Paddy Bowman

Paddy Bowman, MA in Folklore
Founding Director, Local Learning: The National Network for Folk Arts in Education

Paddy Bowman is Founding Director of Local Learning: The National Network for Folk Arts in Education and co-editor of the Journal of Folklore and Education. She has developed many folk arts education resources and training opportunities and served as adjunct faculty for Lesley University’s Integrated Teaching Through the Arts master’s program. Paddy received an MA in folklore from the University of North Carolina and was awarded the American Folklore Society’s Benjamin A. Botkin Prize for Lifetime Achievement in Public Folklore and is a Fellow of the Society. Recently, she was appointed to the board of the Front Porch, a roots music school and venue in Charlottesville, Virginia, where she lives.

Doug Blandy

Doug Blandy, PhD
Art Education Professor, Cultural Leadership and Folklore, University of Oregon

Doug Blandy is a Professor in the School of Planning, Public Policy and Management (PPPM) and Folklore and Public Culture (FLR) at the University of Oregon. His research and teaching addresses art educational experiences in community-based settings that meet the needs of all students within a lifelong learning context. Doug is a NAEA Distinguished Fellow, Chair of the National Art Education Foundation Board of Trustees, and a member of the board of Local Learning— The National Network for Folk Arts in Education. Blandy’s research has been published in Studies in Art Education, Art Education, Visual Arts Research, the Journal of Multicultural and Cross-Cultural Research in Art Education, and other journals. His most recent book, co-authored with Paul Bolin and published by Teachers College Press, is Learning Things: Material Culture in Art Education. Doug’s contributions to the field of have been recognized by the NAEA Manuel Barkan Award for scholarly publication, NAEA Art Educator of the Year (2010), NAEA Beverly Levett Gerber Special Needs Lifetime Achievement Award (2014), and the United States Society for Education through Art Edwin Ziegfeld Award (2015).

Ashley Szczesiak

Ashley Szczesiak

MA Art Education, K-12 Teaching Certification Art Educator

Ashley Szczesiak is an artist and educator who taught for four years at the Mary McDowell Friends School in Brooklyn, New York, a school that exclusively serves students with learning disabilities. She has also worked as a full-time classroom teacher in Chicago and as a teaching artist, project manager, and community activist with government and non-profit organizations in Vermont, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Arizona, New Mexico, China, Colombia, and Spain. In addition to an MA in Art Education, Ashley has a BA in Film and Media Culture Studies and the History of Art and Architecture. She has taught Ceramics, Woodworking, Sculpture, Painting, Drawing, Design, Photography, and Digital Media/Video/Animation to K-12 students and college undergraduates. Ashley has held performances and lectures at the NAEA National Convention with a research-based artist collective with focuses on the scientific method as research strategy, project-based learning structures for students with learning disabilities, teacher best practices, and narrative approaches to enacting social justice.

Sarah Warshaw

Sarah Warshaw

MA Art Education, K-12 Teaching Certification Art Educator

Sarah Warshaw is an artist and educator who has taught in New York and San Francisco. Along with her MA in Art Education, she has a BFA in Photography and Imaging. Sarah began working as a teaching artist in 2008, and has facilitated learning experiences in a range of educational settings with students as young as 3 years old through mature adults returning for continuing certifications. She has been a teaching artist with various museums and organizations, as well as a classroom teacher in Brooklyn, New York. Sarah taught for two years at Mary McDowell Friends School, a school that exclusively serves students with learning disabilities. Previous presentations at NAEA National Conferences include the topics of infusing the curriculum with pop culture and supporting students with learning disabilities through differentiated instruction. Above all else, she enjoys traveling and sharing her enthusiasm and joy for exploring and creating in various media with others.

​Hazel L. Bradshaw-Beaumont Young

Hazel L. Bradshaw-Beaumont Young, PhD
Professor, Art Education, Delaware State University, Dover, Delaware  

Hazel L. Bradshaw-Beaumont Young has been the Professor at Delaware State University since 2002 and serves as the coordinator of the Art Education program and the Assessment Fellow for the Department of Art. She earned a PhD in Art Education from The Ohio State University, a MS in Art Education with a concentration in Art Therapy from Buffalo State University, and a BA in Art Education, Textile Printing, and Weaving from the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts in Jamaica, West Indies. Hazel currently serves as the Chair of the Committee on Multiethnic Concerns (COMC), a NAEA Interest Group. As a native of Jamaica, she served for 22 years as faculty at The University of the West Indies, Shortwood Teachers’ College, Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts, and Wolmer’s Girls High School. At Shortwood, she served in many administrative positions, including department chair, consultant with the Joint Board of Teacher Education at the University of the West Indies and the Ministry of Education in the areas of Special Education and Educational Research, the Caribbean Examinations Counsel, and the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Gloria J. Wilson

Gloria J. Wilson, PhD
Assistant Professor of Art and Visual Culture Education, University of Arizona

Gloria J. Wilson has been an art educator for 20 years, including 13 of those years teaching in urban and rural K-12 environments. Gloria has been a Fulbright recipient and has presented her research nationally and internationally, highlighting the intersections of racial identity, arts participation, and equity in arts education. She has presented workshops for Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Project Zero and has been an invited artist/researcher for The Spelman College Museum of Fine Art’s BLACK BOX series. Gloria’s research interests include Critical Arts-Based approaches and she is inspired by, and committed to, addressing the social and political role of race and visual culture, in order to affect educational transformation. She currently serves on editorial review boards for Art Education as well as The Journal of Social Theory in Art Education.  

Debra Pylypiw

Debra Pylypiw, BFA, MAEd, MS, EdD
Retired Art Educator; Adjunct Professor, Fayetteville Technical Community College, Fayetteville, North Carolina 

Debra Pylypiw recently retired after a 28-year career in art education, having taught all levels from pre-K-20. She served as the North Carolina Art Education Association President and the NAEA Southeastern Region Vice President. Debra was recently selected to be the National Convention Program Coordinator for the 2021 NAEA National Convention in Chicago, Illinois. Recognition for her work includes being named the 2008 North Carolina Art Educator of the Year, the 2010 NAEA National Art Honor Society Sponsor of the Year, the recipient of the 2010 Coastal Carolina Community College Adjunct Excellence in Teaching Award as well as the 2009 NAEA Marion Quin Dix Leadership Award.

In September 2018, eastern North Carolina was hit by Hurricane Florence which caused catastrophic damage mostly due to freshwater flooding and lasted for four days. Debra’s school sustained major damage and was closed for eight weeks. Students and faculty lost their homes, businesses, and livelihood. Creative efforts were developed to help meet the needs of those impacted.

Cris Guenter

Cris Guenter, EdD
Professor Emeritus, California State University, Chico

Cris Guenter has been a K-20 educator for 43 years. She has served as the California Art Education Association President and NAEA Pacific Region Vice President, and is currently on the Board of Trustees for the National Art Education Foundation. She has received many accolades, including Outstanding Teacher at Chico State, California Outstanding Art Educator, and NAEA 2008 National Art Educator of the Year.

In November 2019, the Camp Fire, California’s deadliest and most destructive fire, devastated Butte County, CA. The towns of Paradise (8 miles east of Chico), Magalia, and Concow were decimated. Chico’s population grew by 20.7% overnight. Thousands of people were displaced. It is one thing to read about trauma and another to directly experience it. Cris and her colleagues continue to help students and educators with trauma recovery efforts in Butte County.

Jody Stouffer

Jody Stouffer, BS, MaEd, AP Studio 2-D Design Certification
Art Educator, Croatan High School, Newport, North Carolina

Jody Stouffer, an art educator with 25 years of teaching experience across the K-12 levels, is currently the art educator at Croatan High School. He has taught Art 1-Art 4 Honors at the high school level as well as Ceramics 1-4 Honors and AP 2-D Design. A designer of curriculum pacing guides in visual arts and ceramics, Jody has facilitated workshops and presentations at the North Caroline Art Education (NCAEA) Association State Conferences for the past eight years, and has hosted art educator workshops at the regional and county-wide level. He was named the 2013 Lee County Schools Teacher of the Year and the 2014 NCAEA Secondary Art Educator of the Year.

Meg Skow

Meg Skow, BA in Visual Arts, NBCT, Gifted Endorsement
Art Educator, Rollings Middle School of the Arts, Summerville, South Carolina

Meg Skow is a visual art teacher at Rollings Middle School of the Arts. Through her school's gifted program, she leads 8^th-grade art students in the creation of life-sized self-portraits in clay. This challenging and rewarding unit is a highlight of the year!

Gina Pellegrino

Gina Pellegrino, New York State Certified for Art Education; BFA, Ceramics
Art Educator at Success Academy Charter Schools, New York, NY

Gina Pellegrino is an elementary art teacher who focuses on bringing authentic material explorations and student-centered experiences to her classroom through each fundamental art medium. Gina combines her background knowledge of working with clay as an artist and her teaching experience to create scaffolded sculptural units that utilize the qualities of the material to target children’s artistic development. Gina works for Success Academy Charter Schools, the largest public charter network in New York City and has experience collaborating with colleagues to create curriculum that is applicable for teachers with a variety of resources and settings—even for teaching clay without a kiln!

James Haywood Rolling, Jr.

NAEA President-Elect; NAEA Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion Commission Chair Professor/Chair of Art Education; Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, College of Visual and Performing Arts, Syracuse University

James Haywood Rolling, Jr., is NAEA President-Elect and dual professor of arts education and teaching and leadership in the College of Visual and Performing Arts and the School of Education at Syracuse University (SU), where he also serves as the chair of arts education. In 2018, James was appointed inaugural director of diversity, equity, and inclusion for SU’s College of Visual and Performing Arts. For NAEA, he served as Higher Education Division Director, Research Commission Associate Chair, and Senior Editor of Art Education. James is also a widely published author, and his books include Swarm Intelligence: What Nature Teaches Us About Shaping Creative Leadership and Arts-Based Research, both published in 2013.

Anna Pilhoefer

NAEA Equity, Diversity,& Inclusion Commissioner, Elementary Visual Arts Educator, Cleveland Elementary School, Santa Barbara, CA

Anna Pilhoefer brings over twenty years of experience as an artist, arts educator, and administrator in district, school site, and non-profit arts organizations. Anna has made it her continued focus and responsibility to increase diversity and inclusion within the arts education profession to include culturally competent teaching accessible to all.

Browning Neddeau

NAEA Equity, Diversity,& Inclusion Commissioner, Preservice Assistant Professor, Elementary Teacher Education and American Indian Studies, California State University, Chico

Browning Neddeau is an Assistant Professor of Elementary Teacher Education and American Indian Studies at California State University, Chico. He researches arts education, Native American culturally-appropriate representation in schools, and agricultural education. Browning serves on the National Conference on Race and Ethnicity in American Higher Education's National Advisory Council.

Ashley Naranjo

Ashley Naranjo, MEd
Manager of Educator Engagement, Smithsonian Center for Learning and Digital Access, Washington, DC

In 2011, Ashley Naranjo joined the Smithsonian Center for Learning and Digital Access as a museum educator, specializing in the use of digital museum resources, where she develops and implements professional development opportunities for teachers, librarians, and other museum educators. Earlier, she had experience in education in both formal and informal learning spaces—as an ESOL instructor for adults, a middle school substitute teacher in the humanities, and a summer programs administrator at an independent school. She holds a BA in Human Development (Developmental Psychology) from the Lynch School of Education at Boston College, where she was a research assistant and independent study student in the Laboratory of Thinking, Learning & Cognition in the Arts. She has a MEd in Learning Design and Technology from the Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California. She is a recent graduate of the Getty Leadership Institute’s NextGen of Museum Leaders program.

Briana Zavadil White

Briana Zavadil White, MAT
Student and Teacher Programs Manager, National Portrait Gallery

Briana Zavadi White oversees the National Portrait Gallery’s student and teacher programs. She creates and manages in-Gallery student programs as well as leads outreach efforts into local Washington, DC-area schools. Inquiry and object-based learning provide the foundation for the student programs at the museum, which are facilitated by a corps of gallery educators. Briana designs and facilitates teacher workshops—including the museum's summer teacher institutes—develops lesson plans and teacher resource guides, and manages the museum’s Teacher Advisory Board. The Gallery’s professional development workshops start with the premise that by reading portraiture, teachers can springboard into rich conversations about biography and history with their students. By modeling close looking strategies and activity ideas, Briana offers ways to integrate portraiture into the classroom. She holds a BA in psychology, with a minor in art history, from the University of Virginia, and a MAT, with a concentration in museum education from the George Washington University.

Candra Flanagan

Candra Flanagan, MEd
Teaching & Learning Coordinator, NMAAHC

Candra Flanagan joined the National Museum of African American History and Culture in January 2009. Passionate about the intersection between formal and informal learning as well as cultivating and encouraging life-long learning in educators, Candra is the coordinator for Student and Teacher Initiatives. In this current role, she develops and implements various events to assist educators incorporating African American history in their classroom; researches and creates educational publications for use by the general public and educators; and strategizes the role of the museum in the professional development of educators.

Mindy Cardenas

Mindy Cardenas, LPCC, LPAT, ATR-BC 
Expressive Arts Therapist and Art Educator, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Mindy Cardenas is an artist, art educator, and expressive arts therapist in private practice. Her specialization is in the use of creative arts therapy to address trauma and the issues that arise around it. A classroom teacher early in her career, Mindy taught middle school art in Oklahoma—an experience which was instrumental in developing her belief that classroom teachers do much more than educate their students. Since becoming an art therapist, she has various professional experiences that have expanded her awareness of how artmaking can impact lives. Several years ago, Mindy began training in Trauma-Informed Expressive Arts Therapy, which significantly expanded her understanding of integrating multi-modal creative arts into her practice and teaching. Most recently, Mindy began a 2-year training to become a Vipassana meditation teacher and is working to integrate creative-arts therapy with meditation practice.

Sara M. Gant

Sara M. Gant, NBCT
Art Educator, Northside High School, Jacksonville, North Carolina

Sara M. Gant, who has taught art at all levels for 27 years, currently teaches at Northside High School. Born in England, she grew up in Belgium, and has called Eastern North Caroline her home for almost 30 years. Sara has a BFA in Art History and an MAEd in Art Education, and holds National Board Certification in Art. Sara has presented at art education conferences, taught online, and is currently working on a Registered Expressive Arts Consultant Educator certification.  

Elizabeth Stuart Whitehead

Elizabeth Stuart Whitehead, MEd, BS in Art Education, Administrator I Certificate
Visual Art Supervisor, Prince George's County Public Schools, Maryland

Elizabeth Stuart Whitehead taught elementary art for 9 years and, for 9 years, was the content specialist for art, theater, and dance for Montgomery County Public Schools in Rockville, Maryland. Currently, she is Visual Art Supervisor for Prince George’s County Public Schools. The county is a pioneer in arts integration (AI) with 80 schools and growing. Elizabeth has traveled extensively throughout the world and in 2006 was awarded a Japan Fulbright Scholarship. In 2009, she received the NAEA Eastern Region Elementary Art Educator of the Year award and in 2012, she received the Maryland Art Educator of the Year award. She has presented at numerous state and national conferences on various topics concerning curriculum, assessment, and instruction. She is the NAEA Supervision and Administration Division Director. She loves to find ways for children to use art to deepen their understanding of other subjects and believes that all children can access the same level of understanding in different ways. Using art is one such way.

Jennifer Klein

Jennifer Klein, Certified Reading Specialist, MEd   

Jennifer Klein holds a BS in education and MEd degree from the University of Maryland, College Park. She has worked as an elementary classroom teacher, gifted and talented teacher, staff developer, teacher trainer, and reading specialist for Montgomery County Public Schools, Maryland. Teaching literacy through the arts is one of her passions. She is a member of NAEA and the State of Maryland Literacy Association and has served as co-chair for the Montgomery County Council for the Young Authors Contest. She is a past recipient of the Junior Great Books Great Teacher award. Over the last several years, Jennifer has taught workshops at museums and school systems in Maryland, Delaware, Washington, DC, and Virginia, and has presented at county, state, and national conferences on teaching literacy through the arts.

Michelle Harrell

Michelle Harrell, MAEd, NBCT (EAYA-Art)

After 13 years teaching middle and high school art, Michelle Harrell left the art room to work at the North Carolina Museum of Art (NCMA) where she now serves as Director of Teaching and Learning. Her work at the NCMA has built upon her master’s thesis research entitled "Interactive Technology: A Tool for Student-Centered Instruction in Middle School Art Education." Michelle developed the "Flipped Museum" distance- learning model to create a more active student-centered learning experience. She believes technology has great potential to deepen learning and increase access to the arts and museums.

Carole Henry

Carole Henry, EdD
Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professor of Art Emeritus, The University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia

Carole Henry has helped lead NAEA SummerVisionDC with Renee Sandell since its inception in 2010, the same year that NAEA published her book, The Museum Experience: The Discovery of Meaning. Its focus is on the museum as a catalyst for critical thinking, reflection, and understanding. Carole believes that the acquisition of skills people need to be able to first, choose to visit art museums, and second, respond in depth to works of art, is directly dependent upon strong art education programming in schools as a valued partner in museum education. She has long been interested in the field of art and museum education and has published numerous articles and book chapters addressing the art museum as an educational and interpretive site.

Renee Sandell

Renee Sandell, PhD
Art Education Consultant, ForThCo Vision LLC
Program Director, NAEA SummerVision DC

Renee Sandell is founder/director of the expeditionary, museum-based NAEA SummerVision DC Program which she has delivered since 2010. She has previously served as Director/Professor of Art Education at George Mason University (2004-2014) and Professor of Art Education at Maryland Institute College of Art (1990-2003). Co-author of two books on gender issues, Renee has published numerous articles, book chapters, and art curricula. A 1980 NEA Fellow, she is also the recipient of the 2019 NAEA Lowenfeld Award, and has served as a Distinguished Lecturer in Art Education at Miami University, and the 2013 NAEA National Art Educator. Renee has received numerous awards for her leadership and scholarship on her Form+Theme+Context (FTC) ® and her Marking & Mapping®, an accessible form of visual meaning-making. Her Visual Fitness 4 All® for Engaging Creativity and Insight® workshops nurture envisioning skills for individuals within professional development programs, organizations, health spas, businesses, and other venues.