Creative Escapes For Small Groups & Individuals
Hemlocks Studio Faculty
Instructors Bios
Danie Janov is an artist/art educator with 25 years of experience
teaching art and design at the college and university level and continues to teach
workshops here and yon. She has a BA from Georgetown College in Art and English, an MA from Radford University and a doctorate from Ball State University in Art / Art Education and is a signature member of the Watercolor Society of North Carolina. Her own artwork in watermedia reflects her interest in nature from intricate shapes to simple abstractions of pattern and light.
Monita Mahoney is an award-winning multimedia artist and a signature member of the South Carolina Watermedia Society. Her primary focus is watermedia exploration, although she works in many mediums. She says, "Working in more than one medium is like a farmer rotating his crops to replenish the earth…each medium I use enhances my use of the others."
As an experienced art administrator, an art teacher and an artist, she understands the nuances of the art process and is an "ARTapedia" of tips, techniques and magic tricks.
Danalee Pipes spent 20 years as a left-brained RN and "retired". Her daughter Sarah encouraged her to take an art class for "therapy." One class led to another and eventually led to Dannie being a frequent student at Hemlocks. She now applies her skills in organization with a creative eye. Comfortable with two-and three-dimensional art forms, she combines imaginative ideas and innovative techniques with unique materials. She is the Visual Art chair for the Stokes County Arts Council
and the "resident" artist at Stokes Opportunity Center-for disabled adults,
where her "students" have become her new passion.
Sue Russell has a BFA in Graphic Design
from the University of
Georgia, an MA in Art/Art Education from Arizona State University and is a signature member of the South Carolina Watermedia Society.
She has taught art at every level for a gazillion years and taught, worked and exhibited and lived in Saudi Arabia and Germany. She declares that there may be instructors as good as she is, but there are none who are better. She carries a sketchbook wherever she goes, capturing movement with line, space with shapes and ideas in words. After the images and ideas mesh, she takes a paint-filled brush and lets the excitement of the moment emerge from the surface, sometimes quietly, sometimes with fanfare.