Teaching Artists

Joan Carlon - Visual Art

Joan began her formal arts education at Manhattanville College where she studied painting and art history. She won a scholarship to study painting in Florence, Italy for a year and went on to earn her M.F.A. from Syracuse University. Joan taught studio art courses at Cazenovia College where she worked for nine years. Her interests began to shift toward sculpture while working in a large studio space at the Delavan Center in Syracuse. She works with wood, fabric, and wire to create installation pieces that recently have focused on the issue of forced immigration. Joan's artist residencies include Pouch Cove, Newfoundland; Sculpture Space, Utica; The Fire Station Studios, Dublin, Ireland; Centrum in Seattle; and the Atlantic Center for the Arts in Florida with her daughter.

In 2004 her work was shown at the Scala Gallery in New Woodstock and at the Society for New Music show in Cazenovia. Also in 2004, Joan and her son, Paul, presented a performance piece, Where is Home, based on immigration stories, combining a jazz suite, tap dance, and visual/verbal immigration stories at the Delavan Center in Syracuse. She presented a similar work at E1 Taller in New York in May of 2003 that included the tap dancer, Max Pollak.

Joan's work has been exhibited in New York, Canada, and Florida. Her installation, Storied Hearts, was awarded Best in Show at the 2002 Made in New York show held at the Schweinfurth Memorial Art center in Auburn. Shows this past year included the WCNY Showcase and a two-person show at May Memorial Gallery in Syracuse. Joan's work will be at the Cazenovia College Gallery in July.

Regi Carpenter - Theatre

Regi Carpenter has been a professional storyteller since 1993. She has won numerous awards including Storytelling World, Parents' Guide for Children's Media, and the Parents' Choice Gold Award. She loves being a part of the aesthetic education mission, particularly for preschool children. Teaching and performing with a number of Institutes throughout New York State since 1991, Regi is consistently excited to meet the needs of teachers and students through creativity.

Elizabeth Carville Evans - Music

Flautist Elizabeth (Beth) Carville Evans is a member of the Lavender Trio wind ensemble. The trio performs classical and contemporary music in a uniquely enhanced performance setting designed to appeal to all the senses. Lavender Trio's recent performance at the Everson Museum in the Civic Morning Musicales series was recorded for future broadcast on WCNY. Beth has performed as soloist and chamber musician in Boston' s Jordan Hall, the Isabelle Stewart Gardner Museum, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and Harvard's Sanders Theater. Upon completion of her studies, Beth returned to the Utica area in 1987 and established herself as a performer, teacher, and active member of the B Sharp and Etude Music clubs. She gives solo and chamber recitals throughout the area, has performed with the Utica Symphony, and is a member of the Catskill Symphony Orchestra. Beth holds both Bachelor and Masters degrees in flute performance from the New England Conservatory of Music, Boston, where she was a student of Claude Monteux. A native of New Hartford, her early flute studies were with John Oberbrunner. She won the 1985 James Pappoutsakis Memorial Flute Competition, and was a four-time winner of the Conservatory Gala Chamber Music Competition.

Deborah Evans - Dance

Deborah Evans is a faculty member of the dance faculty at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute (MWPAI). She has been a dance teacher for fourteen years as well as choreographer for the annual student dance concerts. Throughout her years of teaching dance, Debbie has developed a child-based curriculum that introduces basic dance concepts appropriate to a child's developmental level. She uses real life experiences, creative play, and drama to explore the variety of ways bodies can move. Most recently, Debbie has been teaching ballet and coaching young skaters for The Skating Club of New Hartford.

Ken Hynson - Music

A native Virginian, Ken enjoys playing traditional American folk songs on his twelve string acoustic guitar keeping the old songs alive for new folks. Currently, he specializes in participatory shindigs at schools, libraries, parks, and the like, throughout Central New York. At his 'traditional troubadour' performances, there is always a chance to do a dance, play a finger game, or sing and play along with some of Ken's collection of percussion instruments.

In the classroom, Hynson has conducted musical workshops for the Rochester and Central New York Aesthetic Education Institutes, as well as the Utica Arts in Education Institute. This year, Ken is also a regular weekly musical presence in his son's first grade classroom.

Mary Ellen Lagana - Dance

Mary Ellen Lagana has been performing and teaching dance since graduating from SUNY Brockport's Dance Department in 1974. She went on for further dance training in New York City with Alwin Nikolais and Viola Farber. Upon returning to upstate New York, she joined the Binghamton based American Dance Asylum. As a principal dancer with this modern dance company, she has performed in group, duet, and solo works choreographed by Lois Welk, Arnie Zane, Bill T. Jones, Jill Becker, and Richard Bull.

In 1986 Mary Ellen joined the Southern Tier Arts In Education Institute and has worked with the Utica Institute since 1994. This past school year, Mary Ellen was in residence with the Elmira City School district. This summer she will be a guest artist in Corning, New York at 171 Cedar Arts, for their Summer Dance Camp.

Meredith Leland - Creative Writing

Meredith Leland is a creative writing teaching artist from Hamilton, New York. She earned an M.A. in Liberal Studies from New York University, an M.A.T. from Colgate University specializing in English Literature, as well as a New York State teaching certification in English 7-12. Between working as an adjunct professor, photojournalist, and substitute teacher, she organizes writing workshops and hammers away on various novels, stories, song lyrics, and poems.

Nancy Long - Dance

Since 1982, Nancy Long has been on the faculty of Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute (MWPAI) where she currently serves as the dance program coordinator. She began performing professionally in 1974 and toured throughout the U.S. and Europe with dance companies based in New York City and Los Angeles. In addition to teaching ballet and modern dance, Nancy has choreographed numerous pieces for ballet and modern dance, including five original story ballets, two full-evening modern works, and two evenings of dance commissioned by the Utica Symphony. As a representative of MWPAI, she is a member of the Mohawk Valley Dance Partnership, an organization that works to bring community dance events to the area, in collaboration with the Arts in Education Institute and Hamilton College.

KathyAnn Moragne - Music

Kathy, a graduate of the Crane School of Music in Potsdam, is a recently retired music teacher from the Ilion Central School District where she taught for 33 years. She is also Director of Music at Trinity Lutheran Church in Herkimer. As one of the original ten teachers to participate in the Arts in Education Institute (AEI) in 1988, Kathy has been fortunate to work with many teaching artists and as a teacher partner at AEI's Summer Sessions. Kathy served as the AEI acting director during the 1993 1994 school year. She conducted research on aesthetic education approaches at Proctor High School as a member of a Lincoln Center-funded research team and presented the project results at Lincoln Center in 1996. For three years she was invited to be a Faculty Fellow at the Stanley Center for the Arts Empire State Partnership Summer Seminar, was a facilitator for the Association for Institutes of Aesthetic Education international Teaching Artist Mentoring Project, and presented Leap Into Writing: Using Dance To Improve Elementary Writing Skills at the 2006 New York State Arts in Education Conference, Common Ground. Kathy has also served on various Association of Institutes of Aesthetic Education committees.

Katrin Naumann - Theatre

Katrin is a theatre artist and educator. She works primarily as a free-lance costume designer for theatre, dance, and commercials. She is also an actor for stage, commercials and industrials. Katrin received her MFA from Syracuse University in Design and Technical Theatre. Locally, Katrin has designed for LeMoyne College, Syracuse University, SUNY Oswego, Gams on the Lam, and The Redhouse, as well as for many Raymour and Flannigan commercials. She has also designed for Actors Shakespeare Company, The Stratford Festival Theatre, Vanderbilt University, Virginia Repertory Dance Company, and Parsons Dance Company.

While living in NYC, Katrin served as Assistant designer on the Broadway production of The Diary of Anne Frank. She has also served as resident costume designer for the Sterling Renaissance Festival for 3 seasons. Some favorite acting roles include Pet in The Member of the Wedding, Olivia in Twelfth Night, and Mrs. Saunders/Ellen Lin in Cloud Nine, various roles in The Vagina Monologues, as well as various characters at the Sterling Renaissance Festival. Katrin appears in commercials and industrials and she recently recorded The Will of the Empress with Full Cast Audio. Katrin has taught at SUNY Oswego, Cornell University, James Madison University, Vanderbilt University, LeMoyne College, and Syracuse University. Katrin is a yoga instructor and is presently immersed in Advanced Yoga Teacher Training at Open Sky Yoga in Rochester. She is also the mother of two fabulous kids, Coe and Kate.

Jackie Osterman - Theatre

Jackie is an active member of the local theatre community and an experienced professional actress, director, and vocalist. She is the founder and director of the Hartford Players Youth Theater and has created and performed theatrical productions for young actors for over 9 years throughout the Central NY area. Formally trained at the University of Albany and the Julliard School, she holds a degrees in both performance and directing. Jackie currently teaches Theater Arts at Utica College. She was most recently seen onstage in role of Mrs. Lovett in an area production of Sweeney Todd.

Monk Rowe - Music

Monk Rowe has been the Artistic Director of CNYCAC's Arts in Education Institute and a music teaching artist for fourteen years. He has participated as a guest teaching artist with aesthetic education institutes in Binghamton, Buffalo, Nashville, Syracuse, Albany, and Memphis. Monk previously taught vocal and instrumental music in the Vernon-Verona-Sherrill School District. As the Joe Williams Director of the Hamilton College Jazz Archive, Monk has conducted videotaped interviews with over 250 jazz artists across the country to document American jazz history. He is also an adjunct instructor of saxophone at Hamilton. Monk is a saxophonist, pianist, and composer and has produced two CDs of original jazz, including the 1999 release, Jazz Life, created with his wife, Romy Britell. He frequently conducts workshops on jazz, blues, and improvised music in public school settings.

Jane Tavalin Schwartz - Dance

Choreographer and dancer, Jane Tavalin Schwartz, is on the faculty at Colgate University as well as director and choreographer for the Colgate Dance Theater. She has also served as a faculty member at several other institutions including SUNY Brockport, University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana, Kirkland and Hamilton Colleges, and Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute School of Arts. She has been a guest artist in neighborhood dance studios and is a former dancer and choreographer for Utica Danceworks. The American Dance Guild and the American College Dance Festivals have recognized her choreography and she has received several NYSCA Meet the Composer grants that enabled her to collaborate with contemporary composers.

Jane is a graduate of the High School of Performing Arts in New York City and earned a B.A. in Dance from SUNY Brockport and an M.A. in Education specializing in Dance from the University of Michigan. She has worked with the Regional Program for Excellence and was a teaching artist with the Central New York Institute for Aesthetic Education in Syracuse for five years before joining Utica's Institute. Jane also worked for the former Southern Tier Institute in Binghamton. This is Jane's 20th year as a teaching artist with the Utica Arts in Education Institute.

Shannon Rachel Stanfield - Theatre

Shannon is a 2007 graduate of Hamilton College. She has participated in main stage productions at the college level and has been cast in numerous student productions. Shannon has written and directed her own work, and has produced and directed student work. She worked as a teaching assistant for the head of the Theatre Department, Carole-Bellini Sharpe. As a stagecraft assistant, she learned how to execute stage designs for large-scale productions.

Shannon is a recipient of the 2006 Karen Williams Generosity in Theatre Award, the 2007 Wallace Bradley Johnson Prize which is given to the writer of the best one-act play produced at the college and the 2007 Senior Prize in Theatre which is awarded to an outstanding senior concentrator in theatre. She also had the honor to receive the 2007 Kirkland Alumnae Prize Scholarship which is given to a woman who exemplifies the ideals of the Kirkland woman, specifically in initiative, creativity, and ingenuity and who has the ability to achieve objectives through self-directed academic and non-academic pursuits.

After completing an internship with Arts in Education last summer, she knew that teaching artist work was perfect for her.

Lauren Unbekant - Drama

Lauren Unbekant is a member and co-founder of the physical comedy company Gams On The Lam. With the Gams, Lauren has performed throughout North America at such festivals and theaters as the Tampa Bay, Florida Performing Arts Center, One Dream in New York City, and the Atlanta Arts Festival. In Latin America and Europe she has appeared at the Internacional Festival de Pallesos in Barcelona, Spain; the Humorologie Festival in Brussels, Belgium; the Festival of Contemporary Art in Leon, Mexico; and the Festival of International Art in Puebla, Mexico.

Lauren has also created and toured several solo pieces including Crimes of Fashion, Egg on a Painted Fence, and, most recently, Tales From The Hood...Childhood. As a solo artist she has been awarded funding through the National Endowment for the Arts, New York Foundation for the Arts, Stanley Center for the Arts, and the Women's Theatre Project. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting/Directing and Music from Syracuse University, and has studied professionally with Avner Eisenberg, Julie Goell (Commedia Dell'Arte), and Sue Morrison from the Toronto Theatre Resource Center. In addition to her teaching artist roles with the Syracuse and Utica Arts in Education Institutes, Lauren is an adjunct instructor in the Syracuse University Drama Department.

Julie Waldas - Visual Art

Julie Turtlehorse Waldas is a visual artist and storyteller. She has degrees in art history from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, in art education from the University of Georgia at Athens, and in elementary reading from SUNY Cortland.

An art teacher at Holland Patent Central School for thirteen years, she also served as art department chair. Her paintings, drawings, and collages have been exhibited at the Kirkland Art Center, Mohawk Valley Community College, Utica Public Library, Munson-Williams-Proctor Art Institute, and the Stanley Center for the Arts Gallery. A storyteller for many years, Julie performs with Pearl and the Egg Storytelling Guild, as well as giving solo performances. She enjoys combining her artwork with storytelling, and both genres with theatre. She also works with soft sculpture construction.

Leigh Yardley - Visual Art

Visual artist, Leigh Yardley, has a Fine Arts degree from Skidmore College and a degree in education from Oswego State University where she specialized in early childhood development. She has been in residence at the Vermont Studio Center and as well as receiving SOS grants to continue her artistic exploration. For Leigh, painting and drawing are forms of communication that require her to take risks, to ask questions, and to explore the unknown. Leigh's paintings are exhibited throughout Upstate New York.

In addition to her work as an Arts in Education Institute teaching artist, Leigh is an adjunct faculty member at Morrisville State College where she introduces visual arts as an integrated aspect of life long. In her work as a Teaching Artist with the Arts in Education Institute, Leigh has been involved in collaborative projects that resulted in the installation of two permanent works of art; a 13-panel mural with 3rd and 5th grade students at the Greene Intermediate School and a steel sculpture in the Waterville Middle School. During the 2005 2006 school year, Leigh's landscape paintings were the focus of study in an Empire State Partnership project that included pre-kindergarden through 8th grade students in the Greene School District.