Jennifer Hambrick
Poetry
A poet hailed for her “brilliant” imagery, “masterful” craftsmanship, and “uniquely musical voice,” Jennifer Hambrick brings to her work as an Ohio Arts Council Teaching Artist a broad range of teaching experiences with learners of all ages and from all backgrounds and a genuine love of inspiring others to share their stories in the written word. Joining her work as a writer of free verse and prose poetry, haiku, haibun, and non-fiction prose, Jennifer joyfully shares the beauty and wonder of poetry with writers of all ages in learning experiences that honor every writer’s unique voice and empower individual expression.…
Jessica Held
Visual Arts: Painting & Photography
Cincinnati native Jessica Held is an abstract painter, photographer, teaching artist, small business owner, and festival coordinator based in Athens, Ohio. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Painting and Photography from Ohio University. Jessica has exhibited nationally and internationally, including her debut exhibition in Prague, Czech Republic, during a study abroad program. She continues to create, exhibit, and publish her paintings, photographs, and collaborative works. Recently, her artwork has been featured in solo and group exhibitions throughout Ohio, Indiana, and New York.
As a teaching artist, Jessica develops and leads visual arts, photography, art appreciation, and interdisciplinary arts programs for learners of all ages in schools, libraries, museums, art centers, and community organizations.…
Kimberly Jarvis
Dance/Movement
Kimberly Crislip Jarvis is a choreographer, educator, teaching artist, and organizational development consultant whose work bridges the creative arts with education, wellness, and community engagement. She is the founder of Arts + More Services, where she provides customized communication workshops, strategic planning sessions, and staff development retreats for businesses, nonprofits, and educational institutions. Her approach uses the arts as a catalyst for clarity, connection, and sustainable growth.
Kimberly holds degrees and certifications from the Scandinavian Institute for Physical Culture in Denmark, the American College of Sports Medicine, Malone University, and the University of Akron.…
Douglas Laubacher
Visual Arts, Comics & Cartooning
I’m a cartoonist from Northeast Ohio. My comic strip “Unbound” runs in a handful of papers spanning Stark, Carroll and Tuscarawas Counties. I have nearly a decade of experience teaching every age group the art of cartooning and cartooning adjacent classes. I’ve taught students as young as 3 and as old as 93. I’ve taught in libraries, senior centers, museums, schools and community centers. I pursued Fine Art and English in College because ever since I was twelve I knew, this is what I wanted todo. I hold a BA in Fine Art from the University of Mount Union, am a certified substitute teacher and a member of the National Cartoonist Society.…
Sara Lawrence-Sucato
Dance/Movement
Sara Lawrence-Sucato (BA Dance & MS Organizational Leadership from Mercyhurst University, Erie, PA) hails from Columbus, Ohio and lives and works in the Cleveland, Ohio area. Sara has worked in various capacities with The Dancing Wheels Company & School since 2006, including professional dancer, tour manager, and rehearsal director. In her capacity as The Dancing Wheels Company & School’s Director of Education, Sara works with a team of Master Teaching Artists to deliver the Dancing Wheels Teacher Certification program, trains new company dancers, oversees and teaches outreach and in-studio classes and programming, and teaches physically integrated dance technique in residencies, workshops, and master classes for The Dancing Wheels Company & School.…
Sierra Leone
Entrepreneur, Poet, Wholistic Urban Creative Arts, & Theatre
Poet, producer, activist, educator, and entrepreneur Sierra Leone captivates audiences with her unassuming ingenuity, profound insight, and comedic sense of “knowing.”
A Governor’s Award winner and writer, Sierra is the president and artistic director of OFP Theatre and Production Company. For more than a decade, Ohio has benefited from Sierra’s vision of creative urban arts as a powerful artistic medium to bring communities together across racial, cultural, ideological, and economic divides. Her project “The Signature: A Poetic Medley Show” presents a hybrid of urban poetry, music, dance, and visual arts from local, regional, and international talent.…
Ami Majmudar
Dance/Movement: Classical Indian Dance, Creative Writing, & Storytelling
Ami Majmudar is a teacher, author, storyteller, dancer, and choreographer. With a degree in English Literature from the University of California at Berkeley, and a Master’s degree in Education from the University of California at Davis, Ami began her career as a high school English teacher. While raising her three children, Ami began writing short stories and then books. Her debut novel, The Torchbearers, published by Penguin India, was shortlisted for the Neev Book Award for Distinguished Children’s Literature.
Ami learned Bharatanatyam over a rigorous sixteen-year period from her Guru, Mythili Kumar, artistic director of the Abhinaya Dance Company.…
Ray McNiece
Drama/Theatre: Performance Poetry & Storytelling
Ray McNiece is the author of eight books of poems and monologues, most recently Breath Burns Away, New Haiku. He has created two solo theatre works: Dis – Voices From a Shelter and Us? Talking Across America; two music/poetry collaborations: “Mouth Music” and “A Rust bowl Hootenanny;” and an autobiography on stage: The Lives of A Poet. The Orlando Sentinel reporting on Ray’s solo show at the Fringe Festival called him “a modern day descendant of Woody Guthrie. He has a way with words and a wry sense of humor.” In a review of Us?…
Vicki Murphy
Visual Arts: Mosaics
Vicki Murphy is a mosaic artist who works primarily in Ohio and New Orleans. She has trained extensively with master mosaic artist Laurel True of True Mosaics Studio for many years focusing on studio work and professional development in large scale public art. She worked with True on multiple projects in New Orleans including the Global Mosaic Project and Universal Garden’s Lotus Fantasy Bench, the Green Project, and the Edible Schoolyard murals. Vicki’s combined years as artist, educator and licensed social worker give her a unique perspective regarding the healing power of art and the beauty of creative expression.…
Pamela O’Loughlin
Multidisciplinary: Dance, Creative Writing, & Visual Arts
As a multidisciplinary artist, I do not begin with a predetermined style. Instead, my creative process is driven by the unique challenges, opportunities, and questions presented by each project. The problem, situation, or invitation itself becomes the catalyst that shapes the final work. Whether working in paint, sculpture, mixed media, installation, or public art, I approach each commission as a process of discovery. Researching, listening, observing, and developing solutions that respond authentically to a specific place and audience.
In recent years, I have completed several large-scale murals and public-facing projects. These experiences have deepened my interest in creating artwork that transforms environments, invites curiosity, and fosters connection.…
Meghan Patijarevich
Dance/Movement: Ballet, Modern, & Jazz
Meghan Patijarevich is an imaginative and energetic dance educator. She is a native Ohioan and currently resides just outside of Columbus with her husband and daughter. Meghan enjoys bringing creativity, energy and a love of dance into each class she teaches. Her goal is to provide quality dance instruction while maintaining a positive and encouraging learning environment.
She is a graduate from The Ohio State University where she received a Masters of Arts in Education with an emphasis in Dance Education. She studied under Professor Melayne White-Dixon. Prior to that, she received her Bachelors of Arts and K-12 teaching license in Dance from the University of Akron.…
Rikki Santer
Creative Writing: Poetry, & Film Studies
Rikki Santer has worked as a journalist, magazine and book editor, co-founder and managing editor of an alternative city newspaper in Cleveland, poet-in-the schools, high school teacher of English and film studies, and director of a student writing center. She holds an Ohio Department of Education Lead Professional Educator teaching license as well as National Board teacher certification and is a former vice-president of the Ohio Poetry Association.
She earned an MA degree in journalism from Kent State University and an MFA degree in creative writing from The Ohio State University.…
