Instructors

Get to know your instructors! Not all instructors are included on this page, as some join us for pop up classes or special events.

Marge has many talents is often to be found teaching or demonstrating metal working techniques for jewelry.

Deb joins us each summer to teach Raku Fire Dragons! Youth are introduced to dragons from multiple cultures, then design their own and write their story. These projects are often entered into the 4-H fair!

Sandy Williams is a professional illustrator with a series of how to books. She teaches pastel, watercolor, colored pencil, scratch board, and more!

Sue facilitates Drawing from the Model on Wednesdays evenings from April – October along with Shirley Roti Roti. Additionally, you can find Sue’s jewelry in the gift shop, and she sits on the Gallery Committee of the BAC.

Lisa teaches digital photography for the art center. She works with students at all levels from novice to advanced.

Kimberly recently joined the BAC instructor roster teaching drawing. She is a practicing artist from South Bend with membership in multiple area art organizations.

Marie holds an MFA in Ceramics with a special interest in Raku. Marie teaches all levels of pottery at the Art Center, manages the pottery studio, facilitates exhibit installations, and holds seats on the board and the gallery committee.

Nana teaches all levels of pottery, monthly Make & Mingle, and a variety of mediums. She holds a BFA in Ceramics.

A Ukrainian artist living in Saint Joseph, MI., she received her Master of Art degree at Lviv National Academy of Art in Ukraine – Majoring in Textile Design and Decoration

Olga has taught a variety of art classes at the Buchanan Art Center since 2014 including: Silk Painting, Ukrainian Easter Eggs, Reverse Glass Painting, Paper Cutting, Shibori, and Fold Painting.

She has also worked as an art instructor at the University of Wisconsin Marinette in the Continuing Education Department teaching adult and kids summer program classes at the Gifted and Talented Academy.

Olga works is in different media: reverse painting on glass, black ink and pen graphic, silk painting. She is an award winning artist at state and regional levels and is a current member of Northern Indiana Artists Inc.

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I am a wife and mother of three daughters.

A self-taught artist, I dabble in almost every medium, but especially love knitting, calligraphy, watercolors, and collage.

I studied elementary education and early childhood development, receiving a BA with a focus on arts and childhood education and minor in interpersonal communications. child advocacy is my passion. I love being a facilitator of art for young children and seeing them experience and explore art for the first or 1,001st time is very special.

I focus on the process of making artwork with children over the execution of a set project to allow them to learn, experiment, and explore; facilitating their own expression while giving range to their curiosity and autonomy over their artistic vision.

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Cathy Tapia was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. She studied ceramics at Northeastern Illinois University, focusing on hand-built stoneware and raku sculpture. After graduating from college she studies at Lill Street Studios in Chicago. she took many years off to raise her family, and was reintroduced to ceramics by Marie Remington in her adult classes at Buchanan High School.

She now creates her work at the Buchanan Art Center. her current work reflects an interest in making impressions on the clay surface to reflect nature or to create intricate patterns on functional forms.

Cathy has won several awards for her work at the annual Student-Faculty Exhibition at the South Bend Museum of Art. She had a solo show, Clay Impressions, in 200 at the Buchanan Art Center and has also exhibited her work in the juried show Underneath It All at St. Mary’s college in 2005. She has been a yearly participant in the Buchanan Empty Bowls project since 2001. Cathy’s work is available at many local art and craft shows  throughout the year and year round at the Buchanan Art Center and Lemon Creek Winery.

At the Buchanan Art Center, she teaches children’s and adult pottery classes. She has taught Special Education classes for the Buchanan Community Schools for 25 years.