Teacher Bios

Andie Anderson

Andie  has served as artistic director and instructor for the BAC Stage Kids program since 2006. She is also an accomplished actor, singer and dancer, having been a part of the Northern Nevada arts community since the age of six, and has been seen performing on stages coast to coast.
Andie earned her B.A. in Theatre Arts from University of Nevada, Reno and an M.A. in Theatre Education from Emerson College in Boston.

Chrissi Barnett

Chrissi grew up in the Reno/Sparks area and attended Sparks and Wooster High Schools. She is a former camera operator on the televised government meetings shown on Access Carson City. The Brewery Arts Center operates ACCtv. She has also worked as the Communications Specialist on the Community Council. She now consults and contracts out as a website designer, graphic artist, digital designer, video producer/director/editor, social network manager, and email newsletter publisher. Chrissi is also currently enrolled as a student at WNC.

Darla Bayer

Darla manages the local public access television station housed at the Brewery Arts Center. Access Carson City Television broadcasts on Charter Cable Channels 210 and 226 as well as online at ACCtv.org. In her role Darla  programs the channels, organizes the crews, updates the website and trains the public to use the state of the art equipment. She is also a videographer, puppeteer, teacher, musician, childrens theatre director, costumer, rubber stamp designer and mother. Performing for adults and children for over 20 years with her husband, Chris, Darla yodels, sings and acts. Over the past 7 years digital videography has become her passion. She has earned an international advertising award for one of her pieces created for the Carson City Library. Her rubber stamp website was among those rated as “The Phenomenal Women of The Web”.

Carol Brown

Carol describes her passion about art: “Art is about process. My mind, body and spirit feel whole and centered in the process of making moku-hanga Japanese Wood-block prints. This process combines my love of art, nature, and life.”

The Nevada Arts Council has awarded Carol three Jackpot grants. Her work has been shown and collected on the local, national and international level. Her Japanese woodblock prints are in the Renown Hospital Art Collection, Reno, Nevada, and the Group Health Cooperative, Seattle, Washington. She studied linocut techniques with Suzanne Manns, Western woodblock techniques with Frances Myers and Karen Kunc, and has trained with Japanese moku-hanga artists; Hiroki Morinouri, Richard Steinner, Kathy Caraccio, April Vollmer and Keiko Hara. Carol Brown has a certificate in Printmaking from the Alfred C. Glassell, Jr. School of Art at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Texas, and a B.S. degree in Clothing & Textiles from Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma.

Don Fotine

Don Fotine may have found his calling late in life, but he spent his life working toward it. He started painting watercolors as a youngster, and when he moved to California at age 12, the landscapes of the West captured his imagination. After stints as a draftsman for an engineering firm and as an oil worker in Alaska, Fotine returned to Southern California and enrolled in the Art Center College of design in Pasadena. By 1974, his architectural drawings were in so much demand that he opened Don Fotine, Architectural Arts, in Valencia. Between 1974 and 2006, Fotine drew 20,000 architectural illustrations and did numerous design projects, with his work winning numerous awards. Now a resident of Minden, his painting and his love of teaching are his passions. A skilled artist in the mediums of watercolor and acrylics, his works have won numerous awards and have been or are currently on exhibit in various local and regional galleries.

Lucas Holden

Lucas has worked with computer animation applications for five years. He enjoys working with Lightwave, 3D Max, and Blender, and is also a filmmaker, storywriter and editor. Lucas enjoys teaching here at the Brewery Arts Center because it is a rewarding way for him to help others learn, and it gives him a chance to meet others who also share an interest in computer animation technology right here in his own community. In the past, Lucas has enjoyed producing short animated films, and is currently building spaceships for a short cinematic trailer with a video game in mind.

Deana Hoover

Deana’s art mediums include oil painting, drawing, mural art, digital photography, and more. She has studied formally, under private instructors, and independently since the mid 1980s, but she’s been studying and creating art informally all of her life. Her work has been featured in public and private shows throughout the region. Her paintings and photography have been published in newspapers, magazines, and been featured on multiple book covers. She’s been teaching art and writing in workshops and classes for over 15 years to students, both children and adults. She is currently teaching drawing, painting, and writing classes at the Brewery Arts Center, at Comma Coffee, and at her own working art studio on Fourth St. in Carson City. Her work is currently on display at Artsy Fartsy an Art Gallery, Between, Carson Tahoe Hospital, and The Feisty Goat. You can find a sample of her work and a current calendar of events at DeanaHoover.com.

Kym Maehl

Kym is a Counselor, Life Coach and Clinical Hypnotherapist. She has been using the creative arts in her work with clients for over 20 years and has been teaching jewelry making classes and pottery at the BAC for several years.  She is an advocate for the value of creative expression in maintaining a healthy and balanced life and feels that the Brewery Arts Center is a wonderful place to learn and grow creatively.

 

 

Mitzi Nelson

Mitzi is a Certified Speech Level Singing Coach who receiving train in LA and SF Bay Area with Seth Riggs and SLS Master Trainers from all over the US and England. She is an agent-represented Commercial, TV, Film and Voice-Over Talent with many professional credits. She recently sang on Broadway as part of the Ben Wright Broadway Project. Mitzi is proud to be a member of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and an Equity Membership Candidate. She currently works with regional repertory professional and community theaters in Nevada and California. She has taught voice and drama at the nationally acclaimed Children’s Musical Theater of San Jose as well as Sonora Children’s Theater and as a music, art, and literature docent in the San Jose School District. She was most recently seen in the Carson/Tahoe area as “Roxie Hart” in LTCC’s production of Chicago.

Lee Netzel

Lee grew up with a love of animals and a love of drawing and painting. She spent her teen years in California where she discovered the wonders of the deserts, mountains and the western life, which along with animals, are reflected in her art work. Lee took art classes in junior college and over the years had several watercolor instructions, but is otherwise, mostly self taught. Lee came to Nevada in 1975 after selling the art supply store she co-owned in Bishop, CA. She taught art classes at “Austin Arts”, an arts supply store for many years and presently teaches at the Brewery Arts Center. Lee paints in the mediums of pastel, acrylic, and watercolor. She finds pastel to be the best medium to capture the texture and life of an animal or human subject, while acrylic and watercolor seem a better fit for scenic subjects. Lee has had her work hung in galleries in California, Utah and Nevada and has shown and won awards in many shows, including Death Valley 49’ersencampment art show and Carson City’s Nevada art show.

Louise Noel

Louise brings her background in design and fiber arts, mixes it with her love of whimsy and color, and lets the silk and dyes mesh in vibrant abandon. Her designs are drawn from her love of the life on the Eastern slope of the Sierras, and are brimming with the excitement of a world seen through hopeful eyes. The brilliance of her paintings immediately catches the eye, but it is the story within that tends to hold the viewer. Bold Tahoe landscapes, serene Carson Valley pastures, free running horses, yearning hands all are subjects of her work. In 2002, a silk painting caught her eye and her heart…and the joy of the wild color and serendipitous style carried her away. A born storyteller, Louise found this expressive medium to be an absolute fit for her style. Since 2003, Louise has participated in silk painting workshops, projects and expositions, as well as shown her work at over 150 art shows and in numerous galleries, winning various awards and honors. In 2007, she was the feature of a public television documentary and in 2008 she was interviewed on National Public Radio.

Mischell Riley

Mischell‘s focus is in fulfilling bronze commissions that document people, places, and history for the beautification of public places.  Mischell was a two time Junior Olympics Gold Medalist in the High jump and entered College with seven scholarships in Track and also two scholarships in Art. She qualified for the United States Olympic Team but failed to participate due to injuries. The motivation, dedication and discipline she developed as an athlete was an asset when she focused on her art.  Mischell was recently chosen in 2010 to create the Reno Fireman’s Memorial life size bronze monument.

Tami Castillo Shelton

Tami has degrees in theatre & dance and is excited to be the new Director of Programs at the BAC. She also works as a professional theatrical director, choreographer, arts educator and consultant. A Kennedy Center trained teaching artist, she works with Sierra Arts as a residency artist and instructor of professional development for classroom teachers in the Arts Infusion Project for the Washoe County School District. Her work has been commissioned nationally and internationally by many festivals, universities, dance and theater groups as well as the Portland Rose Festival Association in Portland, OR, the Bumbershoot Arts Festival in Seattle, WA, and the TenPass Dance Series in Manhattan, NY. As a performer, she has had the privilege to train with the Actors from the London Stage and work with acclaimed choreographers and directors such as Danny Lewis of Juilliard and Donald McKayle of the Alvin Ailey Company as well as collaborating with noted artists such as pianist Tom Grant, and film and comic artists, the Pander Brothers.

Johanna Soliday

Johanna Soliday is a native of Holland but spent her childhood in various parts of Africa. A music teacher in standard five (seventh grade) introduced her to folk music. She subsequently acquired rudimentary skills in recorder, piano and guitar. After meeting Stan, she learned some mountain dulcimer techniques, which were further honed by playing for a year with a group in Jacksonville, FL. Due to her multicultural background, she is always looking for new international folk songs, especially those with haunting melodies. “Thanks to a sheltered background, I didn’t even know who Elvis or the Beatles were when I arrived in New York at 16 – I feel I’ve come a long way since then…”

Stan Soliday

Stan Soliday picked up the guitar while in the Navy, playing popular songs of the day. In college he took several classes in classical guitar. Next he studied bluegrass and Celtic basics on steel string guitar, and started playing mountain dulcimer. He played at local venues and folk music groups in Houston, TX, where he met Johanna at an open mike session. Since then Stan has taught himself harmonica and mandolin, and has continued to play at local venues, folk groups and song circle sessions. He is currently writing a series of instrumental, and humorous topical numbers. Says Stan, “I seem to have forgotten as much as I have learned – I play music for fun!”

Susan Taylor

Susan teaches the pottery courses. She has been an art educator and practicing artist for 35 years. Susan is retired after a teaching career at Carson High School. During that career she started the photography program, taught 3D animation, graphic arts, painting and drawing and served as department chairman for Fine Arts and Career & Technical Education. Susan has also taught various art classes at WNCC.

Mark Tompkins

Mark studied drawing and illustration at the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles. After working as a graphic artist for a number of years, Tompkins moved to Northern Nevada where he worked as a picture framer at a local art store and frame shop. There he began teaching painting classes for children and adults, and ended up teaching art classes at the community college, and also through the Parks and Recreation Department. He also teaches private lessons out of his studio. Tompkins inspiration and painting style was influenced by the early renaissance artists as well as artists like Andrew Wyeth and Maxfield Parrish. Tompkins prefers to paint with oils, watercolors and acrylics. He enjoys painting landscape, wildlife and portraits. Tompkins has won numerous awards in group competitions and continues to paint his favorite Sierra landscapes.

Tina Tyrell

Tina has been a resident of Northern Nevada for 50 years after coming from her birthplace in northern California. In 1974, she developed a passion for art and all things connected to it. She began teaching oil painting on a part-time basis in 1977 in a small local art store in Carson City. Upon retirement from state government in1977, she continued with her teaching of oil painting of all varieties of subject matter to all levels of artists or potential artists included at the western Nevada College and Brewery Arts Center in Carson City. In addition, she included instruction is all types or arts and crafts for the Boys and Girls Club, summer camp organizations for kids, the Gifted and Talented Education Program in local grammar schools, special topic craft programs such as gourd crafting, and faux and mural painting. In 2010, she has had the good fortune to go global, and is currently teaching arts and crafts on cruise ships. At the present time, 32 of her students are exhibiting 84 pieces of art work at the Nevada Legislative building for the entire 2011 sessions. Her desire to share the love and joy of the artistic life has made all the difference.

Briana Valley

Briana graduated with a BM in Music Education from the University of Nevada Reno. She has been working as the Musical director for the BAC Stage Kids for the past 4 years and recently finished her first year teaching Choir at Carson Middle School in Carson City, NV.