Faculty
The Art of Installations
Celebrating Student Creativity in Your School & Community
Judy Klima (she/her)
Course Leader​
Judy is an art educator who has been teaching for over 25 years. She has taught across the spectrum of ages ranging from pre-k to adults. Judy helped launch the Integrated Arts Academy in Burlington, Vermont where she worked as the Arts Coach to weave the arts across the curriculum and coordinate multiple whole school residencies and community events over the course of a decade. Judy has been recognized by the University of Vermont and the National Art Education Association for her outstanding achievements in art education. Currently she is an art educator in Burlington, and lives there with her wife and two teenage sons. Her mission in this one short life is to live as fully and creatively as possible- day by day, minute by minute.
Julian Bradshaw (she/her)
Workshop Leader
Julian is a passionate artist and educator with over 30 years of experience as a high school art teacher. She continues to share her expertise as an Art Education Lecturer at the University of Vermont, where she inspires the next generation of art teachers. An avid landscape and figure painter, Julian has refined her craft through workshops with internationally and nationally recognized artists. Now retired from secondary education, she remains deeply connected to the art community, working with teachers and students while dedicating more time to her own artistic practice.
Dorsey Hogg (she/her)
Workshop Leader
Dorsey has been teaching elementary art in Georgia, Vermont for over 25 years. Over the last 10 years she has been exploring book arts and paper sculpture by repurposing book pages and papers that are destined for the landfill. She loves the challenge of taking a book whose pages have not been opened in years and creating a new life for it and showing it to the world in a new way. She earned her BFA in art education at the University of Cincinnati and her M.Ed at Saint Michael's College. She is a board member of the Vermont Book Arts Guild and has attended book arts residencies at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Maine and Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina. Dorsey shows her book art regularly in galleries around Vermont and has been honored to be a part of juried book arts exhibitions in Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio.
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Theatre Tools for the Inspired Classroom
Animating Questions & Bringing Answers to Life
Robin Fawcett (she/her)
Course Leader​
Robin is a theatre arts educator and director devoted to fueling the urge for artful expression in others. For 40 years she’s taught for organizations including The University of Iowa, University of Vermont, The Flynn Center, Skinner Barn Musical Theatre, New England Youth Theatre, and Champlain Valley Union High School. In addition to directing plays in schools and professional settings, Robin regularly offers an origami of workshops, private coaching sessions, and professional development in-services, igniting possibility with the transformative power of play.
Delanté Keys (they/he)
Workshop Leader​
Delanté Keysis an award-winning performer, director, and theatre artist most interested in utilizing theatre to serve a more joyous & liberated community. They received their BFA in Acting from Arcadia University and spent their formative artistic years working as an actor and teaching artist in Philadelphia, PA. Since then, they have been fortunate enough to perform in and/or direct over 40 productions in the greater regions of Philly, PA, Austin, TX, and now Vermont. Delanté has also had the honor of using theatre to amplify youth voices here in VT (Champlain Valley Union High School Theatre, Education Justice Coalition BIPOC Summer Camp, Burlington City & Lake).
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A Culture of Creative & Deeper Learning
Arts-Infused Project-Based Learning​​
Brian Boyce (he/him)
Course Leader​
Bria has over 20 years of experience as an educator placing high quality project-based learning at the center of his practice. In 2014, Brian was awarded a Rowland Foundation Fellowship to develop and implement a significant educational transformation project which led to Cabot School’s recognition as a regional leader in high quality project-based learning. ​As an educator Brian Boyes has twice received special recognition from the Vermont Arts Alliance for his unique and creative approach to music education at Cabot School, and is a three-time recipient of Cabot School’s Teacher of the Year award. ​Brian is the founder and creative director of SoundCheck, a band of Vermont high school musicians writing and performing original music to fight for social justice. The band regularly performs and facilitates school workshops using art and music as a catalyst to spark dialogue, action and awareness. ​He currently serves as the instrumental music teacher at Harwood Union High School.
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Circus For Everyone!
What Kid Doesn't Want to Run Away to the Circus?
Kevin O'Keefe (her/him)
Course Leader
​​Kevin has traveled the world since 1985 to both teach and study circus, theater and yoga. He is the founder of the American Youth Circus Organization, and as founder and artistic director of Circus Minimus he has directed hundreds of in-school residencies and over one thousand performances that have touched the lives of over 200,000 children and their families. In 2001 the International Jugglers Association awarded him an Excellence in Education award. He received an advanced Hatha yoga certification from the Integral Yoga Institute. For five years Kevin was an instructor at the Big Apple Circus School in Harlem, New York. With his wife Erin Maile, they created CircusYoga - The Human Art of Play. Together they've trained over one hundred teachers. ​​
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Activating the Art in Language Arts
with River Gallery School
Kate Milliken
Course Leader​
Kate is a southern Vermont teaching artist, farmer, and parent. She has been guiding others in their explorations of creative expression in partnership with River Gallery School for the last five years. She developed the Art In Schools program for River Gallery School in 2022, in response to the intense need for creative practices and community connection during the pandemic. Kate is a certified Visual Thinking Strategies facilitator and is Manager of Educational Programs at the Brattleboro Museum and Art Center.
Eric Cutler
Workshop Leader​
​Eric is a graduate of Keene State College (BA Acting/Directing) and East 15 Acting School, in England. At River Gallery School Eric teaches beginning drawing, painting and studio classes, and works with grades K-5 in the RGS’s Art in Schools program.
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Nurturing Artists and Creative Innovators in the Music Ensemble
Where does Re-Creation End and Creation Begin?
Matt Davide (he/him)
Course Leader​
Matt Davide is a multi-instrumentalist, educator, and composer based in South Burlington, VT. In is currently a faculty member at U-32 Middle and High School in Montpelier, directing the bands and teaching general music, music theory, music technology, and guitar technique. Matt is a faculty member at Vermont Jazz Camp in Colchester and has directed jazz combos for FlynnArts in Burlington. He was chosen as the first Jazz Ensemble Manager for the New England Music Festival Association. A versatile performer, Matt has shared stages across the Northeast on bass and saxophone with groups including Barika, High Summer, The Vermont Jazz Ensemble, A House on Fire, and Kat Wright. He holds a B.S. in Music Education from the University of Vermont, a Jazz Composition and Arranging Certificate from Berklee College of Music, and a Master of Arts in Music and Music Education from Teachers College, Columbia University.
Brian Boyce (he/him)
Workshop Leader​
Brian has worked in Vermont for over 20 years as a trumpeter, composer, arranger, band leader, multi-instrumentalist, and educator. He is no stranger when it comes to working with large ensembles; including The Saturn People’s Sound Collective, The Big Bang Bhangra Brass Band and Movement of the People: The Fela Kuti Project - both projects exploring the intersection of global music and jazz improvisation. Brian is the founder and creative director of SoundCheck - a band of select VT high school musicians writing and performing original music to fight for social justice. ​He holds two degrees from Goddard College; BA in Music Performance & Composition (with minor in Ethnomusicology); and an MA in Education (Infusing Performing Arts into Project Based Learning). ​He currently serves as the instrumental music teacher at Harwood Union High School, in Mooretown, Vermont.
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Creativity, Circuits, and Stories
Bringing Books to Life Through Creativity, Circuits, and Code
Lucie deLaBruere (she/her)
Course Leader​
Lucie has dedicated her career to transforming how students learn through hands-on projects using innovative technology. This year, she brings the spirit of Create Make Learn to PDL. With decades of teaching experience in Vermont schools ranging from Kindergarten to Grade 12, Lucie brings a unique blend of technical expertise and educational vision to every project she leads. A lifelong learner herself, Lucie constantly explores new ways to integrate technology and hands-on learning in education. She shares her insights, discoveries, and success stories through her blog at CreateMakeLearn.blogspot.com, inspiring educators to embrace creative technology in their own classrooms. Her philosophy is simple: never stop learning – and make that learning creative, meaningful, hands-on, and engaging for every student.
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From Field to Classroom: Poetry, Illustration, and Deep Observation
How Can Studying the Natural World Spark Poetry That Cultivates Care, Wonder, and Action?
Kerrin McCadden (she/her)
Course Leader​
Kerrin was awarded the 2022 Herb Lockwood Prize for excellence in the arts in Vermont. She is the author of two books of poetry: American Wake, finalist for the New England Book Award, and Landscape with Plywood Silhouettes, winner of the Vermont Book Award and the New Issues Poetry Prize, as well as a chapbook, Keep This to Yourself, winner of the Button Poetry Prize. She is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Creative Writing and earned her MFA from The Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College. McCadden taught English at Montpelier High School for twenty-eight years and now teaches English at The Center for Technology, Essex. She lives in South Burlington.
Rachel Sargent Mirus (she/her)
Workshop Leader
Rachel is a STEAM teaching artist, science writer, and lifelong learner. She writes about topics ranging from climate change to gene therapy and her art interests focus on drawing and painting subjects from nature. She is passionate about using art to teach the life sciences. Drawing and writing encourage you to slow down and think about small details, like a beetle on a leaf, giving you the time and space to really see and understand. This practice of thoughtful observation is the skill Rachel most wants to teach. As a teacher, her passion is to inspire observation, experimentation, and creativity in learners of all ages. Originally trained in biology, she has worked in research labs and museums across the country, including the California Academy of Sciences, the Harvard Museum of Natural History, and in Vermont at the Montshire and Fairbanks Museums.
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Weaving the Fabric of Belonging
How can everyday creative practices foster a thriving classroom of healthy relationships, high engagement, and deeper learning?
Erin Maile O'Keefe (she/her)
Course Co-Leader​
Erin is a grateful settler on the indigenous lands of the Sokoki Abenaki here in Southern Vermont. Born and raised in Hawai’i, Erin Maile is supported and nourished by her Hawaiian ancestry, culture and continued mentorship from her elders. As an educator, trainer and community artist/activator, she has developed kinesthetic, multigenerational curriculums that facilitate group inclusion, connection, co-authorship and empathy. Her background in dance, theater and architecture has made the crafting of temporal spaces and community arts engagement at the core of much of her work. With the completion of a Master Certificate in Creative Placemaking at Ohio State University, she started The Human Connection Project and focused on activating communities through municipal-wide arts projects, creative placemaking, and experiential engagement.
Amber Paris (she/her)
Course Co-Leader
Amber is a Southern Vermont-based visual and social practice teaching artist. She is interested in exploring her (personal) habits and tendencies and humanity’s (collective) patterns. She is drawn to gathering, examining and organizing data in an effort to reveal deeper truths. Creating talismans and images with her hands is an essential component around processing all this information–using art to translate and map the stories that emerge. Experimentation across diverse mediums including fiber, artists’ books, installation and social practice is used to support the underlying concepts that drive her work. Discovering and asking the elegant questions in life and then expressing those answers in beautiful ways is central to her practice. Amber has taught bookmaking across Southern Vermont for the past 15 years and facilitated social practice projects for more than 6 years across the state. She has shown her work across the country.
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