Deborah Beck
Deborah earned a BA with Honors in Fine Arts from Brandeis University, receiving a special departmental first prize award in painting. She went on to complete her MA in Art Education from New York University, then continued her art studies at the Art Students League, Parsons School of Design, and the School of Visual Arts, as well as at numerous workshops. Believing in the transformative power of art in peoples’ lives, Beck taught art and drug prevention education in the public schools for many years, and continues to conduct art residencies and workshops in a variety of educational settings for both children and adults, as a teaching artist through such organizations as Arts Westchester. She is an active member of a number of art organizations, including National Association of Women Artists, Pen and Brush Club, Katonah Museum Artists’ Association and New York Artists Equity Association. The artist has exhibited extensively in both solo and group shows in museums and galleries in the city, state and nation, such as at the Arkell Museum at Canajoharie, NY and at the Horticultural Society of New York. Publications include American Psychologist, Brandeis Review and Women Artists Datebook.

 

Sarah Bell
Sarah Bell is a graduate of SUNY New Paltz with a Master of Science in Visual Arts Education. She currently teaches in the Carmel Central School District. Her favorite medium is oil painting, and her personal artwork focuses on portraiture of people and animals. Sarah also enjoys working with clay, creating both decorative and functional pieces.

Sarah Gilchrist
A working visual artist and educator, Sarah introduces children to style and medium by showing them the work of great artists through history and then she encourages them to develop their own techniques, in pastel, watercolor, collage and other media, with light, fun, and playful presentations and activities. She has a Master of Arts degree in education from Manhattanville College and she studied in Italy as well.

Karen Herbst
An artist-educator and workshop instructor, her interests include children’s book illustration, painting, printmaking, mixed media collage and exploring the image-word connection in her art journals. She encourages experimentation with many art forms and believes there are no mistakes in the creative process, only opportunities to learn and grow. She received her BS in Art Education from Kuztown State University and her MA in Studio Art from the College of New Rochelle and has recently retired after teaching art for 32 years in the Pleasantville school district.

Mary Jane Houdina
Mary Jane has had a varied and prolific past in the performing arts. She was associate choreographer for the movie THE GREAT GATSBY and tap consultant for Peter Allen at Radio City Music Hall. On Broadway, she was associate choreographer for the original ANNIE, and choreographer for INTO THE LIGHT. Regional theatre productions have seen her work in a myriad of musicals, including OKLAHOMA! star Jean Stapleton, FOLLIES star Juliette Prowse, and SHOWBOAT star Gavin MacLeod. She is the 1998 Barrymore Award recipient for her choreography for CRAZY FOR YOU at the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia, and Barrymore nominee in 2001 for SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN, and in 2006 for 42nd ST. On TV she choreographed The ADVENTURES of SLIM GOODBODY IN NUTI-CITY for Captain.

Dr. Bernie Kessler
Bernie Kessler has been an award winning photographer for over 50 years, exploring and celebrating the beauty of nature, including human nature. His images have been exhibited internationally and are in corporate and private collections. He is recognized as an outstanding teacher. His ease of style creates a non-threatening learning environment. Students have fun and feel very personally inspired as they improve their photographic skills.

Paul Kmiotek  
I consider myself to be kind of an illusionist. By simply scribbling, in a process of tightly controlled chaos, on a blank piece of paper with a fine-point pen, I can trick the observer’s eye into seeing what I want it to see; a jaguar peering from beneath a bush, a barn falling into disrepair, two men chatting on the street, etc.

My work has been displayed, among other places, at the Ridgewood Art Institute, the Hiram Blauvelt Art Museum, the Belle Levine Art Center, The Flywheel Gallery, and the Lake Carmel Arts Center. I currently live in the Hudson Valley with my beautiful wife and two awesome children.

Deb Lecce
In 1971, while still in high school, she first embraced clay. As she wandered the halls searching for the stone carving room, she stumbled upon the clay studio. Looking back at it now, this was and is the only time that she had ever been grateful for her lack of directional skills. She observed the students at their wheels, and the hand builders shaping expression into developing forms. She was enamored. From this moment on she knew that clay was my passion. The potter’s wheel is her primary tool. It allows her to create a canvas for embellishment while also challenging the physical boundaries of the medium. Wavering rims, darted forms, and paddled surfaces help her discover which direction a piece will go. She has attended Alfred University, Penland, Haystack, as well as Peters Valley. She co-created Clayworks on Columbia, Brooklyn, NY.

Kati Mac
Singer Songwriter Kati Mac has a varied career as an indie musical
artist and session singer and songwriter. As well as singing on many
tv and radio commercials, she has sung with artists such as Meat Lof,
Sting, Jackson Brown, Michael Bolton and Nona Hendryx.
Her songs have been nominated for 7 Daytime Emmy awards and she
currently writes for The Young and The Restless.
She has also just released her 7th cd called “Songs Of Revolution
Songs Of Peace”. https://katimacmusic.com/music She is also a new
children’s book author. Her book series “The Secret Adventures Of
Scruffy MacMuffin” can be found at
https://katimacmusic.com/the-secret-adventures-of-scruffy-macmuffin-canine-superhero-and-dog-vacation
She studied theater Arts at NYU and has a Masters degree in Music
Composition from Purchase College.
She likes to teach her vocal technique to all ages and all styles She
knows it will improve range, placement, connection and confidence!

Rosalie Marcus
Rosalie is a painter, illustrator, and graphic designer.  She has exhibited her paintings in New York, New Jersey, Colorado, Nova Scotia, and California.  Her art work has been reviewed in many newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times, The Bergen Record (NJ), and ArtNews Magazine.  Rosalie has also designed books, fabric, housewares, brochures and corporate logos for such clients as Warner Communications, King Features, Bloomingdales, and The National Organization of Women.  She was also an art director for a housewares company.  She attended Cornell University, got her BFA from Nova Scotia College of Art & Design, and her MFA from California Institute of the Arts.  Locally, Rosalie has taught art workshops at the Mahopac Public Library, at the after school program at Fulmar Road School, and is presently teaching drawing and painting at PAC.

Pat McDermond
Psychology and working with people in relation to art
As a child it was apparent I loved making art. Taking classes throughout high school, my interest in art was supported by my parents. Graduating with a B.F.A in painting, I was awarded two full scholarships from Kansas City Art Institute, the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine and the Max Beckman scholarship at the Brooklyn Museum.

My interest in art has been a lifelong interest as evidenced by work I created. However the challenge of making a living has taken me down a zig-zag career path. Along the way I found my interest in psychology, and working with people in relation to art to be a familiar theme.

I conducted activities in long-term mental institutions before training in art therapy at Hahnemamn Medical Hospital in Philadelphia. I worked in the field of mental health for ten years, my last position as a Program Supervisor at Childville, a residential treatment center for severely disturbed children.

The time came I knew I needed a change, I thought to myself, you have never competed, you wimp! That insight led to a sharp turn in my career path. Living in New York City, I thought my artistic sensibility could be applied to commercial art. After taking a class in how to make mechanicals, I got my first job doing mechanicals and learned typesetting on the job.

Working freelance as a production artist initially, I worked as an independent contractor in the commercial world of advertising and promotion in NYC. By taking classes and “on the job” experience, I eventually developed skills as a digital artist and designer, working extensively for advertising agencies, design firms and corporate communication divisions. The last few years I worked exclusively for book publishers where I designed and illustrated covers and chapter openers and prepared specifications for book production.

I also taught computer graphic applications at three colleges in NYC, The New School Computer Instruction Center, Parsons School of Continuing Education and The Fashion Institute of Technology.

Recent teaching experience
Awarded a grant from Lifetime Arts to teach seniors at Pound Ridge library
April 2013-June 2013

An eight-week drawing class, Drawing sessions included instruction is basic drawing skills to enable participants to create composition with objects based on associated memories. This work was shown at the library at the conclusion of the course.

Garrison Art Center,  January 2018-February 2018

Kayla Noble
I began my journey with clay at the age of five. With one set of grandparents working as middle-school art teachers, and another one making a living as a potter, art was always a part of my life. I graduated in 2015 with a BFA in Ceramics from The State University of New York at New Paltz and have since completed a year-long residency at Taos Clay in Taos, New Mexico and currently have a studio practice in Newburgh, NY. My current body of work functions as an exploration of intimacy and connection; meditating on the power of touch.

I have taught a variety of skills and ages, and always enjoy the atmosphere of a classroom studio. “Clay is such a dynamic and exciting material, and I relish every opportunity to share my passion.”

Sharon Tsao
Sharon Tsao graduated from Stanford University with a PhD degree in art in 1996, received her MA degree in art history from the Central Academy of Fine Arts. She taught art courses at various universities in China, Canada, and the US until 2014 when she was appointed to be a deputy director of a museum of art in China. Tsao decided to retire during the pandemic in 2020 and moved to Putnam.

Tsao has curated many exhibitions in both China and the US, also has published books and essays in both English and Chinese and her best-known book is a study on the 11th-century handscroll “Traveling along the River in Qingming Period”. Tsao’s own works of sculpture and oil on canvas have been exhibited in art galleries and museums in China, Germany, and the US.