Coyote’s teaching professionals are what set it apart from other out-of-school programs. They offer their remarkable skills and open their workspaces so that Coyote kids can catch the fire of their enthusiasm and learn the techniques of their trade.

They are film animators and painters, pastry chefs and architects, dancers and dj’s, welders and lawyers, magicians and writers, photographers and engineers, jewelers and hatmakers, scientists and sculptors.

They love putting sophisticated tools, techniques and challenges in the hands of kids who are just entering that wonderful transition from childhood to adulthood. Possibilities? They are endless.

FACULTY FOR SPRING & SUMMER 2008

911 MEDIA ARTS CENTER, one of Washington’s premier media arts center, brings much of the best video production and teaching to the region.
BRITTA JOHNSON has made numerous animated shorts, commercials for MTV and other networks, and music videos for artists including Andrew Bird, Minus the Bear, and Laura Veirs. Recently, she animated films for 12 songs about insects for the live show “Share This Place," which premiered at the Seattle International Children’s Festival in May.  Her website is www.thekmpi.net
CLYDE PETERSON is a Seattle filmmaker and musician, who produces music videos and short claymation films. When not making films, Clyde works with many bands and performing groups, touring the world & shooting super-8 films on the road.  

GIL BRACE and SPENCER SMISSAERT have been performing break dance in the Seattle area and abroad for over 6 years. They are members of the BYC Crew, which has a strong reputation on both the east and west coasts. Gil trains regularly for competitions and dance circles all over the world.  He has shown his painting and graffiti artworks in Kobe Japan, Rio de Janeiro, Vancouver BC, & Seattle. Spencer, a business major, is a self-taught break dancer who has won battles as an independent and as a crew member of both BYC and Flying Sneakers. He has helped establish a crew in Taipei. They have extensive experience teaching kids breaking, gymnastics, & martial arts.   

RUBEN BARRON got hooked on magic as a 10-year-old and now has a young son already determined to become a Mentalist (mind reader).  A professional magician for over 15 years, Ruben performs at comedy clubs, trade shows, company or community events, and private affairs. He has also become a popular performer in schools, where he captivates his young audiences, whether he is performing for them or teaching them magic. His goal is to give kids plenty of tools, practice, and in-class experience to go out and wow their friends and family.

KRISTINA BARTLESON went to college for art only to realize she loved to cook. She graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY., and has since cooked on tall ships, in fine restaurants and at school. She has since realized that desserts flex her artistic muscles a little more and has prepared pastries at Rover’s, Cascadia, and the Four Seasons Hotel.  Her favorite part of preparing food is the presentation – what she calls the “Here, I made this for you.” 

STEVE BROWN, director of kidLAW®, facilitates mock trials throughout Washington.  He shows kids how trials & lawyers work, how to communicate better verbally, how to think at higher levels, and how to master group process skills.  He spent 14 years as a trial lawyer, was a partner at Stokes Lawrence, and was recently a member of the Seattle School Board. Coyote is lucky to join him both at Stokes Lawrence law firm and in an official courtroom for this excellent opportunity.

BELLEN DRAKE, a graduate of Photographic Center Northwest, has been a professional photographer since 1999. She shoots everything from children, families and events to world record champions, fashion shows, snowstorms, and forests. She considers photography a never-ending project and takes photos everyday. A gifted teacher, she has taught for Powerful Schools, Community Learning Center, and Seattle Public Schools.

ELENA KORAKIANITOU is a multi-media artist who turns numbers of different mediums into significant art.  Her paintings and other artwork have been exhibited in galleries and museums across the U.S. and in Europe, and locally at the Pacini/Lubel and the Bellevue Art Museum. She is also a gifted teacher who has inspired scores of students to produce very impressive art, including Coyote’s commission for the windows of Mario’s and a collection of hand-painted silk scarves sold there.

AMY MARSH became a singer when she was six years old, joining a choir at Western Washington University. In her youth she sang as a featured soloist for concerts and recordings of top youth choirs and went on to win top awards in state and regional competitions. A graduate with B.A. in Music and Theatre from the University of Washington, she has performed in, as well as coached and directed singers and ensembles, in numerous musicals, recitals, and concerts.

AMOS MILLER has produced tracks for nearly all of Seattle’s hip hop and R&B talent, including Piece, Choklate, Silent Lamb Project and Vitamin D. He performs as the resident keyboard player at Jumbalaya, Seattle’s weekly hip-hop/soul improv night, and writes piano compositions.  Discovered as a gifted musician by his 7th grade jazz band director, he has made sure to mentor youth through hip hop music production with arts organizations and the C.D. Rotary Boys and Girls Club. He has 4 years of professional training and is a Cornish graduate in music.

ALISSA MORTENSON is an actor, dancer, playwright, and co-founder and Artistic Director of Nebunele Theatre Company, a physical    performance troupe in Seattle. She received her BA in Drama from the University of Washington and her Professional Performer's Certificate from the Dell'Arte International School of Physical Theatre. She has performed locally with Nebunele Theatre, the International Theatre Collective, Theater Schmeater, 3-Minute Theater, The Island Players, and Annex. She has been teaching acting and improvisation to middle-school students this past year and is excited to be joining Coyote this summer.

NORTHWEST FILM FORUM aims to become the nation’s leading center for film artists. It has aided 250 filmmakers to produce their films and offers some 60 workshops a year.  BRITTA JOHNSON has made numerous animated shorts, commercials for MTV and other networks, and music videos for artists including Andrew Bird, Minus the Bear, and Laura Veirs. Recently, she animated films for 12 songs about insects for the live show “Share This Place," which premiered at the Seattle International Children’s Festival in May.  Her website is www.thekmpi.net. CLYDE PETERSON is a Seattle filmmaker and musician, who produces music videos and short claymation films. When not making films, Clyde works with many bands and performing groups, touring the world & shooting super-8 films on the road.  

RUSTY OLIVER is a founding member of Stronghold Arts Collective, and Founder and directory of Hazardfactory, an industrial arts collective. Rusty runs an independent high end metal fabrication business and has shown art in the area for the last eight years. Rusty is extremely passionate about his art and his medium and happy to share his experience.

LAUREL PEDERSON learns about all things scientific in every way she can. With degrees in Biology (Anatomy & Physiology) and a Master’s in secondary science education, she has collected and created scores of ways to turn her students onto science. Currently teaching 9th grade biology at Todd Beamer High in Federal Way, she has a reputation for getting kids hooked on investigations and problem solving.  Before teaching, she worked in labs and hospitals in patient care and phlebotomy, so she brings real-world application to her teaching talents.
      
PHOTOGRAPHIC CENTER NORTHWEST, a regional leader in the education and promotion of art photography in the Northwest, offers courses and workshops to novices as well as seasoned professionals.  Its gallery shows present the work of internationally renowned photographers.  For the past several summers, Photographic Center Northwest has invited Coyote students to work in their professional setting with one of their excellent PCNW instructors.

PRATTFINEARTSCENTER, established in 1976, is Seattle's best resource for offering courses to working artists, emerging artists, and students in glassblowing, welding, forging, jewelry smithing, printmaking, drawing, and painting.  Pratt is a major reason that the Northwest has become a leading international glass arts center.
WILL BABER is a talented welder and metal sculptor. His summer Coyote students have turned out projects that earn high praise from Pratt professionals. Will began welding at age 13, and has learned from a gifted sculptor and from 4 years of  intense study at WWU in Bellingham, where he has enjoyed much success at the Welding Rodeos. 
JAMES BRANDALISE, architect and furniture maker, is a very gifted and talented instructor in furniture design and soapbox derby car construction for Coyote.
STACY FROST developed her glass skills at Pratt, and has since assisted several prominent glass artists, been juried into multiple shows, and taken on the role of warm shop instructor herself.
BRENT MCDONALD has helped lead Coyote’s Hit the Streets kids through four summers of major public art making. He’s skilled as an artist, art installation expert (including major construction challenges), and teacher – a veteran soapbox teacher, for one!
TERRI RAU is a Pratt instructor of hot glass beadmaking and glass fusing for middle school students and has taught metal fabrication, glass beadmaking, and enameling to Cleveland High School students.  Her silver and bead jewelry is represented locally at Vetri.

BILL RAES, production manager for Fran’s Chocolates, recently moved here from Portland where he was the manager/pastry chef of a team of bakers at Saint Honore Boulangerie. He was about to finish a PhD. in special education when he took a break to bake and never looked back.  A graduate with honors of the Western Culinary Institute, he packs in more desserts than seems possible into the Coyote Desserts course.

BRITT RYNEARSON, textile artist and owner of Chine, whose line of textiles is sold nationwide and including in The Seattle Art Museum, has been in involved in design and fashion her whole life. A painting graduate of Scripps College, she later to studied fabric in Italy, silk weaving in Indonesia, and became trained in the Japanese art of shibori,   She went on to create wearable art, has studied all aspects of fashion, & sews professionally. She is a gifted teacher, drawing from what she has experienced in her personal immersion in fashion.

SEATTLE GLASSBLOWING is one of the largest schools in the country specializing in glassblowing classes, and is reputed to be an excellent place for beginning glassblowers. DAVE CONTRERAS is great with kids as a wonderful and patient instructor.  He has professionally studied glass with Aaron Tate, a prominent glass sculptor, and Bog Riggs, production director at the Glass Eyes Studio.  Seattle Glassblowing Studio welcomes Coyote Central for a third summer.

ED SOBEY, Ph.D., is an expert in inventions.  He is a founding director of the National Inventions Hall of Fame and the National Toy Hall of Fame. In 1990, he launched Camp Invention, which now serves 40,000 kids across the country each summer.  He's a world traveler as a workshop and curriculum presenter, has written several books on the matter, and is obviously the teacher to teach these courses.

GREG STUMP draws and writes a weekly cartoon strip for The Stranger.  He is a regular contributor to The Comic Journal and is co-producer of the comic book The Urban Hipster.  His comics & editorial cartoons have appeared in a host of newspapers & publications.  Coyote is lucky to be in its 9th year with Greg on the boards. He is a classic cartoonist in the American tradition, but by popular demand has taken up Manga and anime drawing for Coyote kids as well.

ANN TEPLICK is a poet, playwright, prose writer, and Teaching Artist in the Seattle area. She works with young writers through Richard Hugo House, Coyote Central and The Pongo Publishing Teen Writing Project, where she's facilitates weekly workshops in King County juvenile detention centers and at the Child Study Treatment Center of The Washington State Psychiatric Hospital. She received her MFA in Creative Writing from Vermont College and spends many a midnight hour engaged in her own writing.

SHERI VAHEY graduated in culinary arts from The Western Culinary Institute in Portland.  She has pursued her love of the arts both in cooking and baking at The Four Seasons, Queen Mary’s Tea House, and Special Occasions Catering.  She discovered her talents for teaching when she taught at Operation Frontline, a program for kids through adults.