Sitka Fine Arts Camp Faculty

Jonathan "J" Bradley - technical theater. J is a top call technical sound and lighting producer who now lives in Sitka and is the Technical Director of the Sitka Performing Arts Center. He has been working full time in the field since 1990 and has been involved in producing a variety of events including theater, concerts, rodeos and jazz festivals. In addition J taught classes for 5 years at the University of Montana in audio production. Among his many diverse projects, J has been the sound man for four years at Seattle's premier jazz club, Jazz Alley. This year J has been on the road between Russia and the United States as production manager for the Russian State Ballet.

Amanda Crockett started clowning alongside her father at age 9. At the same age, she could be spotted climbing up the kitchen walls and running laps around the house before dinner. Since then, she hasn’t slowed down. Her pursuit of the perfect blend of circus and physical theatre has taken her around the world. In 1999, she graduated from the Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theater and continued her training at Celebration Barn Theater, San Francisco’s Circus Center and at Circus Trix in Australia. Incredibly inspired by the clown’s brilliance and creating work that combines physical comedy with high-level acrobatic and object manipulation skills, Crockett is passionate about making motion into laughter. Artist Site

Roblin Gray Davis is an eclectic performer, director and teacher of innovative theater based in Juneau, AK. Roblin has played Baranov in Dave Hunsaker’s Battles of Fire and Water at Perseverance Theatre, directed Perseverance’s Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl, created original performances Emergence and Mumble in Numbskull, and has been the voice of CrossSound Radio. In 2004 he was the recipient of the Alaska State Council on the Arts Connie Boochever Artist Fellowship. Roblin holds a M.F.A. in Actor Created Theatre from Naropa University/London International School of Performing Arts, a Certificate from the Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre, and a B.A. from Western Washington University, Fairhaven College. Artist Site

Scott Davis - mime & dance. Scott received his first intensive exposure to the arts as a student at the Sitka Fine Arts Camp in the early 1980s. Inspired by his teachers at that time and by the friendships he made at the camp, he continued to pursue the performing arts throughout college, studying mime and dance extensively while at Princeton University. He was the artistic director of the Princeton Mime Company. After living and teaching in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, for two years after college, Scott returned to New Jersey and co-founded Loon Soup, a mime and physical theater company that performed and taught nationwide. He moved to Seattle to study law at the University of Washington in 1995 and in 2000 joined Lingo Dance theater, a contemporary dance company under the direction of KT Niehoff. He has toured with the group to Japan, Cuba, Ecuador, Germany, Canada and throughout the States. Scott has also collaborated with members of the dance faculty at the University of Washington and produced his own work in Seattle, New York, New Jersey and Ecuador. Over the years he has served the Sitka Fine Arts Camp as a counselor in the 1980s, a teacher in the 1990s and as Artistic Director from 1998 to 2006. He is on the faculty at the Northwest School in Seattle where he teaches Mime & Movement and Street Law.

Jodi Gelbman started her acting career at the age of 7. From that time she has performed in countless productions in New York, regionally, and abroad. She was recently seen in the New York City premier of Charles Mee’s Fetes de la Nuit at the Ohio Theater. With the help of a grant from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Jodi produced and directed a production of A Midsummer Nights Dream. Jodi’s television credits include Law and Order CI. She has had the pleasure of working as a teaching artist for many prestigious institutions including, Lincoln Center, Disney Theatrical Productions and The New Victory Theater. Jodi received her masters in acting from The Institute for Advanced Theater Training at Harvard University.

McKenna Kerrigan is a New York-based actor and teaching artist. Most recently, she performed Off-Broadway in Will Eno’s MIDDLETOWN at the Vineyard Theatre. McKenna has performed regionally in theater as well as in films and on TV. She is an Associated Artist with Target Margin Theatre and a company member of Partial Comfort Productions in New York. She is currently an M.F.A. candidate in Performance & Interactive Media Arts at Brooklyn College. McKenna received her B.A. in English & Women’s Studies from Wesleyan University, and studied acting at Atlantic Theatre Company and Steppenwolf Theatre Company.

Benjamin Leddick - Improvisation. There is a famous improv saying, “Learn a little about a lot.” Ben has taken that as a lifestyle. Born in Florida, raised in Colorado, studied in California, rested in Oregon and performing in California Ben has spent his time learning various trades, stories and lifestyles. After getting a taste for improv in high school, he enrolled in the iO West training center in Los Angeles. He started performing and hosting a night of improv in the Del Close Theater in Hollywood while he continued his training with the Upright Citizens Brigade and Monkey Butler Comedy. Ben can currently be seen performing with the iO West house team Waterloo as well as Soda Jerk and the two man long form team BenCh ad. When he’s not performing Ben writes and fixes computers.

WT McRae - clown, acrobatics, improv. WT disappointed all of his teachers and professors when at the end of his serious theatre training he began to create a career centering around mime and clown. Growing up in Denver, CO and moving to New York in 1997, WT studied acting, scenic design, dance, and pre-med at Adelphi University. Since then he has made his living primarily touring with orchestras performing mime and clown based shows in Tri-State Schools. He spent 6 years teaching the arts in inner city schools, and funneled those two pursuits into the creation of his own clown based theatre company Fool’s Academy. Fool’s Academy is now a running theatre pursuit that blends education with clowning, bringing silly but educational performances to New York City schools. WT is Sitka Fine Art Camp’s Theater Director and also coordinates the Camp’s evening ArtShare Performances.

Beverly Mann - mask theater & improv. is an actor, mask theatre performer and educator, and mask maker. She is an independent artist and tours with Faustwork Mask Theatre, based in Toronto, Canada. Beverly has performed all over the world, performing mask, movement and visual illusion Germany, Taiwan, Singapore, and Hong Kong with appearances on “Good Morning, America” and the Disney special “New Vaudevillians, Too.” For the past ten years she has been busy collaborating with several artists in the state of Maine. Most recently, she had the role of ‘Helga’ in a production of “Deathtrap”. Artist Site

Bob Athayde - jazz & concert bands. Bob is the Music Director at Stanley Intermediate School in Lafayette, CA. He directs 6 bands and 3 jazz ensembles serving over 300 students daily. Bob's students have received many honors, including several Downbeat Magazine awards and have gone on to prestigious music schools such as Julliard, Oberlin, Berklee and the Manhattan School of Music. Bob is an award-winning music educator and is in frequent demand as a clinician. He is also a professional trumpet player and jazz pianist and has been teaching at Sitka Fine Arts Camp since 2001. Recognized for his outstanding teaching and musicianship, Bob has garnered a number of awards including the Gil Freitas Outstanding Music Educator Award, (1989), the Diablo Symphony Association's Distinguished Music Educator Award (1995), Charles Schwab's Teach Each Distinguished Teacher Award, the Prudential Realty Outstanding Teacher Award (1999), the AC5 Arts Recognition Award (2003), and the KDFC Outstanding Music Educator Award (2004). Bob was recently awarded the Outstanding Band Teacher of California Award by the CMEA.

Kyle Athayde is a performer, composer and arranger currently living in New York City. Kyle plays vibraphone, piano, trumpet, and drums professionally, and also plays congas, timbales, bass, and bass clarinet. He composes and arranges music in a variety of genres, including jazz, classical, salsa, and electronic. Some of his favorite musicians are J. S. Bach, Duke Ellington, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Eric Dolphy, Dmitri Shostakovich, Louis Armstrong, Igor Stravinsky, Charlie Parker, Olivier Messiaen, and Art Tatum. While a student at Juilliard, Kyle fostered a great love for Modern and Classical dance. At Sitka Fine Arts Camp, Kyle has studied and performed Dance, Theater, Acrobatics, and Juggling in addition to. Kyle loves to learn and share his knowledge with others, and enjoys teaching music, especially jazz.

Andrea Burck - piano. Andrea is an active music educator and accompanist in Aurora, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. A graduate of the Eastman School of Music, Andrea has been involved with music and kids since graduating in 1989. She has been on staff at Interlochen Arts Camp in Michigan, has taught preschool, elementary and middle school music and choir in Wisconsin and Illinois and currently teaches music and directs a chorus of 120 members at Kendall Elementary School in Naperville, Illinois. She has been an accompanist for the Young Naperville Singers and continues to accompany school and church choirs, studio recitals and soloists in the area.

John William Burck - strings. Will has been a string educator for over 19 years at the elementary, middle, and high school levels in Iowa, Wisconsin, and Illinois. He earned his Bachelor of Music from the University of Iowa and Master of Music Education from the VanderCook College of Music in Chicago, Illinois. Currently, he is the music department chair at Waubonsie Valley High School in Aurora, Illinois. In 2007, The Grammy Foundation recognized the Waubonsie Valley music department as one of the top three high school music programs in the country for music education. In addition to his administrative duties, Will directs two of the six curricular orchestras, teaches string technique classes and co-directs the extracurricular strolling ensemble, the Warrior Strings. During the 2009 Spring Break, Burck and 65 members of the Waubonsie Valley Orchestras traveled and performed in New York City. He has been on both staff and faculty at the Interlochen Arts Camp in Interlochen, Michigan. He has served as conductor of the junior orchestra at the Cedar Arts Forum’s String Camp in Cedar Falls, Iowa, and at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in Twin Lakes, Michigan.

Jane Linde Capistran is a conductor and violinist at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota. A native of Moorhead, Jane studied violin at Concordia College with Isabelle Thompson and Robert Strava while in high school. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in Music Education from Bemidji State University and her Master of Arts in Violin Performance from the University of Iowa in Iowa City. She conducts the Fargo-Moorhead Area High School Youth Symphony and has received numerous awards for her teaching. She also performs with the 8th Street String Quartet, the Dakota Rose String Quartet and is the concertmaster of the Fargo-Moorhead Opera Orchestra.

Hannah Edlen is a woodwind enthusiast, specializing in clarinet and bass clarinet. She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Music Education from Illinois State University. Hannah has recorded with the Illinois State University's Wind Symphony, under the direction of Dr. Stephen K. Steele. Recordings she has been a part of include: David Maslanka: Symphony No. 8, Vincent Persichetti: Works for Band, Magnuson/Gillingham/Maslanka, and David Maslanka: Unending Stream of Life. As a solo player, Hannah has worked with a variety of music styles, such as klezmer, jazz, classical, and unaccompanied clarinet solos with extended technique. She has performed in the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival and with the Chicago Clarinet Ensemble. Hannah's favorite performance of this past year was at a correctional facility in Oregon, WI, through the University of Wisconsin Madison Educational and Performance Outreach program. Besides clarinet-ing, Hannah coaches woodwind sectionals at schools in Chicago Metropolitan area, and works as a substitute teacher and paraprofessional at the Easter Seals Therapeutic Autism School in her hometown of Rockford, IL.

Christian Fabian - jazz ensemble. Christian is a bass player for the Lionel Hampton Big Band and was born in Sweden and raised in Germany. He studied for four years at the Maastricht Conservatory in the Netherlands before receiving a scholarship from Berklee College of Music in the U.S. Christian lives in New York City and has performed extensively on the national and international jazz scene with such jazz notables as Gary Burton, Cheryl Bentyne, Ed Thigpen, John LaPorta, Bob Mintzer and Jon Hendricks. He has recently joined the Gianni Russo Big Band and has also released two highly acclaimed solo CDs "Across The Tracks" and "Curtain of Life" . Artist Website

Andrew Hames - vocal ensembles. Andrew is a music teacher at Blackfoot High School in Blackfoot, ID. During the school year, Andrew directs four choral ensembles and teaches a music fundamentals class for special learners, as well as a course in advanced theory and composition. In addition to working as a clinician and adjudicator in southeastern Idaho, Andrew also directs a community choir, Vive la Voce, in Idaho Falls. Andrew received his Bachelor of Music Education degree from Idaho State University where he studied choral conducting extensively with Dr. Scott Anderson. Born and raised in Sitka, Andrew first had ambitions of becoming a music teacher when he attended the Sitka Fine Arts Camp as a student. When he’s not spending beautiful summers in Sitka, Andrew and his wife, Kristin, both teach music throughout southeast Idaho where they keep plenty busy raising their son, Justin.

Andrew Krahn is a multi-instrumentalist who will be graduating from Berklee College of Music in Boston this summer with a major in music therapy. While at Berklee, he had the opportunity to work with a variety of populations, from infants to the elderly. The techniques he developed for working with these populations ranged from group improvisation to songwriting using MIDI software. Andrew has been playing saxophone and keyboards in world/funk band The Effective Dose for the past four years, and has performed with them up and down the east coast.

Edward Littlefield - percussion. Ed attended the University of Idaho where he majored in instrumental and vocal music education with an emphasis in percussion, studying with Daniel Bukvich. He has played in the showband on various cruise ships for Carnival Cruise Lines in the Carribean and the Bahamas. Ed was previously the music teacher at Sitka High School. He has toured throughout the country as the percussionist for the critically aclaimed Dallas Brass. He is currently a member of the percussion ensemble Juxtapercussion and a freelance musician and clinician in the Pacific Northwest. Ed is a former student of the Sitka Fine Arts Camp.

Nina Missildine – elementary string program, orchestra, string masterclasses. A native of Pennsylvania, Nina Missildine found her calling for string performance and music education at an early age. She received a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education with a concentration in Suzuki Pedagogy from Ithaca College, a Master’s Degree in Viola Performance with an emphasis in chamber music from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, and a Master’s Degree in Music Education from the University of North Carolina-Greensboro. Since 2005, she has been a violin and viola instructor and piloted an elementary string program for at-risk students in addition to teaching in the public schools in Tennessee as an orchestra director and strings instructor. She is also a member of the faculty at the Florida State University Orchestra Camp. She has performed as a chamber musician at the Sitka Summer Music Festival and the El Paso Pro Musica Festival.

Hank Moore - guitar. Hank began playing music 40 years ago in North Carolina. Starting on the trumpet, he played in marching bands for nine years. At the age of 18, Hank started playing the guitar in rhythm & blues, rock n' roll and gospel groups. Singing and playing guitar in the "church of rock n' roll" for most of his life, Hank still implements these rhythmic techniques in his blues and Celtic playing. He now lives in Sitka, teaching and playing guitar. Artist website.

Brian Neal - trumpet (brass), played trumpet as a member of the internationally-celebrated Dallas Brass. Classically trained at the renowned Manhattan School of Music in New York City, during summers he was a fellow at Tanglewood, Waterloo, Fountainbleau conservatory in France and Norfolk Chamber music festival. He has performed as soloist and collaborator with Charles Dutoit, Yoel Levi, John Nelson, Seiji Ozawa, Simon Rattle, Stanislav Skorbachevsky, Michael Tilson Thomas, and Leon Fleischer. Brian has recently taken the position of Director of instrumental studies and professor of trumpet at the Kendall campus of Miami Dade College. He lives in Miami with his wife, Karen and their three children. Artist Website

Karen Neal - voice. Karen enjoys performing a broad range of musical styles and languages, mastering a diverse repertoire from Renaissance to modern vocal literature and jazz. Currently, Karen is the professor of vocal literature and diction at Florida International University in Miami, Florida. She is the first soprano in the professional chamber ensemble, “Seraphic Fire”. She has been soloist with ensembles in Paris, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Miami. As oratorio soloist, she has also sung with the Miami Bach Society and the San Francisco Chorale. In the field of modern music, she was the premier vocalist with New Music Works of Santa Cruz, California, a cutting-edge group committed to presenting the works of contemporary composers. Karen holds a Vocal Performance degree from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. She was also a Tanglewood Fellowship recipient and has studied French repertoire intensively in France.

Mike Sullivan - jazz ensembles. Mike is a jazz arranger, saxophonist, and electric bass player who lives in Sitka. Originally from Seattle, Washington, he attended the Berklee School of Music, where he majored in arranging and studied saxophone under Joe Viola. He was a staff arranger with the Fifth Air Force Band in Tokyo, Japan for three years and then continued as a freelance musician. He has performed with many personalities including Sarah Vaughn, jazz violinist Joe Venuti, comedian Red Skelton, and Billy Eckstein. He is an airline pilot and spends his free time arranging and mentoring young musicians interested in jazz.

David T. Vickerman is the Director of Bands at Johns Hopkins University where he conducts the Wind Ensemble and Pep Band. David received a Bachelor of Music Degree in Music Education from California State University Stanislaus in 2002 and a Master’s Degree in Wind Conducting at the University of Oregon in 2010. He is currently in the Wind Conducting DMA program at The Peabody Institute. David has directed numerous high school Wind Ensembles and actively pursues ways to bring concert music to new audiences, including incorporating poetry, lighting, and abstract film into performances. Artist Website

Scott Davis - mime & dance. Scott received his first intensive exposure to the arts as a student at the Sitka Fine Arts Camp in the early 1980s. Inspired by his teachers at that time and by the friendships he made at the camp, he continued to pursue the performing arts throughout college, studying mime and dance extensively while at Princeton University. He was the artistic director of the Princeton Mime Company. After living and teaching in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, for two years after college, Scott returned to New Jersey and co-founded Loon Soup, a mime and physical theater company that performed and taught nationwide. He moved to Seattle to study law at the University of Washington in 1995 and in 2000 joined Lingo Dance theater, a contemporary dance company under the direction of KT Niehoff. He has toured with the group to Japan, Cuba, Ecuador, Germany, Canada and throughout the States. Scott has also collaborated with members of the dance faculty at the University of Washington and produced his own work in Seattle, New York, New Jersey and Ecuador. Over the years he has served the Sitka Fine Arts Camp as a counselor in the 1980s, a teacher in the 1990s and as Artistic Director from 1998 to 2006. He is on the faculty at the Northwest School in Seattle where he teaches Mime & Movement and Street Law.

Steven Houser - Ballet. A Portland native, Steven began his ballet training at the age of 6. He has studied at Metro Dancers, Portland Community Ballet, Arts and Communication Magnet Academy, and the School of Oregon Ballet Theatre. He also spent summers studying at the San Francisco Ballet School, Pacific Northwest Ballet School, and the School of Oregon Ballet Theatre. Steven joined Oregon Ballet Theatre as an apprentice in 2004, was made a full company member in 2005, and was promoted to soloist in 2007. He has danced featured roles in works by George Balanchine, Christopher Stowell, Kent Stowell, Paul Taylor, Helgi Tomasson, Yuri Possokhov, Peter Martins, Julia Adam, Nicolo Fonte, Val Caniparoli, James Kudelka, Christopher Wheeldon, and William Forsythe. In 2008 he performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. with Oregon Ballet Theatre as a part of the first Ballet Across America Festival.

Angeline Egea started dancing ballet at the age of 5 at her local dancing school in Colombia. At the age of 14 she joined a flamenco group that performed at local events and shows. Her background in dancing includes belly dancing, hip-hop, jazz, modern, salsa, and aerial dancing. For the past 4 years, Angeline has been part of the ‘Learn Through Dance’ Program, teaching children and teenagers the history, culture, music, and movements of different Latin dance styles. Angeline is part of Salsa Matei Dance Company and has been teaching and performing in different events and establishments all around New England. In addition to dancing, Angeline practices and teaches Capoeira, a Brazilian martial art with her dance partner Gastrell Rossignol.

Valerie Limbrunner - ballet, choreography, has a wide background in dance. She has studied everything from Vaganova Ballet technique to African dance to traditional modern Graham Technique. A former member of the Oregon Ballet Theatre, Valerie began her training in Oregon at the Newport School of Dance and continued with professional training at the HARID Conservatory of music and dance in Boca Raton, Florida. She has danced with Hartford Ballet, Fort Worth/Dallas Ballet, Dallas Opera and National Opera de Bordeaux in France. She recently completed her M.A. in Community Health, Exercise Science and School Health Education from Portland State University.

Belinda McGuire - modern dance. Belinda is originally from Toronto, graduated from The Juilliard School (BFA 2006). A current member of The José Limón Dance Company, she also performs independently as a solo artist and has danced with The Gallim Dance Group, Doug Varone and Dancers, Ofelia Lorette de Mola's DANSCORES, the DOORKNOB Company and The Canadian Children's Dance Theatre. She teaches as a guest artist in New York City at Dance New Amsterdam and The Limón Institute, and in Toronto at CCDT, Cawthra Park SS and York University. Her choreography has been presented at the Festival de la Ciudad 2009 (Merida, Yucatan Mexico), the Canada Dance Festival (Ottawa), in Toronto and in New York City on the stages of the Peter Jay Sharp Theater and Alice Tully Hall, Joyce Soho as well as in DUMBO, Brooklyn. A recipient of the 2008 Bessie Schönberg Residency at the Yard, and recognized by the 2007 Susan Braun Award of The Dance Films Association. As a producer, Belinda launched her one-woman show The Desert Island Project in New York City and Toronto (autumn, 2008). She also creates as a costume, light and set designer and teaches throughout North America.

Gastrell C. Rossignol aka “G” was born in Orange City, New Jersey and is currently living in Massachusetts. As a young child he traveled extensively in Haiti, and was immersed in the folkloric dance. He learned Zouk and Compas, the most common dance forms in Haiti, as well as Bachata from the Dominican Republic, and later Salsa and Merengue. Back in the US, urban dance such as Hip Hop and break dance, landed him his nickname “G” in the street. G is currently a member of the Salsa Matei Dance Company and part of the ‘Learn Through Dance’ Program which teaches children and teenagers the history, culture, music, and movements of different Latin dance styles with Angeline Egea. His latest passion is Capoeira, an Afro Brazilian Martial Arts form that combines elements of dance, acrobatics, coordination, and cultures in a beautiful graceful art.

Amanda Beck is an MFA candidate in poetry at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Her poems have appeared in LIT, Handsome, New Orleans Review, and We Are So Happy To Know Something. She has taught creative writing at the University of Minnesota and currently teaches literature and writing at the University of Iowa.

Will Smiley - writing. Will is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. His poetry has appeared in Colorado Review, Fence, NEO (Portugal), and others. He has taught literature and writing at the University of Iowa and Cornell University, and has previously worked with younger writers at the Iowa Young Writers’ Studio in Iowa City.

Jamie Autrey - ceramics. Jamie is the former Professor of Art at the University of Alaska Southeast. He has a Masters of Fine Arts in Ceramics, Visual Arts, and a decade of experience in teaching different forms of ceramics in the western states. He has taught children and adults of all ages. His work has been exhibited at colleges and galleries in the Northwest. In Sitka he has taught students from Mt. Edgecumbe High School as well as UAS college students. His open workshops are popular with adults who appreciate the practical expertise he shares. He uses various firing techniques including electric kilns, Raku, and pit firing, each of which will be available in his classes at Camp. Jamie was one of the organizers and instructors for the 2005 SE Alaska High School Arts Fest, and has taught at this event for several years.

Javier Barboza - animation. Javier lives and works in Los Angeles. He graduated from California Institute of the Arts’ Character Animation program. His films have showcased in national film festivals, including Nickelodeon’s NickToons Network Animation Festival, having won the 2007 Diversity Award. He currently leads animation classes for elementary, middle and high school students throughout Los Angeles. Javier is currently working on independent animation film projects. Artist Website

Susan Bein - digital photography. Susan is a photographer, graphic designer and teacher who currently lives in Portland, Oregon. She's a native Californian who has also lived in Vermont, upstate New York, and Boston. Photography became her passion from the moment she picked up a camera at the age of fifteen. In her teens she took workshops with Ansel Adams, Minor White, Aaron Siskind, Paul Caponigro, Nathan Lyons, Beaumont & Nancy Newhall, and others. Despite training in traditional photography, she now uses a digital camera exclusively. She has almost 4,000 images posted in flickr's online photo community, and has had more than half-a-million online visitors from all over the world. She photographs every day. She has taught photography and graphic design in high schools, colleges and adult classes for many years. She loves teaching creative people how to access the magical digital tools she uses.

Marcia Hartsock - painting & drawing. Marcia comes to Fine Arts Camp from the mid-western city of Cincinnati on the Ohio River. She works professionally in Cincinnati as a Certified Medical Illustrator, a perfect career for an artist who is just as fascinated with science as she is with drawing. She earned her B.F.A. in Painting and Printmaking from the University of Cincinnati, and an M.A. in Illustration from Syracuse University. She worked for over ten years as a Medical Illustrator at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine creating illustrations for medical education and research. Since 1984 she has owned her own illustration studio, specializing in medical and health education for clients all over the U.S. She has taught illustration techniques and media to teens and adults, and has been Adjunct Faculty at Northern Kentucky University Department of Visual Arts. Her clear, colorful illustrations have won national awards and have been exhibited both in this country and internationally. Her professional work combines pencil and ink drawing with computer techniques. In her spare time and on vacations, she enjoys filling her sketchbooks with watercolor and pastel paintings.

Josef Jacques is a photographer based in San Francisco, CA. He received his BFA from Tufts University and The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and received his MFA from California College of the Arts. His work involves the language of photography and how it is employed as a descriptor of place. For the last few years, he has been working on a project about Merced, CA, utilizing the history of photography, found imagery, and the juxtaposition of imagery to construct a portrait of the city and it’s history. He is currently a Graduate Fellow at the Headlands Center for the Arts and a lecturer at the California College of the Arts. Artist Site

Eleanor Jensen has midwest roots but currently lives in Anchorage, AK. She is a visual artist who works primarily in drawing, printmaking, and sculptural media. Her studio practice focuses on how we perceive and experience the natural environment, the complexities and ambiguities that exist in the relationship between nature and culture. Eleanor has exhibited both nationally and internationally; recent venues include Long Island City, NY, Brooklyn, NY, Wellesley, MA, and Gladstone, Australia. She completed a BA in Studio Art at Carleton College, Northfield, MN, in 2001 and an MFA in Printmaking at Illinois State University, Normal, IL, in 2009.

Will Kim is a Los Angeles-based filmmaker and artist and teaches in the Art Department of Riverside City College. He received an MFA in Animation from UCLA and a BFA in Character Animation from California Institute of the Arts. Will’s animation has appeared in independent, short, and feature length films. He has received the Chuck Jones Award in Animation and has been honored at the UCLA Spotlight Awards. His work has been shown in over 70 international film/animation festivals and auditoriums including Directors Guild of America Theater, Academy of TV Arts and Sciences Theater in Hollywood, The Getty Center, The USC Arts and Humanities Initiative, and Museum of Photographic Arts San Diego. Artist Site

Megan Lindeman - painting & drawing. Megan is a visual artist living and working in Los Angeles, California. She works with painting, photography, installation and text. Her work crosses boundaries between media and disciplines in ways that recall poetry and literature, but always in terms of embodied visual experience. She has been a resident at Bemis Center for Contemporary Art in Omaha, NE, and has exhibited her work there and in Los Angeles, Kansas City, and New York. In 2008 she co-founded chime&co., a gallery in Los Angeles, where she has a solo show this spring. She has taught art to middle school and high school students at Hands on 3rd, an arts organization in Los Angeles, City of Hope, and at Yule Yeshiva University High School in Beverly Hills. She has taught art to college students at Claremont Graduate University, in Claremont, California and has worked as an educator at the RISD Museum, Rhode Island School of Design, in Providence, Rhode Island. She received her BFA from Rhode Island School of Design where she studied both painting and art history. She received her MFA from Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, California.

Kirsten McNally is a visual artist living and working in Providence, Rhode Island. Her work ranges from photography and video to collage and sculpture. She has exhibited around the Northeast and most recently in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She is a graduate of Rhode Island School of Design, where she studied photography and worked towards K-12 teacher licensure. She has taught previously at the Children's Museum of the Arts in New York City, as well as RISD's Young Artist Program and various community arts organizations.

Rachel Siegel is a visual artist who incorporates photography, digital prints, video, fabric, artist’s books, and installation into her pieces. She weaves together multiple interests often using humor and playfulness to investigate issues that are significant to her including family relationships, health, body image, labor, and consumption. Rachel believes that Art is a powerful vehicle for self-expression and social change. She received an MFA in 2002 from the University of Buffalo and two BA degrees from UC Berkley in 1989, one in Art and the other in Peace and Conflict Studies. She currently lives in Los Angeles and Portland and teaches digital art, film, animation, and photography at Sierra Canyon School in Chatsworth, California. Artist Site

Liz Zacher is Assistant Professor of Art at the University of Alaska Southeast in Sitka. She has an MFA in Ceramics from Ohio University. Her work is ceramic and mixed-media sculpture that portrays both human and animal forms and is included in several collections, including The Ceramic Research Center at Arizona State University Art Museum in Tempe, Arizona, and The Dianne and Sandy Besser Collection in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Her work will be featured in an exhibition during the upcoming 2011 National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts Collection in Tampa, Florida. Liz has been teaching clay to students of all ages for over 10 years.

Selina Alexander - Athabascan skin-sewing. Selina was raised on the Yukon River between Ruby and Galena and on the north fork of the Huslia River. She is a master beader and skinsewer. She has demonstrated her work in Washington, D.C. and throughout Alaska. In Selina's words, "I was seven when my mother started me sewing and knitting doll clothes and my father started me trapping squirrels and weasels. At age 11 my father started me running a dog team. By age 13 my mother taught me how to make slippers and boots, more knitting and crocheting. My father taught me how to shoot guns, trap for mink, fox, otter and snare beaver. Mother taught me how to snare rabbits and ptarmigan and fishing with nets and poles. Over the year's I've learned more about beadwork from my grandmother, watching others, books, museums, workshops and listening to my elders. My Indian grandmother and mother are excellent beadworkers and skinsewers. My white grandfather was a well known painter artist and professor in San Francisco."

Patrick Lind was born and raised in a small fishing village located 250 miles off of Kodiak Island. He graduated from high school with honors and worked as a commercial fisherman before earning his living as an artist. Patrick says, "My life has led me to be a cultural freelance artist. Being surrounded by the rugged coastal region inspires me as an artist to take pride in my culture. Intensive research and studies allowed me to recreate histories past, rendering captive moments on canvas and art paper. My skills cover a number of mediums - wood, ivory, baleen, soapstone, and acrylic.

Donnie Varnell - northwest coast carving. Donnie, a Haida carver, has studied visual arts at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. He has worked and apprenticed under Tlingit carvers Nathan Jackson and Will Burkhart as well as Haida carver Reggie Davidson. Donnie is also a proficient weaver, having studied under Haida weavers Holly Churchill, his aunt, and Delores Churchill, his grandmother. Donnie has created works which now stand in public and private collections world-wide including Switzerland, across the United States and Alaska. He has also been awarded numerous Percent For the Arts commissions at schools and youth facilities throughout Alaska.