Our TeamTeaching Artists

Anne earned her BA in Art from the University of Southern Maine and returned to earn her BFA in Art Education with a studio concentration in photography. Anne is a certified K-12 visual arts teacher and received the Art Education Discipline Award from USM for her approach to curriculum and her volunteer work with at-risk youth. Anne’s studio work includes black and white photography, collage, mixed media and clay.

Ryan Adams is a Portland Maine artist, born and raised, where he lives with his artist and designer wife and their two daughters. His background in traditional graffiti led him to creating large-scale mural work as well as hand lettering. His signature “gem” style of work is a geometric breakdown of letterforms with shadows and highlights embedded within, to create depth and movement throughout the pieces. (more…)

Gary Amara is an actor, a photographer, and a mathematics teacher, living in Maine since 1998. Gary graduated from Boston College where he studied filmmaking and psychology. After moving to Maine in 1998, he moved from filmmaking to still photography, specializing in portraiture. Gary joined Portland Playback Theater in 2014 after studying improvisational acting with David LaGraffe. (more…)

Annegret Baier is a hand drummer and percussionist who plays and sings traditional West African rhythms and songs, performed on original African-made percussion instruments such as the Djembe, Kpanlogo, and Balafon. Annegret is a classically trained musician from the University of Music in Stuttgart, Germany, who moved to America in 1994 and lives in Portland, Maine. (more…)

Gretchen Berg is a teaching artist/educator with more than 30 years of experience. She is known for her collaborative approach, working with educators and students to integrate theater, dance, visual arts, and classroom curriculum in New England schools, community centers, and museums. (more…)

Mia Bogyo is a recent graduate of the University of Southern Maine. She received a BFA in K–12 art education with a studio concentration in ceramics. As an educator, she believes in adapting information to individual student needs with respect and competency. She has worked with Side x Side since the summer of 2015, teaching and assisting with a range of classes. (more…)

Sarah Boyden is a resident artist in many local schools, specializing in large scale, collaborative, mixed-media projects. She grew up on a farm on the island of Vinalhaven where she learned the true meaning of being resourceful and building community. She has a particular passion for cardboard and other recyclable materials, making everyday items shine and be seen in a new light. (more…)

Karen Brooks is a visual artist living in Maine. She studied at Massachusetts College of Art and the California Institute of the Arts. Karen regularly exhibits her work and teaches artists of all ages. She enjoys animation and paper sculpture. Her inspiration comes from nature, the creative spirit, upcycled found materials, the poetry of everyday life, and mythology. She likes living in the interplay of the world of imagination and everyday life.

Molly Brown is a self-taught artist and (over-taught) geographer. She earned an MA and Phd in human geography from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and a BA in geography from Middlebury College. She received a Watson Fellowship and a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship to understand the meaning and importance of handmade map forms in a digital era. (more…)

Meg Christie is a performer, teaching artist, and therapist.  Improvising is an integral part of every aspect of her life.  She is a founding member of Portland Playback Theatre, playing back stories from the audience since 2006. After working in community mental health for about 10 years, she started a small private therapy practice in 2003, incorporating various expressive modalities including dramatic play and improvisation. (more…)

Leah Cross is an artist and teacher living in Portland, Maine. Leah works in a variety of media including ceramics, paint, textiles, and encaustic collage. She has been working with children in the Portland area for the last 14 years since moving to Munjoy Hill from the woods of western Maine. (more…)

Laurie Downey is a visual artist/designer and educator. With a degree in graphic design from Massachusetts College of Art and a background in printing, Laurie has designed a wide variety of print and digital publications. After years of working solely in 2D, she made the big jump into the third dimension and her studio practice now involves collaboration with woodworkers and metalworkers to create large-scale installations and space dividers. (more…)

Indigo Grey lives and creates in Lewiston, Maine, where they moved in 2015. Formally trained as a printmaker, and informally trained as a proletarian and malcontent, Indigo engaged with political organizing and community arts after becoming displaced by gentrification. Indigo has always enjoyed giving things to the people and communities they love. Things given can include time, a drawing, handmade paper, something from the garden, or homemade food, among other things. (more…)

Tonee Harbert is a photographer living in Portland, Maine. His frequent subjects have been Maine people and the Maine landscape. His work traverses the documentary, editorial, commercial, and fine art photography realms. (more…)

Lisa Hicks is a dancer and choreographer. Lisa has been a guest artist in many elementary, middle, and high schools throughout Maine as well as an adjunct lecturer at USM, Bates College, and Bowdoin College. Lisa enjoys teaching dance to dancers of all ages, exploring creative movement, dance improvisation, storytelling, and modern dance techniques. (more…)

Jamie Hogan teaches illustration at Maine College of Art and is the award-winning illustrator of Rickshaw Girl, A Warmer World, and Here Come the Humpbacks! She grew up hiking and skiing in the White Mountains of New Hampshire before earning an illustration degree at Rhode Island School of Design. (more…)

Originally from Québec, Canada, Cat graduated from the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières in 2010 with a bachelor’s degree in theater and visual arts education. She moved to Portland early in 2011 and began teaching at Oak Street Studios. In 2014, she began working as a Teaching Artist at Side x Side. (more…)

Casey Ledoux is a visual and audio artist from Portland, Maine. He graduated with a BA in media studies from the University of Southern Maine in 2014. He began his creative career as a photographer for the Free Press, USM’s student newspaper, later working with Dispatch Magazine, Northeast Hearing & Speech, and more. (more…)

Pennsylvania-born, Franco-American artist Pamela Moulton currently resides in Maine after spending 23 years in France. A textile and installation artist, she received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Vermont and Villa Arson, France. Pamela worked in New York City as a set designer and art director while continuing to exhibit abroad as a fine artist. (more…)

Jill Osgood is an artist and educator who enjoys illustration, book making, and creating anything with a little paint and some paper. Her work and life are deeply influenced by the natural world and the beautiful state of Maine.

Nance Parker is the Artistic Director of Shoestring Theater, Maine’s longest running community puppet theater. Her large and colorful puppets have been seen throughout the state for over 30 years. Highly influenced by Brazilian carnival puppets as well as Europe’s street theater tradition, Parker works primarily in clay and paper-mâché. She is a master of the large-scale parading puppets used in street festivals and parades. (more…)

Antonio Rocha, a native of Brazil, began his career in the performing arts in 1985. In 1988 he received a Partners of the Americas grant to come to the United States to perform and deepen his mime skills with mime master Tony Montanaro. Since then he has earned a summa cum laude theater BA from the University of Southern Maine and studied with master Marcel Marceau. (more…)

Alicia has been a raving, doodling, art fiend since she can remember. As a child, she remembers sitting silently for hours drawing on placemats at the restaurant where her mom was a waitress. When she went to work with her dad at construction sites, she drew in the sand with a stick or on pavement with a rock. (more…)

Jude Valentine is a painter and printmaker. She completed her BFA at the Maine College of Art and received an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Art. She has received numerous awards for her work, including a Jerome Foundation Fellowship, grants through the New York Council on the Arts, New York Foundation for the Arts, and an Individual Grant Award from Cornell University Council of Creative Arts. (more…)