Instructors

Marion Anderson
Marion is an avid watercolour enthusiast, and one of our most popular instructors. Originally from Kent County, Marion currently makes her home and studio in New Dundee. She teaches for the Waterloo Region District School Board, Homer Watson House and Gallery, and Conestoga College, and is an active member of the Central Ontario Art Association.

to be announced

Lesley Bankes
Lesley Banks has vast experience as an art teacher in the Bluewater District School Board, the Tom Thomson Gallery and Kelso Villa Retirement Residence. Her strength is teaching students transferable skills so they can create personal artistic expressions beyond the classroom.

Sharon Barfoot

My paintings are inspired by my desire to learn to be present in the moment and paint from an instinctive internal source rather than from external references. I paint in an intuitive, improvisational way where the composition and surface dictate how to proceed. Abstraction is used in my work to inspire meanings and feelings unique to the individual viewing my work.

When an image is abstract, the viewer has the freedom to decide what they are seeing by creating it in their imagination. Forms emerge from the surfaces of my paintings that seem to echo celestial bodies, deep seascapes, Baroque ceilings, or the fiery mouth of a volcano.

My academic studies include Fine Arts, Philosophy, Comparative Religion Womens Studies and Adult Education at the University of Western Ontario, University of Michigan and St. Francis Xavier University. Upon completion of these studies I taught creative arts courses at the University of Western Ontario and Fanshawe College in London Ontario.

Sharon is a mixed media artist working in mediums such as encaustic and watercolour on yupo paper.

Hi-Sook Barker
Hi-Sook Barker is a full time teacher known for both floral and landscape paintings using an impressionistic style. She is an elected member of the Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour (cspwc). She currently teaches at several locations throughout Durham Region. Her original works can be found in private and corporate collections in Canada, USA, Great Britain, Australia and South Korea.

Andrea Bird
Andrea Bird has been inclined to make art all her life, most recently with encaustic (beeswax hardened with damar resin). Now, she combines collage and mixed media into encaustic to create a multi-layered, textured surface. She studied at the Ontario College of Art and Design, as well as at R&F Encaustics in New York. Andrea lives in North Wellington County with her family.

Sarah Borowski
Sarah Borowski began learning her craft as an artist-in-clay at Gleason Brook Pottery in Oxenden and continues with classes at the Haliburton School of Art, the Richard Fisher Studio and the Dundas Valley School of Art. For the last several years she has been exploring the mysteries of Raku, a firing technique in pottery. She creates both functional and decorative pottery pieces at her home studio.

Karen Brioux
Karen Brioux has spent more than 20 years teaching art to children, teens and adults as well as creating and making her own works. She studied Fine Arts at Sheridan College as well as working with many fine leading artists. She's an encouraging teacher who loves children and nature. She is strengthened by sharing her skills and enjoyment of art.

Phil Chadwick
Phil Chadwick is an artist, canoeist, meteorologist with Environment Canada, apiarist and occasional writer for Harrowsmith and other nature-oriented magazines. He was the 2005-06 Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society Tour Speaker, the 2006 Southampton Art School Artist-in-Residence and the 2006 Algonquin Art Centre artist. Phil’s passion for creation, artistic talent and wonderful sense of humour make him a uniquely gifted instructor.

Ann Marie Desaulniers
Anne Marie Desaulniers is an artist with a passion for textiles. Self-taught, she has a thirst for a variety of techniques and a love for pushing boundaries. Her current artistic direction is inspired by childhood exposure to fabrics, independent learning, a love of nature, and a passion for recycling.

Carl M. Durance
Carl Durance lives in a tranquil country setting on the Bruce Peninsula. After leaving an exciting career of R & D in computer software, he continues his creative endeavours in the arts. He is accomplished in many different art forms including woodcarving, woodturning, stained glass, pottery and jewellery. For a number of years, he concentrated on realistic award winning wildfowl carving. So intrigued was he by a visit to the Corning Museum of Glass that he signed up on the spot for his first of many courses in the art form of lampworked or flameworked glass. Now Carl creates ornate glass beads that become the focal point in his jewellery art. His glass work also includes paperweights, marbles, vases, and other small-scale objects.

Timothy Dyck
Timothy Dyck received a Masters Degree in Fine Art from Concordia University with a focus on printmaking. Timothy has expanded his knowledge of print media and gained a reputation for skillful book repairs. His background in art has led to collaboration with other artists as well as making beautiful bindings and containers for art on paper. www.thecolourjar.ca

Christa Eggers
Christa is a full-time artist -- and one of our most popular instructors -- whose paintings and commissioned works are in collections in Canada, the U.S. and Germany. She studied pastels, portraiture, and watercolour at the Ringling College of Art in Sarasota, and in Punta Gorda, Florida, at the University of Guelph and at Georgian College. An accomplished teacher with a dedicated following, Christa has exhibited in numerous juried art shows, and several solo shows. She is often in studio tours -- and has also illustrated a book.

Sandy Esplen
Sandy Esplen is a printmaker and a painter (watercolour & mixed media). She purchased a handcrafted wooden box for her 40th birthday and loaded it with all of the toys that intrigued her from a local art supplier and thought "get out there girl and chase that dream". Her first class was here in beautiful Southampton with Mary Nunn, and for her it was a truly an awesome experience. Those 5 days ignited the spark in her soul that had been smouldering ever since. In the process she has made wonderful friends and continues to create art.

Judy Feskun
Judy Feskun is a talented, self-taught Canadian jewellery artist and her passion for both art and jewellery have been fused together. She is the primary wire instructor at Robert Hall Originals, a pewter and lapidary shop located in St. George, Ontario. Along with classes held in private homes, her travel teaching includes the Canadian Bead Oasis Show, the Ancaster Gem, Mineral, Bead and Jewellery Show and the Southampton Art School. Her work is available in many shops and galleries across Southern Ontario.

Linda Fewster
Linda Fewster is a very creative local mom who was once a daycare teacher and misses working with children. She Is very excited to combine the two things she is passionate about, art and teaching children.

Didi Gadjanski
Didi Gadjanski is an honours graduate of the Ontario College of Art and Design, AOCAD, TWS. She lives and maintains a studio in Richmond Hill where she conducts workshops for various art organizations and corporations. She paints and teaches in various media, with emphasis on a harmonious colour palette to express situation, mood and movement. Never hesitant to try new venues of expression, she encourages workshop participants to do the same while guiding them to develop their individual style. Her paintings are in corporate and private collections in 15 countries around the world.

Marc Gagnon
Marc L. Gagnon is a full time artist, utilizing both acrylic and watercolour mediums. He holds degrees in Environmental Studies and Architecture. Marc began painting in 1976 alongside his architectural practice of 24 years. In 2000, Marc was elected a member of The Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour and served on the board of directors and as president for several years.

Jane Geard
Jane is a nature lover who is also a painter, and sensitive to how the light filters through landscape to create inspirational patterns and shape visions. Jane creates her art using collage, printmaking, and the organic materials and images she finds in nature. She has expanded her knowledge through attending a wide variety of workshops and courses. An elected member of the Ontario Society of Artists, the Society of Canadian Artists and the Colour and Form Society, she has exhibited in many juried shows, and has won numerous awards.

Tanya Grace

Lois Green
Lois Green is a practicing fine artists working within the tradition of life studio. A graduate of OCAD she currently exhibits, and works as an instructor for the MacLaren Art Centre leading the Portfolio Development and Life Drawing for Youth programmes as well as the Kempenfelt Bay School Enriched Art Programme. www.loisgreen.com

Jennifer Hayden
Jennifer Hayden currently teaches kindergarten and physical education for the Toronto District School Board. She is an animal and nature lover and has a major green thumb. She is a nurturing teacher who creates a positive learning environment for students of all ages.

Nan Hogg
Nan Hogg has been teaching and sharing the joys of painting in classrooms and in her studio for more than 30 years. Her gentle approach to art quickly puts participants at ease. She is a graduate of Fine Art from the University of Guelph and holds an Ontario Teachers Certificate. Her own art work includes carefully drawn watercolours, large oil paintings and expressive acrylics, with building structures as her favourite subject.

Kathy Hutchinson
Kathy's artistic journey began years ago with pottery, woodworking and acrylic painting, and has evolved to include a passion for jewellery making. She enjoy teaching classes and sharing her skills and especially love being witness to the sparks of creative inspiration that students did not believe they were capable of.

Pat Keeling
Pat Keeling was the artist in residence (printmaking) at the Southampton Art School in 2009. Pat is an accomplished printmaker and painter and looks forward to sharing her knowledge and expertise.

Valerie Kent
Valerie Kent is a long time teacher and artist. She teaches courses in Richmond Hill, and at many art societies including the Haliburton School of the Arts and Loyalist College. She is a member of the Richmond Hill Group of Artists and Society of York Region Artists. Her work is collected nationally and internationally. She also writes workshop articles for the Watercolour Gazette and is a Canadian Regional Editor of the Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine. Her work can be viewed at Gallery ArtPlus in Belleville.

Cathy Kuepfer
Cathy was an early childhood educator in London for 30 years. When she came to Bruce County eleven years ago, she took a job in the production area of Mill Creek Chocolates. She became passionate about chocolate, and now runs Cathy’s Confections, where she loves finding new ways to create with chocolate, as well as baking.

Julie Lelièvre
Julie Lelièvre is originally from France. She recently decided to live on the Bruce Peninsula for romantic reasons. Always in training, she teaches what she’s learned from her many life and art experiences. From her point of view, life is a blessing. To enjoy it best, all aspects need to be explored: body, mind and soul. Through this concept she created Art Full Expression.

Antje Martens-Oberwelland
Antje Martens-Oberwelland is an award-winning artist and children’s writer living on a farm in Bruce County, Ontario. She studied Fine Arts in Hamburg, Germany, specializing in sculpture, painting and printmaking. Her artwork is found in collections across North America and Europe. Antje is a member of FCA (Federation of Canadian Artists) and SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators).

Pam McCowan
Pam McCowan left the big city years ago to settle in Bruce County, and discovered a community of people excited about the arts. Pam is a retired teacher who can now indulge in the arts she loves. She is particularly interested in creating figurative pieces, as well as painting landscapes inspired by the local features of escarpment, water, pasture and forest. Her work has been displayed and sold in numerous shows locally and overseas. Pam invites you to visit her website at: www.pammccowan.ca

Kai-Liis McInnes
Kai-Liis McInnes is a member of the Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour, the Society of Canadian Artists, the Toronto Watercolour Society and the Colour and Form Society. She has been painting and teaching for more than 20 years and has an expanding and enthusiastic following. Her watercolours have been exhibited in Canada, the U.S., and her birthplace, Estonia, and have won several awards. From her home in the Mulmur Hills she paints her favourite subjects: flowers, landscapes, historic buildings, children, and animals: she even owns (and paints) a llama!

Maureen McLeod
Maureen McLeod received her Fine Arts Degree from the University of Guelph and has accreditation in Inner Child work. Her areas of expertise include clay, painting and sculpture and she has taught extensively in Toronto, Guelph, Florida and Spain. She has received international awards in both bronze sculpture and watercolour and continues to grow through workshops at home and abroad.

Deborah Milton
Deborah Milton is on the executive of York Heritage Quilters Guild. Fibre art has been her passion, since learning to sew clothing as a child. She has worked with appliquéd wall hangings, upholstery, theatre costume design and recently has begun incorporating elements of her photographic art into her work.

Roberta Mohler
Roberta Mohler started dancing at the age of three. She studied dance at the University of Illinois, moving to NYC for further studies. Her performance career started in Montreal. The desire to combine her love of dance with wellness led her to study Nia, Yoga, and Movement Based Expressive Arts. Her life and work are informed by these three practices.

Curtis Montgomery
Curtis Montgomery works towards high realism through coloured pencil crayon and watercolour. Born and raised in Elora, Curtis has studied at Fanshawe College and Max the Mutt Illustration School (Toronto). His strong routes in Canadian culture shine through in his realistic renderings of Ontario mills and historic hockey figures. Curtis has run his own beginner art class for children, and worked as a private tutor of perspective drawing.

Bev Morgan
Bev Morgan identifies the stories in life and projects them in an entertaining way on watercolour paper. She is one of the founding members of the Saugeen Artist Co-op and her work has been shown in Southampton, Walkerton, Clifford and various venues in the Hanover area. Her art studio provides a great location for teaching and continuing to learn new techniques.

Jen O'Reilly
Jen O’Reilly is a graduate of the Humber College School of Comedy Writing and Performance. She has appeared on Evening at the Improv, and has taught workshops at Second City. Jen has been teaching photography at Georgian and Mohawk Colleges for more than 13 years and she is the director of the Arts Warehouse in Port Elgin, where she conducts workshops in digital, landscape, nature and wedding photography, comedy and improv. www.artswarehouse.com

Katie Overbeek
Katie Overbeek is a graduate of Toronto’s Royal Conservatory of Music with a degree in Piano Performance, and has been teaching voice and piano professionally for 9 years.

Cathy Pascoe
Cathy Pascoe has taught all grades of elementary school in 3 different school boards throughout her career. She worked with David Blackwood for 4 years mastering the art of etching using copper plates. Having recently retired, she now fills her time at the Quest Art School and Gallery, the MacLaren Art Center, the Tom Thomson Gallery, the Grimsby Public Art Gallery and, of course, the Southampton Art School as an instructor

Marg Peter
Profile coming

Trevor Pfeffer
Trevor Pfeffer says the Bruce & Huron Shorelines were his first creative influence and that the history, colours and energies of the unique landscape and peoples are a constant source of inspiration and guidance for his work. His practice is split between landscape history and traditional figure drawing to capture energy and movement with essential line.

Barry Phillips
Barry Phillips has been a watercolour artist for many years. He was elected as a member of the canadian Society of Painters in watercolour in 1992. Now living in Southampton and a member of the Shoreline Artists he enjoys painting the areas many subjects.

Astrid Pinnington
Profile coming

Peter John Reid
Peter John Reid is a contemporary painter exhibiting in several galleries throughout Ontario. An exceptional and often-sought educator, Peter’s classes are packed with information, inspiration, and laughs that will leave you enriched (and exhausted!) by class’s end - but, oh so glad you attended!!

Marta Scythes
Marta Scythes is a medical illustrator, fine artist and educator. Her work has been published by Harrowsmith Magazine and Harper Collins (New York). McClelland and Stewart published her pencil and ink illustrations in their best-selling UP NORTH nature series as well as in The Canadian Encyclopedia. She is featured in Canadian Geographic’s Trans Canada Trail Guides and The Canadian Medical Association Magazine: Canadian Health. In April 2012, Simon & Schuster (NY) are releasing The Woman Who Changed Her Brain by Barbara Arrowsmith-Young which features Marta’s carbon drawings. Marta has taught art at St. Lawrence College, Southampton Art School, PEI School of Art, Queen's University and the Haliburton School of The Arts for many years. Currently, Marta teaches in the Graphic Design and Music & Digital Media departments at St. Lawrence College and at The Haliburton School of Art, Fleming College. She holds a MSc in Biomedical Communications from The University of Toronto.

Renate Simone
Renate Simone is a self-taught artist currently living in Chatsworth. She has been beading since childhood, selling beadwork and patterns since 2003. Her beading supply store is Gotta Love Beads online at www.GottaLoveBeads.Artfire.com and she sells beadwork and fused glass art at www.MysticDrift.Artfire.com.

Gayle Slinger
Gayle Slinger currently lives in Toronto but spend weekends and summers at a cottage in Sauble Beach. She has been painting for 20 years and has taught watercolours since 2001 as well as painting in fluid and regular acrylics. She is passionate about painting, writing, teaching, coaching and her growing family.

Beverley Smith
Beverley Smith has been a professional artist since graduating from Sheridan College School of Design and a weaving college in Stockholm, Sweden in the early 70’s. She is well known for her textile art, murals, maps and whimsical illustrations of the Beaver Valley area since relocating from Toronto. She started weaving with beads a number of years ago and this led to her opening a shop (Holy Crow Beads) and teaching studio in her Beaver Valley home. Beverley exhibits locally, nationally and internationally.

Heather Smith
Heather graduated from McMaster University’s Fine Art program in 2009, and currently lives with her rabbit and cat in Hamilton, Ontario. Using various media she creates images imbued with a love and curiosity for the natural world, relationships and dreams. Outside of making things she works selling supplies and solving art dilemmas at the local art supply shop.

Paul Smutylo
Paul Smutylo returned home to Owen Sound 5 years ago to pursue his career as an artist and an educator. Although his work reflects many different mediums and subject matter, he considers himself primarily a portrait artist, but often finds himself returning to the subjects that occupied his youth � sports and super heroes

Barb Sprague
Barbara Sprague is a working artist living in Southampton. She is a graduate of OCAD and has an Honours Degree in Fine Arts from Lakehead Univeristy, she is also a very active volunteer with the Art School

Bonnie Steinberg
Steinberg is a graduate of York University, and an elected member of the CSPWC, the SCA, and the TWS. She has exhibited extensively in both solo and group shows and is the recipient of many awards. Her work can be found in collections in both the United States and Canada. Bonnie�s watercolours encompass a variety of subject matter � architectural detail and ordinary slices of life are her preferred genres. High-key colour and dramatic lighting are also characteristic of her work.

Aggie Stretch
Akke (Aggie) Stretch has taught with the Blue Water District School Board allowing her to inspire students to find their inner artist, encouraging them with the words, 'You can't do this wrong". Her work with recovery groups and traveling each year with medical mission teams leaves her hopeful of the human journey.

Kate Strickland
Kate Strickland is a mixed media sculptor who makes work and facilitates creativity classes at Art Vein Studio in Hudson, Quebec. She studied at Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, where she discovered her love for creating and assembling intimate sculpted objects.

Shelly Strong
Shelley Strong’s eclectic CV consists of a Bachelor of Education, a Bachelor of Arts, studying silversmithing, apprenticing as a goldsmith, teaching jewellery and metalwork at Nunavut Arctic College and teaching elementary school. She has lived in the NWT, Nunavut and in New Zealand sharing her talent and skill. Like her work, which tends to be fluid and cyclical, Shelley has come full circle back to her roots in Grey, Bruce County. Now, surrounded by tall trees and the sound of CBC radio, Shelley can be found in her Owen Sound studio where she produces her hand crafted jewellery.

Mark Thurman
Mark Thurman is a professional author and illustrator noted for co-creating154 episodes of the Mighty Mites comic strip in OWL Magazines. He graduated from the Central Tech Fine Art Program in Toronto, has illustrated and designed more than 40 books, and is the author of 15 of these. His time is divided between living near Owen Sound and in Toronto.

Gwen Tooth
Gwen Tooth has passionately pursued many art disciplines for forty years. She exhibits her paintings regularly and specializes in teaching expressive acrylic abstraction techniques. Gwen completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2005 from the Ontario College of Art and Design University where she studied drawing, painting, and printmaking.

Marie Tudor
Check back here for Marie's full biography

Lenore Walker
Lenore Walker brings experience as a decorative artisan and spiritual formation coach to her career as a visual artist, art instructor and art therapy undergrad. She creates mixed media artworks and offers classes and restorative art-making workshops in art galleries, schools, hospice and addiction treatment centres. Recently published in SLMM’s “Visual Journeys” book, Lenore is also a certified SoulCollage® Facilitator.

Tanya Weichel
Tanya Weichel studied Fine Arts and Graphic Design at George Brown College. She was the coordinator of the Southampton Art Gallery during its formative years and also taught children’s art and Fair Isle knitting at that time. Tanya lives in Southampton where she works from her home, creating when she can and more importantly raising a family! She particularly enjoys helping kids explore the creative world.

Kevin White

Carol Wiebe
Carol Wiebe creates art that it is revelatory, both to her and others. Every mark, stroke, and stitch has something she endeavours to be open to receive. It appeals to the alchemist in her to turn dross into gold, to make worthwhile art out of humble materials. The materials and process never fail to surprise.

Grey Bruce Woodturners Guild
Grey-Bruce Woodturner’s Guild (GBWG) was established to provide an open, informative and relaxed atmosphere where any person with an interest in woodturning would be able to develop their skills, increase their knowledge and enjoy the company of others with similar interests. In its 15 year history, the guild has promoted the art of woodturning through its monthly meetings (in Kincardine), demonstrations at local events, and instructional programs.

Melody Wren
Melody Wren is a freelance travel writer because she believes that work and fun should not be mutually exclusive. She writes primarily about travel and food. Melody loves staying in a place long enough to get acquainted. Local customs, markets and traditional cultures are magnets for this writer. When not writing she’s either on the road, in the air, or savoring something tasty. Most of her travels feature outdoor adventures of some sort, although she typically avoids sleeping on the ground. A freelance writer for over 30 years, Melody studied journalism at the London (UK), School of Journalism. She has written for the The Canadian Jewish News, Canadian Yachting Magazine, The Kitchener-Waterloo Record, The Toronto Star, Cottage life Magazine, Caribbean Beat Magazine (the inflight magazine for Caribbean Airlines), The County Grapevine Magazine, The Grand Magazine, Guelph Life Magazine, and Verge Travel Magazine.

Kathie Wright
Kathie Wright is a Grey County artist who has worked in watercolour for twenty years and has been leading watercolour workshops in Hanover, where she currently co-Chairs the Saugeen Artist’ Co-op. Kathie is an experienced teacher who loves to inspire her students to value and express their creative gifts.Her work has veen shown recently in Collingwood, Goderich, Southampton and various venues in the Hanover area.

Carrie Young
Carrie Young is an elementary and adult educator who enjoys exploring many mediums, encouraging "hands on" lessons, and experiencing the joy of learning with her students.

Andrew Young
Andrew Young, a graduate of the Humber Theatre Performance Program, grew up in Port Elgin. He has performed as well in multiple theatres around Toronto, most recently performing in both the Toronto Fringe Festival and the Toronto Summerworks Festival.

Andrea Zimmer
Andrea Zimmer is committed to her craft. Andrea has travelled globally for professional development, visiting cultural meccas such as Bread & Puppet Theatre in Vermont and Burning Man Festival in the Nevada desert. Andrea was invited to the Dream Community, an arts centre in Taiwan to teach puppetmaking from recycled materials. Word of her unique talents travelled fast and she was commissioned to make 60 arts & crafts sample projects for Kaiser Kastle Publishing.