Stephanie Soldner
Director
Stephanie Soldner was brought up living summers in Aspen, Colorado and winters in Claremont, California with her artistic parents Paul and Ginny Soldner. There she developed a deep respect for “sense of place” and appreciation for artists and creative thinkers who nourished her love for the arts and lively exchange of ideas. In 1974 she graduated from Pomona College, pursued a career in retail management and was business manager for her father for several years. In 1995, Stephanie became vice president of Soldner Pottery Equipment Inc. Since 2011, she has taken on the task of preserving her family’s unique home and legacy. In June 2021 Stephanie formed the nonprofit, the Soldner Center for the Arts and Innovation. She is currently the director of the Soldner Center.
Lonnie Buerge
Treasurer
Lonnie Buerge has worked in accounting management within the petroleum industry for over 35 years. Most recently Lonnie worked as the Accounting Manager at Habitat for Humanity Kansas City. In the past he served on the board of the Arts in Prison program in Kansas City, and the board of the Sharing Community in Rosedale addressing needs in the Rosedale neighborhood of Kansas City, KS. Lonnie also was a part of the multi-agency team in Elkhart, Indiana that developed the first Victim Offender Reconciliation Program in the United States. He currently resides in Kansas City MO where he is engaged in a new chapter of life as a writer/poet. He enjoys the prairies of Kansas with their wide vistas and open sky.
Jan Buerge
Secretary
For almost 30 years, Jan Buerge was the owner of The World’s Window, a retail store dedicated to celebrating the individuality and creativity of each person and experience through clothing, folk art, fair trade gifts and home decor. Jan closed the store and retired in March of 2023. Jan enjoys gardening, photography and many volunteer activities including visual arts projects at her church and collaborating in the creation of newsletters, social media posts and other projects for the Soldner Center.
Teresa Booth-Brown
Trustee
Teresa Booth Brown is an artist and teacher and serves as the Director of Education and Community Programs for the Aspen Art Museum. She has been awarded artist residencies at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Anderson Ranch Arts Center, the Ucross Foundation, the American Academy in Rome, the Campo Arts Colony in Uruguay, and at La Napoule in France. She is the 2019-20 recipient of the Marion International Fellowship Grant, and the 2022 Dedication to the Arts Award from the Art Base in Basalt, Colorado.
Kirk Delman
Trustee
Kirk Delman received his B.A in Art from Pitzer College and an M.F.A. in Art from the Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, CA. He has worked as the Registrar and Collections Manager for the Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery at Scripps college for the past thirty-six years and has been involved with the Ceramic Annual at Scripps since 1987. He has curated 15 exhibitions while working for the gallery, 8 of which were focused on ceramics. Kirk has also continued to make both furniture and sculpture in his studio in Upland, CA.
Sam Harvey
Trustee
Sam Harvey is a ceramic artist, curator, and educator based in Aspen, CO. He received his MFA from New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University and BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute. Sam received the prestigious 2019 USA Fellowship Award. His work has been exhibited nationally and internationally. Sam has served as the studio coordinator of the ceramics department at Anderson Ranch Arts Center for nine years, on the boards of the Carbondale Clay Center and the Archie Bray Foundation and is the owner and director of the Harvey Preston Gallery, specializing in contemporary ceramic art.
Nicole Nagel-Gogolak
Trustee
Nicole is an artist, educator, mother, skier, outdoor enthusiast and avid traveler. She holds an MFA in Fiber from Cranbrook Academy of Art and a BFA in Painting from the University of Michigan. She has spent most of her life bouncing around the Rocky Mountain’s frosty slopes and Michigan’s tranquil lakes. Nicole is passionate about art education and has devoted countless hours to developing art outreach programs and workshops in the Roaring Fork Valley. Nicole is currently an Adjunct Professor of Drawing and Painting at Colorado Mountain College and a Summer Art Intensives Instructor at Interlochen Center for the Arts.