Meet The Instructors
Emilia Seay Allen
Emilia Seay Allen is a theater artist with a passion for musical storytelling and shared, ritual experiences. She has taught and directed opera, theater (musical and non-), and devised work across the country. In 2014, Emilia founded a company of Minneapolis-based musical storytellers, Impossible Salt. Together, the company created original, physical theater inspired by folktales, and developed a new process for collaborative devising with its roots in Viewpoints. Today, Emilia plays at the intersection of the arts and spirituality, exploring new ways for groups of all creeds, ages, and abilities to find and share experiences of the mystery that animates creation.
Emily Anderson, PhD
Emily Anderson, PhD, is the author of one book of poetry and three young adult novels: Fifteen and Change, The Water Year and Surviving American History. Her writing has received recognition from the American Library Association and the Junior Library Guild. She has taught at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, SUNY Buffalo and the University of Wisconsin in Eau Claire, where she currently lives. She loves TV comedies, supper clubs (pink squirrels!) and visiting new places.
Sara Hanson
Sara Hanson is a Minneapolis-based sculptor, public artist and community collaborator that brings accessible opportunities to interact with and participate in art into communities, public spaces and unexpected places. Hanson’s mobile public art project, Bio Scenic Travel Machines – earth rovers that have landed here to research and document our lives - invite exploration and discovery of identity, time and place while offering a connection to others and the universe. Her work has been exhibited locally at the Minnesota Museum of American Art, Walker Art Center, TEDx Minneapolis, the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden and currently has installations at Lake Nokomis, Silverwood Park in St. Anthony, Midtown YWCA and several schools, businesses and organizations. She has been awarded grants from Forecast Public Art, Minnesota State Arts Board, Metropolitan Regional Arts Council and a commission from the City of Minneapolis for an Artist-Designed Public Drinking Fountain. In 2005, Hanson founded Broadcasting WOW (workshop on wheels), a traveling sculpture foundry that creates public art projects within communities and most recently expanded the operation to a renovated city bus, the WOW Mobile Metal Lab and Show.
Angela Johnson
Angela Johnson is a professional artist, creativity coach and educator based in Wisconsin. She earned a master’s in Art Education, an MA in Art and an MFA with a focus in photography from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her areas of artistic expertise include: art journaling, alternative photo processes, bookmaking and box making, creativity coaching, customizable legacy boxes, and installation art. Her work includes themes of nature, balance, and telling stories through individual and collective memories. She often incorporates scientific elements and concepts into her work. Collaborations with other artists and scientists energizes her creativity.
Mel Kolstad
Mel Kolstad is an artist, speaker, instructor and arts advocate who makes her home in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. She is a printmaker and collagist, specializing in large series of tiny art.
She is also delighted to be a member of Wisconsin Visual Artists – Northeast Chapter; ArtSpace Collective in Oshkosh; Free Range Art in Grafton; Open Door Artists in Fond du Lac; Wisconsin Craft; and volunteer curator for the Langdon Divers Gallery, located inside the Fond du Lac Public Library. She is honored to have been one of the 15 TEDx Fonddulac speakers of the class of ’18, where she gave a talk about her artwork. Mel has participated in many artist residencies throughout Wisconsin, teaches various classes around the state, and has exhibited in many solo exhibits in the Fox Cities and Northern Wisconsin. You can find her at melkolstad.com and on Instagram at @melkolstadart.
Elizabeth Lewis
Elizabeth Lewis is a grief support specialist, stress resilience trainer, spiritual counselor and motivational speaker whose areas of expertise include trauma healing, end-of-life care, suicide prevention, forgiveness facilitation, and healing art and writing. Recognizing that there is no “one-size-fits-all” path to wellness and a sense of wholeness, Elizabeth has pursued extensive training and certifications in diverse approaches to resilience, spirituality, healing and growth. Elizabeth also draws on her personal resilience and experience in overcoming trauma to help her clients find their own best path to healing.
Samantha Martinez
Samantha Martinez grew up on the shore of a small lake in the northwoods of Wisconsin. She enjoys working with earth-based media and creating things with her hands. She is a student of practices that support biodiversity and the restoration of culture, connection, and wellness. She has spent time working in seed conservation, on organic farms, with tribal environmental health programs, in native plant nurseries and community gardens, and cultivating bioregional herbalism and traditional handcraft in the Great Lakes region.
Norma Dycus Pennycuff
Norma Dycus Pennycuff was born and raised in Tennessee. She attended The University of Tennessee, Knoxville and finished a BFA in studio art with a concentration in film and photography. Her first art job was as an illustrator for Discovery Education drawing graphics for standardized tests. In 2011 her husband found a job in Three Lakes Wisconsin and the family packed up and made the Northwoods their new home. Norma’s love of art spread naturally to teaching and sharing art with friends and neighbors. Since making the Northwoods home she has become mindful of the relationship between art and nature. Norma currently works in cyanotype and is exploring natural plant materials as an alternative to traditional darkroom chemistry and toxic materials.
Katie Vagnino
Katie Vagnino is a poet, educator, and writer currently based in Minneapolis, MN. She earned her M.F.A. from Emerson College and has taught creative writing at UW-Eau Claire, the Loft Literary Center, and many other places. Katie has written everything from essays and criticism to opera librettos and museum exhibition catalogs. Her poems have appeared in more than a dozen literary journals and been featured on public transit. Her debut poetry collection, Imitation Crab, was published by Finishing Line Press in February 2021. To learn more, please visit katievagnino.com.