AL where she works as a Freelance Illustrator and Teaching Artist.
Jessica travels around the Tennessee Valley showing and selling her work at Comic & Anime Conventions, Art Festivals as well as gallery showings. She has a studio at Lowe Mill Arts & Entertainment (the largest private owned art community in the south USA) where she creates new artwork, teaches personalized art lessons, group art lessons and sells print and originals of her work. Jessica is also a Teaching Artist through the Huntsville Museum of Art (where she also serves as a juror for museum art competitions) and North Alabama Arts Education Collaborative, a subsection of Arts Huntsville. Jessica also hosts a free Art Club called the Junior Illustrator’s Guild for preteens and teenagers to find social interaction, a safe space to be themselves, as well as inspiration through their love of art.
Jessica’s favorite medium to work in is alcohol markers and ink. The blend ability of the medium is so alluring and creates such vibrant colors for which she is well known for portraying. The markers allow her to push her comic book art style with her use of fine lines. Her joy in art is creature design, character design and world building. She is a natural storyteller, finding a story in everything she sees.
Over the course of 2020 Jessica has had 2 solo gallery shows and participated in 2 group gallery showings. She has also been interviewed by local newspapers and published in a local zine called Chum HSV. Jessica over the course of 2019 was the lead coordinator of a local artist market that met every Saturday, as well as special themed markets over the course of the year. She has been a guest speaker for Pechakucha. And she is proud to be a member of the Alabama Women’s Caucus for Art as well as the World Associations of Artists.
Jessica has always found herself fascinated by the arts. Ever since she could hold a crayon, she’s been using color to show her perspective of the world. She grew up in Connecticut, very close to the border of New York City. Where she would later go to college. Jessica holds a BFA in Illustration from the School of Visual Arts in NYC. She now lives in Huntsville, AL where she works as a Freelance Illustrator and Teaching Artist.
Jessica travels around the Tennessee Valley showing and selling her work at Comic & Anime Conventions, Art Festivals as well as gallery showings. She has a studio at Lowe Mill Arts & Entertainment (the largest private owned art community in the south USA) where she creates new artwork, teaches personalized art lessons, group art lessons and sells print and originals of her work. Jessica is also a Teaching Artist through the Huntsville Museum of Art (where she also serves as a juror for museum art competitions) and North Alabama Arts Education Collaborative, a subsection of Arts Huntsville. Jessica also hosts a free Art Club called the Junior Illustrator’s Guild for preteens and teenagers to find social interaction, a safe space to be themselves, as well as inspiration through their love of art.
Jessica’s favorite medium to work in is alcohol markers and ink. The blend ability of the medium is so alluring and creates such vibrant colors for which she is well known for portraying. The markers allow her to push her comic book art style with her use of fine lines. Her joy in art is creature design, character design and world building. She is a natural storyteller, finding a story in everything she sees.
Over the course of 2020 Jessica has had 2 solo gallery shows and participated in 2 group gallery showings. She has also been interviewed by local newspapers and published in a local zine called Chum HSV. Jessica over the course of 2019 was the lead coordinator of a local artist market that met every Saturday, as well as special themed markets over the course of the year. She has been a guest speaker for Pechakucha. And she is proud to be a member of the Alabama Women’s Caucus for Art as well as the World Associations of Artists.
Sylvia Bowyer – ALWCA Exhibitions
Education: MFA 1989 California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA BFA 1980 Corcoran School of Art, Washington, DC
Sylvia Bowyer lives in Huntsville, Alabama and makes visual objects. Over the years she has worked as a painting contractor, construction coordinator, museum preparator and museum facilities assistant.
Education: MFA 1989 California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA BFA 1980 Corcoran School of Art, Washington, DC
Sylvia Bowyer lives in Huntsville, Alabama and makes visual objects. Over the years she has worked as a painting contractor, construction coordinator, museum preparator and museum facilities assistant.
Anna Sue Courtney – ALWCA Exhibitions
As a kid, Anna Sue Courtney was an ‘instigator’––her mother’s epithet. Inspired, Anna Sue acquired a daring, multidisciplinary artistic power, propelling herself into a decades-long identity as her community’s “arts-instigator.”
She graduated from East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania with a degree in Visual & Performing Arts, and made avail of all her passions: dance, music, film, assemblage, puppetry. From her very first studios and residencies emerged a nontraditional educational skillset, inventing elementary school arts curriculum teachers sought her, personally, to impart. Her career settled into Alabama with the genesis of Lowe Mill ARTS and Entertainment’s first artistic collective, Flying Monkey Arts. Just as Anna Sue says, “instigating is making something happen that wasn’t there before.” Before permanent Lowe Mill galleries, Flying Monkey put up spontaneous multimedia installations. In fact, Anna Sue is now known for lending herself to pop-up exhibitions, their spontaneous nature encouraged by her ideas. “Most of my situations are unconventional,” she says.
Anna Sue supports her community while maintaining her own studio at the intersection of puppetry and installation. Squeaking Tribe Puppets is one of Lowe Mill’s longest-running studios, another world nestled in the second floor of the building. Anna Sue is also a long-standing member of major puppetry programs Puppeteers of America and UNIMA-USA, as well as the renowned Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta. She teaches at the Huntsville Museum of Art and can be found running unique workshops elsewhere in Alabama.
Though Anna Sue prefers the “ultra-interactivity” of pre-COVID exhibitions and performance, she is professionally onboard with the ALWCA at just the right time. Anna Sue has volunteered for the ALWCA for around three years now, including exhibition design for last September’s 80/20 exhibit. She is striving to create just the right environment––“the correct lighting, flow, and first impression” ––for many more ALWCA exhibitions.
As a kid, Anna Sue Courtney was an ‘instigator’––her mother’s epithet. Inspired, Anna Sue acquired a daring, multidisciplinary artistic power, propelling herself into a decades-long identity as her community’s “arts-instigator.”
She graduated from East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania with a degree in Visual & Performing Arts, and made avail of all her passions: dance, music, film, assemblage, puppetry. From her very first studios and residencies emerged a nontraditional educational skillset, inventing elementary school arts curriculum teachers sought her, personally, to impart. Her career settled into Alabama with the genesis of Lowe Mill ARTS and Entertainment’s first artistic collective, Flying Monkey Arts. Just as Anna Sue says, “instigating is making something happen that wasn’t there before.” Before permanent Lowe Mill galleries, Flying Monkey put up spontaneous multimedia installations. In fact, Anna Sue is now known for lending herself to pop-up exhibitions, their spontaneous nature encouraged by her ideas. “Most of my situations are unconventional,” she says.
Anna Sue supports her community while maintaining her own studio at the intersection of puppetry and installation. Squeaking Tribe Puppets is one of Lowe Mill’s longest-running studios, another world nestled in the second floor of the building. Anna Sue is also a long-standing member of major puppetry programs Puppeteers of America and UNIMA-USA, as well as the renowned Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta. She teaches at the Huntsville Museum of Art and can be found running unique workshops elsewhere in Alabama.
Though Anna Sue prefers the “ultra-interactivity” of pre-COVID exhibitions and performance, she is professionally onboard with the ALWCA at just the right time. Anna Sue has volunteered for the ALWCA for around three years now, including exhibition design for last September’s 80/20 exhibit. She is striving to create just the right environment––“the correct lighting, flow, and first impression” ––for many more ALWCA exhibitions.
Sonja Rossow – ALWCA Events Chair
Sonja Rossow received her B.S. from The University of Louisville, B.S.E from Minot State University and M.F.A. from The University of Alabama in Book Arts. She resides in Huntsville, AL and has a custom letterpress and book binding studio at Lowe Mill Arts complex under the name of At Some Point Press. Her work can be seen in special collections libraries at many universities, The Smithsonian collection at The American History Museum and private collections.
Sonja Rossow received her B.S. from The University of Louisville, B.S.E from Minot State University and M.F.A. from The University of Alabama in Book Arts. She resides in Huntsville, AL and has a custom letterpress and book binding studio at Lowe Mill Arts complex under the name of At Some Point Press. Her work can be seen in special collections libraries at many universities, The Smithsonian collection at The American History Museum and private collections.
Corinna Nicole – ALWCA Communications Chair
Corinna Nicole received her B.A. in Art at the University of Montevallo in 2008, and in 2011 she completed her M.F.A. in Art Practice at UC Berkeley. Corinna has taught Visual Thinking and Foundation Drawing courses at UC Berkeley as well as the University of Alabama Huntsville. Along with being a practicing artist, Corinna is a full-time Training Specialist at Redstone Federal Credit Union. She has been a member of the Alabama Women’s Caucus for Art since 2016 and in October 2020 she became the Communications Lead for the chapter. In her free time, Corinna loves tending to her plants, working on creative projects around her home, and traveling to new destinations.
Corinna Nicole received her B.A. in Art at the University of Montevallo in 2008, and in 2011 she completed her M.F.A. in Art Practice at UC Berkeley. Corinna has taught Visual Thinking and Foundation Drawing courses at UC Berkeley as well as the University of Alabama Huntsville. Along with being a practicing artist, Corinna is a full-time Training Specialist at Redstone Federal Credit Union. She has been a member of the Alabama Women’s Caucus for Art since 2016 and in October 2020 she became the Communications Lead for the chapter. In her free time, Corinna loves tending to her plants, working on creative projects around her home, and traveling to new destinations.
Kimberly Hart – ALWCA Social Media Chair
Kimberly is a multidisciplinary artist, who makes visual stories from dreams and stories intuitively layering color to create imagery, offering the beauty of spontaneity and the element of surprise. Her work was shown at the Huntsville Museum of Art, and the Wiregrass Biennial. She received a BA from the University of Alabama, Huntsville.
Kimberly is a multidisciplinary artist, who makes visual stories from dreams and stories intuitively layering color to create imagery, offering the beauty of spontaneity and the element of surprise. Her work was shown at the Huntsville Museum of Art, and the Wiregrass Biennial. She received a BA from the University of Alabama, Huntsville.
Cynthia Wagner – ALWCA Website Admin
Cynthia is a graduate of Herron School of Art and Design, Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis, holding a BFA in Painting, with minors in Art History and Anthropology as well as an AS in Visual Communications/Photography from Ivy Tech Community College. She spent ten years as a wedding photographer with a specialty in South Asian weddings capturing memories for clients all over the United States before she returned to the studio to engage in painting and mixed media art making. Cynthia is a Colorado born native and currently making art in her studio at the historic Lowe Mill in the beautiful Tennessee Valley city of Huntsville, Alabama.
Cynthia is a graduate of Herron School of Art and Design, Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis, holding a BFA in Painting, with minors in Art History and Anthropology as well as an AS in Visual Communications/Photography from Ivy Tech Community College. She spent ten years as a wedding photographer with a specialty in South Asian weddings capturing memories for clients all over the United States before she returned to the studio to engage in painting and mixed media art making. Cynthia is a Colorado born native and currently making art in her studio at the historic Lowe Mill in the beautiful Tennessee Valley city of Huntsville, Alabama.
ALABAMA WOMEN’S CAUCUS FOR ART -
LEADERSHIP OVERVIEW
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