Studio Arts Instructors

Andargé Asfaw

Andargé Asfaw is an award-winning photographer, educator, and author. His powerful portraits and luminous landscapes have been exhibited in several national and international exhibitions, and are held in private collections worldwide. His book, Ethiopia from the Heart, was released in June 2007.

Cindy Briggs

Recognized as a Master Artist with the National Watercolor Society (NWS), Cindy Briggs joins other leading artists representing the high standards, originality and quality that contributes to elevating watermedia art. For over 25 years, Cindy Briggs has been teaching art Internationally and from coast to coast. She enthusiastically shares the creative journey with her students as she teaches for all levels of experiences.

Michelle René Cobb

Michelle René Cobb is an award-winning artist and art director who began her career as a designer and illustrator for over 35 Time-Life books.

Nick Cruz Velleman

Nick Cruz Velleman is an American artist of Peruvian/Filipino descent born and raised in Washington, D.C. While living there he taught in the studio art department at Georgetown Day School, worked as a manager and director for the 9:30 Club, and performed locally and regionally as a musician with various groups. He has also spent much of his life in Aix-en-Provence, France, where he studied painting and drawing on-and-off since 2009, and earned his M.F.A. degree from the Marchutz School of Fine Arts in 2020.

Delna Dastur

Delna Dastur received a B.A. in English and French from the University of Bombay, India. She was awarded a full student scholarship to Wellesley College, where she studied art history, and went on to receive another scholarship to The American University, where she completed her Masters of Fine Arts in oil painting.

Sue Fierston

Sue Fierston is a printmaker, painter, and muralist with a studio at Artists and Makers in Rockville, Maryland. In June 2019, she will be teaching for the third time as an artist-in-residence at Yosemite National Park and she teaches regularly at the annual conference of the Nature Printing Society..

Bonnie Fitzgerald

Bonnie Fitzgerald’s passions are to provide unique learning experiences, create beautiful art and nurture and expand creative expression through the art and community of mosaic. She is the author of two best selling books: “Guide to Mosaic Techniques” (2015) and “300+ Mosaic Tips, Techniques, Templates and Trade Secrets” (2012), which has been translated into 5 languages. Fitzgerald has long been instrumental in raising awareness of mosaic as a fine art form. To see her portfolio, which includes numerous large-scale installations visit www.maverickmosaics.com.

Josh Highter

Josh is a painter and MFA graduate of Indiana University, Bloomington and is currently living in Washington, DC. He is an artist whose work focuses on the intersection between observation and memory, utilizing the processes of drawing, painting, and printmaking.

Patricia Howard

Patricia Howard has a Master of Fine Arts in photography from Penn State University and a Bachelor of Fine Arts with a specialization in photography from the University of Delaware. She has taught at Penn State University and, prior to her move to the DC area, was Assistant Professor of Art at Juniata College, Huntingdon, Pennsylvania.

Marty Kaplan

Marty Kaplan was teaching music in a small town in upstate New York and became friendly with the school photographer. He knew of Marty’s interest in photography and asked him to photograph a wedding. Marty purchased a Hasselblad Camera and after some training, photographed his first wedding.

Heather Kerley

Heather Kerley (b. 1977, She/Her) is a mixed media and fiber artist living in the Washington, D.C. area. Originally from the Midwest, she studied art at the Columbus College of Art and Design in Columbus, Ohio before earning a BA and MA with a focus on literature.

Lauren Kingsland

Lauren Kingsland is celebrated for her colorful quilts filled with richly varied fabrics, symmetrical motifs, and repurposed materials. She says, “Quiltmaking is like a well-lived life. Its beauty comes from the creative use of the materials at hand, and embracing the unexpected result.” She is recognized for her masterful and peaceful kolam quilt series inspired by street drawings of South India. She has created more than 100 commissions for clients from their collections of treasured garments. Her goal is to break the barriers of tradition so that quilts are recognized as an art medium and as a tool for self knowledge and healing. She teaches quiltmaking for the Smithsonian and is actively involved in providing Art in healthcare settings.

Kate Lewis

Since completing her master’s degree at the Royal College of Art in 1999, Kate Lewis has been transforming textiles into textured, multi-dimensional, manipulated fabrics that have been featured in the collections of luxury fashion and interior brands in Paris and New York.

Renate Maile-Moskowitz

Renate Maile-Moskowitz combines her love of fabrics and textiles with her equal passions for folklore, teaching, research, theater, storytelling, and dance. She holds an MFA from the University of Maryland and has created costumes for the Washington National Opera.

Sushmita Mazumdar

Sushmita Mazumdar is an Arlington-based artist, writer, and educator, and founder of Studio Pause, her art studio where she invites the community to make time to explore creativity and celebrate the art and stories in the community.

Mike O'Brien

Mike O’Brien’s art career began in the 2010’s screen printing posters for punk musicians and producing art shows at his old studio space, Hole in the Sky. His paintings and prints have shown in the DC area at Touchstone Gallery, Strathmore Mansion, Hole in the Sky, Katzen Arts Center, Studio 1469, Washington Studio School, Rhizome DC, Homme Gallery, Studio SoHy, the Fridge, and the DC Lowbrow Invitational.

Theresa Otteson

Theresa has exhibited her paintings in galleries around the United States in competitions, group and solo exhibitions and has won various awards for her work including Best of Show for her western work, Award of Excellence at Manhattan Arts International, “Her Story,” and several Purchase Awards.

Jean Pederson

A popular instructor throughout North America, Jean has led workshops at colleges, professional organizations, symposiums and has juried national and international exhibitions. She has exhibited her work both nationally and internationally in museums and galleries in Africa, Jiangsu China, Italy, England, Sweden, New York, United Nations, San Francisco, Mexico and Canada.

Ann Richards

Ann Richards is a certified knitting instructor through the Yarn Council of America. She enjoys teaching knitting in far-flung places such as the Touchstone Center for the Arts in Pennsylvania and beyond. She has taught knitting at the Smithsonian Associates Studio Arts program since 2001.

Sharon Robinson

Sharon is a mixed-media artist specializing in collage and assemblage. She earned a master’s degree in urban design from MIT, and worked in the urban transit and planning field for over 20 years. Since 1999 she has been a full-time artist, muralist, teacher, and arts program contractor. As an artist she exhibits in various venues in Washington DC, as well as other east and west coast cities.

Renee Sandell

Renee Sandell's expertise is the result of 50 years of art teaching experience in classrooms, universities, and museums, plus presenting at Rancho La Puerta in Tecate, Mexico. She is founding director of the expeditionary museum-based SummerVision DC program, which she designed and delivered for the National Art Education Association (NAEA) since 2010.

Barbara Schmidt

Barb Schmidt published her first book, Orchid Care: For the Beginner, in 2016 and is currently working on her second book, Orchid Care: For the Experienced Grower. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in biology and chemistry and a teaching certificate in secondary science. She's been raising orchids for over 15 years and is a member of the American Orchid Society’s (AOS) Education Committee and the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS).

Arrin Sutliff

Based in DC, Arrin Sutliff creates site-specific and time-based work using plants, flowers, and digital media. Her work spans from immersive installs to single stem expressions.

Shahin Talishkhan

Shahin Talishkhan works include oil painting, black and white drawings, and etching. His greatest influence was his father, the late artist Talat Shikhaliyev. Shahin has been exhibiting his work since 1989 and participating in numerous group and solo shows throughout Europe, Middle East and United States.

Karen Thompson

Karen Thompson has made, studied, and taught lace since the mid-1970s. From 1998 to present she has been a volunteer curator of the lace collection at the Smithsonian American History Museum.

Lori VanKirk Schue

Lori VanKirk Schue has spent more than 35 years learning about and creating art using various techniques, styles, and mediums. A professional illustrator and award-winning fine and graphic artist, she is also the author of over twenty books on art education and specialized story-enhanced art lessons published by Evan-Moor and Scholastic.

Mïa Vollkommer

Mïa has been making jewelry and teaching classes based on her techniques for more than 20 years. As an artist, her goal is to use unexpected combinations of colors, build visual texture with a multitude of materials including, very recently, items that may otherwise be considered trash and, most importantly, create final pieces that demand "slow looking" to fully appreciate the details and complexities they contain.

Sandra Warren Gobar

With an illustrious career spanning over two decades, Sandra Warren Gobar stands as a distinguished figure in the visual arts realm. She is a multi-award-winning and multifaceted visual arts teacher, studio arts professor, art historian, interdisciplinary visual artist, museum arts curator, lecturer, and visual and performing arts community director. Her deep-seated passion and commitment to advancing the arts are evident in every facet of her work.

Eric Westbrook

A painter, illustrator, and art instructor, Eric received a Bachelor's degree in art and design from the University of Maryland, College Park, MD. Formal training in figure and portrait painting continued at the Art League School in Alexandria, VA, and the Washington Studio School in Washington, DC.

Amy Williams Dapice

Amy Williams Dapice lives and works in Chiang Mai, Thailand and the Unites States. She is an artist, teacher, writer, and performer…not necessarily in that order.

Marcie Wolf-Hubbard

Marcie Wolf-Hubbard received her B.A. from the University of Maryland in Studio Art and studied Fine Art and Illustration at the Maryland Institute, College of Art. Her paintings have been exhibited widely on the East Coast. She has illustrated for magazines and books and worked as a courtroom artist.

Joe Yablonsky

Joe Yablonsky specializes in gelatin silver photographs of public sculpture.

Lubna Zahid

Lubna Zahid is a classically trained fine artist. She expresses herself in a variety of media including transparent watercolor, gouache, graphite, charcoal, ink, acrylics, and clay.

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