Painting and Printmaking Instructors
Marlynda Augelli
Mar has experience teaching art to both children and adults, including workshops for students with mental and physical disabilities. She taught art through a YMCA Art Enrichment Program for more than 10 years and currently teaches art classes with the NAZA as an enhancement Partner for the after-school enrichment program.
Mar teaches an ongoing Printmaking Workshop on Thursday evenings at the Centennial Arts Center in Nashville. The class focuses on the basics of relief printing and silk screen printing. Techniques include mono prints, stencil, collage, wood and linoleum block printing using a professional Intaglio printing press.
Shawn Marie Krise
Teaching Style
Shawn likes teaching in "measurable progress" terms. She offers structured classes on specific topics like color theory and mixing, art principles, and painting methods. She sequentially builds on the student's knowledge, so it's important to attend every class for 4 and 8 week courses if possible. She also teaches 3-hour workshops suitable for beginners or intermediate students - meant to be experimental and fun.
About Shawn
Shawn is a native Nashvillian who’s had a lifelong passion, education, vocation and career in visual art. Her training and education include Memphis Academy of Art, Nashville State Technical Institute for Graphic Arts Certification, and MTSU for a Bachelors in Art Education, TN licensing K-12. Her vocation in art includes exhibits, awards and many commissioned artworks in acrylic, oil, pastel and charcoal, specializing in portraiture. Her career in art includes illustration, design and layout for corporations, ad agencies and printing companies here in Nashville. Early in her career she gained valuable teaching experience creating and facilitating statewide art programs for Girl Scouts of America and Senior Citizen, Inc., indicating a passion for teaching all ages. By the early 2000’s Shawn had started teaching at community art centers and colleges such as Watkins and Centennial Art Center, in addition to teaching Middle School in Rutherford, followed by Wilson, counties. She teaches classes and workshops in acrylic, pastel, and charcoal. Her philosophy on teaching is “meet the student where they are, then provide whatever guidance it calls for, to ultimately liberate that unique artist within.”
Learn more: shawnkrise.com
Darlene Shadden
Teaching Style
Darlene offers a fun, sometimes socially talkative atmosphere, where students enjoy painting, getting guidance as needed, and sharing feedback with one another while working on projects from reference materials.
About Darlene
There are many things that come into one’s life that can serve as a career path or hobby. But, there are few things that serve to fuel one’s soul like creating an image from a thought process onto canvas. This transition serves as a mental health release and restores energy into Darlene’s life allowing her to escape and become part of a blank canvas.
Darlene has studied with the very best. The first is Bert Silverman and the list goes on and on. She is a product of Hazel King who was here forever.
She adores pastel, charcoal and acrylics. She finds portraits to be the most interesting. Getting their likeness is her forte. She was a “Quick Sketch Artist” at festivals for years and is still involved in that artistic outlet. She has been an instructor at Centennial Art Center for 10 years and was a student of Hazel King’s for 30 years. These have been the best years of her life.
Sandy Spain
Sandy Spain is a resident of Nashville, Tennessee. She began as a traditional artist, but soon discovered and fell in love with abstract art through the guidance of her mentors, prominent artists Michael McBride and James Threalkill. Sandy painted with them for several years in their studio.
She is a full-time artist exhibiting in several juried shows per year. Her paintings are in numerous private collections throughout North America and Western Europe.
Sandy teaches an intermediate abstract painting course and an entry-level class for drawing and painting course at Centennial Art Center. She also mentors classes for a local community organization.
Amy Krimsier Sterling
Teaching Style
Amy presents a theme and an exercise for every class. This includes color theory, working with line, still life, discussion on the way a specific artist worked as well as methods to painting skies and more. There are modifications for beginners and more practiced students. Come at the level you are. She invites you to take the three-hour class time to find your creative flow and be inspired.
About Amy
Amy Krimsier Sterling is a landlocked mermaid presently residing in Nashville, Tennessee. She earned her BFA in Animation from the California Institute of the Arts in Los Angeles, and her MA in Illustration from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. Amy creates visual art in a variety of mediums, telling stories and capturing life's many elements through printmaking, ceramics, watercolor, oil, and anything else she can get her hands on.
As an arts educator in Nashville, Amy finds great joy in passing her own inspiration to others and seeks to help others see things in a way they hadn't before. Her greatest desire to is to make waves, and then swim in them.
Siri Nadler
Siri began her career at age four when she completed a mural on her bedroom wall with red nail polish (much to her mother's distress.) In her tiny grade school in Roosevelt, New Jersey, she was lucky to have after school art lessons with her neighbor, Ben Shahn. Later, she went on to earn a BA and MFA in Graphic Design from the Tyler School of Art, Temple University in Philadelphia. She worked as an Art Director for the Discovery Channel and went on to teach graphic design and illustration at Towson University, Watkins College of Art, and Western Kentucky University. Her work has appeared in Graphis Books, and Print Magazine.
After teaching graphic design for twenty five years, Siri began to take watercolor lessons and fell in love again with drawing and painting. Four years later, she developed a class called "Intuitive Watercolor" for people who wanted to discover or rediscover how to play through the use of this gorgeous medium. She taught this class at Sarratt Art at Vanderbilt University, Watkins Community Art, Centennial Art Center and the Nashville JCC. Her philosophy is that everyone has the capacity to be creative and that there is infinite room for discovery.
Pottery Instructors
Becca Floyd
Teaching Style
Project driven classes with time to practice. A fun environment to explore your skillset.
About Becca
After graduating from MTSU in the mid-nineties Becca moved to rural Western North Carolina, where her husband, Mike, worked for the Park Service, and she began to discover the regional history of ceramics. They moved to Asheville and she began a Residency at Odyssey Center for Ceramic Arts, where she started working with and learning from some of the best potters in North America. She has been a working potter for 25 years and a teacher for almost as long, and remains committed to producing highly decorative, functional, high-fired stoneware and porcelain.
Becca has been teaching regularly for many years, developing skills in conveying new information to students in a direct and interesting way. She has taught classes at Odyssey Center for Ceramic Arts, Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College, as well as Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts and John C. Campbell Folk School.
Learn more: floydpottery.com
Wanda McMahan
Teaching style
I teach the simple basics of working with clay through handbuilding and the wheel. I want students to use the knowledge they gain to play creatively in a relaxed atmosphere.
About Wanda
Wanda was born in Ashland City, TN and raised there in an 1880's family home. Adventure and the arts were always present in her life. Wanda dabbled in other art forms for decades, but once she found clay, that was it. She can't imagine not feeling excited about working with clay. Wanda began her odyssey in clay at Centennial Art Center 25 years ago, most of it under Lena Lucas. She has been a guest instructor for Metro Parks for more than 15 years. Wanda teaches hand-building and wheel throwing and has a real passion for glazing. She loves color - natural, bright beautiful color. Wanda tinkers, tests and plays with the Centennial Art Center studio glazes to create beautiful combinations of colorful pottery, and she teaches her student to do the same.
Kristen Parke
Teaching style
Kristen focuses on demonstrating fundamental skills and techniques in both wheel-throwing and hand-building, while providing a safe and relaxed space for student’s individual practice and exploration. This student centered approach allows plenty of time for focused application and one-on-one direction.
About Kristen
A Tennessee native, Kristen completed a degree in Fine Arts (Ceramics emphasis) and Professional Education at Union University. After graduating, she moved to Nashville to teach visual arts in Metro Nashville Public Schools while maintaining a personal practice of crafting functional ceramics in her home studio. She now works remotely in education technology and enjoys teaching ceramics in a studio environment and fostering creative community.
Tracey Rogers
Tracey has a background in education. She was a Special Education Teacher in public schools for 15 years before becoming an Editor for Lifeway Christian Resources. Tracey holds a Masters of Early Childhood Development.
Tracey's journey in clay began after she gave her husband, Larry, pottery lessons for an anniversary present in 2004. Tracey enjoys hand building but is not a fan of throwing on the wheel. Tracey's work reflects her love for texture and color. She uses a wide variety of glazes to complete her projects. She and her husband own LTR Pottery and sell their work in boutiques, shops, and Art Fairs throughout the southeast. Tracey is a member of TN Craft.
Tracey began teaching for Centennial Art Center in 2020. She teaches hand building classes for children and she has 2 online classes.
Tom Turnbull
Teaching Style
Tom's teaching style is intensive, but fun, challenging but rewarding. He focuses mostly upon throwing on the wheel but can work with students on hand building and slab. Tom tries to cover the basics of why clay does what it does, through the forming processes, and a basic understanding of why and how glazes work. Throwing on the wheel is a skill that can be learned. Tom has been fortunate to have had exceptional teachers and he tries to pass along what he has learned to his students.
About Tom
Tom's father went to work for a ceramic materials company before he was born. His father started his own ceramic materials company when Tom was nine years old. Tom grew up working in that company. He served a pottery apprenticeship in his early twenties, started his own ceramic materials company when he was in his mid thirties and have been making pottery full time for the past 25 years.
Jesse Shofner
Teaching Style
Jesse uses well-articulated daily demonstrations to share approaches and techniques with students followed by 1-on-1 time while students get their hands dirty. Jesse believes that clay is an enchanting yet challenging journey, so she brings support, repetition, and a healthy relationship to failure to the classroom. As Jesse finds that there are many successful ways to do ceramics, she utilizes open questions to encourage students to ponder their own approaches to problem solving.
About Jesse
Jesse majored in digital arts and minored in theater arts at the University of Oregon before dedicating herself to ceramics through intensive learning at The Bascom in North Carolina. She has been teaching and pushing her craft ever since.
Centennial Art Center Staff
Joshua Wagner
Josh Wagner serves as the Art Center’s Director and Supervisor for Metro Parks’ Visual Arts Division. Josh attended Union University, where he earned his Bachelors of Art (BA) degree with concentrations in photography and ceramics. After graduation, he moved to Nashville where he serendipitously encountered Centennial Art Center. Josh began teaching his own classes at the Art Center in 2003 after taking pottery classes with former instructor, Lena Lucas. In addition to teaching classes, Josh also worked as the Centennial Art Center Gallery and Pottery Studio Manager.
Josh views art as the expression of emotions and concepts – communication without the necessity of words. For him, these concepts come alive in objects, in moments and experiences. For the audience, each take-away is unique because no two individuals see the world exactly alike. Josh adds, “Although no one’s journey is identical, through art, we can construct a series of shared experiences. Art has the power to build community, bridging the gap between people from all walks of life. Let’s go make some art…and build community…together!”
Darreth Walker
Darreth Walker has worked full-time with Metro Parks since 2014, first as a Recreation Leader facilitating various programs in community centers and leading trainings in art and early childhood programming (coining the name “Tot-Time”). Later as a Program Coordinator, she was tasked with re-opening West Park Community Center and eventually helping to create the existing pottery program there today. Currently, Darreth is the Program Coordinator for Metro Parks Visual Arts department.
With a BFA in Ceramics and a M.A. in Counseling Psychology and Art Therapy, her worlds of working with people along with art and creativity were serendipitously coming together again after leaving the mental health field. She has a heart and talent (as well as experience) for working with children and special populations.
She loves animals, the natural world, traveling to foreign places, learning about other cultures, and creating—creating safe spaces for children/vulnerable people and creating artistic manifestations of emotion and imagination using traditional and non-traditional art materials.
Le Dillingham
Le Dillingham is a maker, educator, and lifelong student. Alongside teaching for Watkins College of Art at Belmont University, Le serves as the Studio Manager for Metro Parks Visual Arts. Le holds a Bachelor of Science in mathematics from Loyola University Maryland and a Master of Fine Arts in visual arts from the Watkins College of Art. Originally from Baltimore, Maryland, Le moved to Nashville in 2020, where she became enamored with the artistic community.
Le’s personal practice is interdisciplinary and casts a wide net, but always returns to an interest in the melancholy and tenderness endemic to humanity. Le often says her work is about “the becoming and undoing of the world as it is lived through the body.” Le had the honor of studying under renowned clay artist Audry Deal-McEver and other local Tennessee makers, and has a developing clay practice of her own. She is deeply devoted to the understanding of art as a language, creativity as innate, accessible, and meaningful to all people, and a pedagogy of humility and equal exchange.