SKEA Teaching Artists

These are the artists who participate in SKEA's Art of Learning Program. Please email aol@skea.org to make changes to this page.

	Matt Binder is a musician who enjoys taking his guitar and recorder into the classroom to accompany singing and dancing. He likes to share the cultural context of folk songs and dances from all over the world. He can help you design a project that addresses topics in social studies as well as building skills and knowledge in music. He could also create a unit on how the sounds are produced in musical instruments, which is a 3rd grade science benchmark. Grade Level Preference: Preschool - 5th
	Jessie Brader and Cecilia Faith are an author-illustrator team with a children’s book featuring beautiful, realistic illustrations of sea creatures found in the oceans of the world. The story emphasizes the real-life symbiotic relationships between the creatures. Students hear the story and look at the pictures. Then K-2 students are given line drawings from the book to color; students in grades 3-5 make their own books. Lessons include instruction in marine science, and themes of friendship, cooperation, wisdom, bravery, trust and other universal concepts. Grade Level Preference: Preschool - 5th
	Anita Broennimann is a visual artist working in many media including watercolor, acrylic, oil pastel, collage, mixed media, print making, and paper-making. She has many years’ experience working with these media with children and young adults in Kona’s schools, and is on the roster of official Artists-in-the-Schools for the State of Hawaii. Anita is excellent at making connections with curriculum topics in language arts, science, math, and social studies. Grade Level Preference: 1st-12th
	Carol Conner is an actor with professional broadcast experience who is available for a wide range of drama and oral communications activities with students, including Readers Theatre with scripts based on curriculum content. She was a drama resource teacher at Konawaena Elementary for 2 years and did many projects that involved students in performances with dialog, costumes, and props. She has experience working with a wide range of special needs students. Grade Level Preference: 3rd-8th
	Ellen Crocker is a multi-media artist who uses techniques of Sumi-e (Japanese ink brush), watercolor, and Japanese Batik (roketsu-zome) to create her paintings and art quilts. Her work has been influenced by the natural beauty of Hawaii as well as her affinity for Japanese culture. Visit her website at www.ellencrocker.com. Ellen has been teaching art in the Kona public schools since 1983, guiding students in drawing, painting, Sumi-e, fabric painting, print-making, quilting (using various media) and making simple books. She also enjoys working with students in the illustration of their writings. Ellen is on the roster of official Artists-in-the-Schools for the State of Hawaii and has a lot of experience making connections between the visual arts and other curriculum areas. Grade Level Preference: Preschool-12th
	Warren d'Aquin is a California-certified dance instructor and a national West Coast Swing dance competitor. He loves teaching social dance to people of all ages. He has done lengthy projects with students at Konawaena High School, guiding them in choreographing and rehearsing routines which they perform in conjunction with anti-drug messages for younger students and at community service events. Grade Level Preference: 6th-12th
	Sarah Fogelstrom is a visual artist who utilizes a wide variety of media, including stained glass and fiber arts. She can guide students in drawing and painting, as well as sculpture projects. She led a Girl Scout troop for 8 years, involving them in many arts and crafts activities, as well as teaching art in an after-school program for middle school students. Sarah completed SKEAs mentoring program for Teaching Artists to learn how to translate her skills into a public school classroom setting. Grade Level Preference: Kindergarten-Grade 5
	Lisa Folden is visual artist working with 2 or 3 dimensional media. She has taught art at Konawaena and Honaunau schools at the elementary level. Some of the projects include drawing, painting, textiles, printing and clay. She also has conducted basic art workshops for summer programs. Grade Level Preference: K - 12
	Jamilla Hannaford has been in the education field for more than 30 years, and playing music since age 7. Under the name Carla Hannaford, Ph.D. she has authored four books: /Smart Moves: Why learning is not all in your head/, /Awakening the Child Heart/, /The Dominance Factor/, and /Playing In The Unified Field: Growing conscious, creative human beings/. She has taught in 33 countries about the importance of music for brain development, and explored a wide range of musical styles. She plays violin, piano, guitar, drum, and cello. She enjoys sharing the depth and joy of music with children. Grade Level Preference: Preschool - Grade 12
	Heidi Lee Hart has a BFA in Design, a BA in dance, and is nearing completion of an AA in Hula. She dances hula on the cruise ships, has experience in the theatre arts, including costume and set design as well as acting, and has been trained to do curriculum-based Readers Theatre. She has worked as an art/drama/dance teacher at Kealakehe High School and Innovations Charter School, as well as going into South Kona classrooms as a SKEA artist. Her first love is sharing Hawaiian culture with students. Consider her for projects in Hawaiian Cultural Arts, Visual Arts, Drama, or Dance. Grade Level Preference: 4th-12th; especially likes to work with high school students
	Etua Lopes is a well-known kumu hula in our community. He has helped the South Kona schools with their May Day hula performances for many years. He has a busy schedule, but when available he enjoys going into classrooms and teaching fabric dyeing with natural dyes, printing on fabric with traditional Hawaiian designs, hula, and chanting. Grade Level Preference: Preschool – 12th
	Ahti Mohala iis a "multi-instrumentalist", proficient with all the woodwinds, ukulele, bass, steel guitar and guitar, and vocals. He has taught privately and in the schools for over twenty years Ahti has spent time as an artist in the classroom, as well as in young audience programs, and he taught for a year at Hualalai Academy. Ahti has studied many different cultural styles of music and rhythm, and performs currently on island with the Kona Chamber Orchestra, The West Hawaii County Band, and the Kona Celtic Connection, as well as being immersed in the recording scene. Grade Level Preference: Preschool-12th grade
	Lynn Pinault transforms wool roving into many styles of puppets. The puppets can be used in partnership with drama and literature activites. Lynn's passion for wool began in her preschool classroom as a Waldorf Teacher. Lynn also does visual arts projects involving wool, a rich warm medium that children respond to. Grade Level Preference: Preschool - Grade 2
	Alysia Samaru is a potter who has her studio in the SKEA building. She enjoys introducing students to clay as an artistic medium and can do from simple to complex projects. If your school has access to a kiln, she can guide students through all phases of a pottery project including firing and glazing. Without a kiln, students can simply learn how to work and shape clay or use a type of clay that air dries to have a finished piece at the end of the project. Alysia can make connections to clay as a geologic material and in its cultural uses, as well as a means for artistic expression. Grade Level Preference: Preschool-12th
	Heather Scarbrough is a visual artist who makes jewelry as well as doing drawing and painting. She taught art, integrated with biology, in a resort program for children and adults for 4 years. She completed SKEA's mentoring program for Teaching Artists to learn how to translate her skills into a public school classroom setting. Grade Level Preference: Preschool-Grade 8
	Cherokee Shaner is a multi-talented artist who is a former elementary teacher. She can work with students on ceramics; stitchery, weaving, or yarn crafts; making costumes, props, and scenery; mural projects; or print-making. She is especially happy to participate in campus beautification projects incorporating permanent installations of student art. You need not have a formal plan to work with Cherokee. If you’d like someone to help with artistic endeavors in your class, she’s happy to come and work alongside you. Grade Level Preference: Preschool - Grade 5
	Momi Subiono is a former Hawaiian Studies Teacher for the Kupuna Program. She is a cultural practitioner of Hawaiian Ethnobotany, which is the study of native uses of plants. It includes making cloth and medicine, and various arts used in the Hawaiian lifestyle. She has studied under kupuna and world renowned teachers in this field. Over the last ten years, she has taught in Kona’s schools, working with classroom teachers to make connections in science, art, social studies and literature. She considers it a great honor to teach the youth of Hawai’i. Grade Level Preference: Preschool-12th