Our Mission

DIXON HANDSHAW 

Chair

Dixon Handshaw is a photographic educator based in Mooresville, NC. He spent 35 years of his career as a learning and performance consultant as president of his own company, Handshaw, Inc. Before that he earned his living as a professional photographer. Now he is combining those two experiences to teach fine art photography in both digital and film formats. His favorite aspect of teaching is inspiring students to find personal expression through the lens of a camera.

Dixon currently serves as an adjunct instructor in photography at Catawba Valley Community College. He serves on the Education Committee at Mooresville Arts where he also teaches photography. He has a BFA in photography from Alfred University and a MS in Instructional Systems Technology from Indiana University. He served on the Board of Directors for The Light Factory in Charlotte, NC and chaired their Education Committee where he also served as an instructor and designer of courses. He served on the Board of Directors at the Carolina Raptor Center in Charlotte, NC, where he designed and taught a course in Bird and Wildlife Photography. He has been passionate about photography since he was 14. 

BRENDA POKORNY 

Immediate Past Chair 

Brenda Pokorny is a mosaic artist in Mooresville, NC. She received a BFA from Miami University, with a concentration in textile design, and began her career in the design studio of the largest wallpaper manufacturer in the US. After five years there and ten years managing her textile design business, she started playing around with mosaic and was an instant convert. 

Brenda finds inspiration in gardens and nature, mazes, labyrinths, and mandalas. These interests have taken her around the globe, exploring parks, hedge mazes, labyrinths, gothic and Renaissance cathedrals, and the mosaics of the ancient Greek and Roman worlds. 

Brenda's goal in creating mosaics is to produce art that adds beauty and brings joy. She hopes to have more opportunities to create large-scale public artworks that can involve communities in their creation and beautify spaces everyone enjoys.

CATHERINE CRANE

Treasurer, Finance Chair

Catherine Crane received an MBA from St Joseph’s University and completed a post-MBA program in Global Business Leadership at the Wharton School of Business. he is also an RN and holds a BS from Rutgers University. She practiced as a critical care registered nurse and then joined the pharmaceutical industry, leading worldwide clinical drug development programs in multiple therapeutic areas. 

Catherine enjoys the crossroads between art and science. She is an art enthusiast and has taken oil painting and mixed media classes. She has a passion for art and believes art is a fundamental human need that sustains us. She believes art communicates both multi-dimensionally and viscerally and dramatically impacts how we relate to the world around us. Her favorite quote from Albert Einstein is, “The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science.”

MATTHEW MICOLUCCI

Board Secretary

Matt found a love for photography when he and his family moved to the Lake Norman area in 2010. After one of his lake photographs won a contest, they found the Mooresville Arts was a unique environment to continue learning and expanding one’s creative talents. Matt’s photography has since been in exhibits at Mooresville Arts and he soon realized he wanted to get involved.

Raised in the Philadelphia suburbs, Matt had a variety of college and work experiences that showed getting involved is a great way to continue learning and growing as a person. Matt and his wife, Chris, relocated from Washington DC to Atlanta where he was an IT consultant for many years. Through the companies he worked for, and with, he was always involved in employee engagement where he could share his enthusiasm for actively engaging in the community. 

Additionally, Matt has a passion for playing soccer, which he shares with his son who is studying at Furman University in Greenville, SC.  Matt and Chris are often seen in their neighborhood walking their two dogs or taking the boat out for sunset cruises (camera in hand)! You may meet Matt in person at an exhibit or taking another class at Mooresville Arts as he learns ways to incorporate his photography in mixed-media pieces.

LARISA KAMP 

Development Chair

Larisa Kamp was born and raised in Maryland. She received a BA in Studio Art and Psychology from University of Maryland, and a MFA in Art Education from New York University. She taught sassy, fabulous Middle Schoolers in both public and independent schools in Baltimore for over a decade. Upon moving to Mooresville in 2016, Larisa was excited to find Mooresville Arts and volunteered on the Education Committee for several years, as well as taught classes and summer camps at MA and other local institutions. As a teacher, Larisa loves being able to share her passion for art with students, helping them find ways to express themselves and grow as creative thinkers.  

After arriving in NC, Larisa began painting acrylic pet portrait commissions. Her energetic, bold and colorful style of painting lends itself to capturing the vibrant personalities and beauty of animal subjects, and it is something that always makes her smile! In 2021, Larisa and her best friend started a small business, LKN Local, designing and selling Lake Norman apparel and gifts to celebrate the beauty of the lake and the community they love. 

Besides art, Larisa loves travel, exercise, cooking and spending time with her family and friends. She lives in Mooresville with her husband, Ryan, and their two children, Maija (12) and Bennett (10), and their English Bulldog, Cocoa. 

DIANE SULG

The Shop Coordinator

Diane Sulg has enjoyed an active role in the arts for more than forty years. Her involvement began as a volunteer for the Visiting Artist Series in the Quad Cities of eastern Iowa and western Illinois along the Mississippi River. In 1985, when the organization was challenged financially, she organized one of the first Festival of Trees in the country. That event has raised millions of dollars for the arts over the past thirty-eight years.

Within three years, Diane was selected to lead a new arts organization, Quad City Arts, which combined the Visiting Artist Series, the Arts Council and two festivals. As Executive Director Diane managed a staff of seven who presented more than 300 annual performances by nationally known artists. She led the

reconstruction of a vacant department store in Rock Island, Illinois to be the Quad City ArtsCenter, which contained two galleries as well as office and meeting space. She was an avid grants writer to the Iowa and Illinois Arts Councils as well as the NEA. One of the grants resulted in a public arts program, Face the River, and several large public art installations.

When she and her husband moved to North Carolina, they opened Maddi’s Gallery in Charlotte, and then a second gallery in Huntersville. The galleries specialized in fine craft as well as her personal passion, Southern Folk Art. In 2009, Maddi’s Gallery was honored by Niche Magazine as the Top Retailer

of American Craft in the country.

Today, Diane is Executive Director of CRAFT, a non-profit trade association of galleries and artists specializing in handmade American craft. She is a speaker and trainer developing artists for the wholesale trade. She also a writes two columns in Sunshine Artist magazine.

Diane and her husband Madis love to travel and collect art. Diane regularly spends her free time painting with acrylics and watercolors. She applauds Mooresville Arts saying “local arts organizations are a vital force for creating a dynamic community, and I am thrilled to be part of it.”