Teaching Experts

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.

INSTRUCTORS FOR WINTER / Spring 2009

TARA AYERS has been cooking professionally for over ten years.  She got her start as an intern in 1998 at Colorado’s Keystone Mountain Resort.  Since then she has held titles in a variety of fine dining resorts and restaurants in Colorado and Washington, and is currently at Le Pichet, a French bistro in downtown Seattle. Her love for culinary arts has brought her to teaching adults at The Blue Ribbon Cooking School and aspiring young cooks at Coyote Central.  

PIPER CARLING,  because of her artistic versatility and love of many disciplines, is invited to teach art in scores of art forms. Jewelry-making ranks among her favorite. She is drawn to teaching: high schools, pre-schools, and middle schools. She teaches art history, sculpture, fashion illustration, advanced general arts, jewelry design, & book arts.  Students of The Harvard Ave. School, Coyote Central, Bush School, and Lakeside Middle School have all been rewarded by her teaching  and art-making skills.

JEANNE DODDS  teaches photography, her primary passion, as well as illustration and assemblage. She earned a BFA with honors in Photography from Boise State University and a Certificate in Scientific Illustration from University of Washington. Teaching since 1997, she currently teaches art at museums, schools, and non-profits throughout the Pacific Northwest. She was recently selected as a WA State Arts Commission Teaching Artist for 2008-2009.

GIL BRACE has been performing break dance in the Seattle area and abroad for over 6 years. He is a member of the locally famous BYC Crew, and trains regularly for competitions and dance circles all over the world.  Gil has been painting for over 5 years, & has painted and shown works in Kobe Japan, Rio de Janeiro, Vancouver BC and Seattle.  He has extensive experience teaching kids breaking, gymnastics, and martial arts.

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 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 Gallery and the Bellevue Art Museum. She is a gifted teacher who has inspired scores of students to produce very impressive art and to carry on their talents beyond her classes.

DAWNULA KOUKUL realized her connection and passion for food at a very early age, while growing up on a ranch in rural Montana, where she enjoyed working with her mom in the garden as well as baking cinnamon rolls in the fall.   Starting her culinary career at age 12 She in a small café, Dawnula has since gained experience in French, Cajun, Italian, Spanish, Pan-Asian and world vegetarian cuisines. Formerly the catering chef at Café Flora in Seattle, she is now working as a private chef.

ALISSA MORTENSON, actor, dancer, playwright, is co-founder and Artistic Director of Nebunele Theatre Co., a physical performance troupe in Seattle. With a BA in Drama from the Univ. of WA and a PPC from Dell'Arte International School of Physical Theatre, she performs locally with Nebunele Theatre, the International Theatre Collective, Theater Schmeater, 3-Minute Theater, The Island Players, and Annex. She teaches acting with a flair, which comes straight from her excellent training.

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 at Jambalaya, 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 mentors youth through hip hop music production through arts organizations and the Rotary Boys and Girls Club. He has 4 years of professional training and is a Cornish graduate in music.

911 MEDIA ARTS CENTER, one of Washington’s premier arts organizations, brings much of the best video production & teaching to the region.  It is a center for independent digital media artists to create, produce, and exhibit their work.

BRITTA JOHNSON has made numerous animated shorts, commercials for MTV, other networks, and music videos for artists including Andrew Bird, Minus the Bear, and Laura Veirs. 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. See 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.

REILLY DONAVAN is a graduate of the Cornish College of the Arts, and is a photographer, videographer and mixed media artist. He works in both the Fine Arts and Commercial Arts, and exhibits at Canvas Gallery in Seattle. Currently he is working freelance with Microsoft as well as teaching Web Skills 101 at the South Park Community Center as a 911MAC partner.

PRATT FINE ARTS CENTER, established in 1976, is Seattle's best resource for providing courses to working artists, emerging artists, and students in glassblowing, welding, forging, jewelry smithing, printmaking, drawing, and painting. Since the summer of 2007, Pratt has generously provided Coyote Central with professional workshop space for woodworking and welding, as well as glass bead making and metal jewelry. 
                                                                           
JAMES BRANDALISE, trained in architecture and furniture making, is a very gifted and talented instructor for Coyote in furniture design and soapbox car construction. He also developed, designed & built Coyote’s professional woodshop at Pratt.    
        
BRENT MCDONALD has helped lead Coyote’s Hit the Streets kids through 4 summers of major public art making. He’s skilled as an artist, art installation expert (including major construction challenges), and teacher.
         
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 jewelry is represented locally at Vetri.
         
VANCE WOLFE, after earning degrees from the University of Washington in both Philosophy and Comparative Literature, turned his attention to his love of architectural design and art. As a gifted welder, woodworker, and designer, Vance is having a great time sharing his passion and skills with Coyote’s novice welders.

BILL RAES, production manager of Fran’s Chocolates, is from Portland, where he was manager/pastry chef of the bakers at Saint Honore Boulangerie. He was close to finishing a Ph.D. in education when he took a break to bake & has never looked back.  A graduate with honors from Western Culinary Institute, he packs in more chocolate wonders than seems possible in one session.
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BRITT RYNEARSON is a textile artist and owner of Chine, her fashion line that is sold nationwide, including SAM. A painting graduate of Scripps College, she has studied fabric in Italy and silk weaving in Indonesia, and has learned the Japanese art of shibori.  She is accomplished in all aspects of fashion, and sews professionally.  In her teaching, she draws from her personal immersion in fashion to inspire her students.

KARL SCHMITZ taught ballroom dancing for Fred Astaire Studios for five years, specializing in American Rhythm and Latin dancing.  Later, he became an excellent, serious, funny classroom teacher at Washington Middle School.  He relates well to what young people want out of dance…to show skill, accomplishment, and very cool steps! 

CHERIE SEYMORE, graduate of  FAME in NYC & The Hartt School of Music, has devoted herself to music & singing, from performing, composing, arranging, producing, & teaching, to being a band leader & a festival organizer. She sings in commercials, voice-overs, film, musicals and jazz clubs, and loves to teach, to show young singers how quickly their voices become rich & full.

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, published by Alternative Press.  His comics and editorial cartoons have appeared in a host of newspapers and publications.  Coyote is lucky to be in its 12th year with Greg on the drawing boards with our kids.

EDWARD WOLCHER is a national award winning competitive debater who has coached Lakeside School's Speech and Debate program for five years.  He is now a writer, editor and performance artist. He shares the joy of critical thinking and public speaking with his students, who have won statewide awards in speech & have had a lot of fun.