Program Directors
The Aix Center
The Academic Dean/Director of the Aix Center is Dr. Jacqueline Chanda, a
Professor of art education and art history. She obtained her BFA in
drawing and painting from the University of California at Los Angeles,
her MA in Art Education, and Ph.D. in African Art History from the
Sorbonne University in Paris, France. She is the author of three
published books, African Arts and Cultures, Discovering African Art, and
Harcourt’s Art Everywhere (co-authored) and numerous articles. She has
taught at both the undergraduate and graduate levels in the US and
abroad. Her extensive international experience which started with a
junior year abroad at the University of Bordeaux has led her to travel
and conduct research in places such as Mali, the Ivory Coast, and Zambia
where she lived and taught for 6 years. She has also conducted research
in Brazil, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Dr. Chanda came to the
Institute from a position as Associate Dean of the College of Fine Arts
at the University of Arizona. As an administrator she has served as the
Director of the undergraduate program at The Ohio State University,
Co-Director of NTIEVA (The North Texas Institute for Educators in the
Visual Arts), and Chair of the Department of Art Education and Art
History at University of North Texas.
The Marchutz School
The studio art and aesthetics courses at the Marchutz School are administered and
team-taught by two full-time American faculty members, Alan Roberts and John Gasparach,
who have each worked in study abroad in France for over thirty years.
Director of the School since 1990, Alan Roberts has a BS in Psychology from the University of South Carolina and an MFA from Vermont College. His
personal studio is located at the renowned Chateaunoir, situated on the Route de
Cézanne in Aix-en-Provence. Mr. Roberts’ international exhibition record includes
the Musée Granet in Aix-en-Provence as well as private galleries in the U.S. and
France. A selection of his paintings can be viewed at
www.marchutz-school.org. He has also collaborated on several important
books concerning the art of Leo Marchutz and his students.
John Gasparach studied at the first Marchutz School summer session in1972 and has been a working artist in France ever since. He served as assistant
to Leo Marchutz and the founding artists of the program, subsequently joining the
Marchutz School faculty in 1986. Mr. Gasparach’s work—inspired mostly by the Aix-en-Provence
countryside, Venice, Seattle, and the islands of Puget Sound—has been exhibited
at numerous galleries and museums in France. He received a BA in Philosophy
from the University of Washington and a Masters in Liberal Arts from St. John’s
College, Santa Fe. Currently Mr. Gasparach acts as the curator of the family collection
of the work of Leo Marchutz. He was a major contributor to the recent publication
of the monograph, Leo Marchutz. A selection of his work can be viewed at www.marchutz-school.org.
Le Centre d'Avignon
The cultural integration theme of Le Centre d'Avignon is exemplified in the Center
Director’s career. Born and educated in France (Nice) through the
Licence ès Lettres d’enseignement, Dr. Sylvie Rockmore pursued her
studies in the USA at Vanderbilt University (M.A. in English; PhD in
Comparative Literature). She then taught in the USA (from Yale College
to Carnegie Mellon University, her last US job), as well as in France
and Great Britain before returning to the South of France and directing
this program. She thus brings over 30 years of American experience
teaching French and Francophone Literatures, as well as involvement in
AATF, CIEF, MLA and ‘Women in French’
