FAA Board

Suzan is past president & co-founder of the Fairfield Arts & Convention Center, is currently Ex-Officio. Served on Fairfield Beautification Commission, FPAC TV Station Manager, State Coordinator of Iowa Artists, Country Club President, 1997 Fairfield Citizen of Year.

Art recognition include: “Best of Show’ awards at Iowa Artists, San Francisco – Golden Gate Exhibit, Midwest Art Fairs, and Governor Art Award. Gallery representation have included Lake Tahoe, Des Moines Art Center, Davenport Museum, Ft. Dodge Art Center. Numerous one woman shows, Iowa Art Council commissioned art. In collections of University of Iowa Hospital, Indian Hills Community College, Ft. Dodge Art Center, Iowa Farm Bureau, numerous private & corporate collections.

Married to Patrick Kessel; mother of Stacey Berg (Brian), Alex Kessel (Christie), Makenzie Kessel. 7 grandchildren & 2 great grands. Hobbies include golf, gardening, antiques, bowling, travel, spending time with friends & family.

David began his teaching career in 1996, after graduating from Iowa State University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1992 and receiving his teaching degree from the University of Iowa in 1996. He has taught art in both Minnesota and Iowa, and has been the art teacher at Fairfield High School since 2008.

David enjoys the outdoors and spending time with family and friends. He continues to create his own artwork in a variety of mediums.

Makenzie was born and raised in Fairfield, and attended college at the University of Iowa. After graduating in 2005 with a degree in Communication.

She moved back to Fairfield and began working in the family Insurance business, Farm Bureau Financial Services, as Human Resources director. She has a son James.

Makenzie is an active artist with media preferences in book-binding, graphic design and cartooning, although her artistic endeavors began with paint and canvas.

Born in Cedar Rapids, now a resident of Fairfield for 45 years. She was Office Manager of the Fairfield Golf and Country Club from 1990-2007 and now enjoying retirement by spending time with her grandchildren, various crafting projects.

Married to Pat Doyle, they have two daughters, Alissa Doyle Ward and Katie Boatright, who both live in Fairfield. They also have 3 grandsons, Benett, Brice, and Balen Boatright, and 2 granddaughters, Elliott and Delaney Ward. They enjoy travelling, spending part of the winter in Florida, and attending all 5 grandkids’ sporting events.

John lives in Fairfield but grew up on America’s three coasts and has been painting and drawing the Iowa landscape since 1984. He began with the expansive skies and fields of the Midwest but is currently exploring its rivers, woods and small towns. These Midwestern images have been exhibited regionally, nationally and as far away as Cambodia and Nigeria. His work is included in public and private collections, including Iowa State University, John Deere and the Chicago Federal Reserve.

“My most recent work has been almost exclusively plein air: painted on location in a single session. I find the immediacy of a particular moment just as rich as an idea contemplated at length, and in fact, the substance those ideas are made of”.

Eileen Hawthorne has been a member of the Fairfield community for 37 years. Born and raised on the east coast. Eileen holds an A.A.S degree in Advertising Art and Design and has worked for Ad agencies in New York, New Jersey and San Diego and was an Art Director for AT&T’s Marketing and Art department at their headquarters in Morristown, NJ.

She and her husband David moved to Fairfield in 1986 from La Jolla, CA. They have raised 3 children here in Fairfield. Eileen began her Fine Arts education about 15 years ago at the FAA and has been studying and learning from the many talented professional artists in the Fairfield Arts

Jessica has been a librarian for about 12 years. For the past four years she has been the High School Librarian for Fairfield & also as The Quill, or yearbook, adviser. Growing up, her father was a photographer & she still remembers the smell of his dark room where he developed film. Photography has changed over the years but the desire to capture memories still remains. 

One of the things many people are surprised to learn is that to be a school librarian, it is necessary for one to have both a teaching degree and a Masters in Library and Information Science.  Jessi also has another masters from the University of Iowa’s Center for the Book which is an amazing program where she learned the art of book binding, paper making, letterpress printing and more. A lot of the prints that decorate the library are ones that she made. 

She lives in Fairfield Iowa with her husband, also a librarian, and her elementary aged son, Abraham. 

Matt grew up in Des Moines, Iowa, where he cultivated his passion for art at Theodore Roosevelt High School. He continued his education at Iowa State Univerity, receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts with an emphasis in Illustration. Matt furthered his Computer Animation and Multi-Media education at the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale and the Illinois Institute of Art. For over twenty years, Matt Guise followed a career as an illustrator and Graphic Designer.

Recently Matt obtained his teaching license from Buena Vista University. Two years ago, he became the Visual Arts teacher and Yearbook Advisor at the Pekin Community School District. Matt lives in Packwood with his wife and four active teenage kids, two boys, and two girls.

Jenny is a mixed media artist and musician who enjoys painting animals, nature and people and is always finding captivating subjects. She’s influenced by indigenous folk artists from all over the world, and is particularly drawn to African motifs and patterns as a way of connecting with her ancestral roots.

Jenny moved to Iowa in 2014 from Washington, DC to study art at Maharishi University. Since then she has been very active in the performing and visual arts communities in Fairfield.

Jan and her husband, Bob, have lived in Fairfield since 2011. Before retiring, Jan held a number of positions including registered day care provider, administrative assistant, registered assistant, and executive assistant. Her last position was at Cambridge Investment Research, Inc. Jan and Bob have two sons, and are kept in line by two French Bulldogs.

Jan enjoys card making, mail art, various crafts and decorative arts, reading, and spending time with family and friends.

Werner is a successful Danish/American video producer, photographer, graphic designer, concert pianist and composer. His video work and photos capturing life in Fairfield, Iowa has attracted numerous individuals and families to move there. In videography, photography and music, Werner Elmker emphasizes the importance of being in tune with the flow of the moment.