Effective April 26, 2022

The board of directors is confirmed by the membership each June. The board then selects its officers in July.

Judith Becker
Board of Directors

Judith Becker received a BS in Design, Certificate of Education, University of Michigan and MS in Education, Monmouth University. She is most proud of being an art educator. Teaching people the joys of producing art, of finding solace and pleasure in the art process is a gift she gives in return for the joy it brings to her. In addition to painting and instructing in various media, Judith is specially accomplished in composition, design and color theory. She is an award-winning member of the West Virginia Watercolor Society. For several years Judith has served as Coordinator of Art Education for the Berkeley Arts Council. She shows her work in the Berkeley Art Works gallery.

Kirsten Lee
Board of Directors

Kirsten is an award-winning multidisciplinary artist inspired by encounters with the unruly mysteries of nature. She seeks “the soul of a space, the space of a soul” through exuberant brushstrokes, experimental photography, and spontaneous wordplay. Outside the artspace, she has spent a lifetime training horses and their humans (guess which is easier!) Kirsten actively nurtures the arts in the panhandle and beyond through teaching and involvement in the Berkeley Arts Council, the Jefferson Arts Council, the Appalachian Pastel League, the Shepherdstown Friday Painters, Sisters in Art, and Art Review Group (ARG!).

Jeanne Marie McClure
Board of Directors

Jeanne Marie has been on the Berkeley Arts Council Board of Directors for several years. She has been an active member of Berkeley Art Works for over a decade. She has participated in class offerings, juried exhibits, special events and gallery shows. She is primarily a 2-D artist creating art in watercolor, acrylics, collage and mixed media. As a board member she has taken part in brainstorming, innovative ways for outreach into the community, furthering the goals to develop an appreciation, understanding and participation in creating art. Jeanne Marie has always enjoyed creating since early childhood, the educational opportunities offered through Berkeley Art Works have enhanced her skills, knowledge and creativity.

Charles Mortensen
Board of Directors

Charles Mortensen had the privilege to attend the Corcoran School of Art in Washington DC, the California College of Arts & Crafts in Oakland, CA, and the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore where he majored in sculpture. He helped organize an exhibit celebrating the revitalization of the Green Hill Historic African-American Cemetery located in Martinsburg and currently maintains a wood shop studio at his residence along the Opequon Creek in Berkeley County West Virginia.

Sandra Melson Nichols
Board of Directors

Sandra Melson Nichols (Sandy) is a jewelry artist whose passion for making jewelry began as a hobby in 2006 and became a business, Melson Gems, in 2010. Her jewelry inspired by nature, conveys beauty, elegance, unique design, and timeless style. Natural gemstones are her material of choice, which she showcases using gold, silver, pewter, or copper wire and metal. Sandy finds the design phase to be the most intriguing part of her work — sketching or creating a mockup, exploring other art media to incorporate and keeping her work fresh and interesting. Her creations are offered in the Artists at the Works marketing gallery.

Susan C Parker
Board of Directors; Secretary

After a career in various administrative positions in the Maryland juvenile justice system and Maryland Circuit Courts, from which she retired in 1999 as Deputy Court Administrator for Budget and Administration for the Prince George’s County, MD, Circuit Court, Ms. Parker turned her attention to a lifelong interest in art.  Now a working artist, she volunteers with five regional arts groups (four of which are 501(c)(3) non-profits): The Valley Art Association (Hagerstown,MD), the Berkeley Arts Council (Martinsburg, WV), the Washington Street Artists Cooperative (Charles Town, WV), the Potomac River Artists’ Guild (Eastern Panhandle of WV), and the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts (Hagerstown, MD).  She is currently serving as an officer and/or on the boards of four of these groups, including eleven years on the Board of Trustees of the Museum of Fine Arts.

Malinda Shaver
Board of Directors; Treasurer

A natural progression through leadership positions in community theater in Maryland carried Malinda into Berkeley County, West Virginia. With a computer as arsenal, she writes, edits, documents, organizes and records. A major contributor to the founding of the Berkeley Arts Council in 2009, Malinda has served on the board as president, then as treasurer since 2019. Currently she focuses on finance-related projects. She loves tools, especially to build and fix things.

Sterling Smith
Board of Directors

Sterling “Rip” Smith is an award-winning fine art and architectural photographer based in Martinsburg. He has exhibited regionally and nationally and is represented in private and public collections throughout the Mid-Atlantic region. Rip was a founding Board member for the Berkeley Arts Council from 2009 until 2021. He was the exhibit coordinator for the Berkeley Art Works and he continues to serve as the webmaster for the organization’s web presence. He re-joined the Board in 2022 to assist the board in developing several grant related projects.

Annette Verna
Board of Directors; Vice President

Annette Verna joined the Berkeley Arts Council in 2017 and is a member of the Artists at the Works artist’s cooperative where she exhibits her ceramic work.  She has more than 30 years of business experience in marketing, publications development, process improvement and quality assurance in for-profit and not-for-profit environments.  Annette has been working in ceramics since 1978. She attended art school in the Adirondack Mountains of New York State before finishing a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Art from Nazareth College of Rochester. She completed a Master’s degree in Art History at The George Washington University in Washington, DC. Annette currently maintains a studio at her home in Charles Town, WV.