Michele Firpo-Cappiello

Michele Firpo-Cappiello teaching experience includes painting and drawing at the Convent of the Sacred Heart in Manhattan, 1998-2002, arts and crafts at Good Shepherd Early Childhood Center, 2005-2006, and Alcott Montessori, 2007-2008. She has worked as a studio assistant to noted sculptors Nina Akamu and Leonda Finke and was an apprentice to sculptor Greg Wyatt at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine from 1998 to 2001. The recipient of a three-year certificate in 2000 from the National Academy of Design School of Fine Art in New York City, Ms. Firpo-Cappiello studied sculpture and drawing there with Anthony Antonios, oil painting with Mary Beth McKenzie, and watercolor with Reeve Schley III. During her time as a student, she received numerous honors and awards, including the Frischmuth Prize and an internship at Brookgreen Gardens, in South Carolina. Through her figurative work, Ms. Firpo-Cappiello creates a space into which the viewer is drawn to make a personal connection and an emotional interpretation. She has participated in many exhibitions and has sculptures, paintings, and drawings in collections in New York, California, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and in the United Kingdom. Her most notable permanent installation is the sculpture "Hamlet: What wilt thou do for her?”"at Anne Hathaway's Cottage, a historical site run by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in Stratford-upon-Avon, U.K.

Will Kefauver
www.kefauverstudio.com

He studied at Whittier College and the Katonah Arts Center and has both studied and been an instructor at the School of Visual Arts. His course of study has included instruction from Robert Speier, Milton Glaser, William P. Duffy and Jock MacRae. Among the artists who've influenced him most heavily, Kefauver cites Corot for his use of atmospheric perspective, Frank Benson for the energy of his composition and Wolf Kahn, who can find color anywhere. Kefauver's work has been selected for appearance in juried shows across the country. He has received awards from the National Society of Artists, the Lake Wales Arts Council, the Art Director's Club, the American Institute of Graphic Arts and The One Show. His work has been featured in Art Direction, the North County News, Advertising Techniques and Idea magazines. Will is a signature member of the National Society of Artists and has recently become an Elected Member of the Kent Art Association and has been appointed to their Board of Directors. He can often be found along a roadside or in a field — painting in oils, en plein air. His work depicts the moods of the landscapes of New York and New England, from the apple trees of a Westchester farm to the beaches of Martha's Vineyard.
Professional Associations:

Allied Artists of America
Art Society of Old Greenwich
Audubon Artists
Kent Art Association
Lyme Art Association
National Society of Artists
Ridgefield Guild of Artists

Helen Elliott
http://thethreepears.com

Helen Elliott has a bachelors degree in Art History from De Montford University in the UK and is a practicing artist specializing in oil painting. Helen works as head teacher and art specialist at Good Shepherd Early Childhood Center in Irvington and is the program director for RiverArts SummerArts Workshops. She has worked with children K-7 and adults through various organizations including The Irvington Children’s Center, Westchester Community College, WAEYC Workshops, RiverArts and through her private studio.

Michael Keropian
www.keropiansculpture.com

Michael Keropian was born in 1959 in Hartford, Connecticut. In 1978 he was accepted at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.While majoring in sculpture, he helped create a cast restoration project, restoring the Academy's neglected collection of antique plaster casts. He also worked as a conservator and on a sculpture and painting rigging crew for the P.A.F.A. Museum and in city. In 1984, He created a medal of Chief Justice Earl Warren, and worked on several commissions for private estates. He worked for the Olde Philadelphia Marble Works, and was made foreman of sculpture; restoring marble sculptures in the Philadelphia area. In 1986, he moved to the Hudson Valley Region in New York, and worked for the Tallix Sculpture Foundry. In the late eighties he created a medal for the Jacksonville Jaguar Football Team. He taught in New York and Connecticut and started Keropian Sculpture LLC, which provides a wide range of sculptural services. Mr. Keropian taught at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, in New York City for eleven years where he taught sculpture and created a number of anatomy sculptures for donation to educational institutions in the Northeast. He restored Houdon's L'Ecorche (flayed-man) for the National Academy of Design. He taught drawing and sculpture at ArtLife Studios in Port Chester for ten years. In 2000 he was commissioned to create nine heroic-sized tigers for the new stadium of the Detroit Tigers; Comerica Park. He currently teaches privately and at Arts on the Lake in Lake Carmel, New York. He is a Fellow of the National Sculpture Society, and is the Sculpture Chairperson for the Hudson Valley Art Association. He has also been a Kayak Guide and Coach for over 16 years for Atlantic Kayak Tours.

Suanne Martin
www.blackdogstudionyc.com

Award winning sculptor, Suanne Martin, received her undergraduate degree from Kalamazoo College in Michigan, known for its academic and foreign study programs, providing her an opportunity to travel and study extensively throughout eastern and western Europe, as well as the Middle East. In between her undergraduate and graduate work, she studied for three years with master sculptor Jay Holland at The Center for Creative Studies in Detroit, learning the foundation of figurative sculpture and anatomy. Continuing her art training at Pratt Institute in New York, Suanne earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in 1991. Since then, Suanne has made a living exclusively as a sculptor, working for various studios in New York, New Jersey and Chicago. Her main focus has been on sculpting the human form, with a special emphasis on portrait studies and commissions, many of which can be seen as permanent installations in museums across the United States as well as Mexico and South America. In addition to the figurative work, Suanne is building a strong and growing clientele for her canine sculpture-- highly detailed and cast in sterling silver, bronze and marble. Suanne's teaching experience extends back to 2004, when she served as head of the Sculpture department of The Stevenson Academy of Fine Arts in Oyster Bay, Long Island. She held that position until the untimely death of the director of the school in 2007. Soon after, and currently, she is a Sculptor Instructor at The Long Island Academy of Fine Arts in Glen Cove, Long Island.

Professional Associations:

Portrait Sculptor Society of the Americas (www.portraitsculptors.org)
Professional Level Membership

Publications:

"Lux Esto", 2003
"BARK" Magazine, Spring 2003

Vicente Saavedra
www.saavedra.us

An award winning artist, Saavedra holds a MA from New York University and a BA from UMASS Boston. He attended the Sorbonne and the IEP in Paris. Saavedra has been exhibiting in Westchester and Manhattan since 1999 and has been teaching since 1992, sharing experiences in France (Lycee Montaigne) and Venezuela (University of Zulia, Art Faculty). He is a sought after portrait artist and a passionate musician. He heads the Art Academy of Westchester.

Jeffrey P. Smith
www.jeffreypsmith.com

Accomplished artist, art historian, and teacher, Jeffrey Smith has received dual degrees in studio art and art history at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. This dialogue between the intellectual concerns of theory and the sensuality of making objects has driven the totality of his practice as artist and teacher. Since college self education has become a central passion and allowed him to personally thrive working within the school and university environment with students and ideas. Jeffrey tries to impart to all students the serious idea that their education has nothing to do with the formalities of institutions or advancing one's career, but is really a mode of self development. Art history is a way to feed ideas as an artist and to expand the conception of what is possible in art. Born in the suburbs of Balitmore in 1977 he moved to Boston to study engineering at Tufts University. Soon changing course he matriculated in a 5 year program where he received a dual BA/BFA in 2001 in art history from Tufts University and studio art the School of the Museum of Fine Arts(SMFA) where he explored drawing, painting, sculpture and printmaking. At that time he showed his work in contemporary art venues in the city of Boston and in 2002 began to teach at Mount Ida College in Newton, Ma.In 2004 he moved to New York to attend Pratt Institute matriculated in their 3 year where he received a dual degree MA/MFA in painting and art history. There he presented a thesis show entitle Polis and wrote an extensive art history thesis addressing the intellectual implications of the work of Marcel Duchamp and his Readymade entitled, The Readymade [after] Marcel Duchamp. Since that time he has taught both studio art and art history at a number of institutions and is in the process of writing art historical essays with the hopes of publication. For the last 10 years he has exhibited in a variety of solo and group shows in both Boston and New York and sold work. Since 2005 he has taught studio art and art history in the Pre-College program at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. Since 2007 to the present teaches Modern and Contemporary Art History at Hofsra University on Long Island. Jeffrey has taught at Pratt Institute, Hofstra University, Adelphi University, Mount Ida College, the 92nd St Y, and The New York Conservatory of Art and Music..

Jonathan Trotta

Jonathan Trotta learned to draw and illustrate books starting at age 4 from the guidance of his father and successful illustrator, John Trotta. In his teen years, he fell in love with the classical guitar and went to SUNY Purchase and received a BFA in classical guitar and composition. He also has studied flamenco guitar with Dennis Koster and Basilio Georges. After college, he revisited his love of art and studied drawing and painting intensively with Harvey Dinnerstein, Ronald Sherr, and Steven Assael at the Art Students League of New York and researched and practiced the working techniques of the old masters, which included daily visits to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. In this period, he won a merit scholarship and the school's top award, the Phyllis Mason Grant. Since then, he has won many art awards including Honorable Mention in The Artist's Magazine Art Competition and the Revington Arthur Award in the Art of the Northeast USA Exhibit. His exhibitions include Audubon Artists Inc, the 62nd Annual Juried Exhibition at the Salmagundi Club, 54th Annual Art of the Northeast Exhibit at Silvermine Guild Galleries in New Canaan, CT, and the Cork Gallery at Lincoln Center in New York City. His work has been published in 100 Ways to Paint People (International Artist Magazine), The Artist's Magazine, and LINEA: Journal of the Art Students League. He now enjoys his life as a professional Renaissance man which includes teaching art and music, performing classical and flamenco guitar concerts, and doing drawing and painting portrait commissions, as well as still-life and landscape paintings.

Tricia Wright

Tricia Wright moved from London to New York in 1999. She attended college in London where she received her BA (Fine Art (Hons)) at Camberwell School of Art, and her PG Dip. (History & Theory of Modern Art) at Chelsea School of Art. She exhibits her work in Manhattan and throughout New York State, and on the West Coast. Gallery affiliations include Tria Gallery, Chelsea, Kathryn Markel Gallery, Chelsea; Metaphor Contemporary Art, Brooklyn; Kenise Barnes Fine Art, Larchmont; and Exhibit A, Corning. Tricia’s paintings are in public, corporate, and private collections in the UK and US, including The Hove Museum of Art (UK), White & Case LLP, Alliance Bernstein, and the American Embassy. Tricia is also a published art writer. She is the author of American Art & Artists (Harper Collins, 2007) published in association with the Smithsonian Institute; Eyewitness Art; Edouard Manet and Eyewitness Art; Francisco Goya (Dorling Kindersley Ltd. 1993) published in association with the National Gallery, London. She is also contributing author, editor, and consultant to numerous publications including: The Story of Painting (Dorling Kindersley Ltd. 1995) published in association with the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. and 1000 Masterpieces (Dorling Kindersley Ltd. 1999). In 2009 Tricia joined the team at the Philip Johnson Glass House, the Modernist architectural icon located in New Canaan, CT, and she is currently teaching Fundamentals of Painting to undergraduates at College of New Rochelle, NY.