Instructors

A furtive glance, a fleeting sigh, a soft touch–all point to something which shimmers in the air between us, something that’s been felt before and that will be felt again. My paintings dwell in these charged moments, exploring the nuance of human connection. They revolve around human relationships from a woman’s point of view, revealing the layered complexities of longing, vulnerability, power, disdain. These works speak to the familiar ache for intimacy and the uncertainty of how to navigate it. They ask what it takes to be seen, to be heard, to be known.

At the heart of these paintings is an exploration of psychological space, both the environments where the figures find themselves and the charged atmosphere between one body and the next. A hand on a shoulder, the refusal of a gaze, the press of an embrace: these simple gestures shape the invisible distances between people as much as they suggest physical closeness. They create the tension which permeates human relationships and seem to physically alter the way we experience the world.

The largely minimalist settings in the paintings are stripped to the essentials, painted in support of the emotional narrative. At times, the environment disappears entirely, while in other works, the landscape comes alive in soft, twisting brushstrokes. By stripping away extraneous detail, I invite viewers into a moment with just enough information to unravel the narrative before them, still holding space for ambiguity.

My painting style reflects the balance between clarity and haze. Working in oil, I build surfaces with layers of glazes and impasto, creating a luminosity that allows figures to emerge or dissolve in turn. Brushwork shifts from delicate precision to long, loose strokes, suggesting how our vision oscillates between sharp recognition and blurred uncertainty. Color is restrained but resonant, often used symbolically to draw the eye and support the narrative.

In each of these paintings, the figures exist suspended in the breath before the next gesture is made. They hover on the cusp of a moment alive with the possibility of closeness or retreat. In this charged stillness resides both hesitation and hope: the yearning that vulnerability might bridge the distance between them. My works invite the viewer to linger on that threshold, to feel the fragile promise of connection as it pulses in the space between bodies, before it slips away.

Bella Bishara is a Greenville-based multimedia fine artist and illustrator. She graduated from the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities in Visual Arts. She also received education at the Savannah College of Art and Design. Though raised in Greenville, she is originally from Egypt. Her work combines different mediums including traditional acrylic painting, crochet and other fibers, beads, colored pencils, pastels, and other non traditional materials. She primarily uses a vibrant, bright color palette to separate the contents of her work from reality, keeping it living in an imaginary space. Bishara also uses embellishments and borders in her works partially inspired by Art Nouveau and historical religious artworks, though made into her own interpretations. Different themes of her work include identity, humanity, and mental illness. Though her subject matters and themes differ, her work shares a distinct, playful, intense style.

Raised in Augusta, Georgia, Ashton Maya’s work emerged in childhood as means to survive adverse experiences. Over time, creating art became a catalyst for self-exploration and healing. Evolving as a means to reflect on what it means to transcend generational trauma and tune into the parts of life that bring joy and fulfillment.

Inspired by Black abstraction, philosophy, nature, and automatic drawing, Ashton Maya’s work expresses unique internal landscapes that blur the line between the natural sciences and the esoteric/dreamlike states.

Antar first learned the art and science of 3D CAD modeling while working at David Yurman in New York City. Since then, he has over 16 years of jewelry CAD modeling experience with top New York City based jewelry brands including Alexis Bittar, Verragio, Temple St. Clair, Ippolita, NN by Nghi, Lorraine West and Henry Dunay, to name a few. Many of the jewelry pieces produced from his CAD models have been featured in numerous high-end fashion publications (i.e., Vogue, Rappaport Magazine, WWD, etc.), commerce sites (i.e., Neiman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Sothebys, etc.) and worn by many celebrities (i.e., Iris Apfel, Michelle Obama, Mary J. Blige, Daria Werbowy, Chanel Iman, etc.).

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Additionally, Antar has taught jewelry CAD design and manufacturing professionally for over 15 years at the Fashion Institute of Technology, the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) and privately. He is also an Authorized Rhino 3D Trainer.

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Noted amongst Antar's achievements, he is a winner in the White House's first-ever 3D Printed Ornament Design Challenge. As a winner, his 'President's of Christmas Past and Present' ornament was 3D printed and hung on a White House Christmas tree in the State Dining Room (next to a portrait of President Abraham Lincoln). The ornament was then added to the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History collections

Tania Ro, born in Mexico and raised between Mexico and the U.S., blends two rich cultures into her artistic vision. Though she initially pursued a career in manufacturing, after a decade, she followed her passion for art. Influenced by both American and European traditions, as well as the vibrant, expressive nature of Mexican art, her work reflects beauty, diversity, and human emotion. Using bold colors and a modern approach, she seeks to capture fleeting moments and make them timeless. Tania creates to share her perspective, emotions, and dreams—once believing art was not an option for her, she now paints the very dreams she once thought impossible.

I am a High School Art Educator turned Art Curriculum Designer, with over 25 years teaching experience – the last 14 spent in the high school classroom.

The struggle may seem overwhelming, but I am here with good news. You can have engaged students, confident artists, and a well-managed classroom with a set of strategies that is simple and easy to implement.

Cecilia Ho of Greenville, SC was born into a family of fashion and interior designers in Hong Kong. During her last residence in Nova Scotia, Canada, the local sheep farms influenced her passion and direction into felting and fiber arts.

Since her relocation to South Carolina late 2013, Cecilia has continued to practice and demonstrate her felting skills. She has become a fiber art instructor since the inception of Greenville Center of Creative Arts in May 2015, as well at Spartanburg Art Museum. Cecilia has been a guest instructor at multiple Fiber Festivals since 2012 across USA, Canada & Germany. She often holds felting demonstrations at museums & art fairs ie Artisphere Art Lab (2016-2020), High Museum of Art in Atlanta (2018), & Smithsonian affiliations museums.

"Felt It. Love it. Treasure It." is how Cecilia creates memories through the process of felting. “FELT Expressions” is her traveling solo exhibition which had showcased in 4 cites across SC, while she enjoys taking part in juried art exhibitions & fashion shows. Cecilia is a South Carolina Arts Commission Certified Teaching Artist running fiber arts integration (STEAM) units to k4-12 students from local & regional public & private schools. Through SmartARTS program, Cecilia collaborates with Greenville County School teachers to conduct fiber art & academic learning integration units to K4 - 8th grade elementary students.

Having lived in the West and the South East of Ireland for almost 38 years, Diarmuid and his family decided to move to the USA in 2007. Several years prior to this move, Kelly had received national recognition as an amateur artist for his bovine (cattle) and equine (horses) paintings. This was achieved through the Irish Shows Association. Thousands of Irish artists would submit their work through Juried shows around the country, the winners qualifying for the finals each year. In 2001, Kelly eventually went on to win the finals and was awarded the Best in Show award by the then Minister for Arts and Education, Dr. Michael D Higgins (current President of Ireland).

This was the break that Kelly was looking for to springboard his career as a professional artist. Kelly holds an Honors Diploma in Industrial Design (Product) from RTC (Carlow Regional Technical College) in Ireland. Feeling somewhat disheartened by the heavy impact CAD (Computer-aided drafting) was having on design in the late 80’s, Diarmuid decided to focus on a more painterly approach to his work.

Upon arriving in South Carolina in 2007 he quickly became involved in the art scene in the Spartanburg/Greenville area with his first solo show at the Spartanburg Art Museum. His show “Stepping Stones” was extremely well received resulting in 16 sales from the 25 pieces on display. Following the success of this exhibit, he was invited to teach at the art school at the Spartanburg Art Museum. He now also teaches at several locations in the Carolinas and has several private groups he teaches on a weekly basis.

Kelly has been featured in the Spartanburg publication Artists Among Us, was the cover artist on the online Greenville Magazine Fete. He has also been the Art Administrator for the Return to the Green Irish Festival for several years. This exposure as an artist has resulted in multiple invitations to jury shows in the Carolinas. Art on the Trail in Travelers Rest, Union County, Belton, Columbia and other locations amongst them.

Kelly draws much of the inspiration for his paintings from his farming background in Ireland, his Irish heritage, music, craftsmen and their methods. In recent years inspiration from historic Charleston and Savannah is evident in his paintings. For many years he has studied the works and techniques of masters Vermeer, Caravaggio, and Constable and in recent years American artist and illustrator Norman Rockwell. Kelly’s style of painting has often been described as contemporary realism with a classical flare.

Elena Denali Hart is a painter and photographer based in Greenville, South Carolina. Originally from the Chicagoland area, she earned her Bachelor of Arts in Studio Art from The College of Wooster, with minors in Film Studies and History. During her time at Wooster, she was awarded the George Olsen Prize in Art, presented annually to one graduating student for excellence in the program.

Hart has exhibited her work nationally and internationally, with shows in Illinois, Ohio, South Carolina, and Italy. Her senior thesis exhibition, Angels & Saints in a Modern Renaissance, was presented at both The College of Wooster and the Evanston Art Center. She has participated in international artist residencies, including RUC in Brescia, Italy, and her work has been featured in publications and curated collections highlighting emerging contemporary artists.

In addition to her studio practice, Hart teaches painting and photography throughout the Upstate region. Her work is held in private collections and continues to evolve through an exploration of color, narrative, and the emotional complexity of the human figure.

Giacomo Muraglia was born in Sicily on February 1989, since the age of 7, he has a great passion for American culture. In 2003 he enrolled at the Liceo Artistico Giuseppe Damiani Almeyda (Art School) in Palermo, where at the age of 15 he discovered another passion; the Sculpture. Once he finished the Art School, in 2008, he enrolled in the Sculpture Course of the Academy of Fine Arts in Palermo where, under the guidance of the Sicilian Master Sculptor Salvatore Rizzuti, he graduated in 2012 in Visual Arts and Disciplines of Entertainment. Over the years, Giacomo has worked in his Studio in Palermo, in various sculpture workshops and Comic Conventions all over Italy putting into practice his skills as a performer and entertainer for the audience creating life size sculptures for the event's guests of honor, but his real dream since he was a little kid is to move to America. Moved in U.S. in 2019, he currently works on commission as a sculptor painter and designer in Los Angeles, and as a sculptor instructor, living his Dream.

My art is my “journal,” composed from my own version of the landscape, and developed from a lifetime of enjoying the outdoors. Often the images I use are from my memories, as I strive to capture the mood, rather than the details of a place. The majority of my work is representational, but typically not in the manner of traditional realism. I often start a new painting without a specific composition in mind. 

    Most of my paintings utilize a combination of water-based mediums such as acrylic paint and acrylic inks on a variety of surfaces. I often include rice papers and other collage papers to create interesting textures and surfaces. Upon this surface I apply color in a somewhat random manner, and then I develop the images. Sometimes the surface itself suggests a composition and leads me as I complete the painting.

    Originally from the Midwest, I earned my degree in Art from Illinois State University, and then moved to the Greenville, SC area. I managed a dual career as a Graphic Designer and Painter for many years. I have been fortunate to study with many nationally recognized artists along the way, and I enjoy teaching my water media methods as an invited instructor at facilities in the Carolinas and Georgia, as well as at home near Greenville SC. I have been awarded signature membership in the South Carolina Watermedia Society and the Georgia Watermedia Society. Some of my work has been exhibited nationally, and is included in numerous private and corporate collections. 

Hi, I'm Jill! I'm a 29yo lifelong maker, cat lady, art teacher of 7 years, and your host for craft night.

A typical event with me is a cozy, judgment-free craft and social gathering for all ages and skill levels. My personal goal is to connect with and enhance my community through art. Thank you so much for coming to hang out with me and helping the dream come true.

Kate Bryan is an artist and art educator based in Upstate South Carolina. Her work delves into themes of identity, family, memory, and grief, exploring the complex emotions that shape our personal narratives. With a background in teaching art in public schools, Kate is skilled in a range of artistic media, though she feels most connected to her craft when working with watercolor, colored pencil, and mixed media.

In June 2012, I graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Rhode Island with my Master of Fine Art in Jewelry + Metalsmithing. In December 2008, I received my Bachelor of Fine Art also in Jewelry and Metalworking from University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia.

My pieces are a part of the natural cycle, undisturbed and unprotected, and I aim to highlight their undulations and ornate subtleties.

Each piece in my series evokes the place where it was found and what I was doing there. Their presence alone serves as a sketchbook, or journal, of where I have been and what I have seen.

Kathleen was born in Carthage, Tunisia and spent most of her childhood in Africa. After returning to the United States, she attended high school in New England and art school in Ohio. This upbringing, along with travel, contributed to her deep appreciation for people, culture, and our beautiful Earth. These challenge her to create: whether it be capturing portraits, painting the outdoors, or designing her home landscape. Kathleen uses all the tools of an artist, working with shape, value, color, texture, and design, in each of her creative endeavors. Currently living in South Carolina, she creates commissioned portraits and other representational work, as well as teaches classes and workshops. She also completed her Master Gardener* certification in 2021.

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Kathleen received her training in oils with four years of portrait painting in art school and in workshops with other professional artists. Her mentor and teacher Joe Cintron studied with Robert Brackman, who in turn studied with Robert Henri and others. However, she credits her knowledge and skill with other mediums to her early career as a medical illustrator. This multifaceted education sets her apart as an artist; her paintings have their own distinct style. Oils are traditional yet executed in a painterly manner, and her colored pencil and mixed media pieces are known for their detail, soft transitions, and beautiful color. Along with her studio practice, Kathleen considers it part of her mission to teach and foster other developing artists.

*A Master Gardener is someone who has undergone intensive horticultural training through a university extension office and then volunteers in their community by giving lectures, creating gardens, conducting research and other projects.

"I create paintings of everyday objects, capturing the quiet stories they carry, for those who enjoy a moment to pause, look again, and see the familiar with fresh curiosity. My work focuses on fine detail and the natural translucency of watercolor. My goal is not to be photorealistic but to capture the essence of the subject in a representational way. “

Lisa’s work is recognized both nationally and internationally. Her paintings have been accepted into 26 juried exhibitions and honored with 28 national and international awards. She has been published in Watercolor Artist “The Best of 2023’ (in Watercolor), Splash: The Best of Watercolor 26, and Splash: The Best of Watercolor 27. As the recipient of the Purchase Award at the Northwest Watercolor Society International Open Exhibition in 2024, “Searching for a Seahorse” hangs in the Permanent Collection at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, WA.

Lisa is a Signature Member of the National Watercolor Society (NWS), Northwest Watercolor Society (NWWS), Louisiana Watercolor Society (LWS), Watercolor West (WW), Women in Watercolor (WIW), and Pikes Peak Watercolor Society (PPWS). She is also an associate member of the American Watercolor Society (AWS), Transparent Watercolor Society of America (TWSA), and South Carolina Watermedia Society (SCWS). Lisa holds position as the Show and Exhibition Assistant Chairman for the South Carolina Watermedia Society. In addition to her studio practice, she teaches classes and workshops, sharing her love of watercolor with artists at all levels.

Lisa’s path to art has been shaped by a rich and varied life. After earning a master’s degree in education, she worked as a school counselor before returning to her creative roots. Lisa has lived on both U.S. coasts, as well as in Canada and Guam, experiences that broadened her perspective and continue to inform her work. Now, based in South Carolina, she is married with two adult children.

Lisa’s personal philosophy: there’s beauty in the overlooked. Subjects don’t need to be grand or theatrical. Subjects can be jars, marbles, reflections, shadows. Something compelling can be found in ordinary things. Being an artist gives her an excuse to find the most interesting part of everything. Anyone who knows her has heard her say, "I would continue to paint even if I never sold another painting. Yet I feel both humbled and full of gratitude when someone chooses to hang one of my paintings in their home."

Mary Whyte (b.1953) is an American figurative artist known internationally for her watercolors of contemporary people. Her works are in private, corporate, university and public collections nationwide, and have been featured in numerous media outlets including CBS Sunday Morning, PBS and NPR.

The author of eight books including An Artist’s Life: Unlocking Creative Expression, Whyte’s work has also been featured in many international publications, including periodicals and books in China, Russia, France, Germany, Canada and Taiwan.

She is the recipient of numerous awards including the Portrait Society of America’s Gold Medal, the Carolinas Freedom Foundation’s Freedom Award, and the South Carolina Governor’s Award for the Arts, South Carolina’s highest honor in the arts. 
In 2019 Whyte founded the Patriot Art Foundation (501c3) as a means to honor and inspire veterans through the arts. patriotartfoundation.org
 
Whyte received the 2020 National DAR Medal of Honor and the 2020 NSDAR Women in the Arts Award.  In 2021 Converse University in Spartanburg, South Carolina awarded her an honorary doctorate degree.  September 2022 Whyte received the Annie Oakley Society Award for her role as a leader in the artistic community and inspirational work through the Patriot Art Foundation.  
 
Whyte’s groundbreaking museum exhibition WE THE PEOPLE: Portraits of Veterans in America, consisting of fifty large-scale watercolors of one veteran from each state, opened in 2019 and continues to travel to various museum locations around the country.  
 
Whyte’s private studio is located downtown Charleston, South Carolina where she paints and welcomes collectors by appointment.

After leaving a career in graphic design and moving from the New York metro area to Charleston,  South Carolina, I started teaching my first classes at Redux Contemporary Art Center as a way to share my love and knowledge of painting with my new community. From that first experience my passion for education has expanded to teaching students of all ages, creating arts integrated curriculum for the Charleston county school district, and becoming a certified SC state educator. I love being able to advance my own learning through teaching a variety of techniques to my students  with a special interest in repurposed waste, and natural mediums. 

Artistically, I center my ancestral history, storytelling, and radical dreams to imagine an ideal world and question our current one. As an Art Historian, I join conversations surrounding colonialism and post-colonialism, drawing inspiration from many sources, especially Coco Fusco’s writing and Ana Mendieta’s performances. As Latina women, I empathize with their responses to violence, and hope to embody that resilience in my own work. I aim to create a body of work exploring loving, drawing from Judith Butler’s ‘Precarious Life’ and Surrealist thinking. My identity (queer, Latinx, female, and shifting) and relationship with my mother have shaped my beliefs about love. While all my work reflects love—of the environment, high school, or ancestral history—I now focus on moments where love has felt precarious, embodying the themes of precarious love and hope present in my life and work environment.

Orlando Corona (he/him) is a professional visual artist specializing in painting, printmaking, murals and teaching. After finding his passion for printmaking in his high school art class, he became captivated by art and began exploring printing and painting. In 2022, Orlando was accepted into the Brandon Fellowship program at the Greenville Center for Creative Arts, providing a pivotal catalyst for his career, and becoming a full-time artist shortly after leaving the program. Orlando has a passion for being involved in the community and helping others, often working with local non-profits, artists and organizations.

Originally from Guanajuato, Mexico, Orlando moved to Greenville, South Carolina at the age of 10 with his family. Orlando draws deep inspirations from his roots as a first-generation Mexican immigrant, often sharing stories and memories of his childhood in rural Mexico. His intentions are about creating artwork that captures personal elements through his unique style, while sharing his culture, telling stories and making fine art everyone can enjoy. He aims to inspire others through his work and be an integral part of his community and the world.

I help actors, musicians, & performers build careers that don't cost their mental health, sense of self, or love of the work.

I spent years as an educator before becoming the coach that actors, musicians, and other performers turn to when they need someone who notices what they can't see in themselves.

With a decade of coaching experience, hundreds of satisfied clients, and 100 five-star Google reviews, I’ve been featured on Thrive Global, Tiny Buddha, and Scary Mommy.

I bring both deep expertise and genuine intuition to my work, a combination my clients say create real breakthroughs.

My work sits at the intersection of creativity, intuition, neuroscience, somatic wisdom, and sustainable success.

I help outward-facing creativesstay rooted in who they are while building meaningful lives, visible careers, and sustainable success.

When you’re ready to stay creative and whole on the inside while building a demanding, visible careers on the outside... without crashing out or losing themselves along the way, I’m here. Together, I help you grow and move forward with confidence, authenticity, and grounded momentum.

Sustainable growth.

Peace of mind.

I’m a watercolor artist and instructor based in Greenville, South Carolina.

My work centers on simple forms, layered color, and the natural movement of water on paper. Whether I’m painting or teaching, I’m drawn to processes that reduce overwhelm and allow steady progress over time.

Art has been a consistent thread throughout my life; first as a student, then as a classroom teacher, and now as an artist and guide for others building their own creative practice.

I began teaching art in 1989 and spent 25 years teaching elementary art in public schools. Working with young students made it clear how easily creativity shuts down when art feels overly technical or perfection-focused. That experience continues to inform how I structure both lessons and artwork—keeping processes clear, flexible, and supportive.

Alongside my teaching career, I’ve remained committed to my own painting practice. I was a member of the Central Ohio Watercolor Society, and I studied watercolor with Jeanne Dolby, from whom I developed my love of color. Her approach reinforced the value of limited palettes, close observation, and strong color relationships, along with the permission to break the rules when the work calls for it.

I have a BFA from the Columbus College of Art and Design and hold a Master’s degree in Art Education and also was a National Board Certified Teacher. Over the past 10+ years, my work has expanded into online spaces, where I create lessons, resources, and guided practices for educators and adults seeking a calmer way to work with art materials.

I am a practicing studio artist and my primary media are printmaking and drawing. I work in many different printing techniques including intaglio (etching on zinc plates, copper and photopolymer plate etching aka Solarplate), wood and linoleum relief prints, and monotypes. My preferred drawing media are oil pastels and oil sticks, but at times my drawings will also include additional manipulations of graphite, charcoal, and colored pencils.

I retired in 2010 after 29 collective years of teaching visual arts with 25 in the Greenville County, S.C. School System.

My teaching experiences have also taken me to Genoa, Italy where I taught at Clemson University's, Charles Daniel Center for Urban Studies in Genoa, Italy.

I have taught printmaking and drawing at the Greenville County Museum of Art, the Greenville County School's Fine Arts Center's Explore the Arts program, and with the summer Discovery, Odyssey and Teacher Institute programs for the Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities.

I have conducted multiple printmaking workshops with the Upstate Visual Artists, Greenville County, Oconee County, art teachers and the Pickens County Art Museum, Picture This Art Gallery, Hilton Head Is., IF Art Gallery in Columbia, SC and in March of 2012 I presented a photopolymer intaglio printmaking demonstration with students at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, SC. I also provide printmaking classes privately in my studio.

In the summer of 2005 I taught an intense printmaking course for the Teacher's Institute for art teachers across S.C. at the S.C. Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities. Twenty teachers took the role of student and worked very hard for two weeks around the clock in printmaking with me and painting with Paul Yanko, the painting instructor with the SCGSAH.
I directed two portfolio exchanges, Shifting Plates in 2011 and shifting Plates-II in 2014. S.P. I traveled the state of South Carolina to various exhibition venues and the Spartanburge Museum of Art. S.P. II Opened at the Upstairs Art Space in Tryon, NC then traveled S.C. with a showing at the Pickens County Museum of Art.

I am the current Vice Chair and a founding member of the Contemporary Print Collective.

CPC is a group of around 25 Upstate S.C. printmakers that meet monthly at the Greenville Center for Creative Arts.

At Black Dog Press I offer workshops in various printmaking techniques and can provide services as a master printer for collaborations with other artists to produce limited editions. I also do contract printing.  I have printed 30 editions of Solar Plate etchings for Herb Jackson who taught painting at Davidson College, N.C. 

The paintings of Terry Trambauer Norris are executed in oils using the traditional techniques of the old masters, infusing them with a modern sensibility and vision. She has been studying art since childhood, receiving recognition in high school and junior college before entering the Atlanta College of Art, where she studied design, painting, printmaking, and photography, emerging with the degree of Bachelor of Fine Art in 1985. After college, Terry began a dedicated search for a personal language that would express her developing vision. This led her to traditional realism with an emphasis on light and composition. Major influences are Chardin, Rembrandt,Vermeer, Whistler, Robert Henri, and Charles Hawthorne. This was supplemented with workshop study under Gregg Kreutz and David Leffel, as well as critiques and classes with Ralph Bagley, and a month of study at The Art Students' League of New York. The still life compositions are painted exclusively from life in order to capture mood and light. The atmosphere and physical presence of the subject are essential to the inspiration. Sketches and photography are sometimes used when painting landscape and portrait.

Terry’s artwork has been shown in festivals, galleries, and national juried exhibitions, including The Oil Painters of America, Salon International, and The Catherine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club, and has earned numerous awards. She has taught high school and college level art classes and conducted painting workshops and demonstrations. From 2001 to 2010, she taught at Crealdé School of Art in Winter Park, Florida, where she served as Director of Painting and Drawing from 2001 to 2004. Terry received a professional development grant from United Arts of Central Florida in 2004, and in 2006 was awarded an Artist Enhancement Grant from the State of Florida. Terry’s paintings have been selected for an Award of Excellence three years in a row in The Annual Eastern Regional Exhibition of The Oil Painters of America,  and she was awarded Signature Membership status in that organization in 2009. After leaving Crealde in 2010, Terry taught briefly at local Art Associations before she and her husband, Arthur, made a long desired move to the upstate area of South Carolina. She will continue to teach workshops in still life painting and color basics.

Michael Lechlitne grew up on family farm in Northern Indiana. His world was White, rural, safe, and small. This all changed with the advent of the 70s and his enrollment in college. Being exposed to the civil rights movement of the prior decades, the disenfranchised veterans of the Vietnam War, and the unveiling of corporate greed and industrial colonialism forced him to reevaluate his values, his place in the world, and how he would respond to it. Michael engaged these issues by focusing his attention on providing mentorship, housing, and stability to young adults, during the 80s and 90s. It wasn’t until his early 50s, while doing some carpentry work for an art studio, that he was invited to partake in an art class. Because of his partial color blindness and a bad experience in grade school, he dismissed the idea. However, thanks to the encouragement of his wife, he changed his mind and took the class.

What began as a hobby, dabbling in ink and watercolor, quickly grew into a passion. As his ideas grew in complexity, so did the artistic mediums he pursued. Now, his work can be found utilizing ink and watercolors. By combining his passion for art, beauty, creativity, and the Eternal, Michael has become the artist he is today. Most of his pieces have a story to be told, which makes him a story teller who creates art.

Brooke Barlow is a figurative ceramic sculptor exploring the connection between the human form and the natural world. After a long career in advertising, she felt called back to a more meaningful path guided by a desire for healing and deeper self-discovery. That journey led her to clay, which quickly became both a creative outlet and a turning point in her life. Her work reflects an ongoing exploration of connection, embodiment and becoming.

Since then, Brooke has studied and worked under acclaimed sculptors across the U.S. and abroad, engaging in immersive practices that have expanded her understanding of form and strengthened her artistic voice. In 2024, she opened Brooklynn Ceramics, a studio where creative practice and human experience intersect. At the heart of her work is leading hand-building clay classes, where she guides students through an intuitive, tactile process that fosters both skill and self-expression. Alongside her classes, she facilitates women’s circles and retreats, creating spaces where community and creativity become pathways to self-discovery, healing, and deeper personal connection