Work Title

Allison R. Power is an energetic animator from Cherry Valley, Massachusetts. She works in both Stop-motion and 2D animation. She has an extensive live-action filmmaking background as well both with digital and physical film. Allison also enjoys creating experimental mixed media works, usually incorporating a blend of both live action and animation. She has studied film and theater at Marlboro College in Vermont and graduated with an animation degree from Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston. Her work has played at film festivals across the globe from London, Rome, Madrid, and New York.

Ariel Grubb is an animator, visual developer, and interdisciplinary artist whose showcase of work includes in both digital and traditional methods such as stop motion, collage, projection design, zoetropes, and direct on 35mm film animation. Ariel is a graduate of Lesley University and has professional credits that include artistic work for the National Young Arts Foundation, MassOpera, and under public artist and inventor Rufus Butler Seder.

Ariel works in animation production as well as experience as an animation, stop motion, and visual storytelling instructor. Ariel’s work is inspired by animals, nature, and fantasy worlds, and currently lives and works out of Somerville, Massachusetts.

Bethany Sulecki is a Boston-based music and theatre educator originally from Erie, PA, where she completed an undergraduate degree in music education and theatre. She is passionate about arts education and helping students of all ages find a place and find their voice in the classroom and beyond. Her favorite thing about working in the arts is collaborating and connections with others and cultivating an inclusive community.

Bethany is grateful for the opportunity to continue her studies at Boston University, where she is pursuing a M.M. in Music Education. In addition to her teaching background, she has worked professionally in the world of arts administration, stage management, directing, and dramaturgy.

Catherine Beaudoin is a young artist currently residing in Boston, Massachusetts. Beaudoin received her bachelor’s degrees in Studio Art and History from Washington & Jefferson College outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her curiosity led her to experiment with several mediums and visual art mediums including oil, acrylic, pastel, graphite, charcoal, pen and ink, found objects, and natural elements.

While in Arizona, Beaudoin established her roots as an elementary art teacher and grew passionate for arts ability to address community needs. She began to integrate herself into various sectors of the art world: government, schools, non-profits, community happenings, and various cultural events. This experience gave her insight to the interconnectivity of the art world while illuminating the systems supporting select demographics.

Along with their role as the Education and Programs Manager at Arlington Center for the Arts, Beaudoin is a teaching artist, mentor, visual artist, and graduate student. Beaudoin's current research and projects include college access for student-parents and caregivers, equitable access to community arts programming, and ecological art education.

Cha is a Maker of Things. She studied Naval Architecture and Comparative Media Studies with a focus on Photography and Film at M.I.T. for a while, was a sailing educator and program director at Courageous Sailing, and has studied Art Education through MassArt’s Continuing Education department. She teaches a variety of art forms to students of all ages through Arlington Center for the Arts and deCordova Museum, including Modern Calligraphy, Shibori, Digital Photography, and Book Binding. Cha is currently the K-8 Art Teacher at Lesley Ellis School in Arlington. She likes to rock climb and read about trees and has already passed on an affinity for collecting art supplies to her young daughter.

Chelsea Brown is a fiber artist and teacher based out of Massachusetts. She started felting in 2016 and hasn't put down the felting needle since! Fiber started as her hobby, became her passion, and is now present in every aspect of her life. Entirely self-taught, Chelsea has exhibited her wool sculptures in art galleries and runs her own small business, Kekii Crafts, where she sells her unique needle felted pieces and wet felted wearable art. Her artwork often draws inspiration from anime and games, pop culture, animals, and all things cute and squishy. She also takes commissions and enjoys bringing these unique visions to life!

Chelsea's greatest love is teaching, which gives her the opportunity to share her wool obsession with the world. In addition to a variety of felting workshops, she has taught over 400 painting classes and now works part-time teaching sewing and fiber arts to children.

Chelsea's larger sculptures often reference the natural world and all of the amazing creatures in it. It can take two to three months to create ONE needle felted sculpture! Through this labor of love, she hopes to continue to help conservation efforts around the world. Portions of the proceeds from her works are regularly donated to organizations that help endangered animals. She also never forgets to thank the most wonderful animal of them all: The sheep!

You can find her work on Instagram: @kekii_crafts, Facebook: facebook.com/kekiicrafts, Etsy: etsy.com/shop/kekiicrafts. You can email her with any specific questions at Kekiicrafts@gmail.com.

Claire Millett Lima is a mixed media sculpture artist who was raised in the coastal town of Newport, Oregon. In her sculptures today, she utilizes what is immediately around her and often overlooked, the gathering of and relationship to the territory and each collected element as important as the vision and assemblage. The experience of combining these elements is multi sensory, an earthy scent is released as dried leaves are crushed, twigs are snapped, materials are mixed by hand. The sculpture that emerges is a beautifully distorted map of her contact with the terrain and an examination of the human dimensions of place attachment.

Dotty Burstein has had a lifelong interest in the intersection of composers' lives and their music. As such she has developed classes for exploring the music of composers from the Classical and Romantic eras, first at the Tufts Lifelong Learning Institute and most recently at Arlington Center for the Arts. During her musical training, Dotty was inducted into the honorary music fraternity Sigma Alpha Iota, studied with the composer Edwin Gerschefski and the pianist Edward Kilenyi, and played piano in a trio that included her cellist friend and her violinist sister. Today, Dotty continues to enjoy attending concerts and recitals and encouraging others to find joy and inspiration in music.

Ellie House is a clay artist and teacher with a BFA in Ceramics from Massachusetts College of Art and design. Her work is mostly functional and focuses largely on color and surface decoration. She is passionate about continuing her practice and sharing her love of ceramics with students and artists of all ages. https://ehouseceramics.wordpress.com/

Emily Belz is an independent photographer and educator. She holds a BA in photography and art history from Hampshire College; an MA in community art education from RISD; and an MFA from the New Hampshire Institute of Art. Emily is represented by Gallery Kayafas in Boston. She teaches photography classes and workshops at the Griffin Museum of Photography, deCordova Museum, and at Lasell College. Learn more about Emily on her website.

Ethan is a performer and teaching artist originally from Peterborough, NH. Ethan earned his B.A. in Film & Theatre from Keene State College and has performed professionally in children’s theatre and regional theatre for over ten years. Locally, he has taught theatre and improv in after school and summer programs in Somerville and Cambridge. Currently, he is on the major league improv team of ComedySportz Boston. He is also a writer/actor for an independent Sketch comedy group called Suzzy and a Drummer for BUMP (Boston's Unscripted Musical Project). He absolutely loves working with children of all ages.

Fern Supawanich is a studio potter in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She has a BS/MS in Materials Engineering and first started taking ceramics art classes to explore the craft of working with materials in addition to science. After 25 years, her love of ceramics continues today making functional pottery primarily on the wheel.

Gretjen Helene is a multidisciplinary artist exhibiting throughout the Boston area, New York City, and Alaska. She studied at Emerson College and received her undergraduate degree at The Art Institute of Boston, subsequently teaching a Publication/Exhibition of Photography class thereafter. She received her graduate degree in Fine Art Photography and Integrated Media at Lesley University's College of Art & Design.

She has an affinity for eggshells and the symbolism they evoke; autonomy and the cycle of life. She also enjoys working with natural animal materials such as bone, feather, sinew and egg. She was taught Pysanky at a young age by her mother and has been continuing the tradition each year ever since with family and friends, as well as with students in public classes and private groups. The layering of wax and the subtractive dyeing process of Pysanky has a likeness to the traditional photographic processes of developing and printing images from negatives in the darkroom; her debut into creative practices. She now teaches the Photo Collective group at the ICA in the Teen Program.

Gustavo Barceloni is one of our treasured ceramics instructors at ACA. Originally from Brazil, Gustavo is a ceramic artist, Boston-based educator, and community activist. Gustavo's love of sharing the medium of clay led him to co-lead the student group Clay for Change with Vanessa Norris. Together they offered free local classes in Roxbury and Dorchester, hosted film screenings on art activism, and helped raise thousands of dollars organizing fundraisers such as the annual “Empty Bowls” events for the Haley House, an organization hosting programs such as affordable housing, a bakery café, and a soup kitchen. At MassArt, Gustavo also curated a multimedia art show, fundraiser, and open mic called Resistance Culture: An Art Show for Revolutionaries. As an alum, he spoke at the symposium, "Creative Counterpoints: Artists Translate Difference" articulating his creative path exploring transnational discomfort to an audience of art educators. His work has given opportunities for local youth, community members, and radical artists to express themselves, be supported, and learn from his practice."

We invite you to explore his work and artist statement here: gbarceloniceramics.com

Ileana Doble Hernandez is an immigrant visual activist from Mexico, she works with photography, video, installation and new media. Doble Hernandez is an alumna from the top-rated MFA program in Photography and Related Media at Rochester Institute of Technology and from the Post-Baccalaureate in Photography at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design.

An artist and an activist, Ileana believes that art has the power to make people care, she uses her practice to promote harder gun reforms and the fair inclusion of immigrants within the American society. Through her postcards installation “Mommy, what is this?” and her own networking efforts, more than 400 postcards have been mailed to U.S. elected officials, advocating for gun control.

Ileana’s works are part of public and private collections, and have been published and exhibited in the United States, Mexico, United Kingdom, France and South Korea. Due to her artistic and academic achievements, Ileana is the recipient of several awards, in 2019 as the Best in Show at the “Photography & Politics” exhibition at Flower City Arts Center in Rochester, NY, and as the RIT College of Art and Design Outstanding Graduate Student. Ileana lives with her husband, their son, their dog and their cat.

Jordana Weiner received her B.A. in Poetry, Empathy, and Education from New York University and her Ed.M. in Arts in Education from Harvard University. A writer, photographer, and green thumb, Jordana specializes in creating nurturing spaces for identity exploration, self-reflection, and community building through arts practices.

Julie Powers is a recent college grad, that has spent the past summer teaching at Arlington Center for the Arts' Vacation Arts Camp. Julie immediately became a beloved instructor in our camp setting. From animation, sculpture, painting, and ceramics, Julie facilitated an educational environment where campers could work together and independently with confidence. Julie Powers joins our semester instructors ready to teach ceramics and beyond!

Kendall Dudley is a career and life design consultant, presenter, teacher, artist and travel leader. Among many places, Kendall has taught at Tufts and Lesley Universities, Montserrat College of Art, Star Island and Pendle Hill and was a career consultant to Harvard University for 15 years. Learn more about Kendall on his website.

Kristina Goransson spent her childhood in Sweden, before moving to the US, where she earned a BFA in furniture from the Rhode Island School of Design and her graduate degree in Fibers from the University of Massachusetts. Kristina served as artist-in-residence at Oregon Collage of Art and Craft, Paducah Art Alliance, and Pentaculum 2019. She is a working artist, teacher, and curator. Kristina’s artwork can be found in the book 500 Felt Objects.

Learn more about Kristina on her website: https://www.annakristinagoransson.com/

Lee Su is a Chinese-American born in Vietnam and educated at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in Providence, Rhode Island. Through RISD's European Honors Program, he also studied for a year in Rome, Italy. He now lives and creates art full-time near Boston, Massachusetts, where he had worked previously as an architectural designer.

Lee's primary goal in teaching is to instill the "joy of making" because fulfillment gained from creating with one's hands leads to curiosity and the desire to employ one's mind.

Leo Diamant is a composer, producer, multi-instrumentalist, and lover of all things music. He moved to Boston last year to begin his graduate studies in music education at Boston University, where he now teaches aural skills and music theory. His approach to teaching involves putting the interests of the students first, and he places a heavy emphasis on composition and improvisation in his lessons. Besides music, Leo loves practicing Spanish, rock climbing, and exploring nature.

Leslie Donahue is a multimedia artist specializing in both oil and acrylic painting. Born and raised in the California Bay Area, their work moves from figurative, to landscape, to abstract. Specializing in atmospheric, strange scenes imbued with emotion, there is tension between what is revealed to the viewer and what is hidden. Leslie utilizes their skill in printmaking, drawing, and collage to further explore these visual themes. While living and attending Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston, Leslie has been a part of several gallery shows, including a 2022 “Fresh Faces” exhibition in the SOWA arts district. They currently live in Cambridge with their dog Snoopy.

Lidia holds an Masters in Art Education from the Massachusetts College of Art and a BFA from the School of Fine Arts Prilidano Puerredon in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She worked as Art Director for the Acton Public Schools and Acton-Boxborough Regional Schools and for the Arts Magnet Schools in Lowell, MA.

Margaret Moody studied with the late master puppeteer Lee Tien-lu, who was named a "national living treasure" in Taiwan. She is an active member and past president of The Boston Area Guild of Puppetry. Since 1996, she has been part of the Massachusetts Cultural Council artists roster. Her favorite parts of puppetry are creating character voices and making puppets. Learn more about Margaret on her website.

Marjorie Glick is known for her vividly realistic watercolors. She has exhibited at regional museums and galleries including the DeCordova Museum, Berkshire Art Museum, Brockton Art Museum, Beth Urdang Gallery, Boston, and the Forum Gallery in New York. She has served as Adjunct Faculty for The Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University and has been a member of the faculty of the DeCordova Museum School. Learn more about Marjorie on her website.

Nadege Tessono is a multidisciplinary visual artist with over 16 years of professional, creative experience. As the founder of She Moves Forward, Nadege Tessono focuses on traditional and non-traditional original work and services such as design, visual art, wearable art, and visual arts education. Her diverse professional background in tandem with her excellence in the visual arts makes her an asset to the ACA community and others. She works with various types of 2-dimensional arts, graphic arts, and design, as well as illustrations, textiles, patterns, and printmaking.

Tessono's work incorporates different elements of traditional art processes merged with modern modes of technologies, integrating context into her identity. Nadege Tessono's techniques and mediums are, but not limited to, oil pastel, acrylic, pen and ink, watercolor, etc. as well as digital applications such as Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator. Her vivid palette and bold designs make her work unmistakably hers. Her subject matter pertains to textiles and textures, black identity, female-focused, and African diaspora, and cultural influences.

Today, Nadege Tessono continues to explore these concepts as they intersect with community, as she is in the final semesters of her M.Ed. in Art, Community, and Education at Lesley University.

Pam Shanley-Daube is an artist and teacher with a special gift for engaging children and teens in art-making of all kinds. She has worked on several murals in the greater Boston area including the mural at the Theater entrance at ACA. Pam holds a BFA from Connecticut College, and her artwork has been exhibited and collected in private collections in California, Connecticut and Massachusetts. Pam has worked on the ACA Staff since 1999, as Facilities Manager and Director of Arlington Open Studios. Learn more about Pam on her website.

Ponnapa Prakkamakul -- As a painter and a landscape architect, site investigation and immersion plays an important role in Ponnapa’s work. She explores sites and environments using the painting process as a tool to experience, understand, and form connections with her surroundings in order to gain a better understanding of cultural displacement and isolation issues as an immigrant. Ponnapa’s art reflects her immersive experience engaging with the landscape through the performative acts of searching, studying, and collecting natural materials to paint with, as well as sketching in situ. In the studio, the collected materials such as soil, plant, groundwater, and rust from found objects are applied on paper as the painting medium depicting the landscape scenes where they were assembled from. These natural materials represent the real colors of the earth and texture of the leaves connecting the viewers back to the site. This painting process not only creates a connection between Ponnapa and the site but also fosters a deeper connection to new places as an immigrant – through art she cultivate her sense of place in this new land.

My name is Rach SebellShavit, I am a potter living in Arlington, Massachusetts. I make utilitarian pottery using stoneware clay. My love of clay began when I was 7 years old at summer camp. I was so captivated by clay that I used the money from my bat mitzvah and babysitting when I was 13 to buy my first potters wheel. My love of pottery continued through high-school into college and in 2004 I graduated from Rhode Island School of Design with a BFA in Ceramics. It was at RISD where my love of the potter’s wheel transformed beyond the potter’s wheel into a love of many ceramic techniques – slab, slip cast, and potter’s wheel. Today I make work using a variety of techniques to create utilitarian pottery that can be used in modern daily life. All of my pottery is dishwasher and microwave safe, and lead-free.

Explore my ceramics work here: https://sebellshavitstudio.com/

Rose Fristrom is a Boston area native and has been working, teaching, and painting there her whole life. She is passionate about teaching and sharing art with people of all ages and experience levels. Her love of travel, history, and storytelling inform her journalistic paintings and drawings, and her illustrations. She holds a BFA from Montserrat College of Art in Beverly MA.  

San Gonzalez is a Boston-based illustrator who has been drawing since they could hold a pencil. As they got older, they realized that they could use their voice to tell the stories they wanted. They decided to pursue a career in art and graduated with a BFA in Illustration from Massachusetts College of Art and Design in 2019. Their work centers bright contrasting colors, androgyny, and characters that draw from personal experience. They have been published by multiple clients and work as an art educator for children , teens & adults. Follow their Instagram @sandragonart for sketches, process work and finished illustrations.

Sophie is passionate about supporting students as they express themselves creatively and has been teaching dance and movement in a variety of settings for more than 5 years. She has a BA in Education Studies, with a minor in Creativity, the Arts, and Social Transformation, from Brandeis University. She recently completed a year-long AmeriCorps position as a K-8 Specialist for 826 Boston, working in a Boston Public School. She is also a certified instructor with Rhythm Works Integrative Dance. She draws upon her training in many styles, including jazz, modern, contemporary, tap, and ballet. Sophie is thrilled to continue working at ACA after spending the summer teaching the movement and games class in the Vacation Arts Camp and getting to know ACA’s fabulous campers.

Sue holds a BFA in Illustration from the Rhode Island School of Design and has taught at public schools in the Boston area. Sue is a freelance illustrator and member of the Blacksmith Printmakers Group at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education.

Vicki is a representational painter and a functional potter with a M.A.T. from Tufts University/School of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, a B.F.A. from Virginia Commonwealth University, and ongoing education at the Harvard Ceramics Studio. She has been on the faculty at the Museum of Fine Arts, DeCordova Museum, and Cambridge Center for Adult Education, and spent many years teaching young people as Chair of the Art Department and teacher at Waring School in Beverly. Teaching at the ACA has included classes in drawing, ceramics, and painting with gouache. Vicki is represented by Galatea Fine Arts in SoWa. Learn more about Vicki on her website.

Victoria Isotti is a Boston based theatre artist and educator who is passionate about creating bold and imaginative works of theatre for all ages. As an actor, she has performed with Central Square Theatre, Apollinaire Theatre, Firehouse Center for the Arts, Twin Cities Horror Festival, and more. She is also a founding member and performer with Juniper Tree Ensemble, which devises Theatre for Young Audiences.  Victoria teaches drama with Kidstock Creative Theater and Boston Community Collaborative. She earned her Bachelor's degree in Theatre from Suffolk University, and trained in Adaptive Dance with Boston Ballet. Victoria is currently a candidate for her Master's in Theatre Education & Applied Theatre at Emerson College.