Susan Schwake

Susan Schwake studied fine art/art education at Plymouth State College in the 70’s. She has been painting and creating art from a very early age.

For the past years she has traveled around Europe to further her study of modern art. Her belief that we are born creative people has driven her educational work. She holds fast the idea that a person’s work should be their own as well as nurtured in a process-oriented fashion.

As an artist Susan works in a variety of media and exhibits her work throughout New England.Since 1997 she has worked with hundreds of children and adults as an Artist in Residence in many Seacoast communities and schools. This makes her very happy as she had always wanted to be an artist and art teacher, since the fourth grade.

Amber Lavalley

In 2004, Amber graduated from Montserrat College of Art in Beverly, MA, where she received her BFA in painting.  She spent two years living in Boston, working in a contemporary American craft gallery. Since moving back to Rochester, she has shown her work at Market 100 in Portsmouth, and Artstream, and in 2008 won Portsmouth Herald’s Spotlight Award in visual art. She has continued to expand her body of work while pursing her other interests in education, and has recently received a degree in behavioral science. She has also worked for the Monarch school’s enrichment program directed by Susan Schwake, and is currently working in a specialized preschool. This is the third year Amber has taught classes at Artstream.

Emily Higgins

Emily received her BFA from Maine College of Art, majoring in metals and jewelry with a concentration in drawing. She recently graduated from the University of Arizona with a Masters of Art and Visual Culture Education. She currently is an art teacher at Concord High School specializing in metalsmithing and jewelry making.

At age 8, Emily began to study drawing and oil painting with George Tsakiris, a local artist. She continued her exploration of art through art education and by teaching art classes in her community. She gained valuable experience while taking expressive arts and visual arts workshops. She was an artist mentor in Brunswick, Maine at Spindleworks, an artist collaborative for people with disabilities. As an Americorps member in Tucson, Arizona, she served at Arts for All as a ceramic teacher, community inclusion aide, and an art teaching assistant. Emily also worked in a college setting as a teaching assistant and course instructor in the art history and art education departments at the University of Arizona.

Emily has taught people of all ages, abilities and interests. She believes that all people are capable of exploring the world and themselves through creating art and that the possibilities for making art are limitless.