Live performances, especially orchestras, are what convinced Jill Van Norstrand to become a musician. Jill’s performance credits include Legally Blonde and Wicked on Broadway, New Haven Symphony, Riverside Simphonia, Greenwich Symphony, the Carnegie Kids program at Carnegie Hall, as well as contemporary chamber music with the SEM Ensemble. In addition, she teaches a variety of music classes at Fairleigh Dickinson and New Jersey City University.
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Sally Tosti’s journey began in 1998 with a solo exhibit of landscape linocuts, “Meditations on Nature,” at the Everhart Museum in Scranton, PA. Two years later “Sights of Nature” was exhibited at The Print Center in Philadelphia. In 2003, Sally received her second MFA in printmaking and photography from Pratt Institute and in 2006 she received an Artist Residency from the Camera Club of New York. Sally is currently an associate professor of visual arts at Keystone College.
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Sophie Till studied at the Royal Academy of Music with Zakhar Bron. She completed a master’s degree in performance at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Her concerto performances include the European Community Chamber Orchestra, London Schubert Players, Eastbourne Symphony Orchestra, University of Massachusetts Chamber Orchestra and the Performing Arts Institute Symphony Orchestra, USA. Sophie is now Artist-in-Residence at Wyoming Seminary College Preparatory School in Kingston, PA and the head of the string department at Marywood University.
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Shelley Thorstensen is a renowned printmaking artist who holds an MFA with honors from the Tyler School of Art of Temple University, and a BFA cum laude from Syracuse University; School of Visual and Performing Arts, Experimental Studies. She exhibits nationally and internationally. Shelley has taught extensively, including at the Moore College of Art in Philadelphia and the Women’s Studio Workshop.
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William Tersteeg’s work is form and nature, spirit and experience. Intellectually, his pieces deal with the geometry of time and space as well as environmental symbolism. On the visual level, they are a reflection on the environment. Among selected shows and public collections, William’s works have appeared in 57 local exhibitions, 32 national exhibitions, 55 regional exhibitions, seven international exhibitions, 18 group and 12 one-person exhibitions.
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Robert Stark’s work takes place in studios in Union Dale and Albuquerque, New Mexico. The Belin Scholarship allowed him to the creative freedom to produce a body of work that has been in solo exhibitions at the Phillips Collection, Cheekwood Fine Arts Center, and the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art. Robert’s paintings have traveled to over 140 world capitols through the State Department program, Art in the Embassies.
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Ron Stabinsky has received first prize in numerous competitions and at a tender young age has garnered a wealth of performance experience. One of the most recent scholarship recipients, Ron is still hard at work putting the award to work, increasing the intensity of his studies and significantly accelerating his artistic growth. Known as an experimental pianist, Ron currently studies with Edna Golandsky in New York City.
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Pianist Ernest Ragogini has performed as a soloist and collaborative artist, and appeared with numerous orchestras and ensembles. Ernest has served as Music Department Chair at the College of Notre Dame of Maryland from 1979 through 2004 and currently is a professor of music there. Ernest was also artistic director of the Wildflower Music Festival in the Pocono Mountains for seven years, a program he expanded to international status, adding a jazz series with world renowned guest artists.
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After receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Penn State University and a Masters of Fine Arts from Carnegie Mellon University, James Quinnan was awarded the Belin Arts Scholarship. James’s love for Greek mythology and the support from his scholarship led him to spend a few years working on a series of mixed media paintings called Chimera. Now an associate professor of art at the University of Texas, Jim puts together an annual exhibition which is displayed at galleries and museums throughout the country.
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David Price is a nationally known watercolor artist who travels between his studios in Jim Thorpe and the French countryside. In addition to working in his studios, David teaches and lectures at state colleges. The subject of David’s most recent work is the Victorian coal town of Mauch Chunk, now called Jim Thorpe.
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