Our Artist-Instructors

Learn more about our art teachers. We have incredibly talented people working as Artist-Instructors.

Clarice Allgood

Clarice Allgood

Pottery

Clarice Allgood is a functional potter and teaching artist based in Minneapolis, MN. An unconventional ceramic history of workshops, open studios and unofficial residencies led Allgood to Minnesota in 2018. In 2019, she graduated from the advanced certificate program MN NICE and as of 2020 she is a Fogelberg Studio Fellow at Northern Clay Center. She’s particularly fond of making tools. Some are tools of conviviality, some support activities of engaged solitude such as knitting, gardening, reading and cooking.

Scott Lloyd Anderson

Scott Lloyd Anderson

Painting

Scott Lloyd Anderson is a full-time, nationally known, oil landscape painter and teacher. His previous career as a magazine art director greatly informs his approach to picture-making. His work is included in the collections of the Minnesota Historical Society and many private and corporate patrons. He’s won awards across the country, including San Luis Obispo, San Antonio, Colorado, Maryland and Minnesota, and he’s painted in China, Italy, England, Mexico, and Canada.

Brad Benn

Brad Benn

Ceramics

Brad Benn came to pottery after earning degrees in engineering, BSEE and BSIE, from Washington University in St. Louis, working in industry, and also making harpsichords. He served as Assistant Director and managed the pottery studio at Edina Art Center.

From Our Students

Traudi is the best!

Traudi Bestler

Traudi Bestler

Fiber

Traudi Bestler trained at the Weavers Guild of Minnesota, The Weaving School and Sievers School of Fiber Arts. She has been a teacher of weaving, dyeing and fiber arts for more than 20 years.

Sarah Bober

Sarah Bober

Jewelry

Sarah Bober studied fine arts at St. Olaf College. She began making jewelry in 2007 and has been selling her work at art shows and teaching classes ever since, specializing in metal art clay.

Genie Castro

Painting

Genie Castro studied under painter Hananiah Harari at the famed Art Students League in New York. Her work is admired for its exuberance, assured use of color and bold form. Her passion for creating is matched by her passion for helping students find their own voice through making art.

Krissy Catt

Krissy Catt

Ceramics, Children

Krissy Catt has been building her career in clay, with a focus on handbuilding, for more than two decades, starting with a B.F.A. from the University of Minnesota. Beside her business, Catt Ceramics, Krissy works in the Edina Schools and with senior adults. Her whimsical figures (some more than five feet tall) are on display in the Art Resources Galleries in International Market Square and at the Galleria. Her teaching style is marked by a depth of patience and a sense of whimsy and fun!

Fall 2017 Spotlight / Spring 2013 Spotlight

Alex Chinn

Alex Chinn

Ceramics

Alex Chinn grew up in rural Massachusetts in an old farmhouse with his mother, a painter. He was exposed to many forms of art, including clay, from early childhood. Clay became his primary artistic outlet while studying with Ron Gallas at Macalester College. In 1998 Alex formed his studio, Ceramic Chinn. Alex makes sculptures, tiles and functional pottery, inspired by nature and daily household use.

Michele Combs

Michele Combs

Painting: Oils, Acrylics, or Pastels

Michele Combs is a plein air, impressionistic painter who studied classical realism at the Minnesota River School of Fine Art and with nationally recognized artists from throughout the U.S. Now a full-time visual artist, after a career in occupational therapy, Michele has been painting since 1995 and teaching since 2005.

Website

Kathy Creger

Kathy Creger

Botanical Painting

Kathy Creger has a passion for botanicals that began with a class at the Minnesota School of Botanical Art, studying with Marilyn Garber. Kathy’s orchid illustrations appear in several international publications, including “Orchids of Tropical America, an introduction and Guide.” Her work is included in the permanent collection of the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden Florilegium.

Anastasia Speer

Anastasia Speer holds a B.F.A. in Ceramics from the University of South Dakota, and a Master’s Degree in Art Education from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. She finds inspiration in nature for her artwork, and enjoys helping her students find their own style and sources of inspiration for their art.

Andrew Rivera

Andrew Rivera received his BFA in Ceramics and Sculpture from The University of Minnesota-Duluth and completed the MN NICE Certificate program at Northern Clay Center in Minneapolis, MN. He is currently a studio potter at Clay Coyote in Hutchinson, MN. Inspired by function, history, design, and culture, his wares reflect on personal identity and his heritage.

Sonja Hutchinson

Sonja Hutchinson

Painting: Watercolor

Sonja Hutchinson is a Signature Member and past President of the Minnesota Watercolor Society and has been painting in watercolor since 2001. She has studied with many established watercolor artists and has frequently exhibited in juried shows and received honors for her work. Her artwork employs both traditional and non-traditional watercolor techniques. To her, the watercolor medium is simultaneously challenging and enchanting, where spontaneity and intention collide.

Lakeshore Weekly News article

Bonnie Lauber-Westover

Bonnie Lauber-Westover

Drawing

Bonnie Lauber-Westover holds a bachelor’s degree in studio art from the University of Iowa and master’s degree in studio art from Illinois State University. She has taught in the Minneapolis area for 25 years at schools, colleges and art centers. She has exhibited widely, juried many art competitions and been a visiting artist at many art centers and schools. Bonnie enjoys seeing former students who now exhibit, maintain studios, and work as artists!

Laurie Lausen

Laurie Lausen

Fiber

Laurie Lausen is an avid rug hooker whose fiber journey has taken many paths. She began designing and hooking rugs in the early 1970s while still in school and in the 1980s founded L.J. Fibers, a Minneapolis-based studio, gallery and retail shop now known as the Wooly Red Rug. Laurie has been listed in the Directory of Traditional American Crafts as one of “America’s Best” since 2009. Many national publications have featured her work and published articles she’s written.

Website Blog  | Instagram @woolyredrug

Madie Ley

Children, Multigenerational

Madie Ley worked in a variety of arts organizations after earning her B.A. in Art History from St. Thomas. Her fiber art practice is informed by experiences at Textile Center, MCAD, and MN Basket Weavers Guild as well as self-taught skills, and currently focuses on modern weaving techniques and soft sculpture incorporating weaving, felting, and fiber waste.

Barbara Lidfors

Barbara Lidfors

Painting

Barbara Lidfors is a figurative and landscape painter who grew up in the Twin Cities area. After more than three decades of living, painting, teaching and exhibiting in Germany, she has recently returned to her Minnesota roots. As an artist she collects visual inspiration from the everyday people and places around her. These impressions are condensed in her artwork and translated into visual stories and poems celebrating the significance, meaning and beauty of our many-faceted lives.

Fred Dingler

Fred Dingler

Painting: Watercolor, Gouache, Acrylics

Fred Dingler graduated from the American Academy of Art in Chicago and studied with Irving Shapiro before launching his 40-year illustration career for a local and national clientele. He works in watercolor and gouache, among other media, depicting a variety of subject matter. His teaching experience includes a lengthy stint at the College of Visual Arts in St Paul, and workshops across the country.

Diane Petron

Diane Petron

Children, Glass

Diane Petron brings her many years of experience with a variety of media, including ceramics and glass, to her delightful fused glass designs, which display her love of pattern and color.

Kenneth Schweiger

Kenneth Schweiger

Drawing & Painting

Kenneth Schweiger graduated from DePaul University in Chicago, after which he continued his studies of classical and contemporary art in Japan, at the Atelier Studio program in Minneapolis, and in New York. His current studio is located in the Northern Warehouse in Lowertown Saint Paul.

Suzann Beck

Suzann Beck is a Minneapolis-based artist specializing in portraiture. She holds a BFA from Moorhead State University, and serves as an Ambassador for the Portrait Society of America in addition to taking portrait commissions and teaching.

Christopher Copeland

Christopher Copeland attributes his love of open, serene landscapes to his rural Washington County childhood. A graduate of the College of Visual Arts in St Paul, he has exhibited and received awards for his work in plein air events and galleries across the country.

Anwesha Guha

Anwesha Guha finds inspiration in nature for her colorful paintings, created in a wide variety of media. She teaches art to students representing a variety of experience levels, emphasizing the students’ interests and skill levels as she plans her class lessons.

Sophia Weisensel

Sophia Weisensel received her MFA from New York Academy of Art, where she’s taught figurative painting and drawing classes, but focuses on the people of the rural Midwest as the subject of her art, exploring themes such as coming of age and family dynamics in her psychologically resonant images.

Erik Vevang

Erik Vevang has taught greenwood spoon carving since 2015. Introduced to carving by his wife Michele, he’s taken numerous carving classes and been featured in MSP Magazine’s Makers of the North competition. A carpenter, woodworker, and graduate with a BA in studio Art from St Olaf College, he finds spoon carving the perfect way to explore the intersection of art and craft.

Kevin Kluever

Kevin Kluever teaches art to students of all ages, creates paintings in his studio, and also takes on mural commissions (more than fifty of them, both indoor and outdoor), which can be found throughout the West Hennepin area, especially Maple Plain. A self-taught landscape painter, he learned to paint the way he likes to teach it: by studying the masters.

Ernest Miller

Ernest Miller

Ceramics

Ernest Miller, Jr. is a ceramicist and sculptor with extensive experience teaching adults and children. With a B.A. in three-dimensional studio art from Eastern Illinois University, Ernest is an exhibitor and award winner in many juried shows nationally and his work is widely collected. Ernest has been featured on MN Original on TPT.

Spring 2014 Spotlight | “Adding an Edge” from Ceramic Arts Network magazine

Website | Insta @ernestmillerceramics

Jon Neuse

Jon Neuse

Painting

Jon Neuse has been teaching for the past 25 years in a variety of media, including abstract landscape, abstract figures, collage and monotype. Jon’s work has been described as playful and childlike with an emphasis on color. His work has evolved over the years, from his early large-scale monotypes, to his current exploration with 3-D accordian books.

Dorothy Odland

Dorothy Odland

Children, Painting: Oils, Acrylics, or Pastels

Dorothy Odland holds both a B.F.A. and M.F.A. from the University of Minnesota. Through her career she has been an exhibitor, award winner, juror and gallery lecturer for 22 years at Walker Art Center. She is also a founding member and mentor with the Women’s Art Resources of Minnesota (the WARM). Her work is found in many corporate and private collections.

Lee Persell

Lee Persell

Ceramics

Lee Persell is the Ceramics Studio Manager for the Minnetonka Center for the Arts. She exhibits in shows and galleries throughout the Midwest, and has taught at the Minnetonka Center for the Arts since 1997.

Fall 2016 Spotlight

Dan Petrov

Dan Petrov

Painting: Oils, Acrylics, or Pastels

Dan Petrov is a classically trained artist and instructor with more than 25 years of experience, including studying and exhibiting in Europe, Canada and the U.S. He specializes in Renaissance and Flemish oil painting methods and modern forms of alla prima (wet-on-wet) painting. He believes, “painting reflects the world,” and helps bring new understanding to everyday objects and spaces.

Website  |  Insta @danpetrovart

Frank Picos

Frank Picos

Sculpture

Frank Picos is a Sculpture Studio Assistant, Artist-Instructor and student at the Minnetonka Center for the Arts with a focus on stone carving and bronze casting. He is a member of the Society of Minnesota Sculptors. As a part-time artist with a career in construction, Frank holds an Associate in Applied Science (A.A.S.) degree in construction technology from New York City Community College. Teaching the rare art of stone carving to children is something he looks forward to all year.

Jodi Reeb

Jodi Reeb

Painting: Encaustics

Jodi has been a full-time working artist and teacher in Minneapolis for over 25 years. She has taught printmaking, acrylic and encaustic painting as well as book arts classes/workshops at colleges and art centers regionally and nationally including Haystack School of Art. Her artwork has been shown nationally receiving numerous public art awards and is in many private and corporate collections including Mayor Jacob Frey’s collection. She is the recipient of the Minnesota State Arts Board Grant in 2021 and 2018. Jodi received a bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts (BFA) from the Minneapolis College of Art & Design, MCAD, where she instructed printmaking for over 9 years. She received a Hinge Arts Residency in 2020 through the Springboard for the Arts. She is a CORE teaching Artist for R&F Handmade Encaustic Paints. She teaches acrylic and encaustic painting workshops in her studio at Traffic Zone Center for Visual Art where she has been a co-op member for 16 years in North Loop area of Minneapolis.

Website

Danny Saathoff

Danny Saathoff

Jewelry, Sculpture

Danny Saathoff is a full-time artist and instructor who splits his time between sculptural art and jewelry design, believing that the two art forms directly influence one another. He has been featured on TPT’s MN Original and participated in the Walker Art Invitational jewelry artist showcase on multiple occasions. He teaches at Carleton College and is the vice president of the Minnesota Jewelry Arts Guild.

Winter 2017 Spotlight

Website  |  Insta @dannysaathoff

Maren Harden

Maren Harden is Owner/Artist at The Maren Room, where she hosts creativity workshops for children and adults. She holds degrees in Psychology and Studio Art from Augsburg University in Minneapolis. Her training in psychology and art come together with her passion for animal welfare in her pet portraiture work.

Julie Humiston

Julie Humiston strives to be a Renaissance Person. Her experience in the visual arts includes experience as a graphic production artist and managing an art supply store. She’s also dabbled in other creative areas including writing, theater, music, and gardening.

Alan Shefland

Alan Shefland

Photography

Alan Shefland began his artist’s journey young, taking photos of his neighborhood and its residents, selling a few to cover costs. He honed his visual skills becoming a Hollywood film editor working on TV commercials, shows and features, including many award-winning shows. After moving to Minnesota, he became a student then Artist-Instructor at the Minnetonka Center for the Arts where he has often exhibited his photography.

Winter 2018 Spotlight

Kathleen Sheridan

Kathleen Sheridan

Multigenerational

Kathleen Sheridan teaches all types of origami, constantly learning the latest models by attending national and international origami conventions. Kathleen is the host of Origami Connect, and she serves on the Board of Directors for Origami USA.

Anastasia Speer

Multigenerational, Children and Youth

Anastasia Speer holds a B.F.A. in Ceramics from the University of South Dakota, and a Master’s Degree in Art Education from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. She finds inspiration in nature for her artwork, and enjoys helping her students find their own style and sources of inspiration for their art.

Erin Stahl

Children and Youth

Erin grew up in Fergus Falls, MN and earned her B.F.A. in Painting from Drake University. She’s been a graphic designer, community art teacher and mixed media artist focused on art journaling and watercolor for over twenty years. Helping her students find their creative spark is her favorite part of teaching. Erin also teaches at Caponi Art Park in Eagan, MN.

Jenny Stice

Jenny Stice

Children

Jenny Stice received her B.A. in Sculpture from MCAD and is in the process of gaining her K-12 Visual Arts teaching license and Master’s certification from Augsburg College. Jenny is a fiber artist who recently has been exploring the use of embroidery to translate her drawings into a new medium. As a teaching artist, she has been sharing her enthusiasm for art with students pre-K to adult for the last 10 years.

Julie Vogl

Julie Vogl

Glass Mosaics

Julie Vogl is a mosaic artist who began her work with stained glass in a neighborhood community class and in time made Tiffany-style lamp shades. Her desire for a new art form using glass evolved to mosaics. Working with beautiful colors, texture, beads and shapes, she adds dimensional mementos to create each of her unique designs.

Art Weeks

Art Weeks

Pastel, Watercolor

Art Weeks is an award-winning artist in a variety of mediums including pastel, oil, acrylic and watercolor. He is active in the Lake Country Pastel Society, Minnesota Watercolor Society, Outdoor Painters of Minnesota, and North Star Watermedia Society among others. A retired architect, he holds a B.A. in architecture from the University of Illinois and led many successful projects in the private and public sector during his career. He enjoys pastels as an artistic medium because of the rich color and combination of drawing and painting skills the medium requires.

Sarah Wieben

Sarah Wieben

Painting

Sarah Wieben’s love for art began while teaching in Moscow, visiting the city’s great museums. Inspired to pursue a formal art education, she received her BFA from MCAD, where she currently teaches. Her abstract work is informed by her previous artistic practice: painting landscapes. Sarah maintains a studio in the Northrup King Building in Minneapolis.

Marilyn Lamoreux

Marilyn Lamoreux began pursuing photography full time after her career as a software engineer. She has merged her photographic pursuits with her blogging practice, in pursuit of revealing the “ordinary miracles” around us in her photographs

Ivy Mattson

Ivy Mattson’s wheel thrown, altered pottery is highly decorated, projecting the joy, wonder, and curiosity which are also evident in her teaching. Mattson first experienced clay while earning her BA in Art Education at Concordia College in Moorhead, MN. She then worked as a ceramic studio artist at the Plains Art Museum in Fargo, ND, exhibiting work and teaching art in Moorhead, before moving to Minneapolis to continue working in clay at the Northern Clay Center through the MN NICE Program.

Chiaki O'Brien

Chiaki O’Brien is a Saori weaving artist/instructor as well as a Taiko (Japanese drumming) performer/instructor, working with students of all ages and abilities. She is the founder of Studio Fun in Bloomington. Her approach to teaching involves both individual problem-solving and group learning.

Helen Otterson

Helen Otterson received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Kansas City Art Institute and a Master of Fine Art from the University of Miami. Her work is included in the books “500 Sculptures” and “500 Figures in Clay” and is exhibited throughout the United States and internationally. She was a McKnight Visiting Artist at Northern Clay Center in Minneapolis.

Erik Pearson

Erik Pearson is a painter, sculptor, muralist, installation artists, and musician. He received his BFA in Studio Arts from the University of Wisconsin-Superior (UWS). His public mural projects include the recently completed West Rock paper recycling plant in St Paul, for which he received a Knight Arts Challenge grant. His accessible, eco-friendly sculpture technique allows him to bring the characters in his paintings to three-dimensional life.

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