We are fortunte to have robust Artists-in-Residence programs in all divisions here at Westtown. This year, three artsists worked with students to share their talents and create special works with students.
The Lower School welcomed Margaux McAllister as our 2025 Candace Freeman Artist-in-Residence. The Lower School Artist-in-Residence program is coordinated by Lower School art teachers, Kelly Nicholson and Jane Chesson. Margaux is a multi-disciplinary artist whose recent work has featured various fiber techniques to explore the theme of identity. Throughout the residency, Margaux worked alongside PK – 5th grade students during their art classes to teach the process of rug tufting using punch needles. Students learned about working collaboratively while practicing new fiber-based skills. They will be able to continue building upon this work as we integrate these new techniques into our Lower School Art Studios after the residency concludes. Margaux took the students’ work back to her Phoenixville studio to assemble a collaborative fiber work, and it was installed in the Lower School this spring. You can see the final piece in the Gathering Room.
The Candace Freeman Artist-in-Residence Program began over thirty years ago and focuses on bringing professional artists to Westtown Lower School to share their artistic process and inspiration with our students. The opportunity for young artists to work alongside a professional artist is a valuable and an important piece of our arts curriculum. You can see many of the Artist-in-Residence projects from years past throughout the Lower School hallways.
This spring Middle School and art teachers Cindy Hodgson and Marta Willgoose Salo welcomed Stephane Rowley, Philadelphia-based mixed media artist, as the visiting artist. Stephane collaborated with students using weaving, quilting, embroidering, sewing by machine and hand, knitting, and more to create a fiber piece which will be installed in the CLA. Students explored textile traditions, especially pertaining to reuse and repair such as Kantha, Sashiko, and piecework quilting to create an installation to minimise and upcycle textile waste. See her work with students here!
The Upper School was thrilled to have Westtown alum Sarah Bourne Rafferty ’00 as the McLear Artist in Residence this year. Sarah worked with students to create cyanotype prints and together they created the beautiful work that hangs in the CLA Jehan ’94 and Jeannie Chu Gallery, pictured below.
Sarah’s work ranges from photographs to books to prints with a particular love for alternative process/non-silver photography. She is engaged in a line of inquiry that stretches beyond a particular medium. Sarah is mesmerized by the interweaving of thoughts into words. She is consistently inspired by the natural world, be it her small back yard or adventures on mountain tops far away. Parts of the natural world often appear intertwined with words or lines of text as she tries to dissect what is happening with the changing of the seasons and how they can relate to communication.
She is the founder of Atwater Designs, a cyanotype design studio that produces original cyanotypes, fine art prints and paper goods. Her more experimental and personal work is what appears here in her portfolio. She is also a teacher of photography to high school students and finds working with students to be integral in her process. Sarah’s work has been shown both nationally and internationally. She currently lives, makes, and teaches in Southeastern PA.
