Lydia Alsdurf is a junior at the College of Visual Arts in St. Paul working towards a degree in Painting. She has been a painter for seven years, but art has been a part of her life since she was a young child. Lydia enjoys many different art forms such as sculpture, painting, drawing, and jewelry design. She is planning to continue her studies after graduating from CVA as a graduate student in jewelry design. One of her passions is working with children. Two years ago she taught painting to children in the Dominican Republic at a non-profit organization and hopes someday to start her own non-profit art school.

Rudy is a junior at the College of Visual Arts in St. Paul working towards a degree in Photography. He enjoys learning about all forms of art, and has taken a wide variety of visual arts classes, including printmaking, architectural history of the Twin Cities, alternative photographic processes, and web design. Rudy loves working with children and youth, and has worked with day care programs, and summer programs for youth as well as with developmentally handicap adults. In high school he participated in a tutoring program at an Alternative Learning Center. This past summer he worked with homeless youth at Kulture Klub Collaborative to create various arts projects in MInneapolis. He is currently work at an organization that helps Somali adult immigrants learn english.Rudy feels that "art inspires in a way that no other form of education does", that is why he wants to be a teaching artist.

Cara Fazio is a senior at the College of Visual Arts in St. Paul, Minnesota majoring in Illustration. She enrolled in the Teaching Artist Program this year with the hopes of finding a way to combine her love of art with a desire to make a difference in the community. She feels there is much to learn in life, but too many limited resources in order to do so, especially when funding is being so drastically cut from our school budgets. Some of the best ways of learning can be found through observation and interaction, and what better medium of choice than through artistic expression? "I feel that, as artists, it is our responsibility to provide the community with more opportunities for creative outlets, and I hope to accomplish this somehow throughout my involvement in the Teaching Artist Program."

Michelle Fuller is a senior at the College of Visual Arts in St. Paul, Minnesota majoring in Printmaking. She has been mastering a techinque called Image-on Intaglio. This summer she was working with three dimentional screen prints. Last spring she interned at Urban Arts Academy an after school arts program in Minneapolis, teaching printmaking techinques such as relief blocks and monotypes, to students rangeing from pre-school to 8th grade.

Katrina McMahon is a junior at the College of Visual Arts in St. Paul, Minnesota majoring in Photography. She is also very interested in teaching children. She hopes to make an impacton childrens' lives in a positve way, just as teachers in her past have influenced her. She has always been good with kids, babysitting, teaching them not to use drugs with a program in high school, and helping out with summer camps.

Christa Meyer is is a junior at the College of Visual Arts in St. Paul, Minnesota, and is pursing her major in Photography. She has always enjoyed taking photos and experimenting with this art medium. Her focus is directed towards fashion photography. Throughout her time at CVA she has developed an interest in the teaching artist program, and would like to communicate and teach the techniques of photography. Christa has had the opportunity in the past to travel abroad and has worked side by side with counselors at a kid's day camp and also has taught English.

Jaclyn Nelson is a junior at the College of Visual Arts in St. Paul, Minnesota working towards her BFA in the Interdisciplinary Art Studies with a focus on Teaching Artist. Her visual art disciplines range from drawing, painting, clay, printmaking, and more. Jaclyn is passionate about her own art practice, art education and loves working with children. She believes working "in and through the arts" creates an exponential learning environment for the development of our youth. She has previous experience working with children at Lincoln Elementary School for the Arts located in Anoka, MN. At Lincoln, she worked as a K-5 art teacher in their after school SMART Program. “One of the best feelings in the world is seeing a child burst with happiness because of the art work they have created.”

Rachel Smith is a junior at the College of Visual Arts in St. Paul. Art has been a passion of hers since she can remember. She would make art pieces out of anything she could find may it be the news paper or found objects from the great outdoors. As she grew older she became unyieldingly determined to become a photographer. One of her high school teachers kindled her passion and drove her to make better and better pieces. Rachel hopes that someday she can have the same impact on a student of hers.

Crystal Tomczak is a student at the College of Visual Arts, and currently a junior in the Teaching Artist and Fine Arts programs with a focus on drawing from the figure. Crystal has experienced working with kids in her high school's S.T.A.R. program (Students Together Are Responsible) visiting community schools to educate student about the dangers of drug and alcohol use. She is interested in art education in order to give back to youth. Crystal says, "If I can influence just one student's life the way my past art teachers have mine, that would be my greatest achievement." She plans to get her K12 art teaching license after graduating from CVA with her BFA and would like to teach at the high school level.