OUR INSTRUCTORS
We wouldn’t be who were were without our incredible instructors.
Our teachers honour Homer Watson by teaching the next generation of Canadian Artists.
Ana Vatres
What is your artistic specialty? My artistic speciality is all studio techniques of painting and drawing in all stills as well
Website: anavatres.com
What do you love most about art? Art is thinking, it is my decision how to present my thought or my vision.
What fictional character would you most like to meet? Bugs Bunny
If you could eat your weight in one food, what would it be? Chocolate
Cheryl-Ann Hills
What is your artistic specialty? Oil landscape painting, especially plein air work.
Website: cherylannhillsartist.com
Social Media: @cherylannhillsartist (both FB and Insta)
What’s your best piece of advice as an artist? Create work that YOU are excited about and it will show in the work. And never give up, ignore naysayers, stand by your beliefs!
What fictional character would you most like to meet? I’d like to meet Loki of Asgard. As the god of mischief, he challenges everyone around him to be the best version of themselves. He doesn’t put importance on others opinions and he’s not afraid to re-invent himself at any given moment.
What do you love most about art? Art is a deeply personal observation of a moment in time, fleeting, precious and remarkable in all of its many forms. Art is the universal language.
Dottie Locks
What is your best piece of advice as an artist? Don’t Give up. Keep making art. Art takes time, patience and practice. Take breaks, but return to your piece with a fresh eye and perspective. Keep a sketchbook with you always, and write down everything from your random thoughts and ideas, to poems, words you love, etc… Take time to day dream; (Sometimes I dream of impacting the world in such a positive way that I inspire young minds and artists to find passion and compassion for all the beauty in the world, and create ways to honour and help Mother Gaia).
What do you love most about art? I love that art has the power and magic to inspire, to heal, to make you think and rethink things, to open your mind, to open your heart. Art can make you feel happy, sad, angry… good art produces a response/reaction in the viewer. Art is powerful.
My Super power: If I had a superpower it would be to have plants and trees grow from my every footstep, that would blossom and be so strong that they could never be cut down. And from this great forests would grow and survive, and the trees would live to be 3000 years old or more, and that animals would once again have their homes back.
Janice Saunders
My artistic speciality: Painting in oils and acrylic, and digital photography, but I’ve also done some textile art, pastel, mixed media and book arts.
Website: janicesaunders.ca
Instagram: @jr_saunders
Best advice for an artist? Keep learning and challenge yourself to try new things. Art is full of wonderful surprises.
Fictional character I’d love to meet? I love mysteries, especially old fashioned British style cozies, so I’d love to meet Agatha Christie’s Belgian detective Hercule Poirot or Father Brown from the series by G.K. Chesterton.
Eat my weight in food? Ice cream. There are so many amazing flavours.
My superpower? Flying. I’m afraid of heights but soaring over the treetops would be very cool, and also a great way to get places fast. And think of the photographic possibilities!
Janus
Specialty: Ceramacist
Social Media: Facebook: Janus Dances with ghosts Sculpture Instagram: @Janus_Sculpture
What is the biggest highlight of your career as an artist? 911 sculptural installation in New York
Katherine Olenic
Specialties: Comics, Animation, Drawing Cartoons
Website: https://www.katherine-olenic.com/
Social Media: https://www.instagram.com/artby_katherineolenic/
What do you love most about art? Creating your own worlds
If you could have one superpower what would it be? Magic powers like Dr.Strange
Kenzie Whittal
What is your artistic specialty?
You can typically find me covered in acrylic paint and clay! I love to take detailed nature shots though manual photography and use the images as inspiration for my acrylic paintings. I also really love working with clay, both slab building and on the wheel.
Website: www.viewfinderartstudio.com
Social Media handles:
Instagram: @viewfinder_art_studio @viewfinder_fine_art Facebook: @ViewfinderArtStudio
What’s your best piece of advice as an artist?
My best piece of advice as an artist is to not be so hard on yourself, there are no mistakes in art!
What do you love most about art?
Art provides a creative escape that we all need and builds a community. It makes me smile knowing many children have art as ‘their thing or extracurricular’, something I so badly needed when I was younger. Art is so important for self awareness and expression. I love that art is subjective and can have a different meaning to each person.
If you could eat your weight in one food, what would it be?
Potatoes. If I could eat my weight in one food it would have to be potatoes! There’s just so many different varieties; mashed, scalloped, baked, fries and then there is chips, I love them all!
Lambertus De Graaf
Specialty: Historic periods of art, acrylic and oil painting, art history, mural and dioramas, artistic graphics, mentoring potential artist of all ages.
Social Media: https://www.facebook.com/bert.degraaf.986
What’s your best piece of advice as an artist? I would say be yourself, but do not be afraid to learn from the Master of Art in the past and present. I like to copy the art of the masters, now so easy on the internet, not to prove something or pretend to create a forgery…but to take the challenge to learn from their techniques and be amazed at the little things that you learn to admire from their skills that you would not see otherwise.
What do you love most about art? Starting at age 14, the arts, especially painting, has been a source of endless inspiration. It is such an amazing thing that art has been around for thousands of years, and artists have been important treasures in every society. It is so awesome to be part of that creative group of artisans that reflect and challenge their cultural society.
What important artists would you most like to meet? John James Audubon, Rembrandt, Raphael, Botticelli, Winslow Homer, Robert Bateman, and so many more of course.
What is my favorite food? My favorite meals combine a paint party with well needed delicious food and drink breaks. Flavoured soups, some salad, lots of hearty breads, and reasonably healthy fruit pies or cakes. And coffee of course.
Logan Soeder
Specialty: Watercolour (forests and illustration)
Website: www.logansoeder.com
Social Media: FB: Logan Soeder, Instagram: @logansoederart
What’s your best piece of advice as an artist? Don’t take advice, allow yourself to flow into who you are.
What fictional character would you most like to meet? Gandalf from the Hobbit/ Lord of the Rings
Moumita Roychowdhury
Specialties: Teaching landscapes in Watercolour as well as Acrylics. On one hand, I enjoy the sublime transparency of watercolours and the fluidity that it offers while on the other hand, I am fascinated by the vibrant boldness of acrylics which renders a richness to my landscapes.
Website: https://moumitaroychowdhury.weebly.com/
Social Media: Instagram: @moumita.dg Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/moumita.roychowdhury.3
What do you love most about art? What I love most about art is its ability to show things in a new light. I feel every artist has the unique ability to present a fresh perspective to even a mundane every-day scene from life and helps one see the unseen, hear the untold and discover the joy of exploring something unknown. For me, art is something that brings people closer to their inner self and express their deepest feelings through their brush strokes, almost like connecting one to nature and God.
If you had to eat your weight in one food, what would it be? It would probably be Sushi. I am a big fan of this Japanese dish and can eat it anytime of the day, seven days of the week!
Trevor Waurechen
Specialties: Block print, Acrylics, Cartooning, New Media/Electronic art/Interactive
Website: www.waurechen.com
Social Media: Instagram: @waurechen
Best piece of advice as an artist: Experiment, screw up, make mistakes. There’s no better teacher.
If I had to eat my weight in food: It would obviously be pizza. Isn’t eating your weight’s worth the goal at any pizza meal?
Past Instructors
Aatiqa Javad
Abeer al Harir
Andrea Lorentz
Atena Ganea
Ayesha Shafiq
Barb Di Renzo
Brenda Alexander
Brett Holmes
Candice Leyland
Carrie Lam
Catherine Herzog
Elvan Suzer
Erienne Rennick
Joe Fansher
Katie Jetter
Kristine May
Lauren Perrin
Marion Anderson
Meg Leslie
Melika Hashemi
Michael Wiens
Patricia Beader
Pearl Van Geest
Rachel Tanner
Ralf Wall (Raflar)
Ruza (Rose) Vatres
Scott McNichol
Singithi Kandage
Soheila Esfahani
Supria Karmaker
Thomas Reynolds
Todd Durnan
