Jeanne Demotses
Jeanne's primary medium is oil. She also often works in watercolor, acrylic, pastel, monotype and collage. She experiments in making her own paper to use as a ground for her pastel work, and uses the paper as a collage element. Her work ranges from the figurative to the abstract and often combines aspects of both. Jeanne's paintings are in many collections in the U.S. and in Europe. She maintains a studio in Peekskill and is a member of that community's growing artist district. In addition to her classes at the Putnam Arts Council, she also teaches oil and watercolor painting at other schools, and portrait painting in her studio. Jeanne studied art at Hunter College, the Art Students League and the Westchester Art Workshop.

Cathy Faiella
Cathy has been a very popular teacher at the "Express Yourself" summer program for years and teaches at a variety of art centers and other children’s programs in the area. Students flourish under her energetic and patient teaching style. She is a graduate of Connecticut College.

Bracken Feldman
Bracken is a working artist who enjoys many mediums such printmaking, painting, collage and drawing, along with being an accomplished ceramicist. She has taught in both elementary and high schools in the surrounding area. Bracken has worked in clay for 14 years, working with many different process from slip casting, wheel throwing, hand building, to sculpture. She has a Bachelor of Fine Art from Alfred University School of Art and Design and a Masters in Art Education from Manhattanville College.

Sarah Gilchrist
A working visual artist and educator, Sarah introduces children to style and medium by showing them the work of great artists through history and then she encourages them to develop their own techniques, in pastel, watercolor, collage and other media, with light, fun, and playful presentations and activities. She has a Master of Arts degree in education from Manhattanville College and she studied in Italy as well.

Anne Johann
Anne is a gifted artist and educator. Her work has received recognition by museum curators and directors, has won awards and grants from many art organizations, and has exhibited in galleries as well as regional and national competitions. Anne combines an emphasis on technique paired with developing the student’s individual vision. Her biography is listed in the Marquis Who’s Who of American Women and Who’s Who in America.

Gina Keidong
A practicing artist and art teacher, formally trained at SUNY New Paltz in Art Education with a focus in ceramics, she currently teaches in Croton-Harmon High School. Gina has been working with clay as a medium for over 10 years. From throwing to hand building Gina takes a holistic approach to teaching ceramics reaching out to her students individually, taking them from the point they are at to the next stage in creating.

Dr. Bernie Kessler
Bernie Kessler has been an award winning photographer for over 50 years, exploring and celebrating the beauty of nature, including human nature. His images have been exhibited internationally and are in corporate and private collections. He is recognized as an outstanding teacher. His ease of style creates a non-threatening learning environment. Students have fun and feel very personally inspired as they improve their photographic skills.

James Sparks
Jim is a prolific painter and photographer whose work has been shown and collected country-wide. His special talent and energetic style as a teaching artist is widely known. His experience ranges from elementary level on up, with particular emphasis on college level instruction in art history, drawing, photography and painting (College of Mt. Saint Vincent, Bronx Community College, Connecticut Institute of Art and others). His BFA in Painting is from Washington University and MFA from the University of Southern California.

Joann Zwolski
Joann works with a wide variety of mediums. Her work visually expresses a passion for line and color. Her palette is full of brilliant hues from a wide spectrum. She combines both abstract and thematic elements in her "works on paper". She has exhibited through solo and group shows in the tri-state area and Delaware.

Joann received her BFA from Pratt Institute and her MA from the College of New Rochelle. She has taught art for over thirty-five years to students from kindergarten to high school and has been teaching adults drawing for the past several years in a variety of places.