Anne Harkness

With a background in design, Anne Harkness gravitates towards subjects with a strong graphic image. Town scenes, chairs and telephone poles are among her favorites. Even in middle school, Harkness was pulling ads out of magazines to tape up on her doors. She liked clean crisp shapes and ads with witty, simple headlines.

An alumnus of the Atlanta College of Art, Harkness earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design from The Maryland Institute, College of Art. This led to work with a small newspaper in Annapolis Md. Where she worked as an art director doing package and product design, logos, and hand lettering. 

She studied under painter, Curt Butler, and soon afterward he asked her to work for him as a studio manager and later as an instructor. He taught her to paint and also to teach. 

As a contemporary artist, Anne looks for a unique point of view and often finds some unexpected beauty in what many would consider an ordinary or unattractive subject. She uses line in a unique way in her paintings. Artists that have influenced Harkness are Staprans, Diebenkorn, Degas, Japanese prints, Toulouse Lautrec, Klimpt, and Rutenburg.

In the past few years, her pieces have been in national and international shows, galleries and museums. She has been featured in American Art Collector Magazine,

Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine, as well as in International Artist Magazine, where she won 2nd place in their Abstract/Experimental Art competition. She is represented by Providence Gallery and Vision Gallery, in NC. She is a member of American Women Artists and various other groups.

 
“Great art captures something unexpected. Its beauty strikes at our very core. The artist gives something of themselves to the artwork and that is what calls to people. Great art is more than just technical skill; it's got to draw the viewer in, tell a story, or emote a feeling we want to keep experiencing.”  

For more information about Anne visit: https://www.anneharkness.com

Clayton Joe Young is the Senior Professor for the Photographic Technology program at Catawba Valley Community College in Hickory, NC. 

Young earned an MFA in Photography from the Savannah College of Art and Design. Young is a published author and award-winning photographer whose work has been exhibited throughout the US in solo and juried group exhibitions.

Register for Joe's class - Travels with a Camera

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

Register for Dick's Class - Close-up Photography: Easier than you Think!

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. He teaches a Masterclass in Fine Art Printing at the Light Factory, one of 4 museums in the U.S. specializing in Photography and Film. 

Donald'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. My primary tools are from Nikon and includes a D4, D800E, a D7100 and a closetful of lenses acquired over a 45 year involvement with photography. My printer of choice is the Epson StylusPro 4900. My last film camera before switching to digital was the Nikon F5."

You are invited to visit his blog at http://debphotography.blogspot.com or website at   http://donaldebrown.photography/

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.   

Isabelle Griesmyer has an undergraduate degree in home economics with a concentration in interior design and art, and a MBA in finance. She later enriched her art education with additional courses and workshops in art, photography, graphic art, calligraphy, and painting. 

Isabelle’s teaching experiences include teaching adults and children at conferences, community schools, and art camps. 

Isabelle taught art and calligraphy to children at the art school affiliated with the Austin Museum of Art in Austin, TX. While living in Corning, NY, she enjoyed teaching art to children out of her home. At the Corning Museum of Glass, she instructed museum visitors through their Draw and Discover program. During her time in Austin and Corning, Isabelle was a docent at the Austin Museum of Art and the Rockwell Museum of Western Art, respectively.

Past teaching experiences with teens in the Charlotte area included classes at Cornelius Art Center in Cornelius, NC. Although no longer in operation, Full Circle Academy in Harrisburg, NC is where she taught art to home-schooled students. When Charlotte Fine Art Gallery had a storefront, she enjoyed teaching an adult watercolor class in its classroom space. Isabelle lives with her husband in Charlotte, NC. 

Janet teaches Beginning Drawing and Colored Pencil

Janet Boschker is a portrait photographer in Charlotte, North Carolina specializing in baby, children, and family photography as well as professional headshots. She has photographed in the studio, at home, the beach or location of  choice for over 30 years. 

A darkroom class at CPCC ignited her obsession with photography in 1983. Janet mastered the black and white darkroom and  started her own business, NorthLight Photography in 1994, specializing in black and white photography. As digital photography improved in the early 2000s, her curiosity peaked, transitioning fully in 2005. Today she continues to happily print her color work as well as B&W on a variety of fine art papers that produce exceptional quality images. 

Janet also loves creating mixed media paintings of children, traditionally of ages 4, 5 or 6 years old, and families with older children. Over the years she has been involved in Professional Photographers of North Carolina, Professional Photographers of America and American Society of Photographers, serving as follows: 

• Professional Photographers of North Carolina Board of Directors 1994 – 2018 

• PPNC President 2002-2003 

• East Coast School Advisory Board 1997 – 2018 • ECS Director 2008 – 2011 

• The Light Factory Board of Directors 2013 – 2017 • PPA Council 2009-2018 

• Professional Photographers of America International Judge 2007

Presently Janet has received many awards through print competitions sponsored by PPA in the categories of portraiture, photojournalism, illustrative and art. Most notably Canon’s Award of Excellence and American Society of Photographers’ Fellowship, among others.  She continues to love the changing world of photography, and share what she has learned over the years. https://www.northlightphotography.com/

Register for Janet's Class - Making Portraits with Available Light, Creativity and your Camera