Faculty

Meet the Faculty

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Zen Cohen

Assistant Professor of Art and Film Studies, Film Studies Program Co-Coordinator

B.F.A., California College of the Arts
M.F.A., University of California, Davis

Email: zcohen@coe.edu

Zen Cohen (she/her) teaches digital practices including time-based media, digital photography and graphic design. Her work as an intermedia artist has been nationally exhibited at the deYoung Museum, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, SFMOMA, Blum & Poe Gallery, ARTSpace New Haven, Vanity Projects, and internationally at the Museo de Arte Moderno in Mexico City and Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno in the Canary Islands. Her photographs have been published in Hyperallergic, Art Practical, Routledge and Southern Illinois University Press. She is the founder and director of Open Air Media Festival, an outdoor media arts program in Iowa City. This program recently received a Grants for Arts Projects from the National Endowment of the Arts (NEA). She is currently researching book arts as a form of time-based media at the University of Iowa Center for the Book. www.zencohenprojects.com  www.zencohenstudio.com

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Aunna Escobedo

Director of Galleries and Collections, Instructor of Art

B.A., Mount Mercy University
M.F.A., University of North Texas

Email: aescobedo@coe.edu

Aunna Escobedo (She/They) teaches two-dimensional artwork, with emphasis in printmaking and drawing. They’ve worked as an art educator and advocate for equitable opportunities within the arts for many years, including non-profits and higher education institutions. As a visual artist, they investigate the human experience mirrored within the natural world. Their studio practice embraces printmaking’s methodical qualities while integrating spontaneity and adaptation of unexpected forms. They have served on the Mid American Print Council board, and recently participated as a panelist at the Southern Graphics Council International conference (2022). They have exhibited nationally in Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Ohio, California, Colorado, Texas, and internationally in Italy and Cuba. 

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Ranelle Knight-Lueth

Assistant Professor of Art History

B.A., South Dakota State University
M.A., University of Iowa                                Ph.D., University of Iowa

Email: rlueth@coe.edu

Ranelle Knight-Lueth (she/her) received her Ph.D.  from the University of Iowa in 2015. Her dissertation focuses on the combat art of World War I, for which she received national fellowships from the Center of Military History and the Norman Rockwell Center for American Visual Studies. Since then, she has researched and lectured on other arts created during the Great War as well as other topics, including women in American art, Italian fascist art, and art of the National Parks. While serving as the Director of Galleries and Collections at Coe from 2015-2019, she developed a passion for teaching Museum Studies topics. Ranelle has participated in select national symposia and consortiums, and she continues to curate exhibitions at Coe and with regional museums, serve as a guest lecturer, and speak at academic conferences.

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Jennifer Rogers

Robert O. Daniel Associate Professor of Art, Art and Art History Department Chair

B.A., Coe College
M.F.A., University of Minnesota, Twin Cities

Email: jrogers@coe.edu

Jennifer Rogers teaches Ceramics and Sculpture. She received a Bachelor of Arts from Coe College in 2003 and a Masters of Fine Arts from the University of Minnesota (Twin Cities) in 2007. Her ceramic and sculptural installations take the form of imagined worlds. Inspired by interior and exterior spaces, natural patterns, and complex compositional arrangements, these environments offer quiet, yet dramatic glimpses into the familiar. She has exhibited her work nationally at a wide range of venues including Northern Clay Center, The Other Art Fair at Mana Contemporary Art, Urban Institute for Contemporary Art, Soap Factory, Rosalux Gallery, Pelham Art Center, Mainframe Studios, ArtLab at the Krasl Art Center, and The Clay Studio. www.jenrogers.net

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Emeritus and Retired Faculty

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