2009 Contributors

 

Abby Crump is proud to be the Senior Humanities Assistant; she is also a senior English major. Having transferred to Piedmont as a sophomore, Abby has been here for three academic years.  The publication of “Cross-Cancelling: A Dialogue” marks Abby’s third consecutive year as a Trillium contributor. She hesitates to choose a favorite piece of artwork because, as she says, “I [heart] them all.”

 

Alan Ritter is a senior English major at Piedmont College. His favorite piece of literature is Willa Cather’s My Ántonia. He writes music and prose, and occasionally poetry. He loves Mozart’s Mass in C Minor and kitties.

 

Allison Criswell is a freshman music major at Piedmont College. This is the first piece of poetry she has ever had recognized, as she usually works with prose and playwriting. The most inspiring piece of literature she has read (currently) is The Zahir by Paolo Coelho. 

 

Angela Tudor is a Piedmont College graduate student and will complete an M.A. in secondary English education in December, 2009. Of the many works she finds admirable, The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck remains especially inspiring. 

 

Ariana Sharpe is a junior majoring in art with a concentration in illustration or layout design.  She enjoys painting, drawing, photography, and silk screening. Ariana admires the works of Vincent van Gogh, Claude Monet, and Leonardo da Vinci.

 

Dr. Barbara Benson is an Associate Professor in the School of Education and teaches at the Athens campus in the early childhood education department.  She has been at Piedmont College for twelve years.  She wrote a lot of poetry when she was an undergraduate at the University of Maryland Baltimore Campus and used to do poetry readings in different venues in Baltimore, Maryland.  She loves reading books by Alexander McCall Smith including the Number One Ladies Detective Agency series.

 

Beth Gossett is a freshman at Piedmont College. She is an early childhood education major and a studio art minor with a concentration in 2D. My favorite subject to draw is people. Her favorite artist is Andy Warhol and favorite singer is Bob Marley, which is the inspiration behind the drawings in this issue.

 

Professor Bob Cummings currently serves as Associate Dean of Education and Department of Teaching and Learning Chair.  “Dr. Bob” has an art background with a doctorate in art education and an MFA in painting, both from UGA.  He is currently in his 18^th year at Piedmont College where he teaches critical thinking and has recently been involved in chairing the EDD development committee for Piedmont’s first doctoral program that begins in August, 2009. He has had three daughters attend Piedmont College in education, biology, and nursing. He has a studio in Baldwin Georgia where he is currently involved in creating sculpture, painting, and photography.  One artist works that he continues to admire over the years are by the painter Caravaggio.  

 

Brandon Mahaffey is a sophomore theater major at Piedmont College in Demorest. He has been writing music for three years. In between classes and writing plays, he also performs with his bands El Rodeo, The TaunTaun Bandits, and Modern Art. A piece of work that he always finds inspirational is the Showtime series Dexter, for its complex themes of good, evil, and the way they affect people.

 

Cara Kenney is a freshman at Piedmont. She is majoring in art with a concentration in photography.

 

Carolyn Mote is a junior at Piedmont College working on a B.F.A. in graphic design and a minor in mass communications. One of her favorite artists at this time is Julie Heffernan. 

 

Christy Grindle is a junior at Piedmont College majoring in early childhood education. Her goal is to become an author of children’s books in the near future. She and her husband reside in Clarkesville, Georgia.

 

DeDe Ross is a graduate student scheduled to complete her MAT in secondary language arts in July 2009.  She has been employed in the Banks County Middle School Special Education program since 2006.  She is a self-taught artist and enjoys painting the creatures she often finds in her back yard.  Her favorite piece is “Heron,” because she was inspired by a dear friend who lamented, “He always flies away!”  Capturing the essence of the heron was difficult because it was her first attempt at such a large (4’x4’) work.

 

Grant Seman is a sophomore majoring in graphic design at the Athens campus.  He admires Hieronymus Bosch’s triptychs. 

 

Jake Duvall is currently a junior at Piedmont College majoring in business.  He vehemently admires the poetry and stories of Charles Bukowski, “As The Sparrow” being his favorite work.

 

Jessica Allen is a sophomore music major at Piedmont College in Demorest. She is involved in both the theatre and music departments.  She also enjoys watercolors, creative writing, languages, and traveling. “Scrim in the Bedroom” is her first published poem. Jessica has always admired Isabel Allende’s La Casa de Los Espiritos and the poetry of E.E. Cummings. 

 

Jessica Bozeman has been employed with the college for four years as an administrative assistant. She is working on a degree in community journalism. One of her favorite literary pieces is “Annabel Lee” by Edgar Allan Poe.

 

Jody Howard Wilson graduated from Piedmont College in 2006 with a business administration degree from the Walker School of Business, and he has been working in graduate admissions since July of 2008. He takes inspiration from the photography of Ansel Adams.

 

Jorge Pradilla is a business major at Piedmont College in Demorest with a concentration in marketing. One poem that he admires is “Early in the Morning” by Li-Young Lee.

 

Joy Mock is a Psychology major who attends classes on the Athens campus. She intends to pursue her masters and PhD with the intent of focusing on Child Psychology. She is a huge Braves fan and looks forward to hopefully going to grad school in Atlanta. One of her favorite pieces is “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins.

 

Dr. Karl Michel is currently in his 5th year on the Piedmont faculty.  He teaches art history, studio art, art criticism and art education.  His undergraduate degree is in English Literature, which is his connection to poetry.  His service in the Viet Nam War is the major source of inspiration for his art, “I began (and continue) to make art in response to that experience.”  His favorite poet is T.S. Eliot and his favorite poem, Four Quartets.

 

Kate Meents is a sophomore at Piedmont College majoring in theater performance and minoring in studio art. She would like to thank her family for supporting her in her choice to follow her artistic passions rather than going the safer route. Her photographs are simply snapshots of the brilliant world she sees around her, and perhaps a way to point out the little joys in life that can be taken for granted.

 

Katie Sawhill is currently a junior at Piedmont College, working toward an interdisciplinary degree of theatre and English.  She fell in love with her digital camera while studying abroad at Nottingham University. She particularly admires the artists Caravaggio and Vermeer for their use of color and their portrayals of every-day life.

 

Kris Pratt is a senior at Piedmont College and will be graduating with a B.A. in business administration and minor in English in July.  Kris has been writing since she was eight and is continually inspired by the writings of the Christian mystics, the Psalms, and the Book of Isaiah. Additionally Kris is inspired by the authors from The Lost Generation, spirituals, Moses Hogan, Edvard Munich, Annie Lebowitz, Mendelssohn, Debussy, and Beethoven.

 

Kurt L. Wheeler is a graduate student in middle-grades math at Piedmont. He lives with his wife Janet Wheeler and two children, Madison and Elias, in Canton Georgia.  He currently teaches at Dean Rusk Middle School. His favorite pieces of writing are The Great Divorce by CS Lewis and Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbit.

 

Lauren Evans is a senior majoring in middle grades education with a concentration in math and science.  She will graduate in December 2009.  She is twenty-two years old and engaged to Brent Wykle, another student at Piedmont as well. Prior to coming to Piedmont she attended East Hall High School in Hall County and then attended Valdosta State for two years.  She has always loved art but had never taken an art class until last semester.

Liat Faver is a third year English/Theatre major in the IDS program who takes art classes whenever possible. She lives in Demorest and wants to be a writer when she grows up.

 

Matt Varnell lives in Athens with his wife Trish and eight month old son, Liam. He attends Piedmont College on the Athens campus and is in his first semester of the MAT graduate program for secondary English. His favorite poem is “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” by T.S. Eliot.

 

Professor Robert Sparrow Jones was born in Jermyn, Pennsylvania.  He received his BFA from Kutztown University in Pennsylvania and his MFA from the Hoffberger School of Painting at Maryland Institute College of Art.  He held the position of Artist in Residence at the Museum of Glass, the Frye Art Museum, Tacoma Art Museum and Pratt Fine Arts Center.  From 98-2001, he was the Director for the Commencement Art Gallery in Tacoma, WA.  In 2005 he was a nominee for the Joan Mitchell Award and a Finalist for the Fulbright in 2005 (Affiliation: Museum of Contemporary Art, Barcelona) and in 2007 (Affiliation: Escola Massana, Barcelona).  His work appears in the book, New American Paintings April, 2007.  He was awarded a fellowship in 2009 for Can Serrat in Barcelona, Spain and the Vermont Studio School.  He teaches art at Piedmont College in North Georgia where he resides with his white boxer, Apple, and tends a garden.

 

Robin Weinrich completed her B.A. in middle grades education in May of 2008. She will complete her Masters program at Piedmont for secondary education in English in December 2009.  Robin works as a consultant, long-term substitute and volunteer in the surrounding school systems until she finds her own classroom to settle.  She also runs her own jewelry design art business and tries to keep up with her three teenagers and husband. She has been writing since she was a teenager and has a passion for poetry.  One of her favorite works is Thoreau’s “Walden” and says she often turns to “the pages of his quiet solitude and reflection as a retreat from our very busy and hectic society.” 

 

Sarah Weir is an Athens student at Piedmont College studying accounting with a Spanish minor. She first came to Piedmont in fall 2007 and is planning on studying abroad at Nottingham University this coming fall. One of her favorite photographers is a French artist, Brassai. Her favorite image is his “Le Baiser” (The Kiss).

 

Tiffany Scott is currently a rising senior at Piedmont College in Demorest. She is majoring in art with a concentration in graphic design. In her free time she likes to write and read poetry and transfer the thoughts she has on her sketch pad. She is most inspired by Maya Angelou’s poetry and Khendle Willey’s paintings.