VISUAL ARTS FACULTY
Liana Courts
DEPARTMENT CHAIR, liana.courts@gsarts.net
Liana is the Visual Arts Department Chair at The Governor's School for the Arts. She is currently a member of the Arts District committee for NEON, celebrating the new energy of Norfolk. She has led students in creating public art works in the Arts District on Granby Street, the Ingleside Light Rail station, and the Earth Day Celebration at Mount Trashmore. In partnership with the Downtown Norfolk Council and muralist Matthew MacGuinness, she led students in researching, designing, and creating the Gourmandizing Norfolk mural, which was awarded Best Mural of 2022 by VEER Magazine. She facilitates student participation in various art exhibitions throughout the region, as well as partners with community organizations to produce exhibitions that highlight important topics such as mental wellness. Liana organizes and curates the GSA Fashion Show and Installation of Wearable Art at The Chrysler Museum and MacArthur Center. She is also the Director of the GSA Summer Visual Arts Camp, offered every summer.
Her education includes a B.S. Degree in Communications from JMU, and a B.F.A. in Painting from ODU, with an Art History minor. She graduated Summa Cum Laude, and was recognized as the College of Arts and Letters Outstanding Student in Studio Art. She also holds an endorsement from the Virginia Department of Education in Gifted Education. Her work has been exhibited at the Contemporary Art Center (now MOCA), the Riverview Gallery, The Selden Arcade, Baron and Ellin Gordon Art Galleries, and the Hermitage Museum and Gardens.
BEN WRIGHT
Associate Chair, benjamin.wright@gsarts.net
Ben Wright holds a BS in Evolutionary Biology from Dartmouth College, a BFA in Glass from the Appalachian Center for Crafts, and an MFA from Rhode Island School of Design. While at Dartmouth, he explored forests from upstate New Hampshire to tropical Jamaica to record and map song birds for the renowned ornithologist Richard Homes. His background in Biology figures strongly in his artwork, which delves deeply into the ever evolving relationship between humans and their environment. Through work ranging from interactive visual installations to sonic landscapes he engages all of his viewer’s senses and often bridges the gap between art and science. He has taught and exhibited his unique approach to art making at numerous schools including Pilchuck Glass School, Penland School of Craft and the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and abroad in Germany, Turkey, Denmark, Japan, Belgium, Poland and Australia and until recently served as the Artistic Director of Pilchuck Glass school in Stanwood Washington.
IAN LEVESQUE
ian.levesque@gsarts.net
Virginia Van Horn
Virginia Van Horn is a longtime member of the Hampton Roads art community and has an extensive exhibition record both in the region and the Southeast. She received her BFA in printmaking from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and her MFA in sculpture from the Visual Studies Program of Old Dominion and Norfolk State Universities. She also studied and exhibited in Urbino, Italy as part of a program sponsored by New York’s School of Visual Arts. Virginia currently teaches at Old Dominion University as well as the Governor’s School for the Arts. Inspired by her childhood as a champion rider, she is fascinated by animal imagery, especially horses. Her most recent work branches out from equestrian images to explore new and different combinations of animals, both wild and domestic.
BOB SITES
A graduate of Cranbrook Academy of Art with an MFA in painting, Bob also studied in Urbino, Italy, with Enzo Cucchi in an advanced painting program sponsored by the School of Visual Arts in New York city. He has exhibited in a dozen states and has had solo shows in Virginia, North Carolina, Michigan, Alabama, Illinois, and Texas. His most recent solo show was at the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art. He has shown at international art fairs including: ArtExpo in New York, Red Dot in Miami, FLORENCE art and the Biennale Internazionale Arte di Palermo, Italy. He has received grants from the Virginia Commission for the Arts for painting and works on paper, and a fellowship from the Poynter Institute for Media Studies. Bob has been a Visiting Artist at the American Academy in Rome six times, most recently in 2019. His work has been published in the Chicago Reader, Studio Visit, and New American Paintings magazines, and he has been featured in both public radio and public television.
rowena finn received her BFA from James Madison University. She is a resident artist at the D'Art Center in Norfolk, and can often be found in her studio, or drawing and painting at the Chrysler Museum nearby. She is a published and award-winning artist, having exhibited in a multitude of state and national exhibitions for more than twenty years. Rowena has taught workshops throughout Hampton Roads since 2012, and joined the GSA faculty in 2018. Her most recent oil and watercolor paintings can be categorized as contemporary realism, although she also has an extensive background in mixed media and goldsmithing. Her teaching style is deeply influenced by the academic tradition and modern ateliers.
ISHIAH WHITE
DIANE HOTTENSTEIN
Anne Bousquet
Anne Bousquet received her BFA from Old Dominion University and her MFA from Arizona State University. In addition to her time at GSA, she has taught at the University of Colorado, Old Dominion University, TCC, Virginia Wesleyan College and various arts centers. She is a mixed media artist, incorporating, painting, printmaking, assemblage and photography in her work. She also has extensive graphic design experience and has completed several public art commissions.
josh knibb
Joshua “Josh” Knibb- is an alumni of GSA’s Tech Theatre class of 2001. He graduated from Randolph-Macon College with a B.A. in Drama. Josh has held many titles; scuba instructor, cheerleading stunt coordinator, surf and skate brand ambassador, Women’s Flat Track Roller Derby Referee, and Operations Coordinator in outpatient physical therapy. Josh is currently the Facility Manager for the Goode Theatre at Old Dominion University. Josh is GSA’s “All Around Guy,” (it says so on his badge) always eager to jump in from Technical Direction for Musical Theater to art installations through GSA. He is currently teaching courses for Visual Arts in Site Specific Installations and assists senior level Visual Art students with their senior Gallery Shows.