The Team

A project as ambitious as The Great American Dollhouse Museum needs a team of skilled creators in numerous areas of expertise. Lori Kagan-Moore has assembled a talented staff of designers, builders, painters and artisans with proven records.

From Akiko Otake in Japan to Jon Sachs in Boston and back to Matthew Hallock in Kentucky, Lori has a long history of positive working relationships with every member of this energetic team.

Lori Kagan-Moore, Curator

Lori Kagan-Moore's professional voyage has led her from a clinical faculty position at Ohio State University's Department of Psychiatry through a number of exciting years as owner and operator of Lori's Antique and Vintage Jewelry in Lexington, Kentucky, to her current position as Curator of The Great American Dollhouse Museum. Coming from several generations of professional antique appraisers, auctioneers, and store-owners, she has a long-term familiarity and love of the antiques business, and miniatures in particular. Lori holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan, a Master of Arts in Public Administration (MAPA), and a Masters in Social Work (MSW), both from Ohio State University.

Hannah Kagan-Moore, Assistant Curator

Currently working on her PhD in Art History at the University of California at Santa Barbara, Hannah holds a BA in Studio Art and Art History from Skidmore College and an MA in Art History from the University of California at Davis. Each summer for the past several years, she has worked on developing exhibits in the Museum. She developed and staged the exhibits in the walk-in cave from trolls to dragons. Hannah’s faux painted gardens and rugs grace the floors of the Exhibition Hall, lobby and restrooms. She most recently designed and painted Copper Hollow’s 1910 tenement district.

Professor Andrea Abrams, Diversity Advisor

In 2020 we welcome Professor Andrea Abrams to the team as Diversity Advisor. Dr. Abrams is an Associate Professor of Anthropology, African American Studies, and Gender Studies at Centre College, and Associate Vice President for Diversity Affairs & Special Assistant to the President. Before coming to Centre, Abrams taught at the University of Southern Mississippi, Emory University, Agnes Scott College, and Spelman College. Her research focuses on racial and gender issues in the South.

J. H. Atkins, Diversity Advisor, Emeritus

Retired Centre College Assistant Vice President and Associate Professor of Education J.H. Atkins is our Diversity Advisor emeritus. Long-term member of Danville’s City Commission and currently serving as Mayor Pro-Tem, he has taught in a variety of public schools at the elementary, middle, and high school levels; he also has extensive administrative experience as an elementary principal and assistant superintendent.

Emma Kagan-Moore, Graphic Design and Museum Store Assistant

Emma holds of Bachelor of Arts Degree from Harvard University, with Concentration in Folklore and Mythology and a Secondary in French. Although currently working as a Residence Manager at Harvard, she can often be seen in the Museum designing graphics or assisting patrons.

Jon Sachs, Web Designer, Photographer, Videographer

In an age when Googling is a survival skill – and first impressions of many organizations will occur through their websites, we sought a master of web design and found that expert in Jon Sachs. With a degree in Graphic Design from MIT and many years experience running his own company, he has developed a wide variety of websites from large commercial ones to small artists’ sites. Jon’s own website contains a complete portfolio as well as a resume.

And, of course, he is also the creator of the infamous Poison Ivy website.

In addition to the design of the website, Jon did much of the photography, as well as our YouTube videos, Miniature Mischief, The Lost Brother, and The Store.

Bernadine Austin, Artist and Historian

Bernadine Austin, a local artist who hails from Lincoln County, KY, holds a Bachelor of Arts in World Religions and Anthropology from Eastern Kentucky University. She has been working with the Museum for 5 years. Austin’s specialty is historical realism and her commissioned works for the Museum include the Tobacco Warehouse and Copper Hollow Clothing Company. She is currently creating a vegetable-canning factory for the Industry Road area of the Exhibition Hall. Having grown up on a farm, the only child of tenant farmers, Bernadine credits her background and her parents with the skills and historical perspective she brings to her art.

Alma Kiss, Artist-in-Residence

A miniatures artist from Huntsville, Alabama, Alma Kiss graduated from California State University at Northridge with a major in English and minor in art. She joined the team as artist-in-residence in 2015, after donating Alma’s Farm Road, a 30-year project depicting an American rural area of 1910. Over the following two years, she developed the Copper Creek Coal Camp. Currently Alma is turning her artistry to Mummert Castle at Martha’s Mill and The Fraewood, our medieval town and forest. She is also creating and installing a series of large-scale roomboxes in the Timeline of U.S. History. Alma is in residence several times a year and can often be seen working her magic on landscapes in the Exhibition Hall.

Jocelyn Embert

Jocelyn Embert manages the Etsy consignment store through which the Museum sells antique and estate pieces we don’t handle in our brick-and-mortar shop. She also runs our excellent cleaning service. One of our earliest associates, Jocelyn joined the team in 2007 and we consider her family.

Kevin Adams

Kevin Adams is the designer, carpenter, wiring genius, handyman and all-around problem solver to whom we owe an enormous debt of gratitude. He has built or rehabbed all of our display cases, wired our dollhouses, and solved every engineering and maintenance problem we could create for him. Kevin joined the team after relocating his family to Kentucky. He worked for many years as a Design/Systems Engineer for Xerox Corporation and has a varied background in construction and electronics.

Akiko Otake, Consultant on Asian Design and History

Akiko spent three weeks at the museum workshop reconstructing a period Japanese home, and tutoring our staff in the differences between Japanese and Chinese costume and architecture. Having completed a year-long tour of Costa Rica, Peru, and Mexico, where she studied the language and cultures of Latin America, she now returns to her native Japan.

Ruth Neeman, Set Design Consultant

Ruth’s award-winning scenic designs impressed Lori enormously from first review. Clearly her artistic vision and range render her inestimably valuable to the team. If you click only one link today, make it her set design site. A registered architect with a degree from The Technion in Haifa, Israel, Ruth is an associate in the Concord, Massachusetts firm of Levi Wong Design Associates .

Mathew Hallock, Set Designer

Matthew R. Hallock is associate professor of dramatic arts at Centre College where he has taught since 1997. He has extensive experience in theater design, working professionally in the field in Milwaukee, Chicago, and Kansas City as well as numerous stock locations across the country. Some of the companies he has worked for are the Skylight Opera Theatre, Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, First Stage Children's Theater (Milwaukee), and The Missouri Repertory Theatre. Locally, his designs have been seen at the Actor’s Guild of Lexington (for which he has received three audience appreciation awards), Lexington Children’s Theatre, and the Lexington Shakespeare Festival.

Hallock holds a B.S. in theater arts from the State University of New York at New Paltz, and received his M.F.A. in scenic design and technology from Western Illinois University.

Matthew was instrumental in designing the interior space of the museum, including the walk-in cave, the castle in the air, and advised on the application of faux finishes.