This semester, the Corcoran welcomes four new faculty members, including Michele Carlson, Associate Professor of Printmaking, Matt Eich, Assistant Professor of Photojournalism, Sara Jamshidi, Assistant Professor of Design and Heather Stebbins, Assistant Professor of Music. We are looking forward to the additional knowledge and perspective these professionals will bring to our vibrant and innovative community.
In addition to these five new professors, the Corcoran welcomes a new visiting artist for the 2019-2020 school year. Molly Jane Udaya Sturges, a woman used to wearing many hats from composer to artistic director to educator, will join the Corcoran faculty this year.
Learn more about each of our new faces below:
Pictured above: Molly Jane Udaya Sturges, William Wilson Corcoran Visiting Professor
Sturges has founded many large-scale social practice projects including Lifesongs, an ongoing collaborative program between musicians, youth, nursing homes residents and hospice participants, and Littleglobe, a diverse arts-in-community artist-led non-profit based in New Mexico.
She currently serves as Artistic Director for the newly formed Elmfield Institute, an organization that delivers programs, provides business consulting and produces creative, multi-modal animations to support their mission of helping clients achieve greater cohesion and wellness. We are looking forward to seeing how her experience in such a variety of disciplines enhances the Corcoran student experience.
Pictured above: Michele Carlson, Associate Professor of Printmaking
Michele Carlson, newly appointed Associate Professor of Printmaking, holds an MA in visual and critical studies and an MFA in printmaking from California College of the Arts, where she was an associate professor and executive director of Art Practical, the college’s visual arts publishing organization.
Carlson’s work has been exhibited at numerous venues including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery, the Korean Cultural Center of Los Angeles and Kearny Street Workshop, the oldest Asian Pacific American arts organization in the country. We are thrilled to welcome Carlson to the East Coast, where she will no doubt thrive in the D.C. arts community.
Pictured above: Matt Eich, Associate Professor of Photojournalism
Matt Eich will also be joining our photography faculty as an Assistant Professor of Photojournalism. He earned his BS in photojournalism from Ohio University as well as an MFA in photography from the University of Hartford, and his work as a photographic essayist has been published by The New York Times, National Geographic, GQ, BuzzFeed and WIRED.
Eich’s work has received various awards and recognitions including PDN’s 30 Emerging Photographers to Watch, the Joop Swart Masterclass, the F25 Award for Concerned Photography, POYi’s Community Awareness Award, an Aaron Siskind Fellowship, a VMFA Fellowship and two Getty Images Grants for Editorial Photography. After his excellent work as a lecturer in photography at GW in 2017-2018, the Corcoran is pleased to welcome him back as a professor.
Pictured above: Sara Jamshidi, Associate Professor of Design
Sara Jamshidi, the newest addition to our design faculty, earned her MA in visual communication from the Royal College of Art in London. She has worked as an adjunct faculty member at Maryland Institute College of Art and a graphic designer at Top Shelf Design in Arlington, Va. She will be joining the Corcoran as an Assistant Professor of Design.
As a research-based designer, Jamshidi employs a practice that spans between the realms of archives, museums and special collections with an editorial design approach. Her current research is focused on exploring Iran’s cultural history and collective identity through the visual language of its stamps. For more on her research, which she has coined “Project M—,” visit her website.
Pictured above: Heather Stebbins, Associate Professor of Music
Last but not least, the Corcoran also welcomes Heather Stebbins as an Assistant Professor of Music specializing in computer multimedia composition. Stebbins has a Doctor of Musical Arts in music composition from Boston University and has worked as a composer of acoustic and electroacoustic music, fascinated by the kinetic and emotive properties of sound. Her principal instructors include Benjamin Broening, Joshua Fineberg and Helena Tulve.
Her works have been performed all around the world from North and South America to Asia, and her EP You Are Not Stone features works for viola and interactive electronics. To learn more about her compositions, visit her website. We are honored to welcome this Fulbright Fellowship recipient and accomplished composer and musician into our faculty.
These five new faculty members will boost the prestige of our school and provide opportunities for learning and collaboration to all invested Corcoran students. We cannot wait to see these new faces at the Corcoran!