About Our Artist Instructors

Stephanie Cormier is a Toronto-based artist working across sculpture, textiles, photography, and drawing and painting. She works with a variety of sculptural and digital media, often fusing the two as well as combining art and the labour of craft. Her research centres around finding resourcefulness and wonder in everyday materials and actions. She was born in Montreal but came of age in rural parts of the Caribbean, returning to Canada as an adult. 

Stephanie holds a BFA from the Ontario College of Art and Design (2005) and an MFA from the University of Guelph (2014), has exhibited across Canada and has participated in exhibitions and residencies in the US, the Caribbean, and the UK. 

Stephanie has taught at The Children’s Art Studio, The Toronto School of Art and The University of Guelph. Her experience as an Outdoor Play and Learning Mentor with Earth Day Canada and the TDSB brings an approach that is experiential, hands on and embraces child-led creativity.

Shannon Moynagh is an artist and art educator from Brampton ON. She received her Bachelor of Fine Art from York University where she specialized in painting and print media. Shannon’s art practice includes drawing, painting, photography and print media. Her work often draws from nature, growth and transformation as inspiration. Shannon is a member of the inPrint Collective, where she works and teaches at their shared studio space in Toronto. Shannon has been teaching young artists for over a decade. Her main focus with students is sharing the joy of art-making, fostering a sense of community in the studio, and strengthening their creative problem-solving skills through experimentation with methods and materials.

Amanda Arcuri is a photography based artist from Toronto and holds a BFA from Ryerson University and an M.A.A. from Emily Carr University of Art + Design. Amanda’s work has been displayed across Canada; depicting altered and dramatized landscapes of installed light or materials within the greenery. She has enjoyed teaching art classes for the past 10 years encouraging creativity, experiential learning and a focus on developing a keen eye.

Corrie Burrows is a Toronto-based mixed media artist with over 25 years of experience in arts education. She graduated from Georgian College in 1998 and partnered with the Simcoe County District School Board through the MacLaren Art Centre, supporting teachers in delivering their arts curricula. In Toronto, she expanded her practice to include art as a therapeutic tool, working alongside social workers with women navigating mental health and addiction. Burrows’ studio practice is playful and process-driven, inspired by graffiti’s layered energy. Working in spray paint and oils, she builds and scrapes layers, each capturing a moment in time and sparking a dialogue with her materials.

Sarah Mihara Creagen is a white passing mixed-race Japanese Canadian Queer artist born in Nova Scotia and currently living in Toronto. Her practice consists of research into intersecting histories of the medical system and botany, and considers these topics through personal experiences of queerness, chronic illness and disability while living with Crohn’s Disease.

Sarah received her MFA in 2018 from Hunter College in New York City, and was a 2018 Queer|Art Mentorship Fellow. She has had solo exhibitions at Katharine Mulherin’s NO FOUNDATION gallery (Toronto), SPRING/BREAK Art Show and Hercules Studios Gallery in New York City, and artist-run centres across Canada including Montreal, Halifax, and London, ON.

Her work has been featured in The NY Times “What to See in New York Art Galleries Right Now”, Hyperallergic, and Visual Arts News. Sarah's work has been supported through multiple grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Art Council grants, and the Toronto Arts Council. 

www.sarahcreagen.com

Rachael Dodgson is a Toronto-based artist, educator, and arts worker. As a recent graduate of York University's MFA program, Rachael's current research uses printmaking to create bold and immersive assemblages of surface and abstract imagery.  Transmuting feelings evoked digitally into material, situating them within our embodied AFK (away from keyboard) lives, Rachael contemplates the significance of digital experience and relationships in the formation of identity. Drawing connections between the analog mesh of a silkscreen and the digital screens we use daily. 

Rachael has BFA from Queen’s University and has participated in solo and group exhibitions and residences as well as received grants from the Ontario Arts Council. 

Passionate about building community and arts education, Rachael has spent the last decade teaching visual art and facilitating arts programming and events throughout the city. 

Anran Guo is a queer female artist currently based in Hamilton. She grew up in China and came to Canada in 2014. Guo holds a Master of Visual Studies in Studio Art, an HBA in Art and Art History ( jointly with Sheridan College), and a Certificate in Curatorial Studies from the University of Toronto. 

Guo is primarily focused on sculptures and installations. Her works are metaphorical and playful, offer layered readings in critiques of social and political systems. Guo’s works highlight simple everyday objects with minimum intervention, create low-barrier conversations, and call upon the viewers to question invisible power dynamics in society. 

Guo’s works have been exhibited across the GTA, and collected by Sheridan College

Atleigh Homma received her BFA in 2016 from OCAD University's Drawing and Painting department. She went on to garner Canada’s portraiture competition, the Kingston Prize, for a painted self-portrait in 2019. In her art practice she currently utilizes painting and textiles, focusing on cultural identity, care and wellbeing, she looks to find connection to her ancestors using inherited heirlooms, knick-knacks and domestic objects as subjects for her works, thus creating scenes that call upon memory and familial history. As an instructor at the AGO Atleigh loves planning projects and helping students both learn new techniques and implement them.

Natalie Kauffman is a visual artist and artist educator based in Toronto, Ontario. She holds a BFA in Studio Art and Art History from Concordia University in Montreal, a Professional Photography Certificate from the Rocky Mountain School of Photography in Missoula, Montana, and an MA in Education (Arts Specialization) from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) at the University of Toronto. 

Her artwork delves into a multitude of subjects and themes, from the evocative beauty of abandoned places to the intricacies of memory, identity, and belonging. Natalie's fascination with the natural world finds expression in her exploration of the body, bones, mycelia, and mushrooms, weaving together elements of nature and humanity in captivating visual narratives. 

In her teaching practice, Natalie embraces a student-centred approach focused on community and where knowledge acquisition comes from everyone in the learning space. She emphasizes play, exploration, and experimentation as key elements to learning art practices.

David Lapp is a graduate of the Ontario College of Art and Design and the University of Western Ontario (B.A. Psychology). He has been teaching cartooning at the Art Gallery of Ontario and Avenue Road Arts School for over fifteen years. Dave has created three graphic novels, Drop In, Children of the Atom, and People Around Here, which have been published by Conundrum Press. In addition to his graphic novels, his artwork can also be seen in Taddle Creek magazine. Dave’s work was chosen for the ‘Best American Comics’ series for 2010, 2011, and 2016. He is currently working on a 500 page graphic novel for which he has received Canada and Ontario Arts Council grants.

Janine Lindgren, AOCA, Hon. BFA, B.Ed.
Janine is a studio instructor for Youth and Children, and has been working in the Education department for 28 years. She is a sculptor, printmaker, and loves life drawing. Art, education, and creation are passions she shares.

Daphne McCormack is a graduate of OCAD. After a successful career as an illustrator in both Canada and the U.S., she took on a new pursuit as an Artist Educator in various cultural institutions across Toronto. These would include the Royal Conservatory (Learning Through the Arts), Station Gallery in Whitby, and Walnut Studio’s Blank Canvases Program. She has created various large scale murals with in the TDSB.

Currently she is employed part time at the Art Gallery of Ontario teaching children, youth and adults in summer camps and weekend classes. As well she teaches part time at HarbourfrontCentre School Visits. Daphne enjoys teaching printmaking, drawing, painting (watercolour and acrylic), multimedia and Artist Books. Her work is often inspired by the natural world and environmental issues.

Olia Mishchenko was born in Kiev, Ukraine and moved to Canada in 1997. She studied architecture and art history at the University of Toronto prior to becoming a practicing artist. Mishchenko’s artistic practice is predominantly drawings-based and concerned with built environments. She is also an active member of the Terrarea collective that is engaged in site-specific installations. Mishchenko lives and works in Toronto, where she teaches in the Environmental Design Programme at OCADU, and at the Art Gallery of Ontario.

Melissa Pauw is a Toronto based artist and educator. She holds an MFA from the University of British Columbia (2004) and a BA in Studio Art and Art History from the University of Guelph (2001). Melissa has held teaching positions at the University of British Columbia, Emily Carr University of Art + Design and Harbourfront Centre. Her photography, drawing and video work has been exhibited in Canada, the United States and Spain. Melissa’s teaching focus is exploration based art-making for early learners.

Cleopatria Peterson is a black non-binary trans multidisciplinary artist based in Toronto. They printmake, write, illustrate and create comics.They graduated from Fashion Communication at Toronto Metropolitan University and Cross-Disciplinary Art: Publications at OCAD University with a medal for their thesis work. 

They are one of the BIPOC in residence at Open Studio where they showcased their project Bestie Mart, an exploration of printmaking 3D objects to create a fake grocery store. Their work focuses on themes of nature, humour, identity and above all things, love.

You can see their work at www.cleopatria.ca

Sarvenaz Rayati is a multidisciplinary artist and arts educator from Tehran, Iran, now based in Toronto. She holds a BA in Painting and Visual Communication from the Art University of Iran. Her work explores themes of heritage, identity, the self, and the natural world, grounded in a sense of seeking. She works across media, including ephemeral light installations, mosaic murals, painting, and sculpture. Rooted in visual storytelling, her practice blends personal narratives with Iranian artistic heritage, cinematic and graphic-novel influences, and a deep fascination with the magic of nature. Her paintings have appeared in Tehran’s Painting Biennale at Tehran MOCA and at Hun Gallery in New York. Her light installations have been featured in Nuit Blanche Toronto, and her work is held in private collections in Tehran.

Gilliane is an illustrator and designer who has put her BFA from OCADU and Post-Graduate studies in Illustration from Sheridan College to good use. Gilliane has had a long career as a mixed-media special effect artist for film and art director or dance and animation. Her career surface design for sporting gear and six years as a courtroom artist. Gilliane has developed many arts-based programs for several museums and cultural institutions including the ROM, Toronto History Museums and the AGO. She also works as an assistant studio manager for Akin Collective, with whom she participates in group shows. Gilliane is often found lost in art-related research, or sketching whatever catches her eye, but it’s her illustrated images which capture movement through line and colour that she always returns to.

Jonathan Scott’s practice draws on art writing, diagrammatics in art, and object making using parafictional modalities. Scott received his PhD in Visual Arts from York University in 2021 and holds an MFA from the Glasgow School of Art, UK. His work has been exhibited internationally in both solo and group exhibitions, including at Muherin, Toronto/New York; The Power Plant, Toronto; Coleman Gallery, London; Transmissions Gallery, Glasgow; Wetterling Gallery, Stockholm; and the Glasgow International Festival of Contemporary Art. Scott has written for exhibitions and has had work published in C Magazine and Peripheral Review.

Sarah Zanchetta (she/they) is a textile artist and educator. She holds a Master of Visual Studies from the University of Toronto and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from OCAD University. They have previously taught at the University of Toronto and collaborated with several organizations to create community-based work for their permanent collections, including the Kortright Centre for Conservation and Evergreen Brick Works. Her art practice dives into the loss of connection and knowledge of poisonous plants that grow in North America. She seeks to foster a relationship with flora without placing the weight of human benefit in the foreground. Many of their works simultaneously track her hands-on relationship with an individual plant and the unravelling of stories, scientific facts and myths that surround them. Zanchetta's research-focused practice directly weaves into her many years of teaching experience.