Teaching Artists


Teaching Artists Claudia, Laurie and Nancy enjoy the Annual Teaching Artists Training at the VSA Alabama studio.

High standards, shared knowledge and ideas, and continuous learning are the fundamentals for our teaching artists.  Beginning with their backgrounds and qualifications, all VSA Alabama teaching artists have a mastery of their particular art form coupled with the desire and passion to use their talents to serve persons with disabilities and chronic illnesses.  VSA Alabama teaching artists are required to provide lesson plans for each session as well as artist-in-residence reporting each month.  They are required to attend an in-service training each year with other VSA Alabama teaching artists where best practices are introduced and/or reviewed, ideas are shared, and a community of learning is fostered.  They are evaluated by the partnering organization at which they teach as well as the VSA Alabama program manager at the end of each program cycle. We are proud to present their biographical information here!


Carolyn Greene
Carolyn, who lives in Mobile, Alabama, has been a professional artist for the past twenty plus years painting in an expressively representational style in all media.  She is also a member of the Watercolor and Graphic Arts Society of Mobile. Her paintings have won many awards and are in many public and private collections. Carolyn pursued art studies from a young age at The Prew School in Sarasota, Florida, and Stuart Hall in Staunton, Virginia; she attended Salem College, Winston-Salem, NC and graduated from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill in art and education. She also studied music and dance at the New York Academy of Dramatic Art. As a mother of two adult sons, one of whom had a near drowning accident at age two and a half, Carolyn has been dedicated to studying and implementing rehabilitative therapies for her son, spending many hours in occupational, physical and speech therapy sessions. She also studied with MOVE (Movement Opportunities Via Education) International in Bakersfield, California.   This background and the desire to enhance the lives of those with significant disabilities brought about teaching art to people with disabilities. Carolyn also taught painting for many years to typical children and adults. Advocating for people with disabilities has been an important part of Carolyn’s life for the past 12 years.  She is a member of the Alabama Council for Developmental Disabilities, the Consumer Advisory Council at UAB Civitan International Research Center, Alabama Respite Coalition, and has served on many state advocacy committees.
Carolyn currently leads our visual arts program at the Independent Living Center of Mobile. She previously led our visual arts program at the Mobile ARC and the Clarke County ARC. She has been a VSA Alabama Teaching Artist since the organization was a volunteer-run, grass-roots organization!


Erin Hardin, M.Ed.
Erin is a self-taught artist living in the Birmingham area. Her background is in counseling and education, and she has worked for several years with children and teens with autism and Asperger’s syndrome. She began seriously pursuing art as a career a career in 2009, the same year that she began working as a teaching artist with VSA. In her own art, Erin depicts intimate, up-close looks at everyday objects, using oil on metal as her preferred medium. However, in her work with VSA Erin uses a variety of techniques and mediums in order to stimulate and inspire the participants. Erin currently leads our visual arts program at Workshops, Inc. and is an active ArtPartner.

Henry Hearns
Henry loves to see people experience joy through movement. He has trained in Moja (modern, jazz, and West African), Ballet, and Jazz under such professionals as Dawn Axam, Andrew Wortham, Sara Yarborough, Ronnie Marshall, Monique Ryan-Arthur, Corey Jones, and Patdro Harris. He worked with Total Dance Company for over 12 years as a professional modern dancer under the direction of Terrie Axam in Atlanta, Georgia. He worked as coordinator for an adult performing arts program for over 10 years. During this time, he facilitated community performances, public relations, and choreography. This group consisted of dancers, singers, musicians, poets, storytellers, actors, and actresses. They offered a program called Reach One! Touch One! That focused on bringing performance arts to the senior citizen community. In addition, Henry taught for over 15 years in community programs around the city. He believes that working with children is a gift and hopes they will use dance not only as a hobby but also as a creative approach to education. He currently works with the Children’s Dance Foundation in Birmingham, Alabama as an instructor for their upper level class, community outreach, and the “Science & Dance Workshop.” He is also the Director of Education at J. Lockhart Performing Arts Center, the co-director of Artsrus4u, and the Program Coordinator for Make it Happen Theatre in Bessemer. He is the 2009/2010 recipient of the Artists as Educators grant from the Cultural Alliance of Greater Birmingham.
Henry currently leads our creative movement classes at United Cerebral Palsy of Greater Birmingham LINCPoint, our inaugural movement program! 2010 is his first year serving as a VSA Alabama Teaching Artist in conjunction with the Children’s Dance Foundation.

Charlotte Holder

Charlotte grew up in Memphis, Tennessee and now lives in Alabaster, Alabama. She received an AFA in Fine Arts from William Woods College in Fulton, Missouri and a BFA from Memphis State University. She has also studied art at the Memphis Academy of Art and has done graduate work at UAH, Huntsville and UAB Birmingham. Charlotte is well known for her needlework designs that have appeared regularly in several publications including Stitch World, McCall’s Quilting, Just CrossStitch and Leisure Arts Magazines. She has also been the recipient of numerous awards for her paintings and designs. Some of her designs have been licensed by Maggie Co. out of San Francisco as needlepoint canvasses and are carried by needlepoint shops throughout the US and Europe. Charlotte’s work is carried in galleries in Louisiana, South Carolina, North Carolina, Mississippi, and Tennessee. She has done freelance work for Disney and Warner Brothers. Charlotte’s one woman art shows include Memphis State University, the Memphis Athletic Club, Huntsville Museum of Art, the Meridian Museum of Art in Meridian, Mississippi, the Birmingham Arts Alliance, Southern Research Institute, the Little Rock Art Museum in Little Rock, Arkansas, and Art Works in Asheville, North Carolina. Charlotte is actively involved in the Vestavia Hills Art Association, the Hoover Art Association, the Mountain Brook Art Association, and the Shelby County Art Association. Charlotte taught art at Mastin Lake Elementary School in Huntsville, Alabama from 1970 to 1971. She was an art teacher for PARKART in Birmingham from 1975 to 1981. PARKART is an agency that takes art and music into low income schools, city parks (in the summer), and senior centers. Charlotte then became the Executive Director of PARKART from 1979 to 1981. For the last ten years, from June 2001 to June 2011, Charlotte has been an art teacher for Acting Up Camp. She has also assisted with VSA’s ArtPartners program for many years.

Janet Holloway
“After graduating with a degree in Painting from Birmingham-Southern College, I began my career with children by exploring the therapeutic qualities of art activities in a clinical setting for six years as an art therapist at caraway Methodist Medical Center. While I was there I painted murals for the pediatric unit, emergency medical area, Norwood Clinic. The Oncologist asked if I would paint a mural describing what was happening to white blood cells in his leukemia patients. Another mural was placed in the emergency exam room of the hospital to be used as a distraction for the traumatic events that the children were having. I began to receive requests for the murals at other hospitals, clicnics, and homes, so I left to paint murals full time. I loved the idea of using murals to brighten up a sterile environment as well as using them as teaching tools.
After my children were born and while they were growing up, I painted murals in schools, homes, and churches. Some murals in the schools were painted in the lunchrooms and were used to help the students learn about healthy food choices. In the hallways they were used to encourage reading. The murals in the churches illustrated stories of the Bible.
Nine years ago, I was asked by Better Basics, a reading initiative program for the city schools of Birmingham, to start an art program for the schools at risk. I started ART to GO, painted a van, and began my journey into the city elementary schools. The principal at each school decides which grade will have the art for the month I am at their school. Then I would meet with the grade level teachers to discuss what academic subject they want to reinforce with the art projects. I am currently at Glen Oaks Elementary in Fairfield. I have a grant every year just for ART to GO.
I was asked by the business community of downtown Birmingham to help restore the art deco plate above the tunnel entrances at the viaduct on 20th St. North. I spent six weeks on a hydraulic lift.
I have taught post-secondary students with learning disabilities at the Horizons School for three years. I currently work with the cultural Alliance of Greater Birmingham as apart of the Artists as Educators Program in the city schools. I work with grants for art at North Birmingham Public Library to serve North Birmingham Elementary School. I am an artist in residence at the Homewood Middle School for the last six years and work with students to create set designs for plays and special productions. I work with after school students at Forest Hills Middle School and Robinson Elementary in Fairfield. I have painted murals in all the lunchrooms in Fairfield School System. I am working with students in the after school program at the YMCA Youth Center downtown. I worked for four years with after school students at Urban Ministry in West End and have worked with YOUTH SERVE, and children of the homeless at church of the Reconciler. I have hosted art activities for the Children’s Theater after performances in the lobby area for an entire audience of children of all ages. I love working with VSA and the ART Partners program as well as opportunities to be a teaching artist with workshops Avondale, ARC of Jefferson County, and UPC.”
Awards

  1. 2010 recipient and induction into the Order of the Red Triangle Award YMCA.
  2. 2008 Outstanding Community Artist Award VSA Alabama.
  3. 2007 Adult Volunteer Award-Shades Valley YMCA.
  4. 2004-2005 Educational Service Award for Outstanding Support for the Homewood City Schools.

Angela Howard, MT-BC
Angela currently leads our music therapy programs at the South Highland Center and Rittenhouse Senior Living. She previously led our music therapy programs at Epic School and the Burkett Center. She has been a VSA Alabama Teaching Artist since 2008.

Laurie Kramer
“The philosophy behind producing my work began at the age of 4; I would squish purple berries which I collected in my yard in New Orleans. I would use the dye from the berries to paint on anything that would stand still. I have been commissioned, as well as volunteering my time, to use art to transform spaces into bright and cheerful places. My “art as therapy” mural compositions contain repeating patterns, a calming color scheme, and shapes from nature. I have completed several art murals at the Children’s Hospital Pediatric Imaging Center on Acton Road, transforming the rooms into colorful underwater seascapes.
I also believe that art can be an agent of transformation and unity in the community. I was the lead artist of a community mural project beautifully expressing the Renewal, Rebuilding, and Rebirth of New Orleans in 2006. The multi panel mural was painted by residents from the local community, and volunteers both from the U.S. and other countries. Local Elementary School students painted side by side with fire fighters, police officers, mail carriers, church groups, and new friends from other cultures.
Artists take the time to make discoveries. My art is constantly evolving, like life my art is impacted by experiences and relationships. This is reflected in the styles and themes of my paintings, and by my project choices. A “giant head sculpture” I collaborated on is on exhibit at different venues across the state with Heads Up Alabama and through March 2011 quilt square collaborations can be seen in Dream Rocket exhibits in California and New York. I am also working on a children’s book, integrating visual art with dance, theater, and music with other professionals through the Artists as Educators program, and teaching with VSA.
Teaching art has not only been a powerful tool for transformation in my classes, but in my own life as well. I have become eager to introduce the wonder and excitement of the arts to individuals of all abilities, and have developed creative ways to enable budding artists to express themselves. “Art makes us equal,” has become a fundamental belief. I have developed a passion for collaborative art and creating art in healthcare settings, in the community, and in Education. I count myself privileged to be able to touch the lives of others, and be positively influenced in return, using my artistic abilities to teach and inspire.”
 Subjects and Themes

  • Art can be a powerful tool to bring about awareness and create change in the world
  • Artists are scientists, exploring the world and experimenting through different processes and mediums to share their discoveries
  • Patterns in Nature* Value art, value creation: Reuse, Recycle, Re-purpose
  • Art Heals- the creative process calms the mind, body and soul through self-expression

Karen Gibbons, MA, ATR, MFT
 Karen Gibbons is an artist, art therapist, and marriage and family therapist who has been practicing psychology and art therapy for seven years. Her prior career was in computer science.
Karen experienced the healing power of art first-hand when she was going through a difficult period in her life. This led her to return to school for her Master’s in Art Therapy and Marital and Family Therapy at Notre Dame de Namur in California. She worked for a nonprofit mental health agency before opening her private practice. She has conducted individual, family, and group art therapy sessions in schools, mental health agencies, hospitals, nursing homes, community settings, and in her private practice. She has used art therapy with all ages in numerous ways addressing depression, loss and bereavement, physical and emotional pain, stress, group cohesion, self-exploration, and self-expression.
In 2010, Karen returned to her hometown, Birmingham, Alabama, and currently contracts with VSA Alabama as a Teaching Artist to provide art therapy to children and adults with disabilities and chronic illnesses through the arts. She also provides art therapy in nursing homes to patients with Alzheimer’s and dementia through Comfort Care Hospice.

Claudia Lewis, MT-BC
 Claudia is a native of Birmingham, Alabama and holds a baccalaureate degree (BM) in Music Therapy from the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa, which she attended through a full-scholarship in Flute Performance. Lewis studied under the eminent Dr. Sheryl Cohen, author of the book Bel Canto Flute: The Rampal School.  Under Cohen’s tutelage, Lewis learned the styles and techniques of the late world-renowned recording artist Jean-Pierre Rampal. Lewis is also a graduate of the Alabama School of Fine Arts, where she studied Flute Performance under Dr. Jane Wiegel for six years. Lewis is a board-certified Music Therapist, (accredited by the National Commission for Certifying Agencies), offering Music Therapy services throughout the City of Birmingham and surrounding areas.  Lewis utilizes music’s unique neurological effects on the brain to address clients’ physical, cognitive, psychosocial, and communicative needs by designing appropriate interventions to meet specific, nonmusical treatment goals. In addition to Music Therapy, Lewis is a freelance flute, guitar, and piano performer.  Lewis also serves as Minister of Music at a local United Methodist Church, and functions as a background vocalist/vocal coach, stenographer, keyboardist, and flutist for a nationally-distributed record label. Lewis resides in Birmingham with her husband, Minister Robert Lewis, III,  and is the mother of four energetic children, Madaha (age 5), Makini (age 3), Sentwali (age 2), and Enzi (11 months); she is expecting another child in September 2010! Claudia currently leads our music therapy programs at the 1920 Club, McCoy Adult Day Care, the Sickle Cell Foundation, and the Burkett Center. She has been a VSA Alabama Teaching Artist since 2005.

Mary Susan Lewis
Mary Susan has been actively involved in the community throughout her life and has been inspired by the children she taught at Studio by the Tracks, Gate City School, and Camp McDowell. A debilitating illness, polymyalgia rheumatica, became the catalyst for creating and founding an art festival for children: Art in Avondale Park was born with a mission to stimulate children’s imagination through the arts and to offer an opportunity for local artists to showcase their work. October 2010 will feature the 8th annual Art in Avondale Park. As a result of the success of the fall festival, Mary Susan also founded a spring festival 3 years ago. Besides her passion for children and the arts, Mary Susan also runs a catering business for special occasions. She serves as a lay Eucharistic minister and lay reader of scripture at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church where she has been an active member for many years.
Mary Susan currently leads our visual arts program at the Bell Center, Kirkwood by the River, Epic School, and in the waiting rooms of Children’s Rehabilitation Service clinics. She has been a VSA Alabama Teaching Artist since 2008 and is an active ArtPartner.

S. Renee Prasil
“Happy,” “energetic,” “passionate”- these are some of the words used to describe the personal art of S. Renee Prasil.  They are also words that describe the artist herself. Working in paint, clay, and with a variety of materials since she was very young, Renee shares her enthusiasm for all art media. She creates murals, portraits, furniture, handmade tiles and sculptures.  Renee believes that all art has an important place in our lives and does not make a personal distinction between utilitarian pieces (“craft”) and those that serve an entirely aesthetic purpose (“art”). Renee’s work has been published in magazines, newspapers, and books, and is in private and corporate collections around the world. Her talents have been commissioned for various organizations, businesses, and private homes throughout the United States. Her work can be found in the collections of Alabama Power Company, AT&T, The Arts Council of North Alabama, and the National Children’s Advocacy Center, to name a few.  She is influenced by many different things, but the art itself is the greatest influence.  Although on occasion, Renee does have a vision of what she wishes to create, she allows the medium and the moment to provide what is ultimately produced on canvas or in clay. Renee shares her love of art as a professional artist, an arts advocate, and as an art instructor (all ages, all abilities).  She began the Art Ministry at Whitesburg Baptist Church (WBC) R.O.C. in 2001 and was instrumental in beginning the popular Hampton Cove Elementary School ‘Cove Art League’ (C.A.L.) in 2002. She continues her art education and shares her knowledge and experience with others by teaching classes at the Huntsville Museum of Art, the Huntsville Art League (HAL), WBC R.O.C., and through VSA Alabama.
Renee leads our visual arts program at UCP Huntsville, where she has been a VSA Alabama Teaching Artist since 2005. Previously, she also led our visual arts program at the Arc of the Shoals in Tuscumbia from 2006 – 2007.


Nancy Raia
Nancy is an artist, motivator, speaker, teacher, and writer. Her favorite topics are creativity, communication, and positively inspiring others. Serving as Community Outreach Director at the Eastern Shore Art Center (ESAC), Nancy travels throughout the Southeast as a visiting artist bringing communities together with a unique art vision, and a belief that art brings us together, celebrates our differences, and honors the individual as well.  Her two passions are sports and art, and she uses the team effort in both. In 2005, Nancy was named the Museum Art Educator of the Year by the Alabama Art Education Association. She also received the Mobile Arts Council Educator Award in 2008, the Woman of Distinction Award in 2009 from the Girls Scouts, as well as Top Tour Teacher from the Helen Keller Foundation, as administered through the UAB Department of Education in conjunction with the statewide Helen Keller art competition. She has served on the boards of the Alabama Alliance for Arts Education and the Alabama Art Education Association, and she is a member of Bay Area Art Educators. Nancy paints and creates from within, loves color and expression, loud laughter and joy. Her personal artwork was chosen for the Jubilee Festival poster in 2005 and has been featured in various juried shows in the area. Her background is varied as are her interests.  She received a degree in Finance from Emory University and has worked in banking, television, insurance, and acting. After her unexpected “return” to art when her daughter was five, Nancy trained in and taught the Monart style in Saugus, California schools for four years, and then in Chattanooga for several school districts. She’s been joyously teaching for 20 years now!
Nancy has been a VSA Alabama Teaching Artist through our partnership with Eastern Shore Art Center since 2007, leading programs that reach such groups as the Regional School for the Deaf and Blind and Mercy Medical Center. She also facilitates our ArtPartners on the Bay program and exhibit in Fairhope.


Nancy Rentfrow
 “I was born and raised in California and grew up on a farm/almond ranch in Atwater, a small town in the San Joaquin Valley. I am married and a proud mother of three wonderful children and two beautiful grand daughters. Most of my working career has been in administration for large companies.  My husband, Don and I left California in 1987 to pursue opportunities in his field of printing.  We lived in several different states until 1993, and then moved to Sylacauga, where we decided to stay and eventually retire.  We love Alabama, the people here, and the warm southern hospitality has made us feel very much at home here. I’ve been the Director of the Isabel Anderson Museum & Arts Center in Sylacauga for over 11 years, a big career change and challenge opportunity.  I became very interested in the history of this area and fell in love with visual art. I have always been interested in the arts and involved in craft projects, but never painted on canvas.  About five years ago, a program director of a local nursing home asked me if I knew of an artist who would volunteer painting with the residents.  I was unsuccessful in finding one, but decided I could do this.  I started a program “Residents Renditions” and enjoy painting with these very special people on a monthly basis. Through the Arc of South Talladega County, the museum joined partners with the VSA Arts of Alabama.   Along with many of our local artists, I now paint with wonderful special needs adults and children in a unique program called ArtPartners.  It is most rewarding to actually know how important art is and how it can change so many lives.  Creating can be relaxing, challenging and therapeutic.  I’ve watched these special needs clients and residents develop better motor skills, communication skills and self esteem.   I am truly thankful to play my small role in making a difference.”


John Scalici
John Scalici is an internationally recognized drum circle facilitator, speaker, musician, clinician, and master teaching artist. He has brought his dynamic, uplifting programs to Asia as well as the United States. His powerful message of Unity Through Rhythm has been featured at college campuses, churches, corporate events, festivals, and K-College school classrooms. In 2000, John merged his passion for Drumming with his Communications degree to create Get Rhythm! ®. His company has presented dynamic rhythm based programs for Brassfield and Gorrie, Healthsouth, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Children’s Health Services, Knowledge Learning Corporation, University of Alabama, Allstate Insurance and many others. Get Rhythm! ®, and its mission of empowering people through rhythm, was nominated in 2007 for Small Business of the Year. He is the only Certified Therapeutic Drumming Instructor in the State of Alabama. John has been a founding member of two national touring bands, Gravy (www.) and junkyardmen (). In 1999 Junkyardmen were voted one of the best live blues bands in the U.S. by Blues Revue and Blues Access Magazine. John is an artist/endorser and product developer for Remo drum company and Vic Firth Drumstick Company. John has released two independently produced CDs: RhythmMusic and Rhythms for Drumming and Movement. He is the recipient of the 2005 Fellowship Grant from the Alabama State Council on the Arts and the 2008 Pauline Ireland Award granted to Individual Artists.
His work with special needs groups has been featured nationally on the Hallmark Channel. He has initiated rhythm-based programs at the Alabama School for the Deaf and Blind, Children’s Health Services, Glenwood, Inc., and United Cerebral Palsy. John is a member of the Society for Arts in Healthcare and the Percussive Arts Society Recreational Music Making committee.  He has been a VSA Alabama Teaching Artist since 2002.

  • Print and television media featuring John Scalici’s work include: Making Music Magazine, DRUM! Magazine, Executive Traveler Magazine, The Hallmark Channel, Southeastern Performer Magazine, Society for the Arts in Healthcare, and Percussion Magazine (Japan)


Sally Smith
Sally is a professional actress, artist, and writer. She worked under the name Selden Smith for over thirty years in film, television, and stage as a union actress. She has been teaching for over fifteen years in arts education, developing programming and curricula for youth and adults.  Her fields of expertise are visual art, theater, film, and social and emotional learning. She attended the University of Alabama at Birmingham for Film and Art Studies and is a graduate of The University of Montevallo with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theater and Art. In high school, she was accepted in the Alabama School of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and Theater. She studied in New York City and Los Angeles at the HB Studio, the Susan Strasberg Studio, New York, and with Michael Schurtleff Studio, Los Angeles. She worked with such directors as David Lynch, Woody Allen, Mike Nicoles, Michael Nankin, Dan Addias and Leo Penn, and in films and TV series such as Blue Velvet, Marie: A True Story, An Occasional Hell, “Days of Our Lives,” “Ryan’s Hope,” and “American Gothic.” Through her work with Girls Incorporated of Central Alabama as the Media Specialist and Program Director, she facilitated The Snapshots Project, a teen pregnancy prevention program with the goal of teaching video production to inner city youth. Classes included screenwriting, acting, character development through conflict resolution, improvisations, and theater games. The Snapshots Project received the National Girls Incorporated Award for Excellence in Programming in 2001. Red Light Green Light, a full length feature film written, directed, and acted by The Snapshots Reporters, won first place at The University of North Alabama George Lindsey Television and Film Festival for student full-length narrative in 2002.
Sally was the first Birmingham-area Teaching Artist contracted with VSA Alabama. She currently leads our visual arts program at the 1920 Club (since 2004), our visual arts and drama program at the Arc of Walker County (since 2006), and the theatre component of our summer arts camp at Epic School (since 2008). She previously led our visual arts program at JBS Mental Health Authority Deaf Services and taught visual arts and filmmaking at our Film Arts Summer Camp 2009.


Sherry Vickers
Sherry leads our drama program at the Arc of South Talladega County, where she has directed “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” for the past 2 years.


Walker Wright
Walker is a professional drummer and founder of Rejoicing Rhythms. He created the Rejoicing Rhythms program to inspire joyful expression and creativity through recreational music. The Rejoicing Rhythms program combines his passion for drumming and percussion with his background in healthcare and wellness. His experience in these areas, as well as his passion for music, inspired him to pursue recreational drumming as a venue to help others maximize their joy and well-being regardless of their age, health challenges, or special needs. Through Rejoicing Rhythms, Walker has facilitated drum programs with all age groups, extensively within the senior community and special needs community, including the areas of Dementia-Alzheimer’s Disease, Hearing Impairments, Down syndrome, Stroke/Cerebral Vascular Accident, Cerebral Palsy and Traumatic Brain Injury. He also speaks regularly regarding the benefits of recreational drumming to civic and healthcare organizations. Walker received his Bachelor of Science in Health, Physical Education and Recreation from the University of Mississippi and is proud to be a member of the REMO, Inc. family as a REMO artist and HealthRHYTHMS Endorsed Facilitator.

He has been a VSA Alabama Teaching Artist since 2009 and has worked with the Sickle Cell Association of Birmingham, Kirkwood By the River, Rittenhouse Senior Living Center, and The ARC of Walker County.