Introducing the New Faculty of the School of Art & Design : School of Art and Design : Texas State University

Joshua Duttweiler

Joshua Duttweiler is a designer, artist, researcher, and educator. His multi-disciplinary practice encompasses personal, collaborative, and client-based projects focused on social justice and community building. His work is a critical exploration of local societal systems and constructs that makes way for new voices to be heard. Joshua exhibits work nationally and internationally and has presented and published research through AIGA, CAA, USDA, and APHA conferences and journals. He is the co-founder of Riso-Rama, an annual independent publishing symposium in Texas.

Joshua holds a BFA in Applied Design and Visual Communication from Houghton University and an MFA in Graphic Design from Boston University.

Teaching Interests:
Publication Design, Risograph, Design History, Interactive Design, UI/UX Design, Social Justice, Community Engagement, Typography

Research interests:

Archival research, community engagement, emerging technologies, conceptual frameworks, collaborative making

Faculty member and Artist, Joshua Duttweiler

Tamara Johnson

Tamara Johnson is an artist, educator and curator working primarily in sculpture, installation, and public art. Her work delves into the nuances of domestic objects, binding humor, sensuality and vulnerability tightly together. Using a wide range of materials from bronze to silicone rubber, Johnson unravels the meaning and metaphors embedded in the familiar. Johnson obtained her BFA from the University of Texas at Austin and her MFA in Sculpture from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). Her projects have been exhibited at The Nasher Sculpture Center, the Saint Louis Art Museum, The Blanton Museum of Art, Carillon Gallery at Tarrant County College, the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, the Fort Worth Modern, Keijsers Koning Gallery, Lora Reynolds Gallery, Jonathan Hopson Gallery and in New York; Socrates Sculpture Park, The CUE Art Foundation, Wave Hill Public Garden and Cultural Center, International Objects and Maria Hernandez Park in Brooklyn. Johnson has been awarded grants from the Brooklyn Arts Council, The Foundation for Contemporary Art, the Santo Foundation, Southern Methodist University (SMU), the Meadows Museum 2022 Moss/Chumley Award, and recently a National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Project Grant for Sweet Pass Sculpture Park. In 2018, Johnson and partner, Trey Burns, opened Sweet Pass Sculpture Park - a nonprofit art space featuring outdoor projects by emerging and mid-career artists on a rotating basis.

Nishra Ranpura

Nishra Ranpura is an interdisciplinary designer, researcher, and creative technologist. She earned her Bachelor in Textile Design from National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), in Gandhinagar, India, and holds an MFA with honors in Design and Technology from Parsons School of Design, The New School, in New York, along with a minor in Anthropology and Design. Her work explores the interactions between the physical and the digital through experimental and speculative narratives. She researches, practices, and teaches across the disciplines of new media, digital fabrication, digital design, creative technology, and design research. Essentially, she makes things and breaks things. Sometimes, she writes, and oftentimes, she wonders.

Vic Rodriguez Tang

Vic (they/them) is a queer Peruvian-Chinese creative human from Lima, Peru. Before transitioning to higher education, they practiced as a designer and art director in the Dallas and Austin areas since 2008. They hold an MFA in Graphic Design from the Vermont College of Fine Arts and a BFA in Design Communication from Texas A&M Commerce. Before joining Texas State as an Assistant Professor, they taught in The School of Design and Creative Technologies at The University of Texas in Austin from 2021 to 2024 as an Assistant Professor of Practice in Design, where they taught across all their undergraduate and graduate design programs.

Vic's main research area focuses on the ever-evolving topic of gender biases in graphic design. Their research has speculated and continues to discover that creatives sometimes don't realize that they're biased when creating new work since these biases have been ingrained in us since an early age. Throughout the years, they have worked to develop different tools based on their research and findings that address simple questions with more complex roots, such as "Why is pink typically associated with femininity?"

As an educator, their goal was to develop an approachable tool to help others facilitate conversations about this topic, especially in design. They have done so through their book, "Pink Circles, Blue Squares: A Practical Guide to Help Fight Gender Biases in Graphic Design." Their approach was to create an accessible and inviting resource that compiles historical and sociological aspects of the origins of gender biases in graphic design and provides information that can be used as a starting point. Their book also provides exercises, workshops, tips, and other critical information that others can take to facilitate a safe space and further the conversation regarding gender biases in graphic design. As they continue their research, their goal is to continue expanding their research to bring that information in a digestible manner and apply it to their pedagogy.

Vic's work has been recognized by TEXAS Research's Hamilton Book Awards, The Dallas Society of Visual Communication, The One Show in New York, HOW's Logo Design Awards, Fast Company, PRINT Magazine, and HOW's International Design Awards.

Tammie Rubin

Tammie Rubin, a ceramic sculptor and installation artist, is known for her unique approach that explores the inherent power of objects and coded symbols as signifiers, wishful contraptions, and mythic relics. Her work intertwines familial, historical, and literary narratives of Black American citizenry, migration, and faith. Rubin's academic journey includes a BFA in Ceramics and Art History from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and an MFA in Ceramics from the University of Washington in Seattle. Rubin has received residencies at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Penland School of Craft, and Pottery Northwest and just completed a summer residency at Sculpture Space Inc. She is the 2022 Tito's Prize winner and a 2024 USA Fellow in Craft.

Rubin's work has been exhibited at numerous venues, including Project Row Houses, Houston, TX; the Hessel Museum of Art at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY; AGBS Christian-Green Gallery at the University of Texas at Austin, Mulvane Art Museum, KS; George Washington Carver Museum, Austin, TX; Indianapolis Art Center, Indianapolis, IN; The Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, TX; Women & Their Work Gallery, Austin, TX; Rivalry Projects, Buffalo, NY; and Ruiz-Healy Art, San Antonio, TX. Rubin is represented by Galleri Urbane, Dallas, TX., and C24 Gallery, New York, NY.

Rubin's artwork has received reviews in online and print publications such as Artforum, The Brooklyn Rail, Oxford American, Art in America, Glasstire, Austin Chronicle, Sightlines, Conflict of Interest, Arts and Culture Texas, and Ceramics: Art & Perception. She is a member of ICOSA Collective, a non-profit cooperative gallery. Born and raised in Chicago, Rubin moved to Austin in 2015. She was an Associate Professor of Ceramics & Sculpture at St. Edward's University. She is delighted to join Texas State University as an Associate Professor in the School of Art and Design.

Faculty and artist, Tammie Rubin with her work.

Jean McKetta

Dorothy Jean McKetta received her degrees in Studio Art and Art History (BA and BFA, 2007; MA, 2012; PhD, 2024) from the University of Texas at Austin, most recently earning her PhD in 2024 with the dissertation “Giorgio Morandi: Los Angeles, 1961.” Her art historical work draws connections between post-war art worlds in Italy and the United States. As a writer and instructor, McKetta often incorporates elements of her studio training into her approaches to art history and criticism.

Ryan Lewis

Ryan is a multidisciplinary designer & illustrator working out of San Marcos, TX. He studied in the ComDes program at Texas State University graduating in 2011. Since that time, Ryan has worked for a variety of clients from Texas A&M to Pluralsight.

In recent years, Ryan has specialized in creating illustration systems for brands wanting to express themselves in fun and unique ways.

Steven Smith

After several (arguably misspent) post-college years in NY performing improv and sketch comedy, Steven studied design at the School of Visual Arts and tipped headlong into a multi-disciplinary design career. He's worked at design agencies, consultancies and on dedicated digital product teams, leading teams that scale Design Operations and Human-Centered Design at USAA, Realtor.com and Nike. Through teaching undergraduate design, he discovered a passion for coaching and 1:1 personal and professional development. He likes design, but he loves helping artists and designers discover their creative voice and do their best work. Steven lives in South Austin with his partner Claire and their canine son, Clover.

Monica Mohnot

Monica Mohnot (b.1982, India) is an artist, a teacher, and a mother who lives and works in Bee Caves, Texas. Her paintings frequently depict abstract bodily forms, simplified landscapes, and idiosyncratic patterns. Monica received her MFA in Studio Arts from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2023 and her BFA in Studio Art from Texas State University in 2019. She has shown her work throughout Texas, as well as nationally. Monica is a member of the Austin-based ICOSA Collective. You can view her work on her website.