Alumnae artists reflect on their life’s work in the arts

Life’s Work

Whether just beginning their careers or looking back on decades of contributions in the arts, Emma Willard School’s alumnae artists find meaning and fulfillment in their life’s work.

Janet Kadesky Ruttenberg ’49

Janet Kadesky Ruttenberg ’49 had been sent to boarding school from her home in Dubuque, IA because she spent too much time up late at night painting or drawing. She needed discipline. At Emma Willard School, she did get that. Janet remembers the school and its headmistresses as being very strict. “It’s not like today where you get to go to a restaurant or movies in town. There were bells that told us when to do everything ...get up, eat, go to class, go to bed.”

But the disciplined setting did not stop Janet from working on her art. Margaret Page, who was the art teacher during Janet’s time at Emma Willard School, provided her with ample supplies to paint and draw as much as she wanted. In addition, Miss Page offered experiences that profoundly shaped Janet’s life. “The impact of Emma Willard on me was that it broadened my horizons. Miss Page saw something in me. She took us to Knoedler’s Gallery in New York City and I saw my first Picasso. Before that, I thought Norman Rockwell was a good artist ...but Picasso was really poetry to me.”

The trip Janet recalls took place in November of 1947 to Knoedler Gallery’s “Picasso Before 1907” exhibit. According to the brief record of the visit in The Clock, the visit also included works by Mary Cassatt, one of which (In the Omnibus) Janet would study and deconstruct years later.

As a student, Janet was known for her illustrations for The Triangle literary magazine. “No prom, feast, or party was without her decorations,” reads an article about Janet from a 1948 issue of The Clock. That year, her work was integral to the school’s fair and the Emma Willard Circus that was held to raise funds for the chapel.

Upon graduating from Emma Willard School, Janet was determined to study art in Paris where her uncle, Abel Warshawsky, had a studio. Although her father would not allow it, she pursued scholarships anyway, hoping to persuade him. Janet earned the National Scholastic Art Award, which accompanied a year’s scholarship to Scripps College in California. Given a choice of going to California or back to Iowa, Janet embraced an opportunity to pursue a program in printmaking at the University of Iowa, where her father had been an All-American football player. Mauricio Lasansky, an Argentine artist and educator known for his advanced techniques in intaglio printmaking, had just established a school there.

Upon attempting to register for Lasansky’s course, Janet was told she was too young. The course of study was exclusively for graduate students. She persisted, asking Lasansky directly to be allowed into the class. When he also told her she was too young, she replied, “I insist.” Her tenacity paid off. Lasansky asked to see her portfolio, and upon seeing it agreed to allow her into the class.

Janet’s insistence that she be allowed to study under Lasansky opened new doors for her to become a master printmaker. She studied etching, and when known techniques failed to produce the artistic result she desired, Janet experimented and developed her own methods. The fruit of one such experiment was an expansive stainless steel and plexiglass etching recreating the traffic on Park Avenue in New York City. The 85-foot-long masterpiece, composed of a series of eight-foot plates, was featured in a 1978 edition of the Emma Willard School Bulletin and pieces of it are still on display in Janet’s home.

In true Emma Willard form, Janet never allowed the “impossible” to stop her from bringing her vision to life. In more recent years, she has been known for her wall-sized paintings of Central Park. She has spent many days in the park painting plein air, observing the lovers, the dancers, the transients, the tourists. Transporting supplies each day from her studio to the park, Janet spreads her 9-foot by 15-foot canvas on the ground, and wields long-handled brushes to create watercolor sketches she will use to inspire later finished works.

Janet has become intrigued by the use of technology in art. In a recent showing of her work entitled Beholder at ArtYard in Frenchtown, New Jersey, she displayed her interpretation of the tango dancers in Central Park.

The 50-inch by 92-inch painting depicts the gathering of tango dancers around the Shakespeare statue on summer Saturday evenings. Superimposed over the painting is a video projection of dance, light, and movement that reveals and enhances the smallest of details in the painting. The display is choreographed to tango music. Beholder included a number of mixed media creations, drawing from Janet’s expertise in print-making juxtaposed with painting, video, photography, and sound.

Janet’s daughter, Kathy Ruttenberg, is a renowned artist in her own right, a self-described “visual storyteller” who is known for her ceramic sculptures. Upon entering Janet’s apartment, visitors are greeted by one of Kathy’s whimsical works, a life-sized sculpture of two girls playing with frogs around a tree called Where Have All the Princes Gone. When asked whether Kathy got her artistic talent from her, Janet replies, “Not really ...what she got from me was integrity. Artistic integrity.”

That integrity—faithfulness to her work and her artistic vision—has carried Janet throughout her life. Since her eye-opening visit to the Knoedler Gallery with Miss Page as an Emma Willard student, Janet has created a vast body of work. On the walls of her home, throughout her studio, and even stored in a barn in Pennsylvania, Janet’s lifetime of labor is a treasure just waiting to be discovered by new audiences.

Janet working on one of the large canvas watercolors in Central Park utilizing a longhandled brush to create a sketch that will inspire her finished work

Department Art with Purpose Art with Purpose May Van Norman ’98

May Van Norman '98, major gifts officer at the New York Philharmonic

May Van Norman ’98 was born to play the French horn. Her mother, Linda, was a music teacher and Manhattan School of Music horn graduate while her dad, Clarendon, spent his career as the principal horn of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. Growing up, May played “name the composer” with her parents, listening for hints of Beethoven, Bach, and Brahms as the radio played.

A gifted student and performer, May grew increasingly bored with the curriculum at her small public school. As she neared high school, playing in the school band wouldn’t be enough for her. The young musician needed the challenge of a full orchestra.

One hundred miles northeast of their small Catskill mountain town, the Van Norman family took their first trip to Troy for an open house at Emma Willard School. During a rehearsal led by Choir Director Russell Locke, the beautiful harmonies of early renaissance repertoire perked the ears of the young musician. Astounded by the conservatory approach of Mr. Locke, Linda McClusky’s dedication to building the orchestra program, and the academic rigor of the school, May enrolled for her sophomore year.

A member of the orchestra (the largest at a girls’ school at the time), co-head of Junior Singing Group (JSG) and Twelve-Tones, Choir, Inner Choir, and horn ensemble, May’s musical accomplishments spread far beyond Mount Ida. She was the principal hornist with the Empire State Youth Orchestra (ESYO), All-State Orchestra, and All-Eastern Orchestra. Following groundbreaking performances at Carnegie Hall and Tanglewood, The Albany Times Union dubbed May as delivering a “memorable horn solo.”

“I knew I enjoyed music before Emma Willard,” May says, “but all my activities there strengthened my background and really pushed me toward wanting to play horn for a career. The wonderful thing about Emma is that you are free to pursue whatever truly interests you.” May would receive a letter of acceptance to the Julliard School, the only freshman admitted into the French horn studio.

After years of rehearsals, concerts, and classes, May felt confident in her playing ability. The spring of her senior year, she attended an audition for the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra as nothing more than a practice run. It wasn’t until she had packed up her equipment that she thought, “Wow, that went really well.” She was right. The Hong Kong Philharmonic would go on to extend an invitation to the college senior.

In 2002, May Van Norman officially joined the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra, serving as second horn for seven years. While she had been to Asia before, her new role would provide the young musician with the ability to travel whenever she wasn’t performing. May visited places like Bali, Cambodia, and Laos during her time with the orchestra. During a 2004 trip to Barcelona, May actually ran into an Emma Willard classmate (Meghan Concra ’98, who played in horn quartet and ESYO with her) and also enjoyed a visit later that year from Linda Passaretti ’84, former director of alumnae relations, in China.

May served as Chair of the Hong Kong Philharmonic Players’ Committee for two years, helping to negotiate contracts on behalf of the musicians and build strategic plans to make orchestral music more accessible to the public. After the 2008 economic recession, May decided that playing music wasn’t enough to help the state of the world. “I wanted to do something more.”

After her seventh year in the orchestra, May took a sabbatical, enrolling in the Arts Administration Masters program at Columbia University. “I loved it because it got me back into academics [ ...] that other Emma side of my brain was working again.” During her second term, May began a development internship at the Metropolitan Opera, which later led to a permanent role. Four years later, the former musician joined State Theatre New Jersey, a not-for-profit community arts venue with a diverse roster of entertainment and educational programs.

May made strides during her six-year run at the State Theatre by exploring how to effectively break down barriers that prohibit segments of communities from having access to the arts. “Enhancing life for people of all kinds of socioeconomic backgrounds is really important to me.” As a fundraiser, May found joy in connecting her donors to unique projects that aligned with their core values, while expanding the arts through a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) lens. One of her most treasured projects involved bringing the first autism-friendly programming to the State Theatre.

“I’m not sure I would’ve pursued fundraising with as much interest without coming from Emma Willard,” says May—an ode to her days in Troy. These early memories of purpose and community service continue to ground May in her work as a Major Gifts Officer for the New York Philharmonic, and as she now assumes a new role as Associate Director of New Philanthropy for the San Francisco Symphony.

May in orchestral performance

The Intersection of Art & Community: Surpik Zarikian Angelini ’66

Art intersects nearly every facet of life in Caracas, Venezuela. Thanks to the oil boom of the early 1900s, Caracas became a hub for top engineers, architects, designers, and artists. Surpik Angelini ’66 recalls the exemplary architecture of the city’s public university, Universidad Central de Venezuela (UCV). Built by Carlos Raul Villanueva, who invited influential artists and Venezuelan abstract and kinetic masters to install pieces throughout the campus, UCV was later named a World Heritage Site.

Early exposure to Venezuelan architecture and private art collections housed in villas by well known national and international architects fed Surpik’s earliest cultural desires. Attending one of the few private nonreligious schools in Caracas, Surpik was encouraged by instructors who were accomplished poets, musicians, historians, artists, and scientists. “It was a fantastic environment where I was not only exposed to sophisticated art and literature, but encouraged by the exhibition and publication of my art in school venues.” Although Surpik was able to enjoy a high-level education, “[ ...] with that privilege came the painful awareness of the abyss that separated us from the majority of the population.”

After the elimination of Surpik’s high school program, her mother sought out the strictest boarding school in the United States, not for behavioral reasons, but out of discipline and protection. “My mother felt that if I stayed in Caracas, I would not have a chance to develop my talents, and I would probably follow the trend of getting married early, thus losing the opportunity to attend college, and have a career.” Surpik struggled greatly with being separated from close friends and family at age 15 when she first arrived at Emma Willard School.

At first glance, Surpik’s classmates mistook her for the new French instructor. “I was dressed in a suit, gloves and hat, it was my mother’s idea of looking well put together!” Adjusting to American teenybopper culture was difficult for Surpik, who hailed from a more formal background. “[ ...] in the end, being exposed to the sixties, the world of rock and roll, folk music, and modern ballet helped ease the binding I came with.

“By the time I went to Emma, I was certain that I would pursue the arts in the future, even though writing was always my best ally.” Surpik was named the editor-in-chief of Gargoyle her senior year. “I loved learning to layout a book, raising funds to improve the quality of photo reproductions.” The artist was also a member of Cum Laude group, an EW award student, and a two-time sculptural award winner. “What I loved about the program at Emma was its correlated interdisciplinary approach. I thought being immersed in the arts, literature, philosophy, while exploring a historical period in depth every year was fantastic.” This interdisciplinary approach would be mirrored throughout her creative process in college and later in life.

Surpik Angelini left Mount Ida for Mills College, a renowned liberal arts college in Oakland, CA to major in art history. “Once I got to Mills, it felt like an explosion of creative energy took over. My life was full of happenings.” Surpik further reflected, “It was a life-changing experience learning to value collaboration and the expanded experience it brings into your life.” Surpik would later return to New York, this time at Cornell, in collaboration with artist Gordon Matta-Clark for several performances on campus.

In 1971, Surpik notched another degree in architecture and urban planning at the Universidad Central de Venezuela. She would soon receive a BArch from the University of Houston and a PhD from Rice University. After exhibitions around the world, Surpik would settle on Houston, TX as home. “Houston has become an important hub of the best Latin American art. I am actively involved with the Museum [of Fine

Event spaces in Surpik’s Transart Foundation for Art and Anthropology offer a sense of intimacy while facilitating discussion and engagement

Arts] as well as with a community of LatinX artists working in town.”

After Surpik Angelini’s last exhibition, Psyche’s Ethnographic Report at Rice University, she created the Transart Foundation, a private, nonprofit organization for the purpose of supporting individual artists, scholars, curators, filmmakers, and directors whose work incorporates contemporary social research and cultural critique. “I created the Transart Foundation in order to collaborate with artists and scholars who focus on relevant social, anthropological, interdisciplinary research, incorporating it in their creative process. [ ...] Through my own research and writing, I try to contextualize artists’ work within a broader cultural framework. I support their art with financial grants as well, in ways that are pertinent to the projects they are developing.”

Surpik looked to a venue that could host events while creating an intimate space, much like the Venezuelan villas she grew up in. Completed in 2018, the Transart Foundation for Art and Anthropology in Houston is intended to accommodate visitors, exhibit art, and host dinners that spark conversations which engage broader community dialogue about the role art plays in the lives of people, providing a space for the critical intersection between art and anthropology.

No Limits: Joie Mitchell '15

Somewhere between school plays, vocal lessons, and dance classes at Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Joie Mitchell ’15 found time to apply to boarding school. She absolutely hated the idea of leaving home, but her mother encouraged her to be open-minded about the experience. “Go for a year and if you don’t like it, you can come home.” The strong-willed middle schooler reluctantly accepted the offer, enrolling in Emma Willard School that fall.

The charismatic artist had no trouble making friends once she arrived at campus, but ultimately struggled with being away from home. (Joie now knows that she was functioning with anxiety during this time.) The momentum swing Joie needed was Revels. “I had seen so many plays and so many movies, but I had never seen anything like that,” Joie recalls. “Everyone was so excited that entire week. And going into that room… the rumble of the stage and the seats… it was just a whole body experience.” She continues, “I went home that Christmas break and was like ‘I have to be in that. So, I am going to be at this school because I have to do that production.’”

Joie Mitchell starred as Lady Anne in the 100th rendition of Revels, but it would be one of the few theatre productions of her Emma career. A chameleon of the arts, the high schooler lived in Slocum’s dance studio. She dedicated all of her time to the second family she had built, becoming cohead of Dance Company her senior year. While the dancer wished her packed schedule would allow for another art discipline, Joie acknowledged the sacrifice was worth it. “I never felt like I was lacking anything as the years went on.”

Dance Company, specifically Director Barbara Magee, helped Joie “blossom as a creator.” Magee, who also doubled as Mitchell’s faculty advisor, “was like a second mom” to the young star. She built trust with her pupils by welcoming them into her creative process, giving them an opportunity to build high-level choreography under her guidance. It was through this experiential learning, Joie explains, “I got a taste of creating my own material and where that could take me in life.”

When the senior landed an audition at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, her peers were shocked. It wasn’t the actual audition that raised eyebrows, but the program she was applying for. After a four-year hiatus, Joie was ready to get back to her first love of acting. The actress remembers the buzz of audition day, which quickly disappeared once the group began a full body warm up. “Unless you’ve had dance training or formal acting training, you don’t know how to get into your body.” While others were thrown for a loop, Joie rejoiced in the intersection of her disciplines. “The dance world is what prepared me to be an actor.”

The following year, Joie was back on the New York art scene as an NYU student. Joie joined Stonestreet Studios her junior year, an advanced program dedicated exclusively to Tisch Drama students. The young creative learned the business of acting through filmmaking, production, and producing. Much like her time at Emma, Joie continued to shape her own world, building a network of self-starters who sought value in the intricacies of art rather than stardom. After all, New York City was notorious for tempting creatives with glimmers of fame.

In 2019, Joie graduated with a BFA from NYU Tisch. That same year, she released her debut EP, “Afros have more fun,” and joined the digital world of YouTube. As an additional revenue stream to fund her art projects, Joie signed onto a daytime position at Con Edison, New York’s leading energy company. Just like at Emma, Joie Mitchell packed her days tightly to practice her craft.

Last March, the New Yorker watched in horror as NYC fell victim to the global pandemic. As the city became the epicenter of the nation's crisis, Joie retreated to Westchester County, where she has safely remained since. For Joie, the closure of the New York theatre scene was devastating for herself and other young actors looking for work. Mitchell looked at the quarantine period as a “[personal] challenge to stay in touch with your creativity as best as you can.”

Joie in a recent theatrical performance

Joie Mitchell’s journey through the arts is a metaphor for life: no matter what path you take or where you go, you never have to limit your creativity. In the last year, Joie has taken on a variety of performing arts projects. Currently, she is working on an upcoming web series, developing scripts via zoom with a college writing partner in Romania, creating music socially distant with friends, and learning the electric guitar. She’s also making waves on YouTube, using her technical education from NYU to produce and manage her channel.