Participating Artists

Gail Allen

Gail was born and raised in Western Massachusetts, spending her formative years drawing and painting the surrounding farms and nature. After graduating from Paier College of Art, she spent many years in Illustration, Graphic Design, and Art Direction in the Boston, Massachusetts area. Along with raising three creative young men, painting continues to be her constant vocation, as well as landscape design and painting murals. Gail's current works are a microcosm of her life experiences; incorporating her love of nature and gardens, metaphysics and symbolism, with relationship to healing art therapy. www.gailallenartist.com

Anna Birch

Anna is an artist who has successfully run her own one-woman art company, Queen Oscar Designs, creating hand-painted greeting cards and journals, for 15 years. In addition to paper and book arts, she also enjoys works in other mediums – including various forms of printing, painting, jewelry and fiber arts. She has worked with teenagers and children in many settings over the years, from outdoor adventure programs to pre-schools to homeschooling groups, conducting art and creativity workshops incorporating bookbinding, art-journals/creative writing, jewelry-making, printing and collage art. She is also a writer, working on her first manuscript of poems, and lives in Hollis with her husband, oil painter Christopher Volpe, and their 5 year old son Max.

Kristine Brock

Kristine L. Brock is the owner of Harmony Studio in Brookline, New Hampshire where she offers private art instruction for children and adults. Kristine has studied under several artists in the New England area and is a member of the Hollis Art Society and the Nashua Area Artists' Association. Following her art training at Raritan Valley College in New Jersey, Kristine was selected as a mural artist for the 1994 Musikfest celebration held annually in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. She enjoys working in watercolor, oil, colored pencil and acrylic media. Her subject matter focuses on realistic and abstract portrayals of florals, landscapes, and wildlife. www.harmonyartstudio.com

Mary Broden

Mary’s love for nature has inspired her in many different directions. She draws, paints, and loves crafts that reflect her passions. Fifteen years ago, Mary decided that making jewelry was such a huge part of her, she needed to express that in her life. She believes it is so rewarding to see her work being paraded through town by another person and just “sugar to her soul” when someone enjoys it as much as she does! She has shared her love of arts and crafts in many community areas, including Mason Elementary School, Boynton Middle School with special need students, Mason Library, Townsend Recreation Dept., Manning Manse for Victorian Crafts, Mason Historical Society for the Children’s Area, and Appleton Elementary. She set up a studio in the “White House” (this has several small rooms for artists) in Wilton, NH and another in the 1808 House in New Ipswich. As well as teaching at Wild Salamander, she is currently selling her crafts at Auntie's Attic in Manchester, NH.

Cindy Dahlstrom

Cindy has been sewing since she she was 7 and sat by her grandmother's side and asked to use her sewing machine. Graduating from U Mass with a degree in Fashion Merchandising she went on to a great career in the fashion industry. Cindy has designed for Talbots, New Balance, Adidas and The Limited. Most of all Cindy loves to sew! She is eager to share her life long love with her students through some of the many projects she has been collecting for years.

Nancy Fillip

Nancy is a life-long artist and teacher with a passion for both. Having grown up with a father who was determined to make her an Olympic champion at something and under the tutelage of a mother who was a professional artist, Nancy was experimenting with oils, pens and ink and watercolors with a canvas down by the shores of Buzzards Bay at a very early age. After college, her love of teaching drew her to the classroom and over the past 34 years she spent teaching science and math to high school and middle schoolers. Always thinking outside the box, many times she was able to incorporate art into her curriculum and make the students aware that art provides innovation for science and math to happen.

Recently retired, Nancy now runs her own studio, Muses and Music, at her home in Pepperell where she offers classes and private lessons in all art mediums (except oils) and private lessons in piano, clarinet and flute. In addition, she offers acrylic classes at The Lunenburg Public Library and The Leominster Senior Citizen Center. She has run several local area workshops on Zentangle and has had her paintings on exhibition at The Lawrence Library Art Gallery and The Lunenburg Library Art Gallery. Nancy’s biggest strength as a teacher is that she inspires and motivates the students to be confident and creative. “My biggest pleasure from teaching is seeing my students, young or old, delighted with their own work because they created and designed it; they produced something they may have thought they never had the ability to do so. They’re having fun, learning, exercising that right brain, and all the imaginative juices are just flowing in the right direction. How can you not call that passion?” You can find her work on www.fineartamerica.com.

Rick Freed

Rick has been educated at Carnegie-Mellon University and Pratt Institute and holds a Masters in Printmaking. He is a visual artist that works in most two-dimensional mediums. He has also taught all of these mediums to about every age from children to college and adults. Currently he is teaching art and graphic design at Nashua Community College as well as lending a hand with the college clubs and student publications. He also teaches in the Summer at the Comp_Camp at the Brooks School in North Andover, MA a full range of computer art and photography to middle schoolers. Rick has also created murals with all age groups, especially kids at risk. His process allows the children to design and paint their own mural with his ‘invisible hand’ guiding the way and making the project also be professional looking and archival. He has also done murals professionally in museums, homes and businesses. Though a successful freelance graphic designer with a number of well-known clients, his own fine art takes a very different path from what it takes to satisfy a client. Rick’s own work is a playful exposé on the inner mind and the world, through color, texture and line. Likened to seeing images in the clouds, his images betray the hints of many little thoughts or images, none of which he admits to.

Lorraine Gilman

Lorraine studied theatre performance at S.U.N.Y. Fredonia and clowning at Ringling Brother's Clown College. She ran away from the circus to become a puppeteer.

She has a Master's degree in Puppetry from the University of Connecticut and also studied puppetry at Sandglass Institute. She has been working as a professional puppet designer and performer for ten years.

Lorraine has performed with Connecticut Repertory Theatre, UConn Opera, New England Marionettes, Star Child Theatre, Wondered OutLoud Theatre and Underground Railway Theatre. She is currently writing and designing an original children's TV show filming in 2013. Her most recent puppet work includes “The Hungry Caterpillar Eats the Big Apple,” which was part of Puppets in Paridise in Vermont.

Lorraine has taught drama, puppetry, and mask making to children and adults in the New England area. www.cupostorm.com

Kyle Goleman

Born and raised in Nashua, NH, Kyle grew up acting, singing and dancing at his local community theater, the Peacock Players. When he turned 15 years old he moved to Los Angeles to pursue his acting career. In LA, he worked on films, commercials, music videos, and television. Some of his most prominent work was on Nickelodeon’s hit show “iCarly”, in Toby Keith’s “Beers Ago” music video, in Bridget Mendler’s “We Can Change the World” music video, in the short film “The Kids Don’t Like It”, and in various commercials for Doritos, Porsche, Best Buy and Nintendo DS. Kyle on IMDb

Suzi Grossman

Suzi Grossman is excited to be teaching photography in her home town this summer. She recently graduated from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston with a BFA concentrated in photography and Tufts University with a BA in English Literature. Suzi grew up in Hollis and is currently living in Boston, working and making art for a few years before going on to grad school for photography.

Suzi is trained in all aspects of photography including, digital, film, lighting, model direction, fine art digital printing, creative project planning, critique, and curation. She is interested in both the technical challenges of photography and its potential for conveying powerful emotional and conceptual messages.

She has worked as a teachers assistant in both photography and art history, an artist assist, a freelance photoshop guru and digital printer, and has volunteered in many youth, nature, and art programs over the years as a teacher and mentor.

She loves to share knowledge and explore new challenges and is excited to see what new questions her students with bring to light. You can see her work at www.suzigrossman.com

Sue Hurwitz

Sue Hurwitz is a professional chamber musician. Sue is the founding member of Resonance, a chamber group featuring piano, voice, violin, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, and of course, the flute. Resonance has performed at the Hunt Building in Nashua, NH, at the Nashua ArtWalk, the Holiday House Tour, at the Seacoast Academy, and at many other venues in New England. In addition, Sue is a member of the flute group, Lilly. Ms. Hurwitz is a singer, as well, and has performed as a soloist with the ActorSingers Chorus. As a flutist, Ms. Hurwitz has performed solo work at A Taste of the Arts, with the Souhegan Chorus, and at the Museum of Fine Arts.. She is a long-standing member of the National Flute Association, where she has performed with flute groups at several national conventions. www.thelyricduo.com

Rahel Limor

Educator, singer/songwriter, guitarist, folk and therapeutic musician, and mother to Inbal and Eran, Rahel holds a B.Sc. in the Arts (Musical and Theater Arts for Children) from Empire State College (SUNY), and a Certificate of Distinction in Barbara Cass–Beggs’ Listen Like Learn music program for babies and young children.

Rahel met Barbara Cass-Beggs (may her memory be a blessing) in 1986 in Israel and worked closely with her for three more years to train students in Barbara's music program. Together they successfully adapted the Your Child Needs Music programs to the needs of Israeli society, translating song repertoire to Hebrew and establishing music classes for babies and young children in day-care centers and schools.

Rahel has been performing and recording since 1976. Her original songs have won awards and been featured on television and radio in the USA and abroad. As a teacher, Rahel facilitates programs and workshops for children and adults alike! www.yourchildneedsmusic.com

Marie Mendelow

Marie Mendelow has been teaching piano and percussion for over thirty years on four different continents. She received her collegiate training in her native South Africa at Witswatersrand University and completed all the piano examinations through the Royal Schools of Music, London.She studied piano under Dr. Adolph Hallis, a World Master, and was invited at the age of seventeen to joing the Primary Orchestra of South Africa (SABC Orchestra) where she performed weekly on national television as one of their four percussionists. She has served on the faculty of the Orange Free State University, and has been living and teaching piano and percussion in New Hampshire since 1991. www.thelyricduo.com

Alene Sirott-Cope

Alene Sirott-Cope is a professional graphic designer, potter, multi media artist, art director, and art educator in several universities in the New England area. She uses her experience with graphic design concepts, including color, shape, and texture, in all of her pieces. She enjoys experimenting with assorted production techniques and tries to find new combinations that produce interesting as well as functional pieces. A Raku potter and a convert to polymer clay, she also teaches kids and adult classes/workshops in Polymer clay and Photoshop.

Alene's work has been highlighted in publications such as “The Crafts Report”, “Art Calendar” cover, Boston Globe, The Nashua Telegraph, The Lowell Sun, Funeria “Art Honors Life”, Polymer Cafe and an HGTV segment on “That’s Clever”. Her work appears in galleries and gift shops throughout the USA. Selected works are showcased in several celebrity homes, as well.

You can find her work on www.fineartamerica.com and www.youclayme.com.

Kimberly Stanizzi

Kimberly Stanizzi is so excited to be spending her Summer in her hometown, Hollis, NH, after spending the past two years at the Young Americans College of Performing Arts in southern California. She is twenty years old and has been performing in musical theatre nearly her entire life. She worked with several of the community theaters in southern NH, including the Actorsingers, Stagecoach Productions, the Peacock Players, and others, until she graduated high school. After, she continued to pursue her passion of the performing arts in California. Throughout the past two years in the Young Americans, she has shared the stage with Broadway stars including Kelli O'hara, Hugh Panaro, Carol Dennis, Jeffrey Polk, and many more. She just finished an Intensive Course where she was coached by Tony Award winner Susan Egan. Not only has Kim recieved many great experiences in performance, but in teaching as well. She participated in a national music outreach tour along the East Coast of the United States this past fall, and spent three months on an International tour in Japan this past Spring. www.youngamericans.org

Christopher Volpe

Christopher Volpe seeks to inspire and instruct through demonstration of technique and individual coaching based on participants' skill level and creative goals. A recipient of artist grants from New Hampshire and Massachusetts, he conducts oil painting classes and workshops from his studio and has been a part-time college art history teacher for close to a decade.