Instructor Bios

The Creative Arts School instructors are some of the most talented in South Florida!  These professional artists, photographers and writers bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to their classes.  As a result of expert instruction here, many of our students’ works have been juried into competitions and accepted into local, regional and national exhibitions.  Several of our high school students have been accepted into art programs at some of the best schools in the country. In addition to the individual website links below, you can connect with many of our instructors on FACEBOOK and INSTAGRAM.

LYNN AMSTERDAM is a perfect example of “It is never too late to learn to paint”. Prior to a severe car accident in 2009, Ms Amsterdam had a successful career as a Professional Photographer. Her work has been exhibited in
galleries in several states. Twice, Ms. Amsterdam has been tapped to do the back cover portraits for two authors. With a special niche for people, places and moments in time Ms. Amsterdam’s work is in private collections and in restaurants. Certain physical restraints forced Ms. Amsterdam to forego the photography and re-create herself as an abstract painter. Always the student and with a little help from both Old School Square and Boca Art School Ms. Amsterdam found her painterly voice in Abstract Painting. A member of WITVA and Delray Art League Ms. Amsterdam continues to push the envelope of her physical and creative universe. lynnamsterdam.com, @lynnamsterdamart

JAN BUSH has been an artist and art psychotherapist since 1976. She is a nationally known speaker and presenter on art therapy and has worked with all ages in a variety of educational and clinical settings. She is a recipient of numerous awards and has been recognized for her publications including textbooks and professional articles.  Jan presently serves as a consultant in private practice based in Palm Beach County Florida. A popular speaker, Jan presents courses, invited keynotes, workshops, professional supervision and other learning opportunities in educational, medical, and business settings across the USA.

SALLY COOPER has been painting all her life and in the mid-nineties moved from detailed representational work to seeking the abstract.  She is a six-time winner of The Artists Magazine’s national competition and a Signature member of the National Watercolor Society.  Her work has been featured in Acrylic Artist, Professional Artist, and The Artists Magazine where her painting Blue Horizon was featured on the cover of the May, 2015 issue.  Most recently her work was included in the 2017 publication Art Journey Abstract Painting, as well as Eyes on Abstracts and Best of American Acrylics.  Her paintings have been included in numerous regional and national competitive exhibitions receiving awards in most.  Sally’s work is “about a creative process rather than a specific image or place.”  She is represented by Mary Woerner Fine Arts, West Palm Beach.  Visit Sally’s website at:  sally-cooper.com, @sallycooperart

DEBORAH LAFOGG DOCHERTY combines two great loves in her work: nature and painting. While working in nature. Deborah strives to give her audience a glimpse of how animals live in the wild. She received the Masters Circle award from the International Association of Pastel Societies.  Her work has been featured in museums, national and international art shows and International magazines as well as in private collections. Ms. Lafogg-Docherty has illustrated a children’s book with part of the proceeds going to save habitat critical habitat in the Florida Keys. Membership affiliations include: associate member of the Society of Animal Artists, signature member of the Pastel Society of America, signature member of the Artists for Conservation, member of excellence with the Southeastern Pastel Society, member of the Oil Painters of America, member of the International Guild of Realism, the Pastel Society of North Florida, Degas Pastel Society and member of the Women Artists of the West and the Audubon Artists.  Visit her web site at lafogg.com, @deblafogg

JEN FISHER earned a B.F.A in interior design from the University of Massachusetts. During her years as a commercial designer in New York City she worked for prominent architectural firms such as Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates and Environetics. Transitioning to the academic world, she became an Academic and Career Advisor at the New York School of Interior Design teaching and mentoring aspiring designers. Jen’s desire to create small took her artistic career on a new path: jewelry design while teaching art to children and adults. Jen created her own architecturally inspired jewelry line which sold in contemporary museum shops such as the Museum of Arts and Design in New York, MOCA Miami, and the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. A select line of her jewelry is currently available in the gift shops at the Chihuly Collection in St. Petersburg and at Old School Square Cornell Art Museum. Jen began painting while teaching and experimenting with new materials and techniques. Influenced from her interior design background and love of perspective drawing, her paintings allow her to express her creative thoughts using alternate mediums. Jen’s paintings and jewelry have been exhibited in local and national galleries. She participates in various juried art exhibitions in Palm Beach County and her work was featured in the Spotlight Gallery at Old School Square Cornell Art Museum in June of 2018. Her painting, “Pretty in Pink”, won the cover design for the Cultural Council of Palm Beach County’s 40th Anniversary Winter 2018 issue. @jfishdesign

ANTHONY FRANCIS founder and artistic director of Improv U. He has been teaching actors, business professionals, parents, students and kids how to be more confident on and off stage since 2012. He is an actor, comedian, singer, MC and host. He has performed and hosted in Chicago, New York, Portland, Miami, and many more. He currently directs 3 improv teams and performs in 2 of them. He also performs a fully improvised musical comedy show called “Antfarm” which he produces with his MD Tony Tata. Anthony has taught thousands of people just like you to be confident and entertaining improvisers.

NICOLE GALLUCCIO is a mixed media visual artist, originally from New Jersey, living and creating in South Florida since earning her BFA from Florida Atlantic University in 1998. The artist’s mixed media paintings began by juxtaposing bright beautiful florals atop a stark black and white paper background, to demonstrate depth and opposition both visually and emotionally.  Evolving into more emphasis on color theory, she works with a vast color palette and explores the idea of color and its effects on emotion. Her work intends to stimulate happiness and positive emotional response. Oftentimes she explores nostalgic and whimsical themes to engage her audience. Finding light in the dark has been a common theme for her since she began creating. Rather than utilizing her work to fuel a darkness, but to evade the darkness and force in light, to bring herself into a happier state through color. Color has the power to evoke emotions and her intention is to bring viewers into a pleasurable and joyful state of mind. Working primarily in acrylic, she will often translate her designs to fabrics to reupholster furniture, create wearable designs and custom commissioned handbags and accessories in her popular florals, fruits and pollinators style. She has shown several times in the prestigious Cultural Council of Palm Beach County, the Cornell Art Museum as well as in fine art fairs and galleries in Palm Beach County. She is currently a resident artist at the Boynton Beach Zero Empty Spaces Artists’ Collaborative. Nicole currently is showing her largest scale public art project to date in the Mandel Public Library in downtown West Palm Beach, as part of “the Commons” Project, entitled “Garden of Joy” 40 feet tall by 10 foot wide window installation of her popular flowers and pollinators.

RAYMOND GEHMAN For 25 years I have worked for the National Geographic Society, traveling and photographing the world. I have been awarded three National Geographic cover photographs, and I have published numerous book covers, books, and magazine articles. I studied fine art photography at Northern Virginia Community College and earned a degree in photojournalism in 1979 from the renowned School of Journalism at the University of Missouri-Columbia. I worked as a newspaper photojournalist in Montana and at The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk before moving to National Geographic. My photographs have been featured in seven National Geographic Magazine articles including two cover portraits on “The Vanishing Prairie Dog” and “Eastern Wildlife: Bittersweet Success.” I have also done over a dozen single photographer National Geographic Books, including “Yellowstone to Yukon,” and eight National Geographic Travelers, including “Jasper National Park.” I have had exhibitions around the U.S.: The Native Spirit one-man show at the Palm Beach Photographic Centre, West Palm Beach, FL; Gardens and Flowers at the Centre; Circles of Light at the Jung Center Gallery in Houston, TX, the Dixie Art Loft in West Palm Beach, and Jonathan Dickinson State Park in Martin County, FL; and a four-person show at the Visual Arts Center in Portsmouth, VA, entitled P4|Paintings, Photographs, Pottery and Prints: New Work…Raymond Gehman. Visit Raymond’s website at: raymondgehman.com, @raymondgehman

CARLA GOLEMBE  is an award winning painter and illustrator. She has received artist residencies from the Hambidge Center in Rabun Gap, GA; Altos de Chavon in the Dominican Republic and Kalani Honua in Hawaii. Carla’s paintings have been shown widely throughout the United States. Collections include Hyatt, Marriott, Pan Pacific Hotels, Fuller Art Museum, Boston Public Library, Academy Art Museum, University College (University of Maryland, Shepherd Pratt Hospital, Medical College of Virginia, Worcester Art Museum, The JFK Library, Montgomery County (MD) Art in Public Places, Chico’s and other corporate and private collections. An image of her painting “Moonflowers III” was licensed by Icon shoes for their Spring 2012 collection. Dos Puentes Vineyard in Mendoza Argentina commissioned her to create a painting for the labels for three of their wines. She was a chosen artist for “Keys to the Cities” for which she painted a piano that spent 2 weeks in a public place in Palm Beach County and was then donated to a charity venue. Learn more at CarlaGolembe.com@carlagolembe

FRAN MANN GOODMAN was formally trained as a fine artist at Chouinard Art Institute (now Cal Arts). She is an award winning abstract expressionist and art teacher. Her paintings, extensively layered and texturized, have been exhibited in galleries in Manhattan, New Jersey and southern Florida and are in private collection across the United States. Fran designed a teaching method that blends art history with techniques in abstract expressionism. She taught her classes at the Morris Museum in New Jersey, and in various locations in Florida where they have been showcased in several media cover stories. Fran is a member of the National Association of Women Artists, the National League of American Pen Women where she co-chairs the art program for the Florida branch; Arts Student League, ArtServe, Broward Art Guild and she is a Signature Artist of the Boca Raton Museum of Art. Fran serves on the board of the Delray Art League as the Art Education Fund Chair. Fran is an invited lecturer and gives demonstrations and art workshops in her craft.  In her earlier career, Fran inspired women, with seminars and workshops conducted in the United States and Canada, to see their faces as art. She was featured on national talk shows, women’s magazines and in The New York Times. Learn more at franmanngoodman.com, @franspaintbox, INTERVIEW WITH FRAN GOODMAN

LEE GORDON has a comprehensive understanding of the art and skills of photography. Since his first cameras – a Kodak Brownie Hawkeye and a Fujica Half Frame – he has owned and operated photographic studios, a fine art photography gallery, and is currently both a commercial and fine art photographer. Lee’s commercial interests are architectural, lifestyle and interior design statements. His creative interests are mastering and teaching photographic digital workflow and producing fine art prints. “My creative intention is to simply capture and share the beauty and wonder of the earth and her magnificent places, faces and spaces.” Learn more at LeeGordonPhotography.com@leegordonphoto

IRENE HILL is an award-winning Master Photographer and graduate of Northwestern University with a dual Masters Degree in English and Education.  She has photographed over 200 concerts and events throughout Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, has been a special events consultant to the National Geographic Society, escorted numerous international tours, and created and managed hundreds of lectures, conferences and seminars.  As a lifelong photographer whose goals are now directed to instructing others in the art of fine photography, Irene brings a world of national and international experience along with a love of teaching to her students. Learn more at www.irenehill.smugmug.com.

SHARON KOSKOFF is a professional muralist and designer widely recognized in South Florida for her projects with children and diverse audiences. She is a cum laude graduate in fine arts from Brooklyn College, and holds an additional degree from New York School of Interior Design. She has taught at the Montgomery Armory Art Center, Boca Raton Museum of Art, and the Norton Museum of Art. Learn more at bysharon.com.

JANET ONOFREY was born in Pittsburgh, PA and moved to South Florida where the sunlight and mild weather beckoned her to paint, “in the open air,” en plein air. Her Masters Degree in Painting from Savannah College of Art and Design lead to a residency in Provence, France with time in Barcelona and Paris. She was awarded the 2015 South Florida Cultural Consortium Visual and Media Artist Fellowship judged for her extensive body of work. Janet was awarded a residency at The Skopelos Foundation of Art on Skopelos Island off the coast of Greece. Her art has been juried into national exhibitions such as the American Impressionist Society, American Women Artists, is a member of the Oil Painters of America and Plein Air Florida. The Baker Museum in Naples, FL, Museum for Women Artists and Andrews Art Museum in North Carolina are just a few of her museum exhibitions. She was featured in “New American Paintings,” and her artworks reside in both public and private collections nationally. She teaches at Fat Village Center for the Arts, Boca Raton Museum School of Art and privately. Follow her on Instagram at @janet_onofrey or janetonofrey.com.

RALPH PAPA was born and raised in Manhattan and studied art and architecture in New York at Queens College and CCNY and at the Art Students League. His paintings range from studio works composed of real and imagined themes to figurative, portraits and plein air paintings. Mr. Papa teaches drawing and painting at his Delray studio and at the Delray Beach Center for the Arts. He is a member of the Garrison Art Center, the Delray Art League, Past President of the Artists’ Guild of the Boca Museum and co-founder of ‘Plein Air Painters of Palm Beach’. His works are in public and private collections in the U.S. and Canada and can be seen in galleries in Boynton and in Delray Beach at his studio, the Artists’ Guild Gallery and on his website at papagallery.com.

SEAN RADFORD has been performing as a guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, and singer for nearly three decades. His concert schedule often exceeds two hundred performances per year, and his love of music has seen him perform all over the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe, and the Caribbean. His diverse music industry experience includes coaching finalists on hit reality TV music programs, working with and directing bands for Nashville country artists, and performing at private events for celebrities, heads of state, and royalty. Sean is a third-generation music educator who combines his passion for teaching with his real-world experience as a musician to create vibrant, memorable, and effective classes for his students. Visit Sean’s website at seanradford.com

DIMITRI SAGATOV is fine art photographer and designer based in Delray Beach. Primarily self-taught, Dimitri’s photographs are in private collections across the United States and abroad. An active member of the Delray Beach community, he serves on the board of the Delray Art League. His artistic focus is on producing unique fine art prints, and sharing his passion for photography through teaching and exhibiting his work throughout Florida. “My intention is to evoke the memory of a time and place in my photographs. Not just as it was, but as I felt and experienced it.” Visit Dimitri’s website at: dsprints.com, @dimitrifla

BETH SLOAT has a passion for guiding students to develop a strong foundation in their art as they are learning to express themselves. She earned a B.A. from Hofstra University and B.F.A. from Colorado State University. Before studying Fine Art at the Armory Art Center, she was an artist in Biomedical Communications at Southwestern Medical School. Beth has extensive experience in youth instruction and now teaches adults exclusively. Ms. Sloat exhibits her drawings and oil paintings various local venues and has work in private collections. By working from live subjects, she challenges herself and her students to “catch the moment of inspiration and make it live on the canvas.”