Administrative Staff
Image coming soon!
Cindy Wadkins
Bookkeeper & Registrar
[email protected]
Cindy graduated with a Masters in International Management from Thunderbird in Glendale, AZ, and is a certified bookkeeper. She joined the J in 2015 and has loved using her left brain strengths through bookkeeping to support right brain activity through the arts. One of Cindy’s proudest accomplishments at the J was streamlining the financial data and reporting to further the J’s growth.
One of Cindy’s favorite memories from the J was taking an enamel earring class with her sister. Her earliest experience of art was drawing portraits of her pets at age nine. An interesting fact about Cindy is that she grew up in Iran, Australia, and the Philippines and loves learning languages.
Amanda Slusser
Marketing Manager
[email protected]
Amanda brings her passion and expertise in Marketing with over 7 years working for startups. With her educational background in digital design along with her experience in website management and brand development, she is a powerhouse in crafting together a compelling marketing strategy. She is a wiz at taking ideas and creating eye-catching and cohesive visual storytelling.
Margaret Irvine
Volunteer & Events Coordinator
[email protected]
Margaret brings an extensive background in customer service and event planning to the Jansen Art Center. Upon retiring in 2003 after 40 years at Nordstrom’s, Margaret became the Executive Director of the Greater Queen Anne Chamber of Commerce in Seattle.
Five years later, after living in the heart of Seattle for 45 years, Margaret and her husband followed the family to Whatcom County where she joined the staff of the Jansen Art Center in 2012. Margaret brings life to the J through our volunteers and events. She has seen the Jansen Art Center become one of the most valued arts centers in the Pacific Northwest.
Terry Sacks
Volunteer Coordinator
[email protected]
Terry moved to Bellingham from the Midwest, 18 years ago to run the speech therapy clinic at WWU. In that position, she worked closely with the graduate students, clients and their families, WWU staff, and the community. She has also performed in numerous professional and community plays and improv competitions throughout the Midwest and PNW. She is currently teaching theater and improv at the J. Terry started volunteering at the J in 2020 and knew as soon as she walked into the building that the J would be her happy place. In January she was hired as the volunteer coordinator. Terry has always prioritized collaboration and teaching in her personal and professional life.
Studio Leaders
Karen Visser
Music Studio & Performance Coordinator
Karen has taught the orchestra program at Lynden Christian Schools for 19 years and has taught private violin lessons for over 40 years. She has also played in the Bellingham Symphony Orchestra since it first started in 1976. Her mother was a musician and a teacher so music has always been a part of her life.
Karen is honored and thrilled to be involved with the planning and facilitating of what happens at the J and strives to bring great programs and classes to the community and beyond. One of her favorite things about the J is the many opportunities it provides for live music and performances and the beautiful chamber hall that brings musicians and audiences together to engage in a personal setting.
Judith Gauthier
Jewelry Studio Manager & Instructor
Judith has been in the metalwork/jewelry-making world for the past 45 years. She studied art education with an emphasis on silversmithing at the University of Montana. Working for several jewelry production companies throughout the years, Judith has learned the ins and outs of metal fabrication. Judith enjoys art because it is essential in feeding the creative soul.
She prides herself in helping develop the jewelry studio downstairs in the J when it first opened in 2012. One of Judith’s favorite experiences from the J is creating the jewelry challenge called “Falling Out of the Box.” She loves the exciting and amazing entries that are submitted by artists from around the country.
Leah Meleski
Metalsmithing & Jewelry Instructor
Leah was born and raised in Connecticut and moved to Massachusetts in 2004 to pursue her dream of creating jewelry. She graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Art Education and Fine Arts 3D/Metals from Massachusetts College of Art and Design in 2008 and has been teaching and creating jewelry ever since. Leah, as a former middle school art teacher, found that she loves teaching but found her true passion for teaching in continuing education classes for adults. She finds joy in seeing the drive of students in continuing education classes because they truly want to be there to learn.
Leah is proud of the partnerships between Whatcom Community College and the J’s jewelry studio and assisting with (and winning!) a grant from the Robert B. McMillen Foundation. She believes that art is something that everyone can do, it is just a matter of thinking outside the box and expressing what is inside. A fun fact about Leah is that she currently has a piece of artwork in the world’s largest and most comprehensive collection of teapots.
Sheri Ward
Textiles Studio Committee Member
Sheri has been a weaver for many years. She was first introduced to weaving through a non-academic class during graduate school in which she learned how to weave on a frame loom. Sheri really enjoyed the class and later her husband gave her a small table loom and she has been weaving ever since. She first started teaching at the J to teach new people how to weave after the local Weavers Guild was going through a low point.
Sheri believes art is important to a community because it builds community. She has witnessed this herself in the textile studio through weaving classes. Because weaving classes are often four weeks long, people at the end of the class become friends and form their own small community. Sheri’s proudest accomplishment involving the J was being a part of the growing Textile studio through support from each other and the J.
Marcia Ford
Textiles Studio Committee Member
Marcia has had a lifelong interest in fabrics and is a long time weaver, spinner, and crafter. Marcia began weaving in college when she minored in Clothing and Textiles and took her first weaving class and was hooked.
One of her favorite memories from the J is seeing yards of fabric unrolled from a loom and realizing that each cross thread was hand positioned. Accomplishments involving the J that she is most proud of are helping with WWGuild sales in the concert hall, sharing weaving experiences with the group of textile studio participants, and exhibiting in various displays. Marcia believes art is important to a community because life can become technical and repetitive and art gives the opportunity to express visual, auditory, and tactile senses directly.
Image coming soon!
Isabella (Bella) Wetzler
Interim Ceramics Manager
I just moved up here from Utah where I was studying forest ecology but over the past couple of years, I’ve been pretty heavily involved in USU’s ceramic department and I’m currently in the clay club at the Baker Creek studio.
Lisa Christianson
Textiles Studio Committee Member
Lisa’s love of art began early when she learned to draw as a child. She was a beekeeper before joining the textiles studio at the J.
Lisa’s proudest accomplishment involving the J is the textiles group organizing a wool show at a local fair. A favorite experience of hers at the J is taking a weaving class and interacting with fellow community members. She believes art is important to a community because art is an embodiment of the spirit of the community and of the individual.
Erica McCurdy
Textiles Studio Committee Member
Bio coming soon.
Joan Cunningham
Textiles Studio Committee Member
Bio coming soon.
Board of Directors
Jenny Weeks
President
Jenny is a certified public accountant and has been a long-time sponsor of the J. She has helped the J with various accounting tasks throughout the years and is also a fourth-generation Lynden-ite!
Chet Noll
Vice President
Linda Enfield
Secretary
Linda is a longtime supporter of the Jansen Art Center and a lifelong resident of Lynden. She is the former co-owner of Hamann’s Gallery in Bellingham and currently part of the Enfield Farms organization.
Adrienne Stewart
Treasurer
Adrienne has been Board Director for many organizations close to her heart. She believes that art connects people and creates a community regardless of ethnicity, economic status, geographic location, gender, or age.
Chuck Robinson
Director
Chuck is passionate about building community and has served on more than 15 nonprofit boards. He and his wife Dee owned Village Books with a mission of “Building Community One Book at a Time.”
Jeffery McClure
Director
Jeffery is the founder of RMC Architects. He is proud to be a part of an active and committed Board of Directors who is interested in extending the reach of the J.
Sue Sharpe
Director
Bio coming soon.
Susan Laine
Director
Terry Redden
Director
Terry learned a long time ago that art decorates our history and believes it is important to every community. He uses his problem-solving skills to help an organization that supports his creative interests.
Heidi Doornenbal
Founder & Emeritus Director
Heidi has been an influential Lynden community member. Inspired by her mother Eleanor Jansen, she founded the Jansen Art Center out of a need for a place to showcase creativity and to give opportunities to engage in the arts.
Brad Williamson
Emeritus Director
Brad has many years of experience as the president of the transportation company LTI and has served on various nonprofit boards.