Art & Design Faculty and Staff
Adjunct Professor Michael D’Ambrosio
Office: HAC 305
Phone: (717) 477-1531
Michael lives and works in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He has obtained a Bachelor's degree in Art and a Bachelor's degree in Interdisciplinary Arts (Shippensburg University, 2013), and a Masters degree in Visual Art from Wilson College (2017).
Michael works with watercolor and ink, acrylic, charcoal, and graphite. His work is an exploration of layers: layers of media, layers of space, and layers of time spent. His influences in subject matter range from landscape to human form with an emphasis on the awe-inspiring ethos of the Romantic movement. Michael works through a gestural layering process that creates a residue of mark-making and media that creates a visual map of memory that guides not only his experience of the artwork, but also his viewers.
Adjunct Professor Kathryn Keely
Office: HAC 306
Phone: (717) 477-1215
MFA, Radford University
Art Appreciation, Art History, Painting, Drawing
Adjunct Professor Cookie Redding
Office: HAC 301
Phone: (717) 477-1287
Cookie Redding is an artist, designer, and lecturer who teaches in the Art and Design program at Shippensburg University. Her work moves between analog and digital approaches, blending traditional techniques with contemporary technology. Redding’s teaching and creative practice is influenced by a wide range of disciplines, with a focus on how engagement, feedback, and emerging technologies shape art and design today.
Her current work explores symbolism and the life cycle of objects, particularly at the point where they reach the end of their use. She examines how these objects interact with the natural world, translating that intersection into large-scale paintings with layered color and texture. Recently, Redding has been experimenting with natural materials, including pigments created from the ashes of burned artworks, to explore themes of transformation and renewal.
Adjunct Professor Sara Swacina
Office: HAC 202
Phone: (717) 477-1533
Sara Swacina grew up drawing on any paper she could find and always loved art class, craft time and any type of creativity. Sara has continued this love of art and creativity as an adult and paints nearly every day. She also loves sharing her passion for art with others.
Sara received her Master of Fine Arts Degree in Visual Art from Wilson College. She completed her thesis study on how painters use light to create meaning, connection and emotional resonance within a piece of art. Sara enjoys analyzing methods and techniques to create unique lightning within her art, and she aims her research at exploring how painters have historically and contemporarily used light to convey narrative and create associations.
Sara has taught drawing and painting in a variety of venues including private art lessons, an expressive arts program to underprivileged teenage girls, adult painting classes, pre-k through twelfth grade art education, and teaching at the collegiate level.
Sara exhibits her artwork regularly in local and nationwide art shows and has won several awards including a Juror's Choice award from the Hill Center Gallery in Washington, D.C.; the Lee Weaver Memorial Award from the Museum of Fine Arts in Hagerstown, MD; and Honorable Mention from the Poetic Creations Juried Exhibition in York, PA.
Adjunct Professor, Ceramics & Sculpture Harley Weigle
Harley Weigle is a ceramic artist and educator specializing in ceramics and sculpture. He received his Master of Education in Art Education from Kutztown University, a Post-Baccalaureate in Ceramics from the University of Florida, and a B.A. in Art from Shippensburg University. Weigle has taught visual arts from elementary through college level, developed nationally recognized exhibitions, and presented workshops at institutions such as Peters Valley School of Craft and Liberty University. His professional practice bridges studio craft and education, drawing on years of teaching experience and his work as Marketing Director for Mudtools, an internationally recognized ceramics tool company.
