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Born in Hackensack, New Jersey, David MacDonald (b. 1945) first experimented with ceramics in the late 1960s at the Hampton Institute in Virginia, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Art Education. As part of the Art Education curriculum, MacDonald was required to take a ceramics course, and he quickly found that working with clay satisfied a desire to create pieces with dimension, form, and functionality, something he could not do when working in other mediums. After graduating from the Hampton Institute, MacDonald attended graduate school at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, receiving his Master of Fine Arts in 1971. Read More

Lois Hennessey (b. 1936) is a Baltimore-based artist and professor, known for whimsically anthropomorphizing animals in sculpture and illustration. At the Maryland Institute College of Art, Hennessey taught several art courses, including nature drawing. In both her teaching and work, Hennessey explores an interest in compositional concepts, such as form and space, and the interaction between her art and its surrounding environment. Read More

Originally trained as a coach painter, Quaker minister Edward Hicks is best remembered for his iconic series of Peaceable Kingdom paintings, which depict a biblical prophecy in the Book of Isaiah: “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.” Hicks likely viewed the prophecy as a central and concise statement of key Quaker principles, with each animal representing moral and religious beliefs as well as traits of human nature. Read More

Robert Vickrey (1926-2011) began his studies at Wesleyan University, and then transferred to Yale University, where he earned a bachelor of art’s degree in 1947. After graduating, he moved to New York City and studied with Reginald Marsh at the Art Students League, drawing influence from Marsh’s paintings of the bustling city streets. Vickrey returned to Yale a year later and spent the next two years working towards his bachelor of fine arts, which he received in 1950. At Yale, Vickrey developed his signature style, which continued for the next six decades of his career. Read More

Gilbert Stuart (1755-1828), considered one of America’s most accomplished portraitists, painted over one thousand portraits over the course of his career. He is best known, however, for his many paintings of the first President of the United States, George Washington. Stuart first painted the president in 1795, and at the urging of Martha Washington, her husband again sat for a portrait a year later, in 1796. Rather than completing this work, which came to be known as the Athenaeum Portrait and today is jointly owned by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the National Portrait Gallery, Stuart deliberately left the painting unfinished. Read More