Board of Directors

DAN CONKLIN, President

Dan grew up in Albuquerque, but career opportunities ultimately drew him to the “big city". He has been an inveterate doodler and drawer from an early age, and over time attempted to smooth the rough edges with studio courses in sculpture, ceramics and acrylic painting at Vanderbilt, UCLA and the Art Student’s League in NYC. After living and working in Los Angeles, New York, Sydney, Hong Kong and Shanghai, he returned to the Land of Green Chile and picked up his art studies in early 2012 with an acrylic workshop taught by Angus Macpherson. He amazed everyone with the fact that his paints from his UCLA days were still good. Later that year, he attended a demo at the New Mexico Art League given by “Local Treasure” J. Waid Griffin. Landscape in Oil courses with Waid soon followed. With momentum building, Dan became arguably the Art League’s best customer with further landscape classes taught by Tom Blazier and Jeff Otis. His focus broadened to portrait and the figure, which gave him the pleasure of paint and drawing under the guidance of Cynthia Rowland, MJ Manford, Shana Levinson and Leo Neufeld.  He has been most inspired by Cynthia Rowland, though her deep and contagious love of art and superb instruction. Recognizing the need to keep honing the basic skills of making art, Dan has most recently benefitted from the lively and fundamentals-focused teaching of Vasili Katakis. His perspectives classes are not to be missed.

BRIGID CONKLIN, Vice President

Brigid grew up in the Chicago area surrounded by art. Before she was school age, she accompanied her mother on the local art league's plein air outings and no family visit to Chicago was complete without a trip to the Art Institute. While she has always loved art, she had had no art instruction since she was a girl until she enrolled in a beginning drawing class at the New Mexico Art League in 2013. She has taken classes at the Art League ever since. Brigid has a background in corporate banking and has served on advisory committees for a charity and for an international school while living in Shanghai, China. She is a member of the Pastel Society of New Mexico and is excited to be involved with the Art League.

JUDITH WAGNER, Treasurer

A New Mexico native, Judy has been a longtime friend, member and student at the New Mexico Art League. A very accomplished painter herself, Judy shows her work regularly in local arts organization shows including many of the Art League's exhibitions. Her impressive professional career began after she received her BSc degree in Mathematics at the University of New Mexico and and completed post graduate work in accounting at the Robert O. Anderson School of Management, also at UNM. A CPA (Retired), Judy's broad range of expertise lead her to work with state and federal courts as an expert in  Financial Forensics and she was often invited to speak to universities, state agencies and professional organizations presenting topics such as Ethical Decision Making and Governance. Judy was recognized for her remarkable work in 2009 and received the FBI Director's Community Leadership Award in Washington DC. She is a recipient of the New Mexico Ethics in Business award for individual excellence in Ethics. She has served on several nonprofit and professional organization boards of directors, and has recently joined our team at the New Mexico Art League bringing her years of experience and expertise to advise and guide the Art League as it continues to grow and evolve.

CAROYLN BERRY

Carolyn Berry has been passionate about teaching art for over 25 years. As a public school teacher, she has been named Outstanding Kansas Educator of the Year and has taught workshops for the Kansas City Art Institute Continuing Education, the Nelson Atkins Museum, Arrowmont School of Arts & Crafts and various art centers. Working primarily with collage, photography and encaustic wax, her encaustic mixed media work can be seen in the recent North Light Book publications, Incite3 and Incite 4. She maintains a studio and exhibits in the Albuquerque, NM area. Carolyn's work can be found in collections throughout the United States.

KATHLEEN BUTLER

Kathleen was born and raised in Berkeley, California. Her parents and grandparents were avid museum-goers, and supporters of the arts which greatly influenced Kathleen. She received her BA in art history from Mills College, and her MA and PhD in art history from UC Berkeley. Having spent her career in museums and higher education in northern California, she retired to Albuquerque where she began taking classes at the New Mexico Art League. Kathleen has found not only excellent instructors at the Art League, but a wonderful community of individuals whose creativity is a constant source of inspiration. Kathleen is also a member of the New Mexico Watercolor Society.

ELAINE SCHEIDEMAN

Elaine’s early education was in different countries due to a military family.  She went to high school and university in Southern California. She earned her BFA at UCLA and her MFA at USC.  Both degrees were with an emphasis in Costume Design from the Dept. of Theatre.  She spent many years working as a Costume Supervisor in the Motion Picture Industry in Los Angeles.  In later years, she was the Director of Costumes for Warner Bros. Studio Facilities. She retired to Albuquerque and began taking art classes at the New Mexico Art League. Her passion is for watercolors.  Elaine is a huge fan of the Art League; the instructors, breadth of classes and the facility.  She looks forward to helping the Art League’s growth and development. 

AMELIA (MELLIE) MEYER

Mellie grew up in Kansas and came to New Mexico 30 years ago where she began taking art classes and further developing a lifetime interest in drawing and painting.  She began her work life as a reporter and news editor for a daily newspaper, taught journalism in West Africa with the Peace Corps, and then worked for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in public affairs. After taking off a few years to raise her daughters, she worked for two decades as a nonprofit executive director, first for Common Cause New Mexico and then for the New Mexico Psychological Association (NMPA). She continues to love her classes at the NM Art League, and is currently an artist member and serves on the board at Gallery ABQ.

BETSY GREENLEE

Betsy grew up in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and from an early age enjoyed watercolorpainting in nature with her mother. Still, it was not until mid-life, living and working In Ann Arbor,Michigan, that she had the opportunity to study art formally. Beginning with drawing classes atWashtenaw Community College, she eventually earned both bachelor of fine arts and master offine arts degrees from Eastern Michigan University, with a concentration in serigraphy andintaglio printmaking. After moving to New Mexico in 1998, she began working primarily inpastels, occasionally in acrylics and mixed media, and received numerous awards in both localand national shows. In 2011 Betsy returned to her first love, printmaking, after taking a class ina nontoxic process of making prints from photosensitive plates. Her prints have been includedin shows at the New Mexico Art League and Remarque Print Workshop. She is a member and former president of the Pastel Society of New Mexico. Betsy is delighted to have the opportunity to serve on the board of the New Mexico Art League during this period of transitionto a new director.

Art League Staff