Teacher / Instructor Artist Categories

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Stephani Atkins

Storyteller; Teacher / Instructor

Stephani Atkins works as the Executive Director for StoryArk. In this role, she oversees the planning and implementation of creative writing opportunities for secondary students at The Shire. In addition, Ms. Atkins leads The Shire’s Audio Drama Team as writing mentor and executive producer of the radio and podcast series HUSH. In her past positions, Ms. Atkins has headed up youth programming, developed curriculum, initiated new ministries and organized events for a number of non-profits including mega churches, public schools and advocacy groups. She just recently worked as a marketing director for Liberty Classical Academy and has been involved in public relations as a volunteer for various arts organizations. She has served on numerous boards including The Partnership Plan, Stillwater Public Library Foundation, Students Take Action Network, and Parents United for Public Schools. Ms. Atkins graduated from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois with a liberal arts degree that focused on journalism, American culture and secondary education.

Elissa Cottle

Author / Writer; Poet; Teacher / Instructor

Elissa loved to promote achievements & stories of conscientious businesses, organizations and professionals. She provided writing expertise for entrepreneurs, builders, artists, planners, designers, health care providers, government, nonprofits and more. Her talent for putting art in business and organization writing came from a lifelong pursuit of creative writing. She was a published poet and taught creative writing classes for adults. Shortly before her death in 2021, Elissa published a book of poetry, The Receiving Quilt: Poems.

Sue Cranston

Teacher / Instructor; Visual Artist: Mixed Media; Visual Artist: Painting

I live on the Kinnickinnic river with my family in Wisconsin. I graduated with a teaching degree in 1992 from The University of Wisconsin-River Falls and teach drawing and painting classes at Cretin-Derham Hall High School in St. Paul, Minnesota. I’m nostalgic and fond of combining vivid memorable images from my childhood with my experiences with Motherhood. Often my art work pays close attention to documenting details that reflect my love of uniforms and textiles. Other times, my work reflects experiments with color while documenting everyday objects or subjects that I find particularly striking.

Obed Floan

Actor; Musician; Singer; Teacher / Instructor

Obed Floan, Voice Instructor and NETA Certified Personal Trainer, received his BA from Luther College and his MM from The University of Minnesota. Obed recently was on the voice faculty at Oklahoma City University where he taught students who, as mentioned above, are now finding professional success in musical theatre and opera. Obed was chosen from an international pool of contestants as one of 16 singers considered to be the world’s greatest up-and-coming Wagnerian singers selected to participate in the Lauritz Melchior International Singing Competition under the patronage of Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II held in Aalborg, Denmark, and he also made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2015 as winner of The Gerda Lissner International Vocal Competition – Wagner Division. Mr. Floan has performed with Opera North, Amici Opera, The Other Company, Center Stage Opera, Minnesota Fringe Festival, Des Moines Metro Opera, Minnesota Opera, Mixed Precipitation, and numerous professional orchestra guest soloist appearances across the globe. Megan Wagner Floan, M.M. & D.M.A. (A.B.D.) and Obed Floan, M.M., NETA-CPT are Minnesota natives, and are the founders of their own music, health & fitness training, and production company, M-OStudio Enterprises, LLC since 2001. They had the drive and the focus over the years to travel far and wide to study voice with master teachers throughout the world in an effort to find the very best techniques to teach to their own students. Their students have landed leading roles in their local communities and schools, not to mention going on to find successful careers on countless numbers of the world’s great operatic & musical theater stages, as well as on TV and the silver screen. They are headliners on major cruise ships traveling all over the world, from leading roles in national tours in “Nice Work If You Can Get It” to international productions from Glyndebourne to Marseille to LA Opera. Megan and Obed held the first annual Summer Vocal Institute at The Stillwater Zephyr Theatre this past summer with a final concert of astounding acclaim at the VIP Grand Opening.

Dianne Ginsberg

Teacher / Instructor; Visual Artist: Painting

Oil is my primary medium, although I occasionally work in acrylic, mixed media , and hand paper making. I love expressing myself through the act of creating. I exhibit my work locally , as well as nationally ,at various galleries and juried exhibitions. I draw inspiration from the natural world , but increasingly work in a non representational , intuitive way. I love teaching others the joys of painting, and guiding others has always complemented time on my own work. Currently I teach oil painting, to beginners and beyond , at Hastings Art Center. I have also taught at The Phipps Center for the Arts, White Bear Center for the Arts, as well as my home studio.

Jane Grant-Abban

Teacher / Instructor; Visual Artist: Mixed Media; Certified in Art and Creativity for Healing

I’m a British artist living and working in Minnesota, USA since 2006. During Covid lockdown, the world went quiet and I retreated to my studio to create. I was surrounded by the portraits I had been painting for a project, but I was experiencing another ‘jolt’. So, I stopped. I got still. I listened to what my own soul was feeling and trying to say. I discovered I needed to be like a child and simply play. So, I began again . . . again! I started to play with paint with no expectations or judgements. I was not painting for an audience- just for me. And because I was created to create, I reminded myself that what I was doing in secret was somehow meaningful. Then before I recognized what had happened, a whole new body of intuitive, expressive art was created. And when that happens, it’s time to share! That’s what I’m on my website and in exhibits. Sharing. And that’s how the paintings I’m sharing came about. I’m so happy when someone connects with my art enough to have it in their home or make it part of their life in some other way. Whether it’s an original painting or a print, I want it to give you joyful moments that refresh your soul. I want you to have little moments of ‘ooo’ and ‘ah’ when you see details hiding in plain sight and as you realize that there’s more to explore than at first glance. . . which, after all, is a lot like us, isn’t it? I hope one of my paintings finds its home with you. Living one creative day at a time, Jane Grant-Abban

Pat Haug

Teacher / Instructor; Visual Artist: Glass; Visual Artist: Jewelry

Hello- I’m a lifetime learner. I love passing that on to my students at my teaching studio. I create fused glass and metal jewelry.

Rochelle Jacobs

Choreographer; Dancer; Teacher / Instructor

Steve King

Teacher / Instructor

My wife, Debra McIntire, and I recently moved to the beautiful St. Croix River Valley after living overseas for thirty years. I was an art teacher and instructed in a variety of media to include charcoal, oil pastel, watercolors, acrylics, collage, pen and ink and mural creation. If you are interested in learning a particular medium or technique, please feel free to contact me. My first love is working in stained glass and creating assemblages where I incorporate fossils, agates, bones and shells into my works. My art reflects the dynamics of nature along with a respect for the profound intrinsic beauty of the natural world. I would be happy to create stained glass art designed to your specific needs. This would include everything from wedding, anniversary, and birthday gifts to large panels installed in your home. Feel free to give me a call, shoot me a message over the wires, or just stop by the studio.

Bob Lyksett

Teacher / Instructor; Visual Artist: Photography

Bob Lyksett is a new photographer in the St. Croix Valley, recently moving to Houlton, Wisconsin from Salt Lake City, Utah. Bob Graduated from Weber State University with a Bachaloriate Degree in Photography and also studied Fine Art at the University of Utah. Bob has experienced photography from television news and newspaper to medical and documentary photography. He is an accomplished Sports Photographer, being published in both regional and national sports magazines and is currently working for a local sports photography company. Bob has taught Photography in Park City, Utah for a number of years until moving to Wisconsin where he taught basic and advanced courses in photography at the Phipps Center for the Arts in Hudson, Wisconsin. With a love for the outdoors and growing up in the Rocky Mountains, Bob has captured a number of images in nature being published in calendars, magazines and other print publications.

Sue Rowe

Author / Writer; Storyteller; Teacher / Instructor; Visual Artist: Drawing Illustration; Visual Artist: Mixed Media; Visual Artist: Painting; Visual Artist: Photography

My art illustrates tiny bits of life lived, metaphorically, by a large variety of particular bears. Their faces and bodies have been the main focus of my art for many years, but, as I seldom have specific plans for the final images, the results often surprise me as much as anybody. I enjoy using the power of line and color to depict subtle ideas created in everyday living. The bears and their surroundings have the ability to illustrate stories, most often without words; but frequently as I work sentences form and are drawn on the piece. The bears’ lives, therefore are more fully revealed. These creatures have tales to tell and secrets to shed. They, like many of us, have mixed emotions about relationships, food, survival and life in general. I very much like overhearing observers’ chuckles, sighs or gasps of personal recognition. If my bruins provide a giggle or provoke some serious pondering I consider that we, as a team, have done our good deed for the day.

Elizabeth Tanner

Actor; Choreographer; Dancer; Director; Singer; Teacher / Instructor

Gabrielle Trom

Teacher / Instructor; Visual Artist: Drawing Illustration; Visual Artist: Painting; Visual Artist: Sculpture

Gabrielle Trom is currently in the United States and preparing for her upcoming residency at Chesterwood in 2021. Please visit her website www.gabrielletrom.com for information about commissions. Artist Statement “The beauty of art is the window it opens in our minds. Representational art is an interpretation of the world around us. If we wanted to merely create a copy of what we see we would snap a quick photo instead of making a painting or we would make a life-cast instead of sculpting a figure. When we interpret the world and we see or experience the interpretations of others, we create bridges with which to learn about ourselves and one another.” – Gabrielle Trom Gabrielle Trom was raised in the beautiful Midwest in the United States of America. Trom began formal training in watercolors at the Art Academy in St. Paul, Minnesota in 2008 and went on to continue her studies of drawing, painting, and sculpture at Bethel University. There, Trom was introduced to a variety of artistic mediums and basic concepts of design. In 2016, she left the States and headed across the Atlantic to begin her education in the academic methods of figurative drawing and sculpture at the Barcelona Academy of Art. She added oil painting to her studies at the academy in 2018 and, after she was granted a scholarship from the Art Renewal Center, was able to return to Barcelona to complete her sculpture studies in 2019. In June 2019, Trom won first place in the Richard McDermott Miller competition—a timed portrait sculpting competition held annually by the National Sculpture Society in the United States of America. Trom returned to Spain to teach sculpture at the Barcelona Academy of Art and to commence work on her first personal project. She began working on her first personal projects and competed in the National Sculpture Society’s first Dexter Jones Residency Competition. Trom won the competition, however, due to COVID-19 the residency was moved to 2021. Shortly after, circumstances involving COVID-19 caused her to move back to the United States. Trom moved to Stillwater, Minnesota and has most recently found a space to work in Studio Pintura at the Northrup King Building to practice sculpting and begin preparations for her projects at Chesterwood.

Barbie "Babs" Vidana Luepke

Dancer; Storyteller; Teacher / Instructor; Visual Artist: Drawing Illustration; Visual Artist: Mixed Media; Visual Artist: Painting; Visual Artist: Photography; Crafty

I enjoy various aspects of creating, mixing and crossing art mediums that sometimes bring about out of the norm ideas. I believe these out of the norm ideas challenge us and provide insight to who we are, identifies how art speaks to us, shows us a way to uniquely express ourselves, and most importantly it’s FUN! Art journeys lead us to self-insight and reflection that takes place over a lifetime. In this way, it has a healing aspect to it. Getting what is inside of us out of us. Thus, having experienced a lifetime of art in some form, The Art and The Mind LLC is the natural progression for me to move from the act of creating things myself to sharing and guiding others in their creativity and providing the space to do so. Your thoughts and emotions play a big part in who and what you are and these thoughts and emotions come alive and speak in a variety of ways when expressed through ArtPlay, ClayPlay and DancePlay. Thomas Merton, the writer and poet, stated: “Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.” YOU are a work of art. There is no other YOU. So, with that in mind, I have created guided ArtPlay, ClayPlay and DancePlay. While we may begin with similar ideas, we expand to express what is inside us. Intuitive. Interpretive. This helps us discover new things about ourselves. It may be letting our inner child out to play (permission granted!), or reignite a passion we set aside and intended to revisit with someday. I encourage you to make that someday NOW. I look forward to being your Creativity Coach in upcoming ArtPlay, ClayPlay and DancePlay, creating, experiencing, glowing and growing right along side you. Barbara Vidana Luepke Art is too important not to share ~ Romero Britto *We have a variety of offerings for private sessions of groups of 3 – 8 people. Check out our website: theartandthemind.weebly.com for more information.

Megan Wagner

Actor; Musician; Singer; Teacher / Instructor

Megan received her BM from Northwestern College, her MM from The University of Oklahoma, and she is finishing her DMA from The University of Oklahoma where she was a Hoving Fellow. Besides maintaining her private studio she shares with Obed, she also teaches voice at Crown College and has performed with Garden of Song Opera, Opera Viva, Opera Arriva, Rose State Live, and Minnesota Opera, and has also performed in numerous professional orchestra guest soloist appearances. Megan Wagner Floan, M.M. & D.M.A. (A.B.D.) and Obed Floan, M.M., NETA-CPT are Minnesota natives, and are the founders of their own music, health & fitness training, and production company, M-OStudio Enterprises, LLC since 2001. They had the drive and the focus over the years to travel far and wide to study voice with master teachers throughout the world in an effort to find the very best techniques to teach to their own students. Their students have landed leading roles in their local communities and schools, not to mention going on to find successful careers on countless numbers of the world’s great operatic & musical theater stages, as well as on TV and the silver screen. They are headliners on major cruise ships traveling all over the world, from leading roles in national tours in “Nice Work If You Can Get It” to international productions from Glyndebourne to Marseille to LA Opera. Megan and Obed held the first annual Summer Vocal Institute at The Stillwater Zephyr Theatre this past summer with a final concert of astounding acclaim at the VIP Grand Opening.

Sharon Weiser

Teacher / Instructor; Visual Artist: Painting

A native of Wisconsin, Sharon received her BFA (painting) and K-12 teaching certificate from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire in 1977. Before moving to phoenix in 1992, she taught 2 years in the Art and Design Department at the University of Wisconsin-Stout. For the past 35 years she has conducted classes and workshops in Wisconsin, Arizona, and Minnesota, and New Mexico. Her exceptional versatility of subjects and the use of bold, bright color and mature sense of design impress and fascinate the viewer. Her award-winning paintings have been in numerous shows and galleries including American Artist, The Artist’s, Phoenix Home and Garden, and Cowboys & Indians magazines. In 2011, after 20 years in Phoenix, she moved to Stillwater and opened her Studio/Gallery, where she teaches classes in drawing, painting and color theory. Weiser believes that anyone can paint. Her passion to inspire that talent creates a supportive, positive experience in the classroom where all students can achieve the joy of painting.

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