Faculty

Our seasoned illustration faculty come from successful careers nationally and globally. They take pride in helping their students refine their technical and narrative skills, always with an eye on meeting deadlines and pleasing their future clients.

Department Chair

Larry Kresek
MA, Syracuse University; BA, Illustration, Eckerd College.

Formerly, Mr. Kresek was the first Chair of Illustration at the Ringling School of Art and Design and was instrumental in that department’s growth and national reputation. He has been a professional freelance illustrator since 1970, specializing in science fiction paperback book illustration, with clients such as Doubleday, Warner Books, Fawcett and Dell publishing, as well as a creator of art for movie posters, advertising agencies and magazines for clients in the New York City area, and throughout the Southeast and China. Mr. Kresek has been included in “Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers,” and has earned national recognition as an award winner, exhibitor, and judge for the New York Society of Illustrators, where he serves as a member of the Student Outreach Committee. Currently, Mr. Kresek is developing a wide range of projects with his wife Joan for their business, Kresek Art Studio.

Core Faculty

Hugh Alexander
MA, University of Northern Colorado; BFA, Art Center College of Design; BA, Pacific University.

Illustrator. Clients include: Adolph Coors Corp., Apple Computers, Burlington Northern, Butler Paper, CBS, Fuller Brush Corp., Gates Rubber Co., IBM, Motorola Electronics, Road + Track, Sports Car International, and Union Pacific.

David Collins
MFA, Painting, New York Academy of Art; BA, Art History and BFA, Creative Arts / Painting, University of Colorado at Denver.

Mr. Collins has worked in various fields of artistic production, including fine art figure, still life and landscape painting, portraiture, advertising, interior design (murals), toy/ novelty design, and communications design. He has worked for Parker Blake Design on designing and/or painting murals for Casinos in Blackhawk, Colorado, and Las Vegas (The Green Valley Ranch Hotel and Casino). An expert in human and animal anatomy for artists, his oil paintings have been shown in the National Arts Club, New York City; Tribeca Hall, New York City; R.L. Foster Gallery, Denver; Gallery 821, Denver; Milsap-Moore Gallery, Evergreen, Colorado; and the Millicent Rogers Museum, Taos, New Mexico.

Joan Kresek
BFA, Ringling College of Art and Design.

Ms. Kresek’s career includes positions as a publication designer, mural painter, interpretative painter, and instructor. She paints for both galleries and commission, having worked with designers for 20 years. Her work is in collections in Florida, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Colorado.

Paul Yalowitz
BFA, Illustration, School of Visual Arts.

Mr. Yalowitz, a popular children’s book illustrator, has been a freelance illustrator since 1983 and, before joining the RMCAD faculty, was an illustration faculty member at Ringling School of Art and Design. Recent children’s books include: The Runaway Latkes, South Pole Santa, Mary Veronica’s Egg, Moonstruck, Catty Cornered, Nell Nugget and the Cow Caper, and Hurricane Music. Clients include Atlantic Monthly Magazine, AT&T, Child Magazine, Hallmark, Life Magazine, Metropolitan Home Magazine, New York Times, Ogilvy and Mather, and Sports Illustrated Magazine.

Adjunct Faculty

Stephen Collins
MFA, Academy of Art University, in progress; BFA, Illustration, Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design.

Mr. Collins’s research is in concept design for the gaming and film industries. His work includes book, editorial, graphic novel, portraiture, human and animal anatomy and osteology, landscape and architectural perspective and set design, vehicle design and rendering, character and costume design, imaginative creature design and digital painting. Mr. Collins continues to focus on the art of traditional illustrative storytelling, using both traditional academic studies and modern tools of illustration and fine arts. His clients and projects include Renton’s International, Nostalgia Racing, Summit Historical Society, Denver School of the Arts, and Parker Blake Design Firm. Mr. Collins’s current focus is portraiture and figurative painting.

Cherish Flieder
BFA, Illustration, Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design; BFA, Design, Painting and Drawing, Colorado Christian University.

Ms. Flieder is an illustrator and designer who focuses on how form and function can embody concept, color and texture. She is the founder of Cherished Solutions, LLC., an illustration and design studio that assists publishers, manufacturers and other niche businesses with art services and thoughtful print and web marketing strategies. Cherished Solutions, LLC. manages art licensing brands Something to Cherish^® and Painting for Life™ and specializes in illustrated children’s books. She was formerly senior graphic designer at Tehama^®, a golf fashion manufacturing company, developing creative designs and illustrations for their Clint Eastwood, IZOD G^® and Arnold Palmer labels. While at Tehama she created fashion and technical illustrations, designed print patterns, graphics and embroidery designs. Ms. Flieder serves as Vice President of the Colorado Alliance of Illustrators.

Elliott Lang

Alicia McKim Tweed
MFA, Printmaking, University of Colorado at Boulder; BA, Fine Art, Western State College.

Ms. McKim Tweed’s creative work is a composite of traditional and experimental techniques in printmaking and book arts with an emphasis on the written word as visual image. Her work is exhibited internationally and is in numerous public and private collections.

Kristen Seaton
BFA, Illustration, Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design.