Info:
carly@gomexart.com
 

Jean Schuler, Counselor - Resident Director
Jean Schuler recently moved to Austin Texas where she was born and graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in Studio Art.  Prior to that she lived in Vail and Denver where she worked for a whitewater rafting company and painted abstracted paintings during the off-season. She enjoys traveling and the adventure of meeting new people and is especially excited to spend a summer in San Miguel interacting with the staff and students.

Virginia Reardon, Counselor - Resident Director
Virginia is from the suburbs of Philadelphia. She has four sisters and a brother and studied Art Education at Penn State University. She was an art camp counselor in State College during the summer and also taught art to kids on Saturdays during the school year. She participated in the State College Italian Street Painting Festival for two years. She completed her student-teaching in Pittsburgh. After graduating in December, she moved to San Miguel de Allende and is currently a teacher-aide at a bi-lingual school just a couple of blocks from Casa Crayola. She is interested in Mexico, beading, running, book-making, collaborative artwork, reading, zumba classes, biking, used-clothing, collaging, and photography. She started a Pen Pal exchange between some of her students at the bi-lingual school and some of her sister's students in Chicago, and is very happy with the results. She thinks you can learn all about culture and yourself simply by communicating with someone from a different culture. She has friends from different countries and keeps in touch with them through e-mail.

Ruthie and Congo, Counselors & Homesickness Experts
Ruthie, a rescued street dog, is a 3-year veteran of MexArt while Kongo is a new addition to the team.  Congo is a 4-month old black Labrador who is interested in chewing anything he can get his hands on.  Ruthie, while quite large, still thinks she's a lap dog and will gladly sit with students and staff, pleading with her eyes for more petting.  Ruthie and Congo are sure cures for homesickness, easily putting students at ease, giving them their undivided attention.

Shannon Reece, Photography
Shannon Reece is the photography teacher for MexArt. She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Vancouver and also has a degree from the Emily Carr College of Arts and Design. She concentrates on photography and printmaking. Shannon has had six one-man shows  and has shown in many group settings. She has won 2 significant awards for her photographic work.

Nina Wisniewski, Painting & Drawing
Born in Milwaukee, WI, Nina has worked professional as a painter and teacher of art for over 30 years. She began to paint at the age of 4 and received early recognition and many years of training throughout her youth. She holds a BFA and MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute. Nina's exhibition record includes solo and group shows in San Francisco, Chicago, Milwaukee, Costa Rica, and throughout Mexico.  The call to teach as well as paint has lead Nina to hold positions in public and private education where she has served as instructor, director and curator. Nina has lived in San Miguel for 5 years after having lead art-travel workshops in Mexico and California.

Joan Elena, Pottery
Learn hand building, wheel throwing, and unique decoration techniques in the lovely Centro home/studio of artist Joan Elena Goldberg. New students will be introduced to coil building, slab construction, slump molds and simple clay modeling. Pottery wheel instruction includes basic centering, opening and raising techniques. Experienced students are welcome to work independently in a group with instruction. Finishing techniques using colored slips (engobes), glazing, and kiln firing are essential to learning the art of ceramics.

Jose Juan Palacio, Ironwork
Jose Juan was born and raised in San Miguel. He was brought up in a metal working family where he learned his trade.  He now has his own workshop where he works with his brother and teaches MexArt students with metal creations.

Paco, Silver Jewelry
BIO COMING SOON

Patty Arrieta, Dance Teacher
Patty was born in Guadalajara, Mexico and group up in the San Francisco Bay Area. She began her training as a gymnast and competed at the elite level for many years. Patty has been a recipient of numerous dance scholarships and received training in a variety of techniques from teachers around the nation. In 1998 she was accepted on scholarship to the Alvin Ailey School and moved to New York City, where she currently resides.  She performs with dance companies and commercial artists alike, most recently working with DixonMena Dance, the International Fringe Festival, Sarah Atereth (Billboard Top 40 Artist), and with them completed a tour of Cyprus as a part of Kypria Arts Festival.  She danced with Extended Dance Company, One Mile, The Collective: Emerging Artists, and many well established NYC choreographers. She has traveled professional to Japan, Hong Kong, Europe, Mexico and throughout the U.S. dancing for a variety of audiences.

Patty has also had the good fortune of teaching nationwide and enjoys working with students. In California she taught as a studio instructor and choreographed pieces for competition and high school dance teams. She was a staff member of ASA (Cupertino, CA) traveling across the country as a dance instructor for summer camps, workshops and residency programs.  Patty has worked as a choreographer's assistant to the Golden State Warrior Girls, San Jose Saber Kittens and has been involved in outreach programs to introduce dance and the arts in all communities.

Christie Olvera, Dance Instructor
Christie Olvera, was born in Pittsburgh and raised in State College, PA where she began dancing at the age of five studying ballet, pointe, tap and jazz for 11 years. She then attended Ohio University in Athens, OH where she majored in Health Education and Psychology. Upon graduation she moved to Cincinnati, OH where she began teaching ballroom dancing lessons at the Arthur Murray School of Dance where she later became the studio manager. She met her husband, Adrian (who is from Mexico) while out salsa dancing. The two of them became instant dance partners and went on to become three-time Street Salsa Champions at Cincinnati Dancesport, an international ballroom dance competition. They also placed first on Mexico's popular VidaTV variety show in 2003. Christie founded the dance program at Cincinnati Country Day School where she taught for seven years prior to moving to San Miguel. There she choreographed the middle and high school musicals and the varsity dance team routines as well as teaching various dance electives at the school. One of the musicals she choreographed (Godspell) won the CAPPIE award for Best High School Musical in Cincinnati in 2004 which was the same year she was asked to choreograph the entire CAPPIES Gala Awards night at the Aronoff Center. Christie loves teaching all styles of dance from ballroom to ballet, musical theater to mambo, and believes anyone who wants to can learn. Her mantra is "if you've got a heartbeat, you've got rhythm".

Rocio, Spanish Coordinator
Rocio is trained as a Spanish as a second language teacher and tutor. She regularly works with Warren Hardy and tutors his students. Rocio coordinates Spanish classes with the other teachers, assesses students for class placement, and teaches classes.  MexArt Spanish classes are hands-on and encourage conversation.

 

Spanish Teaching Staff
MexArt's Spanish classes are offered daily for two hours concentrating on student communication, conversation, and fluency. San Miguel is a charming colonial town rich in history. Roaming the serpentine cobblestone streets, one finds 16^th and 17^th century buildings, flower-filled patios, burros delivering wood, women selling handmade dolls, men hawking straw baskets. This backdrop offers MexArt students an unsurpassed cultural experience and inspires each student to speak Spanish and integrate into this rich community. MexArt's Spanish teachers teach Spanish to foreigners year-round in class settings and private tutors. They are native Spanish speakers, but speak English VERY well. Their experience in teaching foreigners is invaluable and they easily recognize and intuitively correct mistakes that English speakers often make in speaking Spanish.

Reyna, Cooking
Reyna has been a professional cook for over 20 years having worked in restaurants, homes, and for catering. Reyna has been working with MexArt and the Cross family since 2000 and continues to delight palates. Reyna cooks 2 meals daily at MexArt and teaches a cooking class to interested students. Reyna also caters meals for Casa Crayola's Duets Events, a duet of fine food and musical duos.