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Artist: Alison Zapata

In Murals, Murals, Murals, visual artist and muralist Alison Zapata can design projects for your students by painting large scale murals to reinforce content-area learning. Working with concepts, design, and paint, Alison can help students collaborate to visualize and create mental images that are an essential component of reading comprehension. The residency culminates in an an unveiling event for students, teachers, parents and the community. Alison is an educator and professional artist known for her portraits and community murals in and around Pittsburgh. She holds a BA in art education from Carlow University.

Artist: Jan Loney

Jan Loney is a metal artist who believes that art can be a strong connection to other areas of learning. In her Properties of Metal: Reflections of Myself workshops, children's natural artistic abilities and curiosity serve as a starting point for creative residency projects that explore the properties of metal as well as artistic choices and processes. The result is a finished product that is meaningful to the students because it is highly personal. Past residency projects have included personal treasure boxes, sculptures tied to curricular themes and concepts, mobiles, three-dimensional self-portraits and items of personal jewelry.

Artist: Barbara Russell

Focusing on teachers' lesson plans, Barbara Russell employs dramatic techniques to enrich classroom instruction. Her Drama Techniques workshops may include creating a play based upon a theme from the curriculum, describing and distinguishing elements that make something dramatic (i.e., techniques of narration, improvisation and prop endowment), or simply activating imaginations through theatre exercises which then lead to exploring curricular topics. Barbara is a former elementary school teacher who combines 35 years of professional theatrical experience with a knowledge of how children learn. She was a long-time comedic partner of the late Don Brockett (Brockett and Barbara), and performs regularly on Pittsburgh stages.

Artist: Liberty Brass

Schools can add up to three 45 minute workshops (tailored to grade level) before or following the performance (teachers select the participating classrooms) taught by Liberty Brass leader Ross Cohen. The workshops focus on honing some of the fundamental skills of brass playing including: breathing, buzzing on the mouthpiece, singing/ear training, extending range, and more.

For older students, master class workshops where individual students play and receive instruction in front of their peers cover more advanced techniques including: sound development, musical expression, practice techniques, preparing solos/auditions, etc.

Workshop content is flexible and can be created with the teacher and musician.

Artist: Dan Kamin

Dan Kamin created the physical comedy scenes for the films Benny and Joon and Chaplin, and trained Johnny Depp and Robert Downey, Jr. for their acclaimed performance. He also played the vengeful wooden Indian in the cult classic Creepshow 2, consulted on My Best Friend’s Wedding, and created the weird Martian movement for Tim Burton’s Mars Attacks!

Students love meeting someone involved with movies, and Dan Kamin uses the opportunity to draw them into the art of movement.  A gifted teacher and the author of two acclaimed books on Charlie Chaplin, he reveals the secrets behind his movement illusions in this entertaining, hands-on workshop.  Aside from being fun, the workshop teaches basic principles of expressive communication and offers participants ways to be more comfortable physically.  This workshop is most effective in conjunction with one of Dan’s assembly programs, The Pantomime Man (K-5) and The Illusionist (6-12).

A second option for elementary schools is Dan’s “classroom blitz”—ten minute post-show visits to every class in the school, in which the students learn some additional movement skills during their one-on-one visit with The Pantomime Man.