Mary Wolfe

Beginning & Intermediate Teacher

Surprisingly, Ms. Mary grew up in a non-art family. As an adult, when she started pursuing her art passion, she found real enjoyment in sharing the creative process with others. She finds joy in talking with parents who encourage their children’s creativity. Art is entwined in every aspect of our lives and she enjoys showing children and adults alike how to release their inner creativity.

Mary has been painting for over 40 years with students ranging in age from 4 to 101. She continually attends workshops and experiments with new mediums and techniques to share with her students.

April Vander Hoek

Beginning & Intermediate Teacher (younger grades)

Miss April has a lot of experience both in and out of the classroom setting working with young children. She enjoys helping to teach children about the wonders of art and explore that they can be successful in their art.

Diane Lang

Beginning & Intermediate teacher (younger grades)

Mrs. Diane has been teaching Art Classes at the Center for 8 years.  Her background and interests have a wide variety mainly centered around children. She enjoys encouraging and seeing her students confidence build through art.  Her personal enjoyment is found in family and watercolor painting.

Astrid Vander Hoek

Guest Art Teacher

Miss Astrid was born and raised in Puyallup. Since she was a young girl she had a passion for the arts. Through taking classes since a young age at Fred Oldfield’s, as well as other art studios, has become one of the greatest contributors to her teaching. She loves working with her students to give back and further jump-start their creativity.

Aletha Deuel

Teen Advanced Teacher
Continuing Adult Education

Born in Phoenix, Arizona, Aletha is at home with the colors of the Southwest, mid-west, and Northwest, having lived in all three. Aletha has received many awards in juried shows and has had numerous one and two-person gallery shows around the Pacific Northwest. Her work is found in both private and corporate collections. She loves to work on location as much as possible. Aletha will always remain a student of Art. Aletha is a dedicated teacher at the Fred Oldfield Western Heritage Center.

Anna Neshyba

Beginning & Intermediate Teacher

Anna Jane Neshyba is a working artist based in Olympia, Washington. She uses both traditional and non-traditional mediums to create unique works that engage with the natural and digital world. She is interested in illustrations that are surreal and dreamlike, but use recognizable iconography to invoke tone and atmosphere. Her favorite medium is plain ol’ pen and paper, but has dabbled in virtual reality (VR), using her computer science background to create virtual installations. Her work has been published in The Mill, Willamette University’s literary and arts journal, and she has collaborated with the Hallie Ford Museum of Art to create VR exhibits. She believes that art is resistance, and that everyone should have the opportunity to create, play, and celebrate imagination.

Sophie Marie

Dance Teacher

Sophie Marie is a Bennington College Graduate with a Bachelors in Dance Composition and Neuroscience. She has extensively studied Dance History and Anatomy and includes both subjects into all of her dance classes. Sophie is also a professional dancer and choreographer working in Tacoma and Seattle. In the last several years she has even produced several dance films with her company Das Biest Performance Project.

Gosia Yilmaz

Photography Teacher

Hi, my name is Malgorzata Yilmaz, short name –  Gosia.I’m originally from Poland, where I graduated from Art School as an Art Photographer and where I’ve worked for over 10 years with model agencies and magazines in Warsaw.

Photography has always been my passion. For me it is a way to connect with people who appreciate art and beauty, like I do. Becoming a photographer gave me a new perspective on everyday life. I enjoy connecting people with their past, remind them of people, places, feelings, and stories.

I want to mention that living and working both in Europe and here in United States has broadened my awareness and provided me with experience in working with diverse groups of people, a necessary ingredient in today’s workplace.I specialize in portrait, fashion, family photography. But I’m particularly passionate about portraits.

Carrie Foster

Drawing Teacher

Carrie Foster, co-owner and designer of Tacoma arts screen printing business, Shroom Brothers, obtained her design degree at Highline Community College. She also attended Cornish College for the Arts, studying oils, film, and intensive figure drawing classes.
Carrie began drawing at a very early age, and it has remained her passion always. It has led her to work in several media, including papier mache, sewing and textile arts, and she has become an adept in handmade paper-making.

Carrie enjoys the different artists’ materials she uses in drawing and design, and her dexterous use of graphite, charcoal, gouache and inks show she is very accomplished, multi-faceted, and dedicated to her
art.

Teresa StaalCowley

Calligraphy Teacher

Teresa has degrees from several universties including Evergreen State College and The Art Institute of San Diegeo. She is a Mixed Media and Calligraphy artist.

Tracey Marcrum

Art Teacher

Tracey Marcrum has been an Artist in all the genres most of her life.After attending Seattle Art School, she immediately worked as a professional graphic layout artist, cover artist for writers and poets,  and a myriad of other graphic arts projects, including teaching layout methodologies. Her love of art inspired her to teach art at many classrooms from Spokane to North Carolina, Texas, and beyond. She finally returned to her home state, and has expanded her knowledge of working with watercolor, acrylics, mixed-media, and the textile arts. Tracey believes strongly in teaching art to kids, as it expands their appreciation of things around them while honing their confidence, and thinking skills. “Art is life, and life IS Art!” Is her mantra, and she is dedicated to her teaching ,  and her students.