More Biographies:

Administrative Staff | Music Faculty (A - F) | Music Faculty (G - K) | Music Faculty (L - Z) | Dance Faculty

Drama Faculty

Donna L. Holmes (Theater)Actress/Educator, theatrical training includes: H/B Studios; American Academy of Dramatic Arts; and Negro Ensemble Company Professional Actors Workshop. Roles in her repertoire include: Bernice in August Wilson's "Piano Lesson," Fredi in Ray Arahana's "Creedmore" and "Corina" in Leslie Lee's "Colored People's Time". As a theatre arts instructor, Ms. Holmes also works for NJPAC, and Playwright of New Jersey. As a proud Newarker, she is proud of her artistic credits working with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Newark Public Library, and the NJ Historical Society.

Inez McClendon (Voice, Theater) B.A. and M.A. in Music Education from Montclair State College and a M.A in speech and theatre from Montclair State University. Ms. McClendon is a music and drama instructor for the Boys' and Girls’ Clubs of America Summer program, choral director of the South Side (now Shabazz) High School Alumni Chorus, musical conductor of the Newark Public Schools All City High School Chorus and voice instructor at Essex County College. Ms. McClendon shares the spotlight as one-third of the musical/dramatic aggregation known as A Talent-In-Triplicate, and she is the star of the traveling one woman show of dramatic renditions entitled, "The Many Faces of Inez". Past credits include numerous radio and television performances & lectures, nationwide & European tours in churches, schools, colleges, and concert halls. Ms. McClendon serves as Faculty Representative on the Board of Trustees.

Visual Arts Faculty

Beatrice East (Visual Arts)B.A. at Kean College of New Jersey and completed her Master in Fiber Arts at Montclair State University. Ms. East is coordinator of the Visual Arts Department of NSA. She has taught at the Newark Museum for over eleven years, in the Newark Public School system for twenty-five years and is currently employed by the East Orange School District and Montclair State University. She received many years of training under an Artist in Residence program for New Jersey State Council of the Arts/Artist Teacher Institute. Many of her works reflect her travels to Senegal, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya and Egypt. Her works are part of a collection of Carol Martin, formerly of channel 2 News, Montclair State Graduate office and other public institutions.

Kathryn Eddy (Visual Arts), Visual Artist, has exhibited her paintings in galleries throughout the country for over 15 years. Common themes found in Kathryn's work include animals, still-life, people, and landscapes. She works on large canvases often incorporating multiple images. This summer her work can be found in three exhibits ranging from Wisconsin to Maine.

For several years, Kathryn taught art to all age groups at the Newark Museum. Classes included drawing and painting, as well as portfolio preparation, and artist bookmaking. Most recently, she worked with middle school students at Renaissance School in Montclair adapting a student friendly version of “Conversations on Race”. In this capacity, she has incorporated art and discussion as a way to encourage students to discuss issues and topics relevant to their lives. When time permits, she teaches private lessons in her studio in East Orange.

Luisa Pinzon (Visual Arts), Colombian-born photographer, has been involved in the field of photography for over decade. Pinzon's photography has evolved and developed from a diversity of fields to create her own unique vision.

Pinzon's photojournalism career began in 1997 at the age of 18 when she decided to move to the only landlocked country in South America. This country, boasting a rich pre-Columbian history was none other than Bolivia. In Bolivia, Pinzon became a staff photographer and writer for The Bolivian Times, the only English language paper in the country. Here Pinzon was able to cover then president Hugo Banzer, and current president Evo Morales, the country's first fully indigenous head of state. After 2 years at The Bolivian Times it was time to return to the United States, where Pinzon continued her studies in Photography at School of Visual Arts. During this time, she worked as a custom printer of black and white, as well as color images for Charles Anthony's Studio.

After digital photography became more commonly used, Pinzon decided to combine her knowledge of photography with design. She took a course on graphic design from Montclair State University. During this time, she worked as a freelance photographer and designer for Elite Photographer's Studio. Here she specialized in digital workflow, retouching and album design.

In 2003 Pinzon returned to her journalism background at The Star ledger where she worked on the photo desk as an Image Toner. She quickly moved up to Photo Feature Editor. As a Photo Feature Editor, Pinzon Edited images for feature sections, which are based on pop culture, fashion, art, and photography

Pinzon worked with designers and award winning photographers on page layout and usage of images. After 3 years at The Star ledger Pinzon decided to leave the photo desk and become a full-time freelance photographer. Pinzon is now working with the underground Latin Rock scene, covering major events and photographing up and coming Spanish rock bands. Some of her employers have been "LAMC" Latin Alternative Music Conference and Voltaje magazine with which she is currently working with. After almost 12 years in photography, beginning with Photojournalism all the way to fine art photography, Pinzon has grown and learned from many different facets of this art and continues to grow as a photographer and a person.

More Biographies:

Administrative Staff | Music Faculty (A - F) | Music Faculty (G - K) | Music Faculty (L - Z) | Dance Faculty

Return to top of page

:: a fatafati construct ::