Makery Masters
The Virtual Makery
Kidzu’s Makery regularly hosts special guest artists. Meet some of them right here!
Meagan Beam
Meagan Beam has a love and passion for literacy and hands-learning. This passion came as a result of her 2 certifications in Orton Gillingham (approach for supporting students with dyslexia in their reading journey). While teaching students how to read, she realized the need for a multi-sensory tool to support students in blending and spelling words. This need led her to create a hands-on literacy product called OTTER Tools (Optimizing Tactile Teaching (to) Engage Readers). Meagan is so excited to be able to share OTTER Tools with the children and their families at Kidzu! She is honored to be a part of Kidzu and shares their same passion for inclusion, hands-on learning, intentional play, and literacy.
Natache' Seals
Natache' Seals, of The Art of Natache', is a a surrealist mixed media artist from Fayetteville, North Carolina. She is mostly self taught but also has a Bachelor's Degree in Studio Art. She had always been an artist. She dreamed of being an illustrator for children's books when she was younger. She will be the Artist in Residence at Kidzu Children's Museum for Plastic Free July! She is so excited to connect with every individual, young or old, and offer open creativity and exploration into sustainable art making. She is a lover of nature - she feels the most grounded outside through foraging and walking sticks. Being connected with the earth is directly connected to being one in its health, as it offers such wellness and healing to all. Learning how to be sustainable in any way YOU can, and being able to stay creative she believes is a lesson that can be taught to anyone.
Tetyana Lewińska
Tetyana Lewińska combines her academic career at the University of Warsaw (Poland) with public activism and promoting Ukrainian culture. Being engaged in different NGO activities on migrants and refugees from Ukraine living in Poland, she runs creative multicultural workshops for children with elements of art therapy inspired by Ukrainian fairy tales and folk.
Michelle Spaulding
Michelle Spaulding is a fiber/textile artist, teacher, author, storyteller, and creativity coach. Her intent is to inspire you to create through color, texture, and a variety of fiber art materials using easy techniques in a group setting. She crafts for comfort and joy. Creating fiber art and sharing with others has helped her heal through her own health challenges. Her passion is inspiring others to tap into their own innate creative processes. As a expressive arts educator she also facilitates intergenerational crafting workshops. Her workshops are about creativity, community, comfort, and joy through this whimsical process.
Gerald Rubin
Gerald’s artistic journey started during the lockdown in 2020. Wanting something that would keep both his mind and his hands busy, he started doodling one night, using a bowl to make circles and filling in the space with intricate lines. Using accessible materials such as paper, gel pens, and acrylic markers, he continues to create geometric and symmetrical pieces that organically grow as he creates. He states he just goes with the moment, and stops when it feels done. He also likes to not name the pieces, since everyone sees something different in them!
Andrea Kulish
Andrea Kulish Wilhelm is a first generation Ukrainian American who learned to make pysanky from her mother when she was five years old. Based in Asheville, NC, she is an artist, graphic designer, and pysanky teacher with a studio in the River Arts District. Her life’s mission is to spread joy through Ukrainian pysanky eggs. Andrea is also fundraising to help Ukraine with Humanitarian Aid.
Yuliia Sytnyk
Yuliia Sytnyk is from Kerhson, Ukraine, where she headed a nonprofit organization called The Future of Kherson Region. After spending three months under Russian occupation in early 2022, she escaped to Poland before finding her way to North Carolina. Yuliia is a multifaceted artist who works with graphic design and digital art as well as illustration, watercolor, and crafting. She is the author of the patented project "Fairy Tales of the Kherson Region," which includes a storybook and interactive gaming component. She also was an integral designer for the Heroes of Ukraine monument located in Kherson. She currently teaches at Ukrainians in the Carolinas.
Carlos González
Triangle Mosaic Artist, Carlos González García was born in Cuernavaca, Mexico but received his studies at the famous Scuola Mosaicista del Friuli which is located in Spilimbergo, Italy. In his work, he strives to capture the beauty and complexity of the world around us, with the goal to create unique and beautiful pieces that combine functionality and art. He is drawn to the endless possibilities offered by this medium, and loves the way that different materials and colors can come together to create a cohesive whole.
Anatolii Tarasiuk
Anatolii Tarasiuk is an abstract artist, composer and videographer born in Ukraine in 1978. When he was 11 years of age, he became a pantomime actor in a professional theater. He started to paint when he was 15 years old and is a self-taught artist. In July of 2022, his family (wife and 3 sons) relocated from Kiev, Ukraine to the USA. Today he lives and continues his art in the triangle area of North Carolina.
Darren Farrell
I love visiting schools and bookshops all over the world, see oodles of photos below. I live in North Carolina with my family, my extended family and my King Charles Cavalier, Leo.