ArtHaus Instructors

LEA DONHOWE LOVELACE

DIRECTOR OF LITTLE MASTERS ART STUDIO, CO-DIRECTOR OF ARTHAUS

A Decorah native and a Luther College graduate, Lea has worked in the field of Art Education for over a decade. She has worn various hats including that of a teaching artist working with diverse populations of varied ages; a program director for a not-for-profit community art school; the manager of teacher programs at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago; and an independent contractor/consultant, connecting diverse audience members to museum exhibitions. Lea has her Master of Arts in Art Education from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In 2007 she moved back to Decorah with her family, a mere two-block commute away from ArtHaus which she co-founded with Kristen Underwood in 2008.

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KRISTEN UNDERWOOD

DIRECTOR OF UPSTART CROW THEATREWORKS, CO-DIRECTOR OF ARTHAUS

Kristen Underwood has been a theatre professional for the past twenty-five years. She earned her BFA from the University of Colorado/Boulder, and her MFA from San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theatre. As an actor and director, Kristen has been involved in over one hundred professional productions for companies around the country, in addition to teaching theatre for CU/Boulder and Luther College, among others. After ten years as a managing Core Artist/Education Director for the Commonweal Theatre, Kristen founded Upstart Crow Theatreworks in 2002 and ArtHaus in 2008.

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MARK BECKER

INSTRUCTOR

Mark began studying Capoeira in Cedar Falls, Iowa with a Brazilian from Campinas, Sao Paulo. Shortly after, he traveled to Campinas to further his study and traveled widely while in there, attending various Capoeira events around the country and absorbing the styles of many different mestres. Since returning from Brazil, Mark has taught Capoeira to children and adults in Iowa and in Georgia.

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KAREN BERLAND

INSTRUCTOR

Karen Berland became familiar with Pilates while living in Charleston, SC. This particular form of mind-body exercise held her interest and she pursued her teaching certification after moving to Decorah four and a half years ago. Karen enjoys sharing the benefits of Pilates, and is finding new motivation in her practice since the birth of her son Elliot.

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RACHELLE REIS BRANUM

INSTRUCTOR

Rachelle Branum has been a key ArtHaus instructor since we opened our doors and is now the owner of The Clay Studio at 207 Washington Street. Rachelle is an artist/educator with a degree in Art Education from the University of Northern Iowa. She has experience teaching art in public schools and art centers, and as an artist-in-residence. She has also focused on museum education as a docent at the Minneapolis Institute of Art and is the former Assistant Curator of Education at the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha, Nebraska. When Rachelle isn't teaching she is making and selling her own work as Wise Owl Designs and Simple Joys Studios.

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HANNAH BUELLER

INSTRUCTOR

Hannah is a student at Luther College majoring in Chemistry, with a minor in Biology and Theatre/Dance, who has been belly dancing since she was twelve. She studied with a belly dancing instructor at the University of Wisconsin, focusing on a style called Tribal Belly Dance, which combines moves from many different belly dancing cultures and strongly emphasizes improvisation. She has taught belly dancing to college students (and willing family and friends) and is happy to be teaching at ArtHaus.

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LINDA ELKINS

INSTRUCTOR

Linda Elkins has a Bachelor of Arts in Education from Eastern Michigan University and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Fiber Arts from Eastern Michigan University. When Linda isn't creating her own artwork she is the Field Placement Director for the Luther College Education Department. Over the years Linda has taught classes in book arts, weaving, 2-D design, papermaking, and mosaics.

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LINDSEY HARMAN

INSTRUCTOR

Lindsey Harman holds an M.F.A. in Theatre Performance and currently directs the Mabel-Canton Speech and Drama program. She also creates theatre and teaches voice in Decorah, IA. When not creating work for the stage Lindsey makes jewelry and attends births -- all four components weaving together to comprise Arrival Arts. Lindsey spends most of her time with her husband Andrew and their greatest gift and creation, Ezra.

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JENNA JO HAUG

INSTRUCTOR

Jenna is a local sculptor and graduate of Luther College. She has taught art in Iowa and Montana and now makes her home in Decorah teaching both young children and adults at ArtHaus. When she isn't teaching, Jenna can be found making and selling her own functional and decorative pottery in the area.

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ALAN HOCKERSMITH

INSTRUCTOR

Alan Hockersmith, named local swing dance pioneer by the Twin Cities City Pages, was a driving force behind the swing dance renaissance in the Twin Cities from 1995-1999. His classes, and Swing in general, gained local and national notice after having been featured in the Star Tribune, City Pages, Pioneer Press, Elle magazine, and Minnesota Monthly. Alan’s teaching experience includes Swing, Cajun, Country Western, Salsa, Waltz, and Polka. His teaching style emphasizes the fun that any form of dance brings to our lives--his many students at ArtHaus over the past year would agree.

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ARIADNA & MARIE MAGUINA

INSTRUCTORS

According to their mother, these sisters started dancing before they were born. Starting with ballet at age 6, they soon moved to dances of their native Peru. By the time they were teenagers, they had mastered Salsa, Merengue, Lambada, Samba, Cumbias, and more than twenty traditional Latin dance styles. Marie is a Psychology and Spanish double major at Luther College and Ari is a nursing student in NICC -- they are thrilled to share what they know with anyone interested in learning more about the culture and dance of Central and South America.

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RICHARD MERRITT

INSTRUCTOR

Richard Merritt is Associate Professor of Art at Luther College teaching courses in drawing, graphic arts, and art history, among others. He has worked in many different disciplines and has published in diverse academic journals. Much of his academic research focuses on the historic interactions between the arts, literature, mathematics and science. His own artwork has been exhibited nationally and internationally and he has lectured throughout the United States and Europe.

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BEN MOORE

INSTRUCTOR

Ben attended Luther College majoring in Art and receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree in 2002. Studying painting and drawing, with a secondary focus in printmaking, at the University of Iowa, Ben completing his Masters of Arts degree in 2005 and his Masters of Fine Arts in 2006. He also studied printmaking and drawing at the Scuola Internationale de Grafica in Venice, Italy. After teaching as faculty at the University of Iowa and Kirkwood Community College, Ben finds himself full-circle as an Assistant Professor of Art at Luther College teaching painting, drawing, and new media. His work has been exhibited at Arizona State University, Grain Belt Artist Collective in Minneapolis, the Foxtax Gallery Minneapolis, and various other institutions throughout the US.

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TOM SAVRE

INSTRUCTOR

Tom Savre has been a guitarist and songwriter since before he can remember. Sometime in the late 1980’s while on an extended road trip through the kingdoms of Folk, Pop, Blues, and Rock ‘n Roll, Tom was quite unexpectedly taken into custody by radical members of the Jazz persuasion. Since that time he has been in constant struggle to gain personal freedom through harmonic improvisation. Tom is a native of Minnesota with a long history of connections to Decorah stretching back to his college days at Luther. He has taught guitar to many people over the years and led workshops through community education classes in Minneapolis.

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TOM SHEPPARD

INSTRUCTOR

A Nebraska native, Sheppard now teaches middle school art in Decorah, but has had a varied and accomplished career as both a professional painter and as an art educator. A 1969 graduate of Hastings College in Nebraska, Tom claims, he fell in love with painting at that time and the relationship has only intensified over the years. Continuing his graduate studies in studio painting at the University of Iowa and finishing them at the University of Nebraska with a completed MA in 1999, Sheppard continues to sell and exhibit his work throughout the midwest.

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CERRISA SNETHAN

INSTRUCTOR

Cerrisa Snethen is a recovering English major from the Omaha area. She's been writing poems for as long as she can remember, some of which have been published. She's a regular at the ArtHaus Poetry Slam, and agrees with Charles Bukowski that "…writing…is like a vast bridge that carries you over many things that claw and tear." The oldest of eight, she's been bandaging knees, singing songs, and reading stories for a long time.

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JULIE STROM HENDRICKSON

INSTRUCTOR

A 1993 graduate of Luther College, Julie has taught photography courses at Luther for over a decade. She started exploring photography at a young age learning camera skills both from her mother, an art teacher, and the local 4-H program. At age 16, Julie's father built her a darkroom in the basement of her home, further fueling her love for photography. Today, aside from teaching photography classes and workshops, Julie lives and works just outside of Decorah, photographing her surroundings and selling her work.

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AMY WELDON

INSTRUCTOR

Amy, an Alabama native, holds a Ph.D. in 19th-century British literature from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she edited The Carolina Quarterly. Her fiction and creative nonfiction have appeared in StoryQuarterly, The South Carolina Review, Yemassee, Southern Cultures, The Carolina Quarterly, and The North Carolina Literary Review, and her personal essay “The Fruits of Memory” is reprinted in Cornbread Nation 2: The Best of Southern Food Writing (Univ. of North Carolina Press, 2004). Having completed a short story collection, Traveling Grace, she is now at work on a novel, Mansions. Amy is a regular columnist, as “The Book Doctress,” for Decorah’s Inspire(d) Magazine. and assistant professor of English at Luther College.

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Jeremiah Johnson with student in Paper Mache Madness class

Teaching assistant Ingrid Rotto with a student in Kinderclay class

ARTHAUS TEACHING ASSISTANTS:

ArtHaus offers apprenticeships to young adults interested in hands-on teaching experience. We are thrilled to have a talented and creative core of assistants from Luther College and the Decorah community helping our students, and learning under our professional teaching artists. Thank you to Ingrid Rotto, Emily Kilgore, Emily Rassman, Brooke Underbaake, Jeremiah Johnson, and Allysa Ritter for all your hours of service this year!

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