Artist Mentors

Arts Impact is privileged to have a team of highly qualified and experienced artist-mentors as the heart of the teacher-training program. Artist-mentors bring a deep experience in arts teaching to their work with teachers and students. They also bring a wealth of experience and education in their individual art disciplines. Arts Impact trains artist-mentors in concept-based teaching, performance-based assessments, and teacher coaching strategies to support a common approach to teacher training. In addition to teaching at the Summer Institutes, they serve as mentors for the 10-hour, one-on-one school year mentorship portion of the program and they teach the supplemental workshops that are offered throughout the year.

Rachel Atkins

Rachel Atkins is Arts Impact’s newest theatre Artist Mentor. She is the Scriptwriter and Education Director for Living Voices, the educational theatre company with whom she has nine different multi-media plays in ongoing national tours. Rachel has adapted numerous productions for Book-It Repertory Theatre’s main stage and touring seasons, and was an Annex Theatre Hothouse 2004 playwright. Her play CAM JANSEN will be produced by Seattle Children’s Theatre in summer 2008. Rachel also works as a master teaching artist for Seattle Repertory Theatre and Book-It Repertory Theatre. Previously, she was the Scriptwriter/Dramaturge and Director of Education for Ardeo Theatre Project in St. Julien l’Ars, France. Rachel has over 16 years of writing, teaching and directing experience, working with K-12 students and teachers in Seattle, New York and France. She graduated from Dartmouth College in English/Drama and holds her Masters in Educational Theatre from New York University.

Shannon Eakins

Shannon Eakins joins Arts Impact as the newest Visual Art Artist Mentor. Shannon lives and works as a visual artist, educator, and dog trainer in Tacoma. Her work investigates animal movements and stimuli through drawings, prints, embroidery, and kinetic sculpture. Throughout the past 15 years, Shannon has been working with students of all ages sharing her interest in the visual arts, manifesting itself in glassblowing classes, museum art experiences, visiting artist programs in schools, or specialized art camps. Her work has been exhibited in group exhibitions at SOIL and 911 Media Arts in Seattle, WA, Basil Hallward Gallery in Portland, OR, Kirkland Arts Center, and solo exhibitions at Olympia Film Society, BLD Gallery in Columbus, OH, and ice*box contemporary in Tacoma, WA. Her work (in collaboration with Marc Dombrosky) is included in the Safeco Art Collection. She is a recipient of a 2005 Tacoma Artist Initiative Program Grant and 2003 Artist Trust GAP Grant.

Meredith Essex

Meredith Essex is the lead visual artist for Arts Impact. An exhibiting artist, she has shown her art throughout the Northwest for the past 20 years. She continues to focus on and refine drawings and paintings inspired by landscapes throughout the West. Meredith has taught art in a broad spectrum of settings and continues to mentor teachers and students in visual art making and teaching with emphasis on sculpture, drawing, painting and printmaking. She has guided many children in the process of making public art which can be seen throughout Tacoma. She also taught as a visual art specialist at Grant Center for the Expressive Arts for four years. She has been one of the most requested Resident Artists, and now Teacher Trainer, within the WSAC artist-in-residence program since 1990. She also has worked as an integrated arts curriculum consultant for the Redmond Arts Commission and currently, the Port Townsend Community Arts Consortium. She is the Tacoma School district Visual Art Curriculum Teacher Trainer. Meredith has been with Arts Impact since 1999. Visit Meredith's website for more information.

Gail Fraisier

Gail Frasier, theatre artist mentor has a BFA in Acting from New York University, Tisch School of the Arts and a Masters in Education from the University of Washington in Language, Literacy, and Culture. She has been working as a teaching artist with students and teachers K-12 for the last 10 years with organizations such as ACT Theatre, Book-It Repertory Theatre, and Seattle Repertory Theatre. For 7 years Gail was the Education Director for the Book-It All Over Arts Education Program (BIAO). During that time she grew BIAO from a performing touring company reaching 4,000 people a year to a comprehensive arts education program that included residencies, teacher professional development, and student matinees, reaching over 45,000 people annually. Her current focus is arts-literacy curriculum development and implementation with the University of Washington and Young Audiences, Inc. Gail joined Arts Impact in 2006.

Debbie Gilbert

Debbie Gilbert, dance artist mentor is the Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director of the Whistlestop Dance Company. Since its beginning in 1976, Whistlestop has earned a reputation for excellence in creating dance experiences for people of all ages and abilities. The Dance Educators Association of Washington awarded Whistlestop its 1996 Honor Award for outstanding contribution to dance education in Washington public schools. Debbie has performed, choreographed, and taught both nationally and internationally, including extensive work as an Artist in Residence in Washington, Ireland, Spain, Alaska, and Hawaii. Collaborating with Light Motion Dance Company, Whistlestop’s concert Dances with Wheels Takes to the Road showcases wheelchair and stand-up dancers. Ms. Gilbert also dances with Tickle Tune Typhoon, an award winning children's music ensemble. In addition, she has developed training courses and manuals for educators, health care professionals, parents, and artists, and has presented at national and international conferences. She holds a BA in dance is from The Evergreen State College. Debbie Gilbert helped draft arts standards for the Seattle School District and has been a member of the Arts Compact Working Group of the Alliance for Education. She is on the Arts Implementation Task Force (OSPI/WSAC), and is on the faculty of Creating Connections: Learning, the Arts and Successful Schools Institute. When she was Executive Director of VSA Arts of Washington, she directed its Artist In Residence program from ‘90-’95. She is the Project Director for Whistlestop’s Dancing math, Dancing Science, and Dancing Times and Cultures Programs. Debbie has been with Arts Impact since January of 2003.

Maria Grade

Maria Grade is an artist and art educator with over ten years experience teaching and developing art curriculum in public and private schools, regionally as well as in England and Canada. She has taught children, adults and seniors in a wide range of contexts including the Seattle Art Museum, the Henry Art Gallery, Cornish College of the Arts, The Children’s Museum of Seattle, and the Tacoma Art Museum. Maria was the Coordinator for Children’s Art at both the WOMAD and Bumbershoot Festivals, has privately tutored gifted children and children with disabilities and also participated for years as an artist-in-residence at several Seattle Emergency Housing and Domestic Violence shelters. Maria is also an established exhibiting artist and recipient of grants and awards for her paintings and prints. Her next solo exhibit takes place at the Shakti Vinyasa gallery in Seattle in November 2004. Currently in her fourth year teaching art at Bertschi School, Maria is also an artist-in-residence at Bryant Elementary and Madison Middle School. She earned her Bachelors in Fine Art degree from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. Maria has been a visual arts mentor for the Arts Impact Program since 1999.

Beverly Harding Buehler

Beverly Harding Buehler is a printmaker and author and illustrator of children's books. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Earlham College and her Masters in African Art History from the University of Washington. Beverly has taught art, art history and art appreciation for twenty years with diverse learners, from pre-schoolers through adults. For ten years she managed the Youth, Family and Art Studio programs at the Seattle Art Museum where she taught studio art to school children, wrote integrated arts curriculum for grades K-12, and developed interactive learning galleries for visitors of all ages. In addition to pursuing her own art, Beverly consults on art education for museums, schools and pre-service teacher training programs. Beverly has been with Arts Impact since January 2003. The National Art Education Association just recently honored Beverly naming her the 2005 Pacific Region Museum Educator of the Year.

Joanne Petroff

Joanne Petroff is co-founder and co-artistic director of Whistlestop Dance Company, and has been a dance artist mentor for Arts Impact since January 2003. In addition to her work as a performing artist and choreographer, she has co-authored several dance education publications and is a sought-after presenter for professional development workshops and educational conferences. She is currently on the Washington State Arts Commission Artist-In-Residence roster, a member of the Powerful Schools teaching team. Joanne performs with Light Motion, a dance company established to develop the artistic expressions of both disabled and non-disabled artists. She has been instrumental in bringing integrated wheelchair dance to the forefront of new trends in dance.

Dave Quicksall

Dave Quicksall theater artist mentor, received a BA in Theater at the University of California at Santa Cruz and went on to receive an MFA in acting at UCLA. Dave has worked in the professional theater as an actor, director, and writer for ACT, the 5th Avenue, Intiman, Seattle Children’s Theater, Seattle Shakespeare Company, and Book-It Repertory Theatre. Dave has worked as a Teaching Artist in Theater for the past 10 years, including the Science Theater department at the Lawrence Hall of Science at UC Berkeley. Dave received extensive training and experience in aesthetic education under the tutelage of Eric Booth at the Nashville Institute for the Arts. Dave was a teaching artist with the Wolftrap Center in Washington DC. While in Seattle, Dave has worked as a teaching artist for Powerful Schools Coalition, Intiman’s “Living History,” the Seattle Children's Theater and the Seattle Shakespeare Company with K-12 students. Dave has been with Arts Impact since 2002.

Gary Reed

Gary Reed is a dancer and a creative movement specialist with over 30 years experience teaching dance to all ages. Gary is the newest Arts Impact Dance Artist Mentor. He began teaching in 1977 with the NEA Artist in Schools program in Ohio, South Dakota, and California. He graduated from the University of Utah with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Modern Dance in 1978, where he studied teaching techniques with Shirley Ririe, Ann Riordan, and Joan Kingston. He has been a rostered Teaching Dance Artist with the Washington State Arts Commission for the past 22 years, and has also worked with Very Special Arts, Washington. He co-authored EALR based dance curriculums for Washington Alliance for Better Schools (co-sponsored by WSAC) and Anacortes School District. Gary danced with Co Motion Dance Company for 15 years and worked with many nationally known choreographers. He has performed works by Doris Humphrey, Jose Limon, Clay Taliafero, Wade Madsen, Jesse Jaramillo, Lee Anne Hartley, and has performed with various local theaters including the 5th Avenue Theater in Seattle. Gary choreographs and performs with Tickle Tune Typhoon, a nationally recognized children's music group. He is a co-producer of Against the Grain/Men In Dance, which is a biannual showcase featuring the art of men dancing.