Carmel Academy of the Arts Information on Class Instructors

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Magdalena Segovia
Magdalena Hoyos-Segovia was born in Veracruz, Mexico. She studied drawing from a young age, and later completed collage programs focusing on Graphic Design, Fashion, Black and White Photography, along with other art forms. Primarily, Magdalena is a painter, working with egg tempera and oil paints. She uses the human figure to portray emotions, gestures, and feelings, keeping the faces anonymous and the colors bright to better convey the beauty and energy of her message. Magdalena draws inspiration from the iconic figures and ‘Madonna’s’ of the great masters, but tries to keep the elements modern. She has shown work in Mexico and Brazil, as well as many other locations. Recently, she has opened the Magdalena Gallery of Art and founded the Carmel Academy of the Arts, both located in the Arts and Design District of Carmel, Indiana. Magdalena’s work can be viewed at www.artmagdalenagallery.com.

 

Jan Johnson
Jan Johnson attended Indiana State University and is a faculty member of several art centers and community centers, including the Indianapolis Art Center. In addition to teaching at these centers, she has taught for library art programs, bead stores, bead societies, children’s art enrichment programs, and has conducted her own workshops. Jan’s beadwork and wirework can be found in several fine art fairs throughout the Midwest and Southeast, as well as in retail stores and galleries. Jan is a founding member of the Indiana Bead Society.

 

Gayla Hodson
Gayla Hodson was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1958. She received a BA in Art Education from Southern Illinois University in 1982. She began her career teaching art in a K-12 school. In 2005, Gayla left her full time teaching job to become a painter. She continues to teach drawing and painting part time at the Indianapolis Art Center and the Indianapolis Museum of Art. Her first show was in the Broad Ripple Spring Gallery Tour of 2006, and she had exhibitions in both the Fall Broad Ripple Gallery Tour and the Holiday Tour in Broad Ripple. She has also shown work at her studio at the Stutz Gallery. She is a member of a watercolor group, Hoosier Salon, and the National Art Education Association.

Artist Statement:
“What do I want to say with my art? I don’t try to paint what I see but rather, what I feel. I want to paint feelings of happiness, peace and joy. Creating positive feelings is most important to me. My paintings are colorful, color evokes feelings.

I love color…. Color is endless….

I paint with oils because I like the way I can achieve a sense of depth and intensity with the colors. I paint with watercolors because I like the spontaneity and transparency I can achieve with the colors.”

 

Mary Johnston
Mary Johnston grew up in Duluth, Minnesota and is a graduate of the University of Minnesota, Duluth. She has spent many years working in the graphic arts field and is by large a self-taught artist. Lake Superior is her muse, as it is a beautiful palate of water, sky, and forest. Though Mary has lived in a number of places in the United States, the scenes from the Great Lakes region continue to be the main focus or her creativity and the inspiration of her artwork. She has studied under the master watercolor painter, Cheng Khee Chee, and nature photographers, Nadine and Craig Blacklock, through the University of Minnesota continuing education workshops. Her mentor for oils is the internationally acclaimed artist, Magdalena Hoyos-Segovia. Presently, Mary resides in Carmel, Indiana and works from a home studio. The backdrop is a pond frequented by a wide variety of wild waterfowl surrounded by the large sky vista of the prairie. Her family’s cabin on Eagle Lake near Iron River, Wisconsin provides her with another view of the northern landscape. Mary’s website can be visited at www.maryjohnstonpaintings.com.

 

John Reynolds
John Reynolds was born in Boonville, Indiana in 1944. He graduated from Ball State University in 1973 with a Masters of Architecture. It was his lifelong dream to be an artist, and has been his third career for the past twelve years, after architecture and jewelry design/manufacturing/retail. John enjoys portrait painting, which he teaches at the Indianapolis Art Center. He paints self portraits, portraits for the joy of painting, and portraits by commission. He also enjoys painting farm animals, which many times, becomes an animal portrait. He enjoys being close to nature and sees God’s creative hand in everything he views and experiences. John also paints plein aire landscapes. These paintings are often finished in the studio and sometimes done completely from sketches, reference photos, and small color studies done in the field. He also does still life subjects as they are very convenient to paint and control in the studio in all weather conditions. John’s studio is in the historic Stutz Building in downtown Indianapolis.

 

Shelly Savini
Shelly Savini is a designer, artist, and self-employed business woman. She has been teaching art for 9 years with a degree from IU/Herron School of Art. She currently teaches classes at the Indianapolis Art Center, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, and St. Susanna Elementary School in Plainfield, Indiana. She lives in Broad Ripple and works all over Indiana painting murals, furniture, and faux finishes. In addition, Shelly has exhibited several solo art shows locally and taken part in public events such as ORANJE and Wild Women. She has done floral arranging at the Lily House, visual merchandising at Nordstrom, and is the owner of ‘Super Wallz’ painting and design business. Shelly has received awards in academics, design, drawing, and writing. Currently, she is pursuing a MAE at the Herron School of Art. Shelly’s website for her business can be visited at www.superwallz.com.

 

Martha Koen
Martha Koen was born in England in 1948. She graduated from the Brighton College of Art focusing her studies on Fine Arts, Painting, and Printmaking. She has been a practicing painter and illustrator all her life, and she is also an iconographer. She has been home-schooling her children for the past 13 years and in that time, Martha has taught art and many other subjects, and has been a swim coach. In the midst of all the joys and trials of raising a family and educating children, creativity has been like a golden thread running through her life. Presently, Martha is teaching iconography at the Indianapolis Art Center.

Martha describes her class, Who Are You?
“Using painting and/or collage, explore a precious or important part of your life and create something beautiful, and learn about yourself. Instruction will be given on how to paint and on composition. We will also look at various artists’ work and see how they uniquely expressed that which they treasured.”

 

Cathy Kravitz
Cathy Kravitz is originally from Colorado and has been living in Carmel, Indiana for the past 20 years. Cathy began her career in elementary education until her children were born, at which time she became an artist. She has taught art classes for the last 18 years as well as established her own business, Creative Arts by Cathy. Cathy primarily works in clay and has sold pieces throughout the world. She has exhibited in New York City as well as many locales in the Indianapolis area. Cathy recently finished writing and illustrating her first children’s book, A Dog’s Day, with Dog Ear Publishing. She has just collaborated with a special education teacher, Susan Surgoth, to illustrate her series of 10 books about special needs children (Available through Authorhouse or www.keytomychildren.com). Cathy’s website can be visited at www.creativeartsbycathy.com.

 

Janelle Keele
Janelle Keele graduated from Indiana State University with a BS degree in Interior Design. She is a self-taught knitter who enjoys making hand-made gifts for family and friends. Janelle currently teaches classes at the Indianapolis Art Center, where she also works part time at the Guest Service’s Desk and volunteers in the Art Center’s Frank M. Basile Gallery Shop.

 

Theresa Bayt M.F.A., M.D.
Theresa Bayt is an artist and physician working in the Indianapolis area.  Her art career began while studying design at the Herron School of Art and Design where she graduated with a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Visual Communications, honors of High Distinction.  While continuing to practice her love for art and design, she enrolled in the study of science and medicine and, went on to complete her Doctorate of Medicine at Indiana University.  Over the past 15 years she has alternated her practice of art and medicine and believes in the natural continuum that exists between the two disciplines. She teaches that Medicine is an art, and believes that Art can be a healing medium.  Theresa practices on the north side of Indianapolis and maintains an art studio in Broad Ripple.  Her intentions while working with students at the Carmel Academy of Arts is to inspire the creative process and to explore the relationships between creativity, imagination, and discovery.

 

Gwen Haag
Gwen Haag is a 1984 graduate of Indiana University, where she majored in Art Education K-12. She earned a Master’s degree from Butler University in Administration and Supervision. Gwen has been in education for the past 21 years, and is currently teaches art and Carmel Middle and Clay Middle schools. She comes from a family of artists and art teachers, and definitely enjoys the arts herself. Watching students grow as artists gives Gwen great joy, and she thinks it is fun to see students who don’t think they are artistic to discover a medium they find enjoyable and successful. Her own favorite mediums are sculpture and painting. Gwen resides in Brownsburg, Indiana with her two teenage sons.