Bill Tite
Assistant Professor of Art
719-587-7823
billtite@adams.edu
A recent Valley implant from the Detroit area, Bill wears his midwest friendliness and trust like a comfortable pair of Carhartt overalls (is that a thing?) When he steps into the classroom it’s like he’s stepped over the chalkline of a ball field, into another world. His undergrad degree is from Detroit’s Center for Creative Studies, and he received his MFA from Savannah College of Art and Design. The only things Bill possibly loves near as much as his sons are good kerning, white space, convincing storytelling, and underdogs (oh, and puppies). He may also be an exception to the rule that good guys finish last.
Here’s how he thinks about his work and process:
“The art and design I explore requires knowledge from, rather than about, people and landscapes through embodied learning. My explorations are made possible through touch, and movement using all senses. For me the past and future are felt through the body. For instance, there is knowing that only walking can enable, and memory that only touch can recall. Embodied experience is important me. I’ll use a metaphor for this: Thinking through my feet is akin to writing and sketching, where each footstep imprints like a mark onto myself as well as the landscape. Each step becomes an active moment in space as well as time, just as a pencil rises from a surface between marks. I’m intrigued with people and place, identity and memory, materials and meaning.”
Anthony Guntren
Assistant Professor of Art
My art emerges from interplay between artistic process, creative meditation, and human interaction. Works feature open spaces that evoke contemplation on unseen forces, radiating energy of the natural world that churns around a sculpture and its surrounding space. I am drawn to sculpture, because I find that sculpture calls attention to the movement of the viewer and the stillness of the object. Artworks often feature abstract forms that offer open spaces to capture and slow down the hustle and bustle of our private minds and physical bodies. There is a secret life between things. By taking a moment to stop and look, time can briefly slow down creating a moment in which consciousness connects with the construct.
As a local CO artist, my goal is to continue the pursuit of artistic discovery while creating meaningful sculpture that interacts with the transmission of human energy as people go about their daily lives. I have dedicated the last 15 years to both art as well as teaching, and I fiercely pursue the various processes and material explorations involved with producing contemporary sculpture. I proudly boast the placement of works in public art programs throughout the US, including numerous permanent AIPP Colorado dedications.
Annaliesa Connor-Meissner
Assistant Professor of Art
719-587-7639
aconnormeissner@adams.edu
Hi I am Annaliesa Connor-Meissner and I am pleased to serve as a Visiting Assistant Professor in Art. A little bit about me, I am originally from the beautiful twin island Republic of Trinidad and Tobago in the Southern Caribbean. Trinidad and Tobago is the original land of the steel pan, the only instrument created in the 20th century, Calypso, our oral tradition in song and limbo, our unofficial national dance form that dates back to our African ancestors.
These cultural art forms have influenced my own art making since I lived on the island until 2011. I completed my undergraduate degree in Art at the University of the West Indies and Completed my graduate studies in Art here at Adams State University.
The time I spent here as a student was incredible as I was afforded the opportunity to be submerged in new and dynamic art making. I look forward to bringing my Caribbean aesthetic with its vibrations, cultural expressions, color, and innovative approaches fused with the established norms of conventional art to influence and inspire all here at Adams.
We are in for exceptional times here at Adams as we merge all three artistic areas under the one umbrella of visual and performing arts.
I am excited about the possibilities that we will create together as we share our common love for art and what will be unfurled.
Mary Wilhelm
Assistant Professor of Art
719-587-7301
mwilhelm@adams.edu
https://www.marycwilhelm.com/
Mary Wilhelm was born in Wichita, Kansas, but raised in the swampy, suburban landscape of Tampa, Florida. Her early life was inspired by nature, cartoons, the outlandish stories of Florida Man, as well as the work of surrealist artist Salvador Dali. In 2015 , she received her Bachelors of Fine Arts with a focus in Painting/Drawing from Florida State University, and in 2021 she received her Master’s of Fine Arts degree from Arizona State University in Painting. She is currently an Assistant Drawing and Painting Professor at Adams State University in Alamosa, Colorado. In her free time you can find her hiking in nature, rockhounding, and intentionally spooking tourists.
Her work explores the absurdity of human behavior and the ways in which animals can serve as a metaphor for our own idiosyncrasies. She is drawn to the humor and playfulness of the animal world, and uses it as a way to invite viewers to engage with her work and to challenge their own assumptions about the natural world.
Beth Johnston
Assistant Professor of Art
719-587-7822
bjohnston@adams.edu
www.bethjohnston.art
Beth Johnston (she/hers) is a photographer and interdisciplinary artist whose work spans photography, video, installation, text, and more. Her current research explores photography and visual media’s role in the formation of cultural imaginaries around land, landscape, and the natural world at large. First trained as a scientist, Beth’s work is often experimental and includes making her own plant-based film developer and visualizing soil health through chromatography (a photographic process!).
Beth received an MFA in Photography from Rhode Island School of Design in 2022 with a self-designed concentration in Nature-Culture Sustainability Studies. Prior to graduate studies, Beth worked as a freelance photographer for over 10 years, working for national publications and brands such as Outside Magazine, HBO, Airstream, Trout Unlimited, and 5280 Magazine. She is currently a Colorado Art Science Environment (CASE) Fellow with the University of Colorado-Boulder and the recipient of the 2023 Denis Roussel Fellowship with the Center for Fine Art Photography.
