Meet Our Instructors

Mary-Louise Biasotti Hooper, an international Italian-American artist, was raised amid the art shows of Washington Square Park, Greenwich Village NYC. She specializes in oils and watercolor inspired by her own photographs.

Her immigrant family did not encourage art as a career and she entered the field of education. Eventually she earned 5 university degrees including a doctorate. During those years she presented numerous research papers in 9 countries and was awarded a 6 month senior-research Fulbright Grant to Italy in the Arts and Humanities.

Initially her art was self-taught until also completing 2 art degrees. Upon retirement as an educator and university full-professor, she opened her art business “Hooperart”. As such she produces, markets and sells her art and is a master teacher of painting and drawing.

Internationally, she is life-juried into the Biennale Internazionale Dell'Arte Contemporanea [Biennale International Contemporary Art Show] in Florence, Italy, has work in private collections in Italy, and shown in Germany. She is also juried into the Gallery of International Fulbright Artists/Scholars and has participated in international art projects.

Nationally, she has participated in numerous juried and non-juried individual and group shows in Michigan, California, Florida, Kansas, Washington D.C., Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and North Carolina. 

Mary-Louise Biasotti Hooper is presently a member of the International Fulbright Arts Task Force, an Associate member of the Oil Painters of America, and a member of the Mooresville NC Art center where she is a master teacher of art.

 A retired USAF Officer and Information Technology Corporate Executive and Program Manager, Mr. Brown retired and moved to Charlotte, NC in 2005. He grew up in Western Kentucky (Paducah) and served 24 years in the U.S. Air Force, retiring from the USAF in 1982 after serving the previous 5 years as an Associate Professor of Computer Sciences at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He then joined Computer Sciences Corporation and retired again in July 2005 as Vice President, Government Consulting business unit.  

Mr. Brown now resides in Charlotte, NC and was President of the Carolinas Nature Photographers Assn (CNPA) for 5 years. He is an active member of the North American Nature Photographers Association (NANPA) and a member of the Board of Directors for the Photographic Society of America (PSA). He now spends full time practicing his chosen avocation of nature and wildlife photography in many of the U.S. parks and wildlife reserves. 

Don's educational background includes an associate degree from Yale University (Far Eastern Languages), a BS degree in Statistics from Syracuse University, an MS degree in Computer Science from Texas A&M University and an MBA degree from Ohio State University. 

"My primary love is nature photography: landscapes, wildlife and plant life, but I am beginning to explore other areas of expression and am especially interested in the craft of fine art printing. http://debphotography.blogspot.com  http://donaldebrown.photography/ 

Originally from western North Dakota, Linda Fossum eventually moved to Wisconsin where she taught junior high school for 6 years. She returned to college to obtain her second Bachelor of Arts degree in business management and accounting. After working for Land ‘O Lakes in the accounting department.

Linda later accepted a position with the Target Corporation. While there she worked in Information Technology (IT) as a liaison between IT and the accounting and store departments. She continued her career in IT and Education for several nationally known corporations: Carlson Companies, Deluxe Check, Fortis, and First Data where she became the Director of Education.

After several decades working in IT departments for major US corporations, Linda discovered that drawing for a few minutes every evening reduced her stress significantly. By accessing the creative side of the brain, the more technical IT work became easier and even more fun. 

Linda began painting watercolors in 1995. Painting florals in particular, explores her interpretation of the amazing variety and beauty of nature that captured her interest and has never let go.

Harold Frontz is a versatile painter with an aptitude for all aspects of landscape, seascape and still life painting. Harold has been strongly influenced by artists of the Massachusetts Cape Ann School and has studied with Gloucester artist Charles Movalli. He also received instruction at the

British Mounts Bay Art Centre in Newlyn and painted en plein air in Cornwall, England and Northern Italy. Harold’s work is best described as impressionistic, featuring clean bright hues that provide an interesting

variety of temperature, intensity and value.

Linda's art training began in Europe where she grew up as the daughter of an Army officer. It was there she developed her love of architecture and travel. A Washington D.C. native, she achieved early success in oil painting in Virginia and New Jersey. Upon discovering watercolor, however, she realized her true medium. Her favorite subjects are regional architecture with bright, bold color transitions, usually including the addition of flowers and strong shadows. She enjoys painting large pieces that require the viewer to stand back!

Linda's work was showcased at The Persnickity Stores in D.C., Tyson's Corner, Arlington VA, Bethesda MY, and New Canann, CT, and in various D.C.  galleries. 

She hosted five "one-woman" shows at the University Club in D.C.; she has nationwide  collectors and throughout Japan. Her work was featured in numerous Decorator Show Houses in D.C., MD, and VA.

Linda maintained her own gallery, Waterside Watercolors, in Occoquan, VA where she also painted, taught, and sold her artwork for 7 years prior to moving to North Carolina. Her work is currently located at The Spring Art Gallery in Concord, NC and her personal studio.

Dick Handshaw is a photography 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.

Dick 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. 

Dick is now a member of the board of directors for Mooresville Arts as well as the adult education chair. He has been passionate about photography since he was 14.

You can see samples of his work at: www.handshawphotography.com

After studying at Chicago Art Institute with Northern Illinois University, Irene earned her BA in Art, from Caldwell College. She went on to receive a MHDL (Masters in Human Development and Education) with focus area in Art and Developing Creativity in students.  

Irene served as liaison for UNCC student teachers, taught classes as the Art Department Head at Paul XI Regional High School, and worked as an organizational development/management consultant and developed leadership and educational materials for the air and rail travel, automobile production and metals/foundry industries.  She was the Department Head for the Advertising and Graphic Design Department at Wake Tech from 2003-2009. Irene opened two art galleries: ARTSOURCE in Cary, NC And Artwork Especially in Raleigh, NC. 

Irene has traveled and conducted European Student Art Study trips for students. Her travels took her to Europe, Mexico, Belgium, Switzerland, France, Ital, Zimbabwe and Botswana. Each trip was a learning experience and involved photographing places, people, and animals as well as studying art history and current cultures.  

Several published textbooks and children’s books are authored and illustrated by Irene; they include:  Drawing It All, Illustration, Drawing for Gaming, Where’s Wiskey?, Two Little Giraffes Safari, and Gram Rene’s Birdfeeder.   

Justin has been in education for over 14 years, teaching all grade levels from Kindergarten to the collegiate level. 

He received his Bachelors of Fine Arts in Time-Based Media Studies (Animation), from Columbus College of Art and Design, Masters of Fine Arts in Illustration from Academy of Art University, and Art Teacher Certification from Seton Hill University. 

Justin has worked with ESPN, Wendy's, and the Walt Disney World Company within the visual arts field. 

"As an educator in the field of visual arts, I feel that it is important that every individual finds their own way to self-express themselves and to use that skill when moving forward in life's journey."

Eric Notheisen has been involved with Photography since the mid-1970s. He started out shooting images while in the US Air Force stations in Korea. He got into medium format while stationed in the Netherlands.

Since 2000 he has been shooting digital images using several different camera systems. His current focus revolves around waterfalls and grist mills. He competes in international exhibitions on a regular basis.

Eric is currently the President of the Charlotte Camera Club. He is also Director of the PSA Nature Division Interclub Competition.

Eric is retired from active employment and lives with his wife, Diane, in Fort Mill, SC.

Scott Stallings is a Commercial Portrait Photographer and Educator in Charlotte, North Carolina.  A Charlotte native he has been a part of the photographic community for almost two decades through his work at the Charlotte Photography Group, Biggs Camera, and Fenix Fotography.

For the last five years Scott has taught classes at The Light Factory in Digital Photography, Large Format Photography, as well as the Wet Collodion Process.  He has a passion for making photographs that showcase people's natural, authentic selves.

Janet Visser is a colorist who endows every painting with the certainty of her convictions and the dexterity born of long careful study. One of her many strengths is the ability to simplify subject matter by reducing components to their most fundamental and poetic form with color harmony.

Janet was born in Rochester New York and studied fine arts at SUNY Brockport State University and RIT graduating with a BFA. Janet studied drawing, painting, and sculpture. Over her 45 years as an Artist she has received many prestigious awards and honors. Her work is sought after by collectors both individuals and corporations including Marriott Hotels, ABC network leased work, Xerox, Kodak, and CO-Star. 

She appeared in numerous art industry articles over the span of her art career. Janet teaches and works out of her V Studio Designs studio in Denver, NC and Cornelius Art Center.   

Her work is represented internationally with www.singulart.com Paris website.