Angela Cooper Visual Arts: Origami, Interior and Exterior Mural Creation, Relief and 3-D Sculpture, Printmaking
Angela Cooper is a professional exhibiting artist, muralist, and teaching artist with a degree in Graphic Design. She has has worked with K-12 students, adult continuing education, and professional development workshops for teachers. Her K-12 residencies have included lessons built around Picasso, Kahlo, Monet, origami, tessellations and geometry, interior and exterior mural creation, relief and 3-D sculpture, puppetry construction, shadow puppet theater, mask-making, printmaking and bookmaking. Her approach is to set students up for those eye-opening moments as they interact with art and make personal connections to the art form. As she presents art forms through imaginative arts-integration exercises, students build bridges to and connect with art and art-making processes.
Chana Caylor Music, Song Writing: Folk
As singer, songwriter, pianist, performer and entertainer and since the age of eight, Chana brings a wide range of experience from the world of music to the classroom. She understands the importance of directing children’s creative and musical energy from an early age which she fosters in her sessions. Chana incorporates the principles of songwriting, combining melody, rhythm, and rhyme that complement and connect to the literacy and music curricula. Students will use these skills as they engage in self-expression and discovery through music.
Jeri Hillis Visual Arts: Painting, Drawing
Jeri holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Visual Arts from Hampshire College and a Masters of Fine Arts from the Cranebrook Academy of Art. Her fields of study include printmaking, painting (oil and watercolor), jewelry, ceramics, and mixed media. She is an active member of the Hot Springs visual arts community working as a teaching artist, exhibiting artist and gallery curator. Jeri currently works with students from ages 6 to adult creating prints, books, puppets, sculptures, landscapes and portraits. Her versatility allows for projects that can be individualized to fit a variety of subjects being taught in schools.
Kai Coggin Literature: Poetry, Creative Writing
Kai is a full-time poet and freelance writer born in Bangkok, Thailand, raised in Southwest Houston, and currently living in Hot Springs, Arkansas. As a former 9th and 10th grade English teacher, she took her students outside for poetry and drum circles on the lawn. Students helped build a life-size balcony and made aluminum-foil-wrapped yard stick swords for Romeo and Juliet. Ms. Coggin was Secondary Teacher of the Year for the Alief School District in Houston, TX. She holds a Bachelors of Arts in Poetry and Creative Writing from Texas A&M University and her poems have been published in numerous literary journals and magazines.
Kathleen Marleneanu Dance: Ballet, Modern/Contemporary, Jazz
Kathleen attended Henderson State University where she graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in English and minor in Dance and earned her Master of Education degree in Learning Systems Technology from UALR. She performed as a principal dancer in a Branson show (American & international styles) before taking the position of dance teacher at Benton County School of the Arts charter school (now the Arkansas Arts Academy) in Rogers, where she directed the middle school dance program for three years. Currently, Kathleen dances professionally with New Creation Dance Company in Little Rock.
Lanie Carlson Theater: Stage managing, Costumes
Lanie works in a magical space that encourages play and sparks a child’s imagination. She engages children in playing with stories, exploring how characters interact and react to each other and using costumes and props to help create a believable character. Her approach to theater is very hands-on and she expects students to actively participate in some way in the creation of stories and acting them out. Lanie holds a Bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood and has worked for twenty-five years in various areas of early childhood. She has been involved in theater since the age of ten and has spent 30 years acting, directing, stage managing, creating props and costumes and recording and running lights and sound.
Nisheedah Golden Multi-Disciplinary, Music, Theater: Performing Arts: Theatre, Vocal Music, Opera
Ms. Golden has a Bachelors in the Performing arts from the University of Central Arkansas. Professional works include: South Pacific, Hairspray, Big River, Macbeth, Godspell, SchoolHouse Rock, To Kill a Mockingbird, One Ninth, The Sound of Music and many more. Ms. Golden serves as the Artistic Director for Children Internationals, Arts in Action Summer Camp at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, focused on poetry, vocal/instrumental music, and drama and how these art forms aid in the emotional development of a child. In 2009, Ms. Golden toured with the Arkansas Repertory Theatre acting and improv workshops, playwriting workshops, diversity workshops and history workshops (about the Little Rock Nine) presenting to students across the state of Arkansas. Ms. Golden is also a resident singer with the professional opera company, Opera in the Rock, in Little Rock Arkansas.
Norris Chee Visual Arts: Painting, Drawing
Norris grew up on a Navajo Reservation in Arizona, and is a proud member of Navajo Nation. He has worked with students in regular and special needs classrooms and as part of multicultural educational programs. In these settings he addresses cultural differences as it relates to his experience as a person growing up and living in two different cultures. He shares his personal experience as a youth from a disrupted family and how making art has changed his life. Mr. Chee has also worked with adults help them foster positive relationships with those from other cultures. Working as a full-time professional artist, his work has been recognized by multiple museums and national shows and is able to share what he has learned about the creative discipline that has been critical to his success.
Patricia Carreras Storytelling, Theater: Puppetry, Dance
Patricia Carreras has been working professionally in all types of theater since 1985. She has an undergraduate degree in Theater and Film from the University of New York at Fredonia and a Masters in Art in Theater and Film from SUNY Buffalo.
She began her Teaching Artist work with the Western New York Institute for the Arts in Education in 1983. She has worked extensively with the Lincoln Center, the Wolf Trap Foundation out of Washington DC (Creative Early Learning) and the Kennedy Center. Patricia is also an adjunct professor at the University of Memphis where she teaches dance concepts to athletes and Ballroom Dancing to all. She is an independent artist who works as an actor/director/storyteller/ puppeteer/mime in Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, Texas, and Alaska. Every summer, Patricia is invited to join the TBA Theater Company of Anchorage Alaska as a guest director, teaching artist, and mime. Patricia has written many one-woman shows that incorporate mime, puppetry and storytelling. each holding an aesthetic experience for learning.
Her character, Giggling Gertie, is a favorite across the nation.
Zinse Agginie Drumming, Multi-Disciplinary, Storytelling: Folk / Ethnic
A 2008 Governor’s Award winner (AIE), Zinse, was born and educated in Ghana, W. Africa and England. uses hand drums for his storytelling and also as a percussive symphony. Both the storytelling and rhythms support areas of the curriculum –social studies, history, geography and even basic mathematics. Participants are absorbed by the challenging rhythms and cannot help but focus and concentrate as they improve their general coordination. The activities engage fundamental cognitive and problem solving skills, nurturing creative thinking.