Spring and Summer Classes and Workshops at Sunbear Studios and Gallery

All classes are for adults 18 and older unless otherwise noted.

This is Sunbear Studios and Gallery's 20th Anniversary! We have lots more classes and events planned to celebrate!! Check in often!

Classes and Master Workshops will be held at Sunbear Studios and Gallery, 3 W Main St, Alexandria, or at other locations listed.

Classes will be held in our first or second floor galleries. We have refrigerator space for lunches, and coffee, snacks and lunches are available next door at Ragamuffins coffee shop. All rest rooms are handicap accessible.

Payment of Fees: Students will not be considered registered for any class until a fee is paid. NO refunds will be given for cancellations made the week before the class.

*Unless otherwise noted, photos accompanying course descriptions are of the instructors' works.

---

SUNBEAR STUDIOS AND GALLERY INSTRUCTORS

Tonya Ramsey Budd: Tonya Ramsey received a bachelors degree in Fine Art from the School of Visual Arts in NYC and pursued a masters degree in Art Education from The Ohio State University. She worked as a designer of textiles, a graphic artist for digital and print publications, and as an educator, technical director and computer graphics animator at Disney Animation studios. Tonya’s paintings and drawings have been displayed and the Butler Institute of American Art, the Bryn Du Art Show, Sunbear Studio, and Gallery 22. She is a member of the Ohio Pastel Artists League and the Portrait Society of America.

John Cameron: John has enjoyed a life-long fascination with painting, starting as early as elementary school and progressing through high school and early college. Although he has experience with oil and acrylic painting, John's medium of choice as an adult is transparent watercolor (it would be fair to say that while he favors water-based mediums, he was able to evolve from finger-painting to watercolor painting). It was not until John retired about four years ago, however, that he finally found the time to truly focus on watercolor painting. Since retirement, he has been able to take ongoing painting lessons from two well known and respected local watercolor artists, Charles Rowland and Kevin Buckland, plus numerous day long workshops from a wide variety of accomplished watercolor painters, and weeklong courses with two nationally recognized watercolorists, Tony Couch and James Toogood.

Debra Dawson: Debra is a widely published, internationally recognized artist who has been painting in oils, watercolors, and/or acrylics for 54 years! She is a lifelong learner who started her formal art education in Maryland at Anne Arundel Community College; and continued in Columbus, Ohio at Capital University and the Columbus College of Art & Design, in addition to Denison University, Granville, OH. Debra continues her education in art by studying with renowned national and international artists in the fields of oil painting, drawing and printmaking. She is a founder of Ohio Plein Air Society, a Signature Member of the American Impressionist Society, a Silver Award winner at the Art in the Open Plein Air Competition, Wexford, Ireland; and has served as Artist-in-Residence: Hiawatha National Forest, MI; Arc of Appalachia, Bainbridge, OH; and La Grande Vigne, Dinan, Brittany, France. Her work is in the Permanent Collections of the Columbus Museum of Art, OH; The Richmond Art Museum, IN, among others; and is included in private collections around the world, including Frm. Gov. Arnold Schwartzenegger. Look for Debra’s Artist Profile article in the 2016 Oct/Nov issue of Plein Air Magazine.

Stan Fellows:Stan Fellows has been an illustrator for some 35 years, painting for magazines,corporate clients, and children's books. In recent years, these have included: Martha Stewart Living, Atlantic Monthly, Harper’s, New York Times, Smithsonian, National Geographic, Chicago Tribune, Notre Dame, Boston Globe, Audubon, The Nature Conservancy, Kiplinger's, Candlewick Books, New York University, Arts & Antiques, Field & Stream, Ducks Unlimited, Wall Street Journal, and Simon & Schuster. In his native Minnesota, he taught watercolor painting and illustration at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, and continues to teach watercolor workshops and “Drawing in Stillness,” a sketching and observation experience, at many institutions nationwide. Stan currently resides in Colorado.

Angela Gage: Angela always enjoyed drawing and art since she was very young. People have always fascinated her and they are her favorite subject matter. She loves capturing their likeness and personalities and transferring that to canvas or paper. Nature is also something she enjoys painting. Expressing her love of the outdoors and the serenity and peace that she often finds there is what she tries to convey through her work. Angela attended the Columbus College of Art and Design on a fine arts scholarship. Over the years she has illustrated for many companies including Compu Serve, Columbus Monthly and Lithokraft II Publishing Co. She taught at CCAD and at several local art centers as well as privately. Teaching students is especially gratifying to Angela because she is able to share her passion for art. Seeing and feeling a student's joy when they discover new techniques and ideas is a very rewarding experience for her. Angela is a member of the Ohio Plein Air Society, the Worthington Area Art League and the Ohio Pastel Art League. She works mostly in oil and pastels. Her art work has won numerous awards both locally and at the national level.

Nina Hawranick: Nina Hawranick hails from Mogadore, Ohio. She graduated from BGSU with a degree in Botany, and has consistently pursued art throughout her life, including watercolors, drawing, woodworking and quilting-sewing. She began her studies in pastels in 2011 at SunBear Studio under teacher and mentor Meredith Martin. She has since attended numerous classes and workshops at both SunBear Studio, CCAD, and the IAPS Convention in Albuquerque this past June. Her work has been shown at SunBear Studio, Delaware Arts Castle, Bryn Du in Granville where her painting was awarded an honorable mention in the show. She has also shown at High Road Gallery in Worthington, and The Lodge at Hide Away Hills, Ohio Art Show. She is a studied naturalist and currently finished a Wetland Ecology class at OSU, which is the main reason for this particular Plein Aire class at the Lobdell Wetland. This Pastel class is for both beginners and experienced artists who want to explore learning in more depth the unique specifics and ecosystem functions of our wetlands, and how to artistically express what we see.

Lisa Owens: Lisa Owens is an established oil painter/artist at Sunbear Studios and Gallery in Alexandria Ohio. Lisa has a background in Graphic Art and also has work experience as a goldsmith and metal work with jewelry design. She has enjoyed extensive continuing education in figure drawing, ceramics, jewelry , sculpting , and enameling at the Cultural Arts Center in Columbus Ohio. She found her passion with oil painting through instruction from artists Donna Noice and Harold Cooper. Her Equine art has been accepted twice into the “An Equine Jubilee” in Delaware Ohio. She brings experience teaching children from years of horseback riding instruction , childrens summer riding camps and yoga to children. Lisa has three wonderful children ; Mitchel 21, Sydney 16 and Mary (an artist) 12

Chris Leeper: Christopher Leeper is a realist painter working in all mediums. His award-winning work has been shown in solo and juried exhibitions throughout the country.

He has illustrated four children’s books and has written and illustrated the book Realism in Watermedia, North Light. His work has also been featured in The Artist’s Magazine, Watercolor Magic and Ohio Magazine and recently in the book Splash 14 (North Light).

A popular instructor, he teaches numerous workshops each year. He is a member of the adjunct faculty in the Department of Art at Youngstown State University. He is a member of the Oil Painters of America, Ohio Plein Air Society and is past president of the Ohio Watercolor Society.

He graduated from Youngstown State University in 1988 with a BFA degree in graphic design. Since 2000, he has worked full-time from his studio in Canfield, Ohio.

He is represented by Charlotte Fine Art, Charlotte, NC.
You can see his work at www.christopherleeper.com

Gail Maraman: Gail's interest in wool and feltmaking first started when she began caring for a small flock of sheep at Windy Crest Farm in Granville, Ohio. Using the wool from her own sheep, applying a little effort and lots of creativity, she began designing felt. "While tending my sheep, I observe nature's many colors, textures, and dimensions. I am inspired to transform these observations into works of art, via felt. Whether whimsical or practical in design, the felt that I create is derived from nature. I employ a simple, hands-on approach to every step of the process for making felt: i.e., growing, shearing, washing, carding, dyeing, and felting the wool. I apply different techniques within each step for producing different types of felt—traditional felt, Nuno felt, watercolor felt, and needle felt. The creative opportunities that felt has to offer are infinite. I test new ideas with small samples­ of felt. These samples guide the direction for larger, more detailed­ works. I design­ felt inside­-out, or bottom-up, constructing­ it from increments­ of wool, combining it with other fibers, and felting it until the desired surface is achieved. I am constantly challenged to explore the world of felt."

Meredith Martin: Meredith is an experienced pastel artist, has taught pastel painting for over 8 years, and is the owner of Sunbear Studios and Gallery. She has shown and sold her work throughout the country, has won a number of awards and is an experienced adult educator. She has a degree in Fine Arts and Education from Otterbein College and an MA in Education from The Ohio State University.

Vicki Moon Spiegel: Vicki has been creating art her whole life! A graduate of CCAD, she began her career with Flag Lady, running the sewing rooom and designing flags and banners. Vicki then became a professional illustrator for The Columbus Zoo where she shared her talents for 25 years. Vicki continues working in mixed media, teaches classes, volunteers with the arts, and exhibits regularly. You can find her work at Sunbear Studios and Gallery, as well as PM Gallery, and in other museums and businesses around Central Ohio. Vicki has taught classes at Sunbear for more than three years.

Sarah Williams: Sarah creates expressive three-dimensional needle-felted animal sculptures and whimsical objects. The felted designs begin with raw wool, and by using a continuous jabbing motion with a barbed needle the fibers are meshed together to create the solid wool pieces. She enjoys sculpting the felted wool and creating a personality for each piece. She also finds instructing others in the process and watching each person's style evolve in his or her own work particularly rewarding.

Sarah also works in pastels, using the rich, vibrant medium to produce portraits of animals and people.

Bruce Wolfe: Bruce has always had a fascination with photography and cameras. As a teenager, he built a darkroom in his bedroom closet where he learned basic B&W film developing and printmaking. Although he moved on to a career in computer science, photography has always remained a personal passion. Since the beginning of the digital era, and since he's always had a computer, Bruce was able to transition to digital photography easily. His passions lie in fine art nature and landscapes as well as fine art portraits. Bruce has taught photography on an informal basis for many years and is becoming experienced in the classroom setting as well.