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Our Teachers |
Classes
Zakia Ahmed has been
teaching for over 25 years and has a loyal local following; she is excited
to offer classes with the West Windsor Arts Council. Ms. Ahmed has a
Master’s of Fine Arts from the Institute of Fine Arts in Dhaka,
Bangladesh. Her works are on exhibit in the Bangladesh National
Museum, Bangladesh Shilpkala Academy, and in many private collections
worldwide.
Priscilla Snow Algava has been a
teacher for more than 35 years; she has taught art at DePauw University,
Marist College, and high schools in New Jersey and New York. Ms.
Algava received her B.A. from Cornell University and Master of Arts in Fine
Arts and Art Education from DePauw University. She has lived, taught, and
exhibited in Argentina and Germany and has won numerous awards for her
artwork including the Geraldine Dodge Foundation Artist Fellow Award.
Algava's art work is represented in many private and public collections in
the United States and abroad, including General Electric, Vassar College,
and Newark Public Library.
Corinna Bisgaier has been
working to transform children’s educational experiences through the
arts for over 10 years as a teacher, arts education administrator, trainer,
and program designer. Through Young Audiences, she worked on the
design and implementation of Arts for Learning Lessons, an innovative
program that teaches hard-to-reach literacy concepts through the arts. She
has a Masters degree in English Education from NYU and a Bachelors degree
in English with a minor in African American Studies from the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is currently the Program Director
for the West Windsor Arts Council.
Peter Bisgaier began working
as a professional actor as a child in Haddonfield, NJ. He earned a
BFA in theater from the University of Southern California in 1994 and then
spent several years working in theaters around the country before settling
in New York City. There, he founded the Empire Theater Company and
produced several successful plays including the World Stage Premiere of
Quentin Tarantino’s “Reservoir Dogs” which he also
adapted for the stage. Mr. Bisgaier is also as a screenwriter and won
a grand prize for his screenplay “Klaus” which is currently
under option. Additionally, Mr. Bisgaier is an artist-in-residence
with theater groups and schools and works as the Production Manager for the
West Windsor Arts Council.
Christine Bodwitch, BFA [Dance],
is a choreographer, teacher and performer. Since 1999, she has been a
Master Teaching Artist with Young Audiences of New Jersey and was an
instructor from 2003-2008 at The Artist/Teacher Institute at Rutgers
University. She has presented her own choreography in various New York City
venues such as Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors, the World Trade Center and the
Merce Cunningham Studio as well as in Germany. In 1999, she founded Rhombus
Dance, a modern dance company that combined dance and sculpture to explore
science and art concepts. She is currently teaching creative movement and
yoga and performing modern dance and physical theater with companies in New
York.
Jennifer Buerkli has been
creating art since early childhood. She is a mother of three young
children, a certified Montessori Preschool teacher and a working artist.
Her intention is to share the process of creation by giving students access
to a variety of materials and techniques, inspiring them with art, nature
and life, and integrating the elements of art and composition into their
experience.
Anna Evans gained her Master of Fine Arts
from Bennington College. Her poems have appeared in the Harvard Review, The
Atlanta Review, Rattle and 32 Poems. She has been nominated five times for
a Pushcart Prize and was a finalist for both the 2005 and 2007 Howard
Nemerov sonnet award, and for the 2007 Willis Barnstone Translation
Award. Anna is also the Editor of The Raintown Review and of the
formal poetry e-zine Barefoot Muse.
Michele Farrell is a former
working actress who chose to move from New York City to West Windsor to
raise her family. During her seven years of study, not only did
Farrell hone her own acting technique under Hagen’s careful eye,
but she also learned how to teach from a master. During her
years as a professional, Ms. Farrell appeared on several Soap Operas
including Another World and All My Children. She has been
featured in numerous Television Commercials such Red Lobster and Levi's as
well as several Radio Voice Overs. Her Theatre work includes multiple
Off-Off Broadway productions as well as originating the role of
"Carmella" in Carmella's Kiss which went to Off Broadway.
Her film work includes industrials such as PSE&G and NIKE as well as
features. As a writer, Ms. Farrell had several of her One Act Plays
produced by the Mercury Rising Theatre Company in NYC. Most recently
she co-wrote a screenplay, entitled “Off Tilt”, which is
currently in development with Tayrona Entertainment group.
Levi Guerrero, who is also known as Cacique de
Ramos, has practiced the art of Capoeira for many years and is an
instructor affiliated with Grupo Senzala from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil under
the guidance of Mestre Zumbi. Mr. Guerrero has been teaching Capoeira since
2006 in various locations in central and southern New Jersey. Primarily, he
seeks to develop the mental and physical capabilities of young people
through Capoeira while simultaneously exposing them to the cultural
heritage of Africa and Brazil.
Manisha Lalwani has a BA in
Psychology and is a certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer. Her
intention to help others is based on her personal experience, as a working
mother of two, when she discovered that strength training and healthy
eating habits helped her battle fatigue. Her goal is to help people deal
with their health issues and motivate them to make their bodies work with
maximum efficiency and energy enabling them live life to the
fullest.
Hong Lu has over thirty years of
experience as a teacher and fine arts professional. Originally from
Beijing, Hong comes from a family of artists and is an experienced
sculptor, fashion designer, and instructor with a BFA in fine art from
Columbus College of Art and Design. From 1993 - 1995 she worked as head
sculptor for Lenox Collections and her expertise extends to the fields of
drawing, oil painting, ceramics and watercolor. She has
taught locally in her own studio since 2002. She works to insure that all
of her students develop and hone their artistic abilities and encourages
them to create their own works of art. To learn more about her work, visit
her studio here.
Michelle L. Marigliano
teaches various arts specialties including Creative Movement, Yoga,
and Saori Weaving. Her specialty is in encouraging children’s
creative thinking and decision-making capabilities while building their
confidence. She has 17 years of teaching experience with special
needs children. Ms. Marigliano enjoys giving children an opportunity
to enhance awareness of their own talents.
Jeehee Pak, the chief instructor of J art
Studio in San Jose, California, has over twenty years of experience
teaching art to children and high school students who want to apply to art
college. She has been focusing on the interactive relationships of
visual art intelligence and other academic subjects through visual
discipline by thinking, planning and refining our talents. She holds a
Bachelor of Fine Arts and a Masters of Design Principal Theory in Dogguk
University in Korea. She is currently teacher for classes of Figure
drawing, Watercolor painting and Cartoon/Illustration at the West Windsor
Arts Center.
Donna Payton received her
MFA from Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles, in sculpture and painting. She
is currently making assemblage, sculptures and costumes from recycled
objects combined with natural materials. Straw, stones, wood and
fabric are the main materials of her current sculptural series. In 2002,
she received the New Jersey Print and Paper Grant from The Brodsky Center
at Rutgers and was included in the traveling exhibition, 100 New Jersey
Artists Make Prints. During 2003, Payton branched into other media
and co-produced and hosted a documentary series highlighting the work of
New Jersey artists for Princeton TV 30, Vox Artis. She has exhibited
in galleries and museums in California, Florida, Missouri, New Jersey, New
York, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Mexico and New Zealand. Some of
the collections including Payton’s work are New Jersey State Museum,
Jersey City Museum, Zimmerli Art Museum, New Jersey State Council on the
Arts, Hunterdon Museum of Art, Southeast Banks, Citibank of Florida, and
Cleveland Clinic in Florida. She has taught painting, drawing, 2D and 3D
design classes at Brookdale Community College, Ocean County College and
high schools in the Midwest.
Anastasia Popova was born and
raised in northern part of Russia in family of educators and crafters. She
learned how to sew, crochet and knit at a young age. Anastasia enjoys
helping others and sharing the joy of learning something new. Her crochet
career began when she designed and produced a line of kids' clothes and
accessories for local boutiques. She then started teaching private
and group crochet classes to adult and kids. She has even written
several patterns and taught classes based on those patterns. Recently, she
has been designing for crochet magazines and self-publishing. Most
recently, Anastasia’s work has been featured on the cover of Crochet
magazine.
Jean Prall Rosolino is the founder
of Youth Stages, LLC, an arts-in-education organization representing
professional actor-educators and providing theater arts programming for
children of all ages and abilities. She received her Master’s
degree in Educational Theater from NYU and has had extensive experience in
teaching and performing for children with disabilities both in New Jersey
and in Minnesota.
Jharna Rastogi is the
Co-Director of 'Timeless Music', a performing arts organization,
established in Princeton, NJ in 2000, and has dedicated her life to
explore, enrich and promote the performing and visual arts of India. Her
productions reflect a unique combination with experimentation of the
classical and contemporary, presenting ancient Indian traditions in new
versions for modern audiences. Jharna learnt her classical style
under the tutelage of Ambika Sukumaran, (who is an accomplished film star
and classical dancer herself). Today, apart from enchanting audiences by
being a dancer/ choreographer, she also has her third degree Reiki (the
Grand Master level), White light, and Transcendental meditation which allow
her to help her students and private clients achieve a sense of clarity,
focus, harmony of oneself, and an overall state of well
being.
Marsha Rudolph, MA, RYT, has
been teaching Breath Awareness for the last 15 years and Yoga for the last
6 years. Her specialty is working with people who may feel too intimidated
to take a more challenging yoga class, especially those who may be
struggling with their weight, have some physical limitations, are at
mid-life or beyond, or just want a class of gentle stretching and postures
to increase flexibility or compliment a more vigorous exercise routine.
Marsha works as a Community Health Educator at Capital Health System.
Aparajita (Pooja) Sen is originally
from India, where she was inspired to began drawing and sketching by her
grandfather, who was a well-known artist. When her family immigrated to the
US, she continued drawing through her school years, winning awards and
recognition for her art projects. In college, she majored in computer
science and finance, not having the opportunity to study art. After working
in the financial/banking field for some years, her strong desire to study
art led her to change careers and enroll in art classes at the Visual Arts
Center in Summit, New Jersey. She has since completed years of training,
had the opportunity to work with many award-winning artists and has begun
her own teaching practice in a variety of mediums.
Sebastiano Stia is a graduate
of Thomas Edison State College and Norwich University, with a BFA in
Photography and an MS in Education/Administration respectively. He has over
19 years experience teaching photography to students both in the classroom
and on-line. Sebastiano’s belief in photography stems from aspects of
both humanistic and intellectual idealisms that he has experienced and
continues to experience in everyday life. He tries to interpret his
surroundings in simplistic yet definitive images to express his personal
vision encompassing conventional and conceptual reality. These beliefs also
strengthen his resolve of “truth in images.” In an evolving
digital realm, truth in photography must be held to its core. As a teacher
of this art, Sebastiano expresses concern and demonstrates the need to
uphold these convictions or be held accountable in the destruction of the
photography profession.
Katie Truk received her BFA from Alfred
University. She has been teaching multi-media classes to children and
adults of all ages and levels since 2001 through personal lessons, visiting
artist grants, and in places such as Creative Hands in Madison, Let’s
Create in Boonton, Messy Artist in South Orange and the Summit Art
Center. In her studio, the medium of choice is pantyhose. She
combines the translucent and sensual nature of pantyhose and the rigidity
of wire to create sculptures of complex depth and personality. These
sculptures have been featured around the tri-state area. Explore her
work here.
Mickey Waring is a graduate
of Princeton University and Beirut University College. Ms. Waring has
illustrated magazines in the United States and abroad. She is a member
of the Metuchen Cultural Arts Commission and a recent contributor to the
Visual Arts Connection. She has been a driving force in the arts
community of Metuchen over the past 22 years. See the world from
Mickey’s perspective here.
Lindsay Wood is an educator
and performing artist from Hamilton, NJ. She studied music education
at NYU where she majored in voice. Her teaching experience includes
group and private voice, acting and improvisation, general music, strings
and piano. She is an active performer, and is the president of
Phoenix Productions, a Red Bank-based community theater organization.
Lindsay is also a licensed Zumba instructor who teaches Zumba,
Zumba-in-the-Circuit, Zumba Gold and Zumbatomic. She brings a
high-energy, fast paced and fun approach to all her classes. Come and
join the party!
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