About SHP

Joshua joined Spiral House Park as its inaugural Executive Director in May 2025. With nearly 25 years of experience in nonprofit program management, coalition building, environmental advocacy, and the arts, he brings a deep interdisciplinary approach to his work. He has led climate campaigns at the state and regional level and previously directed the Hudson Valley Climate Action Network at Partners for Climate Action. His past roles include consulting for a national rural climate initiative, coordinating sustainability at The New School, managing the Brooklyn Compost Project at Brooklyn Botanic Garden, and supporting a national network of environmental funders at the Environmental Grantmakers Association. Joshua holds an MPA in Environmental Science and Policy from Columbia University, a BA in Environmental Studies and Studio Art from Hampshire College, and serves on several local advisory boards. A former puppeteer and toy sculptor, he enjoys weaving storytelling and the arts into his environmental work — and into his daughter’s imagination.

Email: joshua@spiralhousepark.org

Jess Giacobbe leads communications at Spiral House Park, where she shapes how the organization expresses its mission at the intersection of art, nature, and environmental awareness. Drawing on a background in communications management across mission-driven organizations, she brings a practiced eye for storytelling, content strategy, and audience engagement. She holds a BFA in Multidisciplinary Fine Arts from The University of the Arts. She is also a filmmaker, photographer, and the founder of the solar-powered traveling film festival, Oscillation Transia, dedicated to environmental themes, where she has curated and produced screenings in more than 15 states across the U.S. Whether behind a camera or crafting a narrative, Jess uses visual and storytelling media to connect people more meaningfully to the natural world.

Email: jess@spiralhousepark.org

Aglaia (Leah) serves as Communications & Program Coordinator at Spiral House Park, where she supports program operations and brings the park's mission to life through social media and creative content that bridges art and nature. She holds a BFA in Graphic Design from SUNY New Paltz, where she also developed a practice in photography and illustration. Alongside her work at Spiral House Park, Aglaia runs Bluette Studio, her freelance design practice offering content creation, web design, and visual design services to a diverse range of clients. She brings a multidisciplinary sensibility to everything she creates, whether for a brand, a screen, or a landscape.

Email: leah@spiralhousepark.org

Leticia is a a conscientious person who gets a thrill out of making the Spiral House sparkle.

Lorien McCabe is the head gardener at Spiral House Park– she also assists with the Volunteer Program, educational programming, and partnership outreach. Her education started with environmental policy and anthropology at Rutgers University- Cook College. Since settling in the Hudson Valley in 2001, the gardens became her teacher and constant companion through the many seasonal cycles.  In 2008, she founded Meadow Rue Gardens, a fine gardening service providing design, installation, and maintenance to homes and estates throughout Ulster, Green, Columbia, and Dutchess counties. She cultivated land and knowledge through daily gardening practice and constant study with various teachers, professors, nursery people, botanical gardens, and any plant person who didn’t move away quickly enough. All of this active growing and learning instilled a deep commitment to ecological stewardship and community engagement through gardening. At Spiral House Park, she tends the traditional plantings while gradually transitioning them to a more ecological approach, a process shared with others through the Ecological Gardening series.  As leader of the volunteer gardeners & trail stewards, she remains dedicated to reclaiming local habitat and establishing beneficial plants throughout the Park.  Her deepest hope is that visitors are inspired as they witness the land’s ongoing transformation.

Email: lorien@spiralhousepark.org

Suzi supports programming at Spiral House Park that weaves together education, art, and community. Born and raised in the deserts of Tucson, Arizona, she brings over a decade of experience as an educator and program manager designing creative learning experiences. Her work includes coordinating workshops, seasonal events, and collaborative gatherings that invite meaningful connection. She was drawn to Spiral House Park for its intersection of land, creativity, and collective practice, and brings a grounded, collaborative presence to her work.

Email: suzi@spiralhousepark.org

Rudy Numssen serves as Property Manager at Spiral House Park, bringing decades of hands-on experience and a deep-rooted connection to the land and its history. He began working with Patty Livingston and Tom Gottsleben in 1981, helping care for the property in its earliest stages, and went on to spend 38 years with Rafferty Rocks, the company they founded to shape the park’s landscape and sculptures. During that time, Rudy contributed to all phases of sculpture fabrication and played a key role in the construction of the Spiral House. Rudy brings a lifetime of knowledge, craftsmanship, and dedication to his work, holding a unique perspective on the evolution of the park and the vision that continues to guide it today.

Email: rudy@spiralhousepark.org

Ronnie co-founded Broadview Media, an editorial and graphic design studio developing books and magazines. An article she wrote about Tom Gottsleben led to her collaboration with Tom and SHP founder Patty Livingston on The Spiral House: Revealing the Sacred in Everyday Life (GArts, 2019), a book about Tom’s art and how he and Patty came to develop the site and build the Spiral House. She was Executive Director during the development of the property into a nonprofit organization, and is a former board member of the Woodstock Land Conservancy.

Email: ronnie@spiralhousepark.org

Tina brings a wide-ranging background in nonprofit leadership, arts, education, and community building to her work at Spiral House Park. A naturally curious person who has been asking “why?” for as long as she can remember, she earned a degree in Sociology from The Ohio State University before beginning a career that has taken her across organizations, disciplines, and communities. While living in Seattle, she managed Dale Chihuly’s print and limited-edition glass programs across the United States. 

She later spent more than a decade running the Hannah Arendt Center for Politics & Humanities at Bard College and served as Executive Director of the Capital Region Vegan Network. An avid traveler, Tina has explored extensively throughout the United States and Southeast Asia, experiences that have shaped her ability to connect with people and meet them where they are. She is also a certified yoga instructor with additional certifications in prenatal yoga, meditation, and Thai massage. 

At SHP, Tina has found a community rooted in trust, collaboration, and a genuine appreciation for the experiences each person brings to the table. Her favorite place in the Park is the Observation Deck, where she takes in the Catskill Mountains and finds a moment to meditate. 

Outside of work, Tina lives in East Greenbush with her husband of more than 20 years, Grant Arthur Barnhart, and their cats, Ziggy and Muun, who have never worked a day in their lives and have no plans to start.

Wren cares for the gardens, supports nature-based programming, and manages our member community as Assistant Head Gardener & Membership Manager. A professional plant enthusiast and gardener for over 15 years in the Hudson Valley and Catskills, among her previous roles she managed a 1000+ variety seed and plant material catalog, guided by extensive trial gardens, and has worked in herbalism and as an estate gardener. A prior foundation in the visual arts shapes her aesthetic sense and plant pattern appreciation. Deeply grateful to tend this beautiful place where her passions converge, she shares with others the wonder and inspiration she gains through witnessing and learning from the plants, as well as the intricate web of life and many beings they support.

Email: wren@spiralhousepark.org