Instructors
Madeline Bartley Gambacorta
Mixed Media Instructor
Madeline Bartley Gambacorta was born in Louisville, Kentucky and attended Murray State University where she received her B.F.A. in printmaking and drawing. She earned her M.F.A. in studio arts from Syracuse University’s College of Visual Performing Arts. She has exhibited her work in solo and group shows including exhibitions at the Hand Held Gallery (Melbourne, Australia), Walnut Ink Projects (Michigan City, IN), The Rogue Space (New York, NY), and the Museum of Latin American Art (Long Beach, CA).
website: madelinebartley.com
Jan Dylewski
Mixed Media Instructor
Jan Dylewski is an art teacher in the Buffalo Public School district. She received her Bachelor of Art degree from S.U.N.Y Fredonia, and her master’s degree from Buffalo State College. Using both her sculptural background and love of mixed media, her work is sprinkled with whimsy, bold colors and a sparkle of joy. She believes in the intuitive nature of materials and strives to help her students develop their inner voice.madelinebartley.com
website: https://www.jdylewski.com/
Clarimar Galarza
Youth Ceramics Instructor
Clarimar Galarza is a high school art teacher in Buffalo New York. She attended Buffalo State College where she received a BFA in Art Education with a concentration in Ceramics and Painting. Her work consists of functional ceramics with a focus on surface design.
Nicole Galuszka
Youth Drawing Instructor
Nicole Galuszka is a mixed media artist, designer and illustrator based in Buffalo, NY. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts: Communication Design (Minor: Art History) from Pratt Institute. With six years in educational technology as a visual designer and illustrator, her creative journey bridges art and design, utilizing digital as well as physical media.
Bree Gilliam
Painting Instructor
Bree Gilliam is a figurative painter from Buffalo, NY. She attended SUNY Buffalo State College where she received a B.F.A. in painting and a minor in art therapy. In her work, she addresses social issues and the experiences that people face daily. She uses bold symbolism and expressive brushwork to provoke emotion from her audience in an attempt to spark introspection and conversation. She believes that conversations are the first step to creating solutions to the problems in the world.
website: www.breegilliam.com
Shanel Kerekes
Painting Instructor
Shanel Kerekes is a painter from Buffalo, New York. As a graduate of Villa Maria College, she majored in Integrated Arts and obtained a BFA degree in 2019. Photorealism is the style that she continuously aspires to achieve in her work. Kerekes was exposed to a culturally diverse environment early in life, which later instilled a fascination with individuality, preestablished societal standards, and the ever-changing dynamic between the two. By having the position of being a woman in today’s world, Kerekes uses the tribulations that they are commonly confronted with and attempts to build a visual representation of the many obstacles women may face within their lifetime which can include objectification, sexualization, and exploitation.
website: www.shanelkerekesart.com
Bethany Krull
Pottery Instructor
Bethany Krull has been working in clay for over twenty five years having received her BFA from the State University College at Buffalo and her MFA from the School for American Crafts at the Rochester Institute of Technology. Her practice is expansive and has led me to the exploration of many other materials that often make their way into the work which is rooted in formal aesthetics, love of nature and the fears and desires around the ways in which our species impacts the environment and other creatures. She loves to teach in both community and academic settings, maintain an active home studio and exhibits nationally and internationally.
website: https://www.bethanykrull.com/
Laike Palermo
Drawing and Painting Instructor
Andrea Pawarski
Ceramic Instructor
eAndrea Pawarski is a ceramic studio artist at the Buffalo Arts Studio and elementary art teacher at the Charter School of Inquiry. She earned a BFA in Art Education and Ceramics from Syracuse University and a MA in Multidisciplinary Studies from SUNY Buffalo State College. Her ceramic work is inspired by geological formations and can be found on her website or Etsy account.
website: www.andreapawarski.com
Etsy: etsy.com/shop/AndreaPawarskiClay
Tom Rojek
Drawing and Painting Instructor
Deborah Stewart
Ceramic Instructor
Deborah Stewart is a sculptor primarily working in clay. She has in the past been a biologist, modern dancer and choreographer, and studio potter. She has a BFA in Ceramics and an MFA in Visual Art/Sculpture. She has taught Ceramics and Three-dimensional Design in a variety of WNY colleges. Her work has been exhibited locally and nationally, and is in several public and private collections.
website: DebStewartClay
Laura Valkwitch
Painting Instructor
https://www.lauravalkwitch.com/