FACULTY - 2011-2012
Renato Abbate discovered his love of ceramics while studying under master potter Hiroshi Sueyoshi. He received his BA from the University of North Carolina-Wilmington in 2006 and is a recipient of the Anne Leck Boseman scholarship. Renato moved to Wilmington 15 years ago from Italy, and his international background enhances his life and work; he regards clay and ceramics from an anthropological perspective. Renato has been teaching and showing pottery in the Wilmington community for several years, where his work is currently for sale at the Cameron Art Museum. His latest collection is a series of magical cups of all shapes, sizes and colors.
Matthew Baumgardner is an innovative freelance photographer, designer and multimedia artist whose resume lists national and local companies such as Random House Publishers, Time Life Books, Avalon Publishing, AnimEigo and Wrightsville Beach Magazine. Drawing on his extensive knowledge of the arts and talent, Matt creates an experiential classroom where students can work with digital photography and film. He utilizes the camera to help teens see the beauty of the ordinary. Matt holds a BA in Public Communication from The American University. His personal interests include recording original experimental music, creative photography, mixed media art, and trying to get a bigger publisher to take on some of his mother’s wonderful children’s books.
Carson Capps is a proud Wilmington native! She went to the University of Georgia before transferring to NYU's CAP-21 and graduating from New School University. She stayed in New York City and work professionally for 10 years in all venues, most notably in Broadway's hit musical WICKED, in which she gave birth to a green witch. She has taught dance and theater nationally, and recently moved back to Wilmington, founded 212 Performing Arts, and had a little man named Jake, who she hopes grows up being part of the Dreams family.
Todd Carignan began teaching at DREAMS in the spring of 2011. In response to popular demand, he is offering our very first comic book class. Todd believes that comic books can be a great medium for self-expression. His goal is to assist our students with the technical side of storytelling, so his ideas can be most effective. He holds a BFA in Sequential Art with a minor in Art History from the Savannah College of Art and Design.
Jeneen Cleare of Brooklyn, NY, is a graduate of the High School of Performing Arts and has a BFA from Tisch School of the Arts, New York University. Her training includes African dance, Flamenco, Jazz and Tap. Jeneen has studied on scholarship in her youth with Ballet Hispanico, Dance Theatre of Harlem, and the Martha Graham Conservatory. Jeneen has taught dance and drama in both the New York and North Carolina public school systems. She also teaches at DREAMS and the Wilmington School of Ballet. As a professional dancer, Jeneen danced with several NYC dance companies and is now with Forward Motion Dance Company of Wilmington, North Carolina.
Peggy Cleary believes that each individual has a unique gift to be discovered, enriched, explored and shared with others. Peggy received her BFA from the School of Visual Art in New York and is currently a student at UNC-Pembroke in the MAT-Art Education Graduate Program. She has worked with communities on public art projects and has exhibited her work both nationally and internationally. Peggy received the Target Corporation Grant and Regional Artist Project Grant from United Arts Council of Wake County for the creation of a multi-component (six tabletops and eighteen bench tops) mosaic tile project illustrating the Character in Education text at an elementary school in Apex, NC. It is her desire to provide an emotionally safe environment that encourages young artists to express their ideas visually using tools and learned skills that allow their souls to shine. Her work can be viewed at http://www.creativewilmington.com/peggycleary
Sai Collins is a published singer-songwriter who arrived in Wilmington, North Carolina from Brooklyn, NY in 2002. His involvement in music and live performances has greatly contributed to his musical experience, performing with national & international touring artists. In 2005, Sai began studying African percussion under DREAMS teacher Cheick Sissoko. The following year, he began working as an assistant teacher in the youth African Drumming program at the DREAMS Center. He has since trained and performed with the Soko African Dance Ensemble, in addition to his work as a recording artist and performer. Sai currently holds a teaching position at DREAMS, working to aid the development of knowledge and confidence in community youth.
Susanna Douthit is a visual artist, costume designer, mask and hat maker, puppet maker, playwright and more. She has owned and operated her own costume shop, where she worked regularly with youth; taught creative dramatics to 5th-graders via the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s Arts in Education Program; and taught costume, set and lighting design and theatrical makeup to 5-16-year-olds as the director of the Garde Arts Center of New London, CT’s summer youth program. Susanna has also served as the Director of the San Francisco Dance Center, the Executive Director of San Francisco’s Dance Through Time—a dance company that preserves historical social dance and presents educational programs to elementary and middle school students—and the Director of Development of the Mark Foehringer Dance Project. Her accomplishments include extensive work with the Ballet Nacional de Peru, designing costumes for the world premiere of Our Town, the Opera, and co-designing and organizing the Costume Mural Project, a 12’x39’ outdoor mural featuring her costumes. She holds a BA from the University of Connecticut.
Ron Dortch has two decades of experience as a teacher and professional actor, with special devotion to instructing youth of the inner city—including conducting workshops in inner-city schools, at the New York City Youth Offenders Deterrent Program, and at the Kinston, NC’s Project FBI juvenile delinquency prevention program. As Dramatist in Residence for the Goldsboro, NC Arts Council, Ron developed and coordinated a city and countywide drama program, created and hosted a children’s show for cable television, organized a teen acting troupe which toured prisons, hospitals and schools. Ron served on the summer faculty of the North Carolina School of the Arts for several years, and has been an artist in residence in many venues, including Winston Salem State University, A&T State University, and Spruce Pine Arts Council. He was the director, performer and organizer of the North Carolina Shakespeare Company and taught in the Chicago Urban Gateways Artist-in-Schools program. Ron has acted in regional theaters throughout the country and internationally, and has appeared in film and television.
Georgia Mastroieni began her love of art education as an intern at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She went on to study studio art and art history at Bard College in Upstate New York. Her work has been featured in group exhibitions in upstate New York as well as Montreal. Since moving to Wilmington in 2005, she has been an art instructor at SOLA and the Racine Arts Center, and is currently the Curator of Education at the Cameron Art Museum. Georgia has been teaching visual art at Dreams since 2006.
Allison Mason is proud to be a Pirate: She attended East Carolina University School of Music, graduating in 2005 with a bachelor's degree in Music Therapy. Allison is a North Carolina native who teaches piano and guitar lessons to students of all ages, and provides group and individual music therapy sessions in preschools, public school, special education, assisted living facilities, and hospital settings. She uses her credentials as a Board Certified Music Therapist and Certified Child Life Specialist to teach children strategies to cope with anxiety and to facilitate appropriate emotional expression. She loves to travel, especially with her husband Gregory and her daughter Callie.
Suzanne Palmer received her B.A. in Dance at the University of
Colorado in 1985. She has instructed dance with the Kinetic Collage Dance
Collective, African American Dance Ensemble Residency Project, and is
co-founder and instructor of the Dance Cooperative, a local non-profit
providing modern, jazz, ballet, hip-hop, and African dance classes. Suzanne
is also a well known local choreographer, working with Wilmington Independent
Choreographers, for the modern dancer and Pamoja!, an African drumming
and dance company.
Abby Spangel Perry’s art is inspired by our biological world. She often focuses on nature's fragile beauty and the tension between concepts such as hope through nurturing and creation, and fear through neglect and destruction. Abby holds both a BFA and an MFA in Painting from East Carolina University. She was 1996 Americorps participant with the City of Wilmington, an experience that taught her the value of grassroots community organization and action. The recipient of a NC Arts Council Regional Emerging Artist Grant in 2004-2005 and 2008-2009, she currently teaches at Cape Fear Community College and has exhibited work in solo and group exhibitions at locations throughout the state, including the Cameron Art Museum, the Greenville Museum of Art, Green Hill Center for North Carolina Art, Wilmington's Independent Art Company, and the NC Aquarium at Fort Fisher. Through studio practice, conceptual thought and teaching, she works toward giving visual form to current ecological issues. www.abbyspangelperry.com
Stephanie Rackley received her Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Ceramics from East Carolina University and is currently working towards a Masters of Arts in Teaching with a focus on Elementary Education from Liberty University in Virginia. Her ceramic work consists mostly of sculptural pieces created using a slab-building technique. When not at DREAMS, she works as a paraeducator at Murrayville Elementary School.
Loraine Scalamoni holds a BFA with a concentration in Illustration and Fine Art from Hunter College. Prior to relocating to Wilmington, North Carolina she instructed Model Drawing and Art for the Fashion Designer at Manhattan’s Parsons School of Design and was an Assistant Professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology, also located in Manhattan. Since living in Wilmington, Loraine has focused on fine art and has taught classes at the St. John’s Museum, The Community Arts Center, Cape Fear Academy and DREAMS of Wilmington. www.artbyloraine.com
Loulie Scharf creates colorful mixed media artwork that blends realism with fantasy. Animals, people and symbols are common subjects in her art. She began painting 15 years ago, and her art has been featured in solo shows, group exhibitions and catalogues. Loulie is currently pursuing a Masters of Illustration, with a goal of writing and illustrating children’s books. Besides art and family, Loulie’s passions include animals and the environment, and her artwork often represents those passions.
Michael Van Hout is well-known for his metalwork and sculptures, which are widely exhibited throughout the state. The Cameron Art Museum has hosted a corps of his giraffes and a zeal of his zebras; the education building and library at UNC-Wilmington are home to several of his aquatic installations; and two of the state’s aquariums feature his underwater creations, swimming right alongside the real thing. His recent installations are displayed on site at several area elementary schools—a map of the world at Forest Hills, sea life at Ogden, and a tree of life at Winter Park—as well as at the Children’s Museum of Wilmington and Airlie Gardens. A graduate of UNC-Greensboro, Michael has recently returned to his roots, taking a fresh approach to printmaking. He is a full-time studio artist with space at ACME Art, and his work is exhibited at several galleries throughout the state. To see Michael in action or to check out his painting, prints and sculptures, visit http://picasaweb.google.com/VanHoutM.
Chamisa Wheeler bio to come soon.
STAFF
Matthew Baumgardner, Graphic Designer & Teaching Artist:
Matt is an innovative freelance photographer, designer and multimedia artist whose resume lists national and local companies such as Random House Publishers, Time Life Books, Avalon Publishing, AnimEigo and Wrightsville Beach Magazine. Drawing on his extensive knowledge of the arts and talent, Matt creates an experiential classroom where students can work with digital photography and film. He utilizes the camera to help teens see the beauty of the ordinary. Matt holds a BA in Public Communication from The American University. His personal interests include recording original experimental music, creative photography, mixed media art, and trying to get a bigger publisher to take on some of his mother’s wonderful children’s books.
Sarah Carpenter, Lead Program Coordinator:
is a Wilmington native who has returned to her old stomping grounds after several years living and working in Brazil. A graduate of Temple University (BA, Women’s Studies), Sarah’s experience includes coordinating workshops with community youth in Costa Rica; teaching English and translating Portuguese for foreigners in Rio de Janeiro; coordinating a Teen Web Project in Brazil; and working for Ipas International, a nonprofit dedicated to women’s health advocacy, in both Chapel Hill and Rio de Janeiro. She is fluent in Portuguese and well versed in Spanish, a skill set that comes in handy at DREAMS.
Emily Colin, Associate Director:
has worked at DREAMS in a variety of capacities since 2003. She holds a BA in Psychology, with a second major in Literature/Media Studies, from Duke University, and an MS in Family Studies and Human Services, with a specialization in Youth Development, from Kansas State University’s Great Plains Interactive Distance Education Alliance (GPIDEA) program, which capitalizes on the institutional resources of 11 major research universities to sponsor graduate education programs through distributed learning technologies. A 2001-2003 William C. Friday Human Relations Fellow, Emily’s background includes many years as a classical violinist, as well as substantial writing and editing experience. Prior to coming to DREAMS, she served as Editor-in-Chief of Coastal Carolina Press, a nonprofit publishing company dedicated to preserving the history, culture and activities of the North Carolina coast, and co-founder of Carolina Women’s Partnership, a nonprofit organization through which she published two books featuring women leaders throughout the state of North Carolina. Her first novel, The Memory Thief, is scheduled to be released by Ballantine Books in 2012.
Tracy Franklin, Administrative Assistant:
Tracy Franklin moved to Wilmington in 2007, when her husband retired from a 20-year Navy career. The diverse positions she has held include: document coordinator at AAIPharma Services, counselor at the WIC program in Philadelphia, armed guard at Submarine Base New London in Connecticut, and guardian ad litem right here in town. Tracy is an avid photographer, a skill that’s needed at DREAMS more often than you’d think. Her ideal day incorporates decoupage, the opportunity to use power tools, eating a good meal (especially Chinese food!) and camping on the beach. She’s excited to bring her unsurpassed organizational skills and technological savvy to DREAMS, especially as we transition into our new home on the North Side.
Teresa Pittman, Grants Finance Manager:
Teresa Pittman is a finance and human resource professional with over 20 years of experience in corporate accounting and employee management; the proud mother of Lily; and owner of Toro, who is 100% Carolina dog and proud of it. She embraces her alternate identity as Trixie, lounge singer extraordinaire, performing around town and making special guest appearances at DREAMS events. Teresa is addicted to the New York Times Sunday crossword puzzle, loves cooking, and indulges her passion for creative writing whenever time allows.
Caroline Stayer, Program Coordinator:
Caroline Stayer graduated from Grinnell College (amid the cornfields of Iowa) with a BA in psychology and sociology with honors in 2010. She grew up in Birmingham, AL, where she developed a love of nature, outdoor sports, and working with youth. Her passion is to help young people discover and strengthen their own unique talents through self-expression. When she's not at DREAMS, Caroline enjoys running at the beach with her dog (Satchel), cooking, reading, and making art! Look out for her stencils and paintings at local art fairs.
Tracy Wilkes, Co-Founder and Executive Director of DREAMS:
Tracy received a BS in communications and theater arts from Emerson College and a Masters in Social Work (child psychotherapy) from Boston College. She has received the YWCA Woman of Achievement Award in the Arts and was voted by her peers and named by the Wilmington Star-News as one of the top 50 most influential people in Wilmington. Prior to her work in the non-profit world, she was an advertising executive for a theatrical ad agency in New York City, where she developed marketing campaigns for Broadway shows, Alvin Ailey Dance Company, and Radio City Music Hall. Tracy lives in Wilmington with her husband, Paul, and her officious Corgi, Gwen.
