Community Education Program Instructors

Matt Allison
B.A., University of Pittsburgh
B.S., La Roche College               
Matt is the owner and designer at Matthew Allison Graphic Design. He provides print design, web design, and social marketing services and is currently looking to help regional businesses with all of their communication, marketing and design needs. Matt’s experience includes designing for a publishing company, Waynick Book Group, and photo editing at Michael’s photography.

Sam Angel
B.F.A, Watkins College of Art, Design, & Film
Sam earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography at Watkins College of Art, Design & Film in 2012. She currently works as a freelance photographer in the Nashville area. Sam works with local photographers such as Mark Tucker and Caroline Allison. While specializing in Fine Art photography, she has a passion for a variety of photographic mediums.

Gloria Ballard
B.A., The University of Tennessee
Gloria Ballard is a native of Nashville, where she enjoyed a long career in journalism as a feature writer and editor at The Tennessean before leaving the newspaper business to become a freelance writer. During her career, she covered fashion, home design, gardening, travel and other features, and was travel editor at The Tennessean from 1998 until 2006. Currently, Gloria writes a monthly garden column for The Tennessean, garden and travel features, stories and essays, maintains two garden blogs, and leads creative writing workshops and gardening presentations. She is a graduate of the University of Tennessee. Gloria also writes fiction, and was a 2004 participant at Sewanee Writers Conference. Her fiction has been published in Drafthorse literary journal.

Richard Cook
Born in Nashville, TN to a creative family, Richard was surrounded by a diversified collection of art which lead to his eclectic style and vivid imagination. Richard has worked as an illustrator, designer, art director and creative director. He has worked in several mediums over the years as a commercial artist and a fine artist. Through commercial work he has enjoyed changing with graphic design production, from paste-up to Macintosh based applications. His commercial works have exposed him to most forms of printing processes. He has designed environmental graphics, POPs, compact disk packaging, DVD packaging, journals, books, greeting cards, marketing materials and corporate identities. Richard talents have been noticed by the creative community with National Awards such as Print, ADDYs and The Printers Association of America.

Claire Coleman
B.F.A, Middle Tennessee State University
A Nashville native, Claire graduated from Middle Tennessee State University in 2012 with a BFA in Sculpture.  She was the president of the Student Art Alliance at MTSU, a studio monitor in the MTSU department of art, the Curator at the Murfreesboro Center for the Arts, and is currently working as an assistant for Alan LeQuire.  Her sculptures have been exhibited in several juried exhibitions.  Her pieces won first place in the 2012 juried exhibition at the Murfreesboro Center for the Arts, as well as at the Hutton Hotel, in Nashville, and in 2011 at Moxie Art Gallery in Murfreesboro.  Her sculptures appeared in The Nashville Arts Magazine in 2012, and the MTSU Honors College publication, Collage, a Journal for Creative Expression, in 2010 and 2012.  She plans to continue her education, by starting a Masters in Art Therapy, or a Master of Fine Art in the fall of 2013.

Aimee Davis
M.F.A, Lousisian State University
Aimee Davis earned her Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Louisiana State University. Originally from Little Rock, Arkansas, she currently teaches creative writing courses in multiple genres at Louisiana State University. She has worked as Managing Editor of New Delta Review, an online literary journal, and also tutors at-risk high school students in the Baton Rouge area. Aimee will be living in the Nashville area and teaching with us during the 2013 summer. 

Amelia Garretson-Persans
B.F.A., Concordia University
Amelia Garretson-Persans is a working draw-er, animator, and book maker and has 10 years of art teaching experience.  Her BFA is from Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec where she was very cold.  She has produced many an adorable little book filled with vaguely sinister drawings and enigmatic warnings about the future, and since her emigration from New York state, she has had the pleasure of working with Nashville musicians on stop motion animation music videos.

Bob Giordano
Screenwriter/Director
Bob Giordano has had an active role in the Tennessee Screenwriters Association (TSA), serving as the President in 1998 and co-creating the Script Development Program which assists writers in developing their screenplays from concept to completion.  In 1997 Mr. Giordano received an honorable mention at the Nashville Independent Film Festival for writing, directing and producing his short film Blind Spot.  In 2002, he won the Hollywood Symposium Contest for his feature-length script Grendel and in 2001 was the winner of the Writer’s Network Screenplay competition for the feature-length script Resistance. 

Katie Gonzalez
B.F.A., University of Georgia
Katie Gonzalez first studied the art of bookmaking in Cortona, Italy during the summer of 2006. Visiting a medieval bindery, working with luxurious materials, and learning to make paper by hand instilled a sense of traditional techniques into her work. She combines that background with her contemporary graphic design degree. Katie runs her own bindery, linenlaid&felt, creating one-of-a-kind journals, photo albums, guest books, and artist’s books. She lives and works in East Nashville with her husband and her brindle bullmastiff.

Rachel Gresham
BFA, Middle TN State University & MTA, Austin Peay State University
Rachel is an alumna of MTSU where she studied painting and printmaking.  She spent several years as an elementary school teacher while obtaining her Master’s degree in Teaching through Austin Peay State University.  Rachel is currently working as a freelance illustrator and surface pattern designer, concentrating mostly on children’s designs and themes.

Barbara Gronefeld
M.A., Belmont University
Gronefeld is an independent artist working in mixed media and ceramics for the past 22 years.  She teaches the Portfolio Class and Pre-College Program at Watkins College Young Artist Program.  Recent projects include a commission to produce a copper reprosse relief sculpture of St. Matthew for St. Matthew’s School, Nashville, TN as part of a donor dedication wall.  Wynonna Judd selected Barbara Gronefeld’s work in 2005 for the Nashville GuitarTown Sculpture Project.  Barbara was awarded a commission in Cat Fish Out of Water Sculptural Project, Nashville, TN, 2004.  Her work was juried and published in the Central South Art Exhibit, Belmont University, 2003.
Gronefeld was selected as a guest artist for the Middle Tennessee Art Education Association Fall Conference demonstrated heart themes in mixed media painting, July 2005. Barbara was nominated for the National Disney Teacher Award for 2006 and received the Tennessee Governor’s School for the Arts Outstanding Teacher Award in 2005.  Barbara has taught the Visual Arts Program at St. Cecilia Academy for 14 years and has completed her Master in Education from Belmont University

Sarazen Haile
M.F.A, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Sarazen is a printmaker, sculptor and bookbinder from Athens, TN. The work she makes attempts to better understand the communities, actions, objects, stories, and memories that maintain and create a sense of place. In 2011, Sarazen graduated with an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where she enjoyed teaching printmaking and bookbinding courses while developing as an artist.

Scott Hallgren
B.A., University of Miami, FL
Certificate, Pacific Northwest Film Scoring
Scott Hallgren is a composer and audio producer with almost 2 decades spent creating award-winning sound tracks for movies, TV, video games, commercials, and the internet, for clients as diverse as: Exxon/Mobil, Enzyte, IcyHot, Scholastic, The History Channel, Reynolds American, NBC, and Ridiculous Software. Of note, “Sith’D”, a short Star Wars spoof, won Best Comedy at Comic-Con (2006); “Gracie: diary of a coma patient” (2007) won a Silver Medal for Music Excellence at the Park City Film Music Festival; and the mid-South Emmy-nominated “We Shall Not Be Moved: the Nashville Sit-Ins” (2011), which also won both a Silver Telly & a Golden CINE Award. Scott’s music has also been featured on the movie soundtracks of Smart People and London Tango. Scott’s previous life includes live performances, world tours and/or studio recordings with: Donna Summer, Sir Elton John, Aaron Neville, Gloria Estefan, Ricky Skaggs, Eddy Arnold, Andrae Crouch, David Foster, Larry Gatlin, Margaret Becker, The Wilkinsons, Steve Wariner, and Fernando Ortega.

Richard Heinsohn
B.F.A., University of Georgia
Heinsohn has shown repeatedly in group shows at Allan Stone Gallery, most notable of which was the Summer Group Show of 1995 where he was included along with Willem de Kooning, Franz Kline, and other historically important painters. Recently he received the ” Critic’s Pick ” From The Nashville Scene, as well as a feature in the Tennessean, for his solo exhibit at Estel Gallery in Nashville. In 2010 his work was shown at Preston Contemporary Art Center in New Mexico and at The Lowe Gallery in Atlanta and featured in Nashville Arts Magazine. Heinsohn was also selected to teach a workshop in conjunction with the ” Modern Masters ” abstract painting exhibition from the Smithsonian American Art Museum at Cheekwood Art and Gardens in Nashville.

Heather Hilley
B.F.A., Georgia State University
M.A., Georgia State University
Heather Hilley is a local photographer specializing in weddings, music photography and portraits; she often combines traditional and photojournalistic approaches to her work. In addition to photography, Hilley works as a high school art educator.

Luke Howard
B.F.A, Watkins College & Art, Design & Film
Luke has been working in the design/ illustration world for about 4 years now. He graduated from Watkins College of Art, Design & Film with a BFA in Graphic Design. He loves what he does and would love for you to be involved. He also drinks an unreasonable amount of coffee every day.

Allison Jarrett
M.A., New York University
Allison Jarrett is an artist educator with a passion for the handmade.  She returns to her hometown of Nashville after living and working in New York City for two years.  During this time, she developed her artistic practice while completing her Masters in Art Education at New York University.  Her work explores traditional craft techniques and their intersection with personal narratives of family, tradition, and humor. She has taught a wide variety of art media to students ages 4-20, and is eager to join the burgeoning art and educational community in Nashville.

Shawn Krise
Shawn Krise is a native Nashvillian who has spent a lifetime in the arts.  Her primary expertise is portraiture, however, she also works with a broad range of subject matter and experimentation. Shawn works in acrylic, pastel, oil, pencil, charcoal, pen & ink, clay and mixed media. Her teaching experience includes community programs spanning all ages, from pre-school to retired citizens, the public school system K-12 art education licensure and teaching experience, as well as private instruction from her studio. Her philosophy on teaching has become to “give the student a clear understanding of key fundamentals, concepts, and material handling that are guaranteed to produce results that prove his or her aptitude and progress, regardless of previous level of knowledge and ability.”

Michael Lapinski
Michael is a professional Art Director for print and television with over 10 years experience, mostly in the field of animation for such clients as Nickelodeon and Sesame Street. More recently, he has become a published comic book illustrator and taught a workshop on comic history and craft at the Nashville Public Library. He is currently a teaching artist for teens at The Frist Center as well as teaching with Watkins Community Education.

O. A. Lindsey
M.F.A, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
O. A. Lindsey’s writing has appeared in the Iowa Review, Forty Stories: New Writing from Harper Perennial, the Broadview Anthology of Short Fiction, Fourteen Hills, Columbia: a Journal of Literature and Art, and elsewhere. He holds an MFA in writing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and an MA in southern studies from the University of Mississippi. Lindsey has taught writing and literature at Loyola University and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and led a veterans-only English/writing course at Austin Community College, Austin, Texas.

Rob McClurg
B.F.A., East Texas State University
M.F.A., Texas A&M University
Rob McClurg received his M.F.A in Ceramics from Texas A&M University. He began teaching in 1986 at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago spending many years teaching various ceramics, firing and kiln building techniques. Mr. McClurg later began teaching at Oxbow School of Painting in Michigan, where he also the coordinated the ceramics program.  He is currently an adjunct instructor at Watkins College of Art, Design & Film teaching both ceramics and 3D design. In addition to teaching Mr. McClurg shows his fine ceramics at galleries such as Sarratt and Ruby Green Contemporary Art Center.

Stephan Micheletto-Blouin
B.F.A., Appalachian Center for Craft
Certificate, College of the Redwoods
Stephan is a woodworker and object-maker living in Nashville, Tennessee. He began his training at the Appalachian Center for Craft where he received a BFA in furniture design. He continued his training at the College of the Redwoods, where he earned a certificate under the direction of Michael Burns, Greg Smith, Jim Budlong and Eijler Hjorst-Westh—-who were themselves graduates of the same program under direction of founder James Krenov. He received his MFA from East Carolina University in 2011.

Jacqueline Mickler
Jackie has had a 35 year life-long passion for oriental rugs.  Originally from Baltimore, MD she began buying, selling, and repairing oriental rugs after seeing many beautiful rugs that needed repair. This experience led full timework  in the business.  Seen as art for the floor, this field directly complimented her love of painting and art.  Jackie believes that incorporating oriental rugs into our environment is a way to bring beauty to our homes and add personality, warmth and style.

Carmen Mims
B.A., Vanderbilt University
M.Ed., The Ohio State University
Over the last five years, Carmen’s art making experiences have been varied ranging from abstract paintings, to experimentation with video art, to a stop motion installation show at Vanderbilt’s Space 204.  She has spent the majority of the past five years in a classroom setting starting, developing, and teaching in the art program at LEAD Academy Charter School.  She currently works with high schoolers in Art I, II, and III and am developing the Art IV and AP Art curriculum.  What she enjoys most about teaching is also what she enjoys most about making art: developing and exploring complex ideas.

Alethea Norene
B.F.A Watkins College of Art, Design, & Film
M.F.A Maine College of Art
Alethea Norene is an interdisciplinary-artist based in Nashville, Tennessee.  Centered around a debilitating disease that runs in her family, her work explores healing traditions and modes for accepting diverse bodies via representations of the body in images. She received her MFA in Interdisciplinary Studio Arts from Maine College of Art in 2010 and is a 2008 alumni of Watkins College of Art’s Photography Department.  She has taught art history, drawing, photography, and new media courses.

Elizabeth Pape
Elizabeth has been designing clothing since 2008 for her eponymous line, Elizabeth Suzann.  With a special focus on vintage style and construction techniques, she is experienced in repairing, updating, and restoring garments from the past.  In 2010, she began experimenting with fabric manipulation techniques such as acid and resist dyeing, silk painting, screen-printing, and block printing.  Working almost exclusively with the natural fibers of silk, linen and cotton lends itself to these forms of alteration.  In addition to the study and manipulation of fiber, she is also interested in garment construction techniques. She is constantly refining her process to utilize the most efficient techniques that result in the highest quality finished garment.  Her approach to fashion design is hands on and appreciative of the craft – she drafts and develops patterns, dyes and prints fabric, and handles production.  Every aspect of making clothing offers an opportunity for learning, and Elizabeth thoroughly enjoys creating something that is so intimately close to our bodies each day.

Lesley Patterson-Marx
B.F.A, Murray State University
M.F.A. University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Lesley Patterson-Marx was born and raised in Louisville, KY and has lived in Nashville, TN since 2001. She received a BA degree in Fine Art from Murray State University in 1997 and an MFA from The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill in 2001. Her favorite mediums are artist’s books, printmaking, and mixed media.  She has exhibited her work locally in such venues as The Frist Center for Visual Arts, Tag Gallery, and Zeitgeist Gallery.  She has shown her work in many galleries, art centers, colleges, and universities across the nation, including Cynthia Broan Gallery in Chelsea ,NYC, The Kohler Center in Kohler, WI, and The Berkeley Art Center in Berkeley, CA. Her work has been featured in local publications such as The Nashville Scene and Nashville Arts Magazine, and national publications such as Craft Magazine, and Readymade Magazine. She also works as a teaching artist and illustrator, having taught at Watkins College, Art and Soul, University School of Nashville, and Sarratt Art Studios.

Doug Stevenson
B.F.A., Graceland University, Iowa
B.A., Ottawa University, Arizona
Doug Stevenson was raised in Western Colorado and received his BFA from Graceland University in Iowa. His junior year was spent studying in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. He attended the Insitutio de Allende, and traveled all over the country.  Doug has lived in several cities before settling in Nashville. He has shown his work in galleries and shows in Scottsdale, AZ, Prescott, AZ, Durango, CO, and Nashville, TN. Doug feels that his influences come from all the time he has spent in the west and Mexico.

John Warren
BFA, Emerson College
MFA, California Institute of the Arts
John Warren moves between narrative and non-narrative filmmaking traditions. His short films have screened at festivals across the country, and his feature-length screenplays have won accolades. His video editing for PBS was nominated for a daytime Emmy. He earned a BFA from Emerson College in Boston and an MFA from the California Institute of the Arts in Los Angeles.

Sara Wilhelm
B.F.A., Virginia Commonwealth University-Richmond VA
M.A., California State University of Dominguez Hills
Sara Wilhelm has been teaching art at Stratton Elementary, a Nashville Public School, since she relocated
here from Richmond, VA in 1998. While in college she had the opportunity to study abroad in London and
learn about Contemporary Art and Photography through the American College of London. Sara’s paintings
and photographs have been shown at the Anderson Gallery of Richmond, VA, as well as the Ultimate Art
Gallery in Nashville, TN.  In 2006, Sara completed her Master’s degree in Art History through the California State University of Dominguez Hills. Her aspiration is to teach Art History at the collegiate level.

Jammie Williams
B.F.A., Watkins College of Art, Design & Film
Jammie is a painter and sculptor with nine years (over 800 hours) of open studio figure sculpting and figure drawing experience .  He has given many private lessons and has led his own open studios and workshops in drawing and sculpture at LeQuire Gallery, Brick Factory Nashville, and the Renaissance Center in Dickson Tennessee.