Teaching Artists
Ann Carey
A graduate from New York University's Theater in Education program, Ann taught Drama and English for the Waltham Public School District in Massachusetts for 14 years. As well as being a veteran of local and regional theater in New York as well as Massachusetts, Ann has toured nationally as The Prince in the musical of "The Little Prince." She has also written and performed a one-woman piece entitled "Robert Service . . . and Me," for venues such as the National Park Service and the Adirondack Arts Festival.
Currently she is a theater arts adjunct instructor at both Utica College and Syracuse University.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
