Employee Directory

Peter Kilian

Professor of Art

Spafford Hall 209C

M.F.A., University of California-Santa Barbara

B.A., Augustana College

I have exhibited my artwork in regional and national venues for more than 25 years, with works in the Knight-Ridder Collection, South Dakota State Art Collection, Contemporary Arts Forum (Santa Barbara) and numerous private collections.

Discipline Specialties

Painting

Drawing

Printmaking

Epiphany Knedler

Lecturer of Art

Spafford Hall 209D

MFA, East Carolina University

BFA and BA, University of South Dakota

Epiphany Knedler is an interdisciplinary artist + educator exploring the ways we engage with history. She is inspired by the aesthetics and geopolitical landscapes of the Midwest, surveying the storied past of bold exploration and quiet melancholy. She graduated from the University of South Dakota with a BFA in Studio Art and a BA in Political Science and completed her MFA in Studio Art with an emphasis in Photography at East Carolina University. 

She is based in Aberdeen, South Dakota, serving as a Lecturer of Art, a Content Editor with LENSCRATCH, and the co-curator for the art collective Midwest Nice Art. Her work has been exhibited in the New York Times, Vermont Center for Photography, Lenscratch, Dek Unu Arts, and awarded through the Lucie Foundation, F-Stop Magazine, and Photolucida Critical Mass.

Jason Knowles

Assistant Professor of Art

Dacotah Hall 208B

M.F.A. Digital Filmmaking - University of Central Arkansas

M.S. Instructional Design & Technology - Emporia State University

B.G.S. Special Major: Digital Film & Computer Production - University of Kansas

Website

Originally from Northeast Kansas, Jason Knowles is an award-winning filmmaker who teaches courses in digital media, video streaming and digital filmmaking, podcasting and sound design, game-app-web design, and animations and visual effects at Northern. At other institutions, he developed and facilitated in-person and online classes in video and multimedia journalism, screenwriting, film history and theory, promotional and corporate video production, and documentary filmmaking.

Knowles' media production interests include writing and directing screenplays with strong, complicated female lead characters whose journeys transcend the genres of action-adventure films, science fiction, and romantic comedies. Every November, he serves as executive producer and director of Northern's filmmaking team for the international Four-Points Film Project competition, which is open to all Northern students and employees as well as members of the Aberdeen community.

Knowles' research has involved documentary collaborations with visual history, investigating discipline-specific instructional design methods for adult higher education, and exploring and uncovering facts behind myths and folklore in the Ozark mountains. His current research is focused on modeling and animating photo-realistic digital human characters as well as developing and implementing integrated andragogy for media curricula (the fusion of media theory and history with production practices within each course).

Grant Manhart

Professor of Music, Trumpet/Jazz

Johnson Fine Arts Center 123

Audrey Miller

Associate Professor of Clarinet/Music, Director of Bands, Music Department Chair

Johnson Fine Arts Center 122

Travis Netzer

Lecturer, Euphonium/Tuba

Johnson Fine Arts Center 124

B.M.E, Northern State University

M.M., Western Michigan University

D.M.A., Arizona State University (Tuba Performance)

Dr. Travis Netzer is a lecturer of tuba and euphonium at NSU. He grew up in Ipswich, S.D., and attended Northern for his bachelor's degree in music education. During his undergraduate degree studies, Netzer competed in the Music Teachers National Association Young Artist Brass Competition and reached the national level of the competition two years in a row, placing runner up his second year. He received a graduate assistantship to attend Western Michigan University for his master’s degree in music performance and earned a doctorate of musical arts at Arizona State University, where he was the graduate assistant to Dr. Deanna Swoboda. While there, he competed and advanced to the semifinals in the International Tuba Euphonium Solo Competition in 2014.

Netzer recently received a developing artist grant from the South Dakota Arts Council to develop his musical project, "Rock Tuba," in which he uses electronics to distort his sound and play rock music.

Brian Omland

Theatre and Production Manager

Johnson Fine Arts Center 119A

B.A., Northern State University

Brian Omland serves as the production manager for the School of Fine Arts. He continues to expand his knowledge and experience in set construction, lighting design, and special effects for the stage. He worked on the Northern productions of Sondheim on Sondheim, Man of La Mancha, Silent Sky, Fun Home, The Brain From Planet X, She Kills Monsters, Lasso of Truth, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, God of Carnage, and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, among others.

Nadya Preszler

Instructor of Art

Dakota Hall 208 A

Tim Rickett

Assistant Professor of 3D Media/Art Galleries Director

Spafford Hall 209F

M.F.A., East Carolina University

B.A., Hastings College

Tim Rickett, an artist and educator based in Aberdeen in northeastern South Dakota, employs the practice of bricolage to create work that explores ideas of nostalgia, politics, history, and the Anthropocene. He graduated from Hastings College in 2016 with a BFA in sculpture and completed his MFA at East Carolina University in 2019. He is assistant professor of 3D media and gallery director at Northern State University.

Rickett co-curates exhibitions in the collective MidwestNice Art with Epiphany Knedler. His work has been exhibited at the Washington Pavilion, Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Del Mar College Annual National Drawing and Small Sculpture Show, Contemporary Arts Museum Raleigh, and a collaborative exhibition at the University of South Dakota. 

At Northern, Rickett teaches four levels of sculpture and ceramics, 2D and 3D design, senior capstone, and the graduate MSED art residency course in the summer. As gallery director, Rickett facilitates multiple visiting artists each year, bringing contemporary art to our Great Plains region while maintaining Northern's permanent collection, working with students and artists to display their artwork in Northern's many galleries, and serving on campus committees.