Board of Directors
Cynthia Jennings
Cynthia studied at the University of Northern Iowa and received her BA in Art at Winona State University. She was employed at Luther College and Winona State as a costume designer in their theatre departments and taught costume design at St. Mary’s University. She has also worked at Bouquet Enterprises as a decorative accessories designer and has received commissions for several large works of art.
Dennis Jennings
Dennis Jennings received an AA Degree in Art from Los Angeles City College in 1962, BA, MA in Art,University of California at Los Angeles. Was a Teaching Assistant at UCLA and taught as a Tenured Professor of Art at the University of Northern Iowa. Was an Art Director and Advertising Designer and Furniture Designer at Winona Industries and won 6 Addy Awards for advertising excellence.Was in the Young Americans Exhibition, NYC. The All Iowa Crafts Exhibition; First Award in Ceramics, and American Crafts Council Merit Award. Columbus Museum of Fine Arts (Ohio); Purchase Award.
Ray Kiihne
Ray holds an MA in Art from Ball State University and an MFA in Painting from the University of New Mexico. He has taught art on the college level in Nebraska, Michigan, New Mexico and Minnesota; he has traveled extensively and taught art in Brasilia, Brazil. His Minimalist works are in private collections in California, New York, New Mexico and Nebraska as well as in The Albuquerque Museum. Kiihne's awards include a traveling exhibition in Oregon funded by the National Endowment for the Arts.
Bernadette Mahfood
Bernadette was chair of the Winona Blue Heron Statue Project. Her recent glass and fiber work won her a 2009 Artist Initiative Grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. And her jewelry sells in fine galleries and gift shops across the country, as well as online, through her business Hotflash Designs.
Dominic Riccotti, Ph.D.
Dominic is Professor Emeritus at Winona State University, where he taught art history for 23 years. He earned his doctorate at Indiana U. (Bloomington) and an MA at Hunter College, CUNY, and a BFA at Washinton U. in St. Louis. He also taught at Wayne State U in Detroit and University Of Arkansas, Fayetteville. He has written articles on early 20th-century American modernism and on the 1930s architecture of Edward Durrel Stone (1902-1978).
Assisting the Board
Billy X. Curmano
Billy is an award winning independent artist and former McKnight Foundation Interdisciplinary Art Fellow. He studied at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee (BFA 1973; 1977 MS), Art Students League of New York and Hollywood Film Institute. His more traditional objects have been exhibited both here and abroad since a first solo show in 1970. Notably, in the "III Vienna Graphikbiennale" (1977). His works are included in The Museum of Modern Art Library (NYC) and other prestigious collections.
Monta Gael May
Monta is an interdisciplinary artist whose visual art practice is grounded in the ancient. She works in moasic, encaustic, and fiber to create 2D and 3D work. Her work can be seen at her studio in Winona, and at montagaelmay.com. She writes about being an artist on her blog Always Swimming Upstream.
Monta also is an experienced web designer and works at Saint Mary's University as the Director of Web Communication. She often creates websites for other artists and arts organizations, as well as other clients. Monta created this FASEM website.
More Information
The FASEM Board of Directors is a group of volunteers made up of Winona artists and art teachers.
If you are interested in volunteering with, or contributing financially to FASEM contact:
Dennis Jennings
507-454-8803
dennisj@hbci.com