Instructors’ Biographies

Amy Thompson

Amy is a printmaker and book artist living and working in St. Louis. She received her MFA in Visual Art from the Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts at Washington University in 2007. She teaches bookbinding and drawing at Washington University and is a founding member of RADLAB, a local printmaking collective, from which she operates a letterpress and design business, Paper Boat Studios.
 

Andrew Brandmeyer

Moving to St. Louis a number of years ago to complete his Masters in Arts and Masters in Fine Arts degrees, Andrew Brandmeyer has been actively involved in supporting, and showing within our local art scene. His passion for teaching coincides with his rigorous dedication to the creation of his works. The bold richness of Brandmeyer's documentary paintings of people, places, and ideas is achieved through his personal experiences, mark making, drawing, and paint application to create a physical history upon each surface. His work is worthy of close inspection and contemplation, as not only is this young artist's painting style a joy to be absorbed, but also the relationships and potential meanings between the objects within the scene.

Deanna Nash

Deanna was born and raised in St. Louis. She has been a practicing artist for more than 30 years. She describes herself as a draftsman, a painter, and a sculptor. Deanna specializes in portraits of people, pets, homes, and cherished objects. Her repertoire of media consists of pastels, charcoal, colored pencils, pen and ink, watercolor, scratchboard, clay, stone, drywall, black paper and  acrylic paint. She is a member of The St. Louis Artists’ Guild and The Gateway Pastel Artists. When Deanna is not in her studio she spends time as a private instructor, and participates in art related events, demonstration and workshops.

Eric Repice

I live in St. Louis City with my wife Michelle, daughter Mina Hazel (age 4), and son Felix Pascal (age 1). As an interdisciplinary artist, I pursue projects that cross boundaries between traditional media and disciplines (art, anthropology, and economy). I use digital methods, mapping, and video in combination with printmaking, drawing, and painting. I also employ ethnography to engage emergent multi-media practices in the contemporary world. I am interested in taken-for-granted ideas of authorship, agency, collaboration, and personhood. In recent experiments with video (Knot Just Boys’ Fun), I began with the realization that the knots I learned as an Eagle Scout have unexpected and diverse uses. My collaborative, public, and community projects include the production of a 150’ public mural on Cherokee Street in St. Louis, a 1 mile stencil trail through an urban neighborhood in Columbia, MO, and the marking and mapping of my surrounding over the course of a week in which I avoided motorized vehicles while keeping my routine schedule.

Erica Popp

Erica Popp has been exhibiting her photography and mixed-media work since 2003, including a solo show of her non-silver photographic prints at the Indianapolis Art Center in 2007. Erica holds a B.A. in Studio Art from Principia College and an A.F.A. in Photography from St. Louis Community College at Meramec. She also spent a year studying photography and ceramics at the Kansas City Art Institute. Erica is a practicing artist and teaches writing at Principia College in Elsah, IL.

Greg MacNair

Greg MacNair has 25 years of experience as a commercial and fine art artist. He is currently the Artist in Residence at the Saint Louis Artists’ Guild. Greg’s work is largely commissioned by Covenant Theological Seminary here in St. Louis and he recently completed a portrait of the Indonesian Ambassador to the United States and his wife.

Heather Woodson

A St. Louis area native, Heather Woodson is a ceramic sculpture artist currently living and working in Wentzville, Missouri. Heather studied Ceramics at St. Charles Community College where she won several awards for her work at student exhibitions.   In 2009, she received a Presidential Scholarship Award to Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass, Colorado. Heather has participated in many local and national art show and fairs, including the ‘Natiaonal Cup Show’ at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio. Currently her work can be found at Schon in Brentwood, MO, Mind Works Gallery in Chesterfield, MO and Soulard Art Market and Contemporary Gallery in St. Louis, MO.
 

Jessi Cerutti

Jessi Cerutti explores personal memory and local history through printmaking and fiber arts. Her work has been shown in various juried exhibitions, and she has been involved in several DIY projects, including galleries in alternative spaces and the Rock ‘n’ Roll Craft Show, of which she is Co-Founder and Vice President. 

Kathleen Barnes

Kathleen Barnes graduated from the West Virginia University Art Department. She has worked and exhibited her art – widely – from Santa Fe to California. She was selected as a test artist for Daniel Smith watercolors, has been Artist in Residence at Yosemite National Park and a past president of the Nevada Watercolor Society. Kathleen works in a wide range of media and mixed media.

Lisa Sisley-Blinn

Lisa Sisley-Blinn is an artist/instructor specializing in encaustic painting, and printmaking with over 30 years of experience in creating, showing and selling her work. She has an MFA in printmaking from Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI., where she is counted in the top 100 Alumni from the School of Fine Art, and a BA with a K-12 Art and secondary Science teaching degree from Carroll College, Waukesha, WI. Lisa Sisley-Blinn is currently exploring the intersection of technology and fine art, using the mediums of encaustic painting, printmaking, photography and digital imaging. Recent work combines ambiguous environments with personal symbol systems. Her work is held in private collections around the country.

Michelle Hamilton

Michelle is a St. Louis based artist. She earned her MFA in Ceramics and Glass and is currently teaching at Maryville University. Michelle’s work is shown nationally and her retail lines are carried by local galleries: Craft Alliance, Krueger Pottery, Laumeier Sculpture Park and Main Street Gallery. Michelle founded Sassy Fusion in 2010 while looking for a great way to share the beauty of glass and the fun of fusing with her friends and family. Sassy Fusion has grown into a mobile glass fusing business that is bringing the same joy and excitement to many states in the US.

Nancy Rogers

As a studio artist, Nancy Rogers focuses on working with vintage fabrics in 2D and 3D form. She works with pigment ink pens, hand stitching with embroidery thread, and also uses her sewing machine as a drawing tool. Images vary from her experiences of loved ones being in the military and fighting in battles from WWII to the current situation in Iraq to images of birds drawn in delicate lines and long threads representing "flight". Nancy received her MFA from Fontbonne University in 2009 and is pursing an MAT in art education focusing on mild/moderate disabilities.

Paul Coenen

Paul Coenen studied Printmaking at East Carolina University and the University of Wisconsin Madison. He has been a resident artist at Ragdale, the Vermont Studio Center, and the Luminary Center for the Arts. Paul has exhibited work in several national printmaking exhibitions & print portfolios, and produces artwork locally at All Along Press.

Russ Rosener

Russ Rosener has been fascinated by optics and light since receiving a Looking Glass at the age of 8. Shortly after that he began working in the black and white darkroom and developing his own prints and 8mm home movies. He received a Master of Fine Arts degree from Visual Studies Workshop in Rochester New York. His college teaching career began at Washington University, where he taught photography, Video, and digital imaging. Currently he teaches at St. Louis College of Pharmacy and St. Louis Community College. Although he began working with Adobe Photoshop in 1991, his love for Film and Darkroom photography has never diminished. His work has been exhibited in St. Louis, Los Angeles and the Czech Republic.

Victoria Crowder Payne

Creator of www.FreedomOfStitch.com Where Art & Craft Meet Stitch, successfully designs mixed media and stitched book projects for such hot shot companies as DMC Threads, Liquitex Paints & Mediums, C&T Publishing, JoAnn Fabric & Crafts, and the Kansas City Art Institute. She often finds herself riding a roaring wave of artistic possibility fueled by walking out over a blank surface with nothing but intuition and guts. In my quest to plant the seeds of artistic possibility far and wide, she has become a
steering committee member for the Hand Embroidery Network community, a contributing writer for Needle magazine, and a guru of mixed media stitch both on ground and online. Her current project is called The Sinister Stitch Chronicles Visit the Diaries. It is a year-long documentary following the creation of a collection of 13 ancient poisons in mixed media embroidery. The anchor piece, The Womandrake (36" x 48" mixed media embroidery), will be displayed with her consort, The Mandrake, at the MoFA
Speaking of Fibers Exhibit.