Instructor Profiles

All Art Academy of Cincinnati instructors are professionally trained artists and art educators currently working in the Cincinnati area.

Greg Albert is an Academy alumnus and has Master’s degrees in both Fine Art and Art History. He is the author of books on drawing and pictorial composition, figure drawing and anatomy, and painting and watercolor techniques. He has been associated with Community Education for thirty years.

Tony Becker is a local professional artist who has exhibited in galleries all over the country, including the Dayton Art Institute. A graduate of Yale, Mr. Becker has been featured in the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Amy Bogard is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati’s DAAP program and an active local artist. Her work and sketchbooks can be seen on her website, www.amybogard.com.

Gilbert Born is a noted local artist and teacher and a former Industrial Design Professor at the University of Cincinnati. He has been a teacher and freelance consultant in design and illustration for more than 40 years. He brings that experience to his painting and community education courses.

Lisa Britton received her MFA in Photography from the University of Cincinnati. Her photographs have been shown nationally and internationally, most recently in Japan.

Debbie Brod, an MFA graduate of the University of Cincinnati, has been making art of one kind or another since she was two years old. For the past 20 years she has exhibited her artwork regionally and nationally and has taught art to adults, teenagers and children.

Ken Landon Buck received his Business Art degree from the Ohio Visual Art Institute and has exhibited his watercolors, pastels and acrylic figure paintings nationally since 1982. His website is www.kenlandonbuck.com/klb/klb.php.

Ann Burrell received a BA in Creative Writing from Sarah Lawrence College. She began exploring photography more than 15 years ago, most recently concentrating on darkroom work. Ann has shown locally and is curator for a local gallery.

Cody Calhoun, a board member of the Cincinnati Book Arts Society, has been making artist books for more than 28 years. Her work can be found in galleries and private collections across the United States. She conducts adult workshops, retreats and seminars, as well as week-long residencies in schools (K-12) and universities.

Cran Campbell received her MFA in Painting from the University of Cincinnati. She currently creates and exhibits books and mixed media works on paper.

Christopher Daniel has an MFA in sculpture from the University of Cincinnati. He has worked for Hasbro, Inc. as a toy sculptor, for the Cincinnati Art Museum, and as a sculpture instructor in the Art Academy Fine Arts department. His work can be seen throughout the Greater Cincinnati Area.

Walter Driesbach received a diploma in Fine Arts from the School of the Dayton Art Institute. He has taught for many years at the Memphis Academy of Arts, Thomas More College, and the Art Academy of Cincinnati. He exhibits his large-scale wood and limestone figures throughout the region. A bronze casting of one of his works, Citizen, is part of the permanent collection at the Pyramid Hill Sculpture Park and Museum in Hamilton, Ohio.

Poppy Evans holds a BFA in Fine Art from the University of Cincinnati and worked for many years as a graphic designer and magazine art director. She has served  on the faculty of the Art Academy of Cincinnati since 1993, where she currently teaches Color Theory. She has authored hundreds of articles on art and design and 14 books, including two textbooks. One of her most recent books (co-authored with AAC professor Mark Thomas), Exploring the Elements of Design, is widely used as a college textbook and is now in its second edition.

Ted Ferdinand received his MFA in Painting from the University of Cincinnati, where he also studied a variety of 2D and 3D animation and modeling applications. After graduation, he worked as a corporate instructor, training clients in the use of 3D software. Currently, he is an Adjunct Professor teaching computer graphics at Thomas More College. He also is a Digital Multimedia Instructor at the Cincinnati Arts and Technology Center, where he teaches 2D and 3D Graphics to Cincinnati Public School juniors and seniors. Pictures of his digital work can be viewed at http://members.aol.com/Tfwd2/index2.html.

Sharon A. Floro, ASLA, received a BFA from Santa Clara University. Co-founder of her landscape architecture firm, GroundWork Design Collaborative LLC, she has been commissioned to produce illustrative renderings for various types of projects and greeting cards. She tutors professionals in the design field who have sought improvement in graphic skills and has instructed at the Art Academy of Cincinnati and University of Illinois, where she received her masters in landscape architecture. Her current endeavors include facilitating corporate or team-building workshops by hands-on creative and visual arts exercises.

Richard Fruth has an MFA from the University of Cincinnati and a BFA in in Photography from Ball State. He has exhibited his sculptures in many notable galleries and has taught in high school and on the university level since 2001.

Charles Frymier is a painter based in Cincinnati. He has a BFA in painting and printmaking from the Art Academy of Cincinnati. His work is in collections both public and private across the United States.

Bob Hebenstreit received his Certificate in Fine and Commercial Art from the William E. Gebhardt School of Art. He exhibits his landscape and still-life paintings locally and nationally.

Carin Hebenstreit is an outstanding portrait artist whose work can be found locally and throughout the United States.  She was included in  Cincinnati's Best One Hundred Artists from 1911 to 2011 with her portrait of one of the world's leading conductors, Paavo Yarvi. Since 2008, Mrs. Hebenstreit has had her own weekly TV show "Painting With The Masters". She has been teaching life drawing and "Portrait Techniques Of The Masters" in the Community Education Program for over twenty years. Her website is www.carinhebenstreit.com

Ken Henson received his MFA in painting from the University of Cincinnati. Ken teaches drawing, painting, illustration and forum classes for college students at the Art Academy. He exhibits locally and nationally and has won honors in regional and national juried exhibitions.

Sarah Hollis has a BFA in Painting from the Art Academy of Cincinnati and an MFA in Drawing from the University of Cincinnati. She has taught as an adjuct professor at UC in both the drawing and foundations departments as well as with Teach for America and the Art Institute of Ohio - Cincinnati. She has exhibited her work regionally and curated several local exhibitions.

Kay Hurley received her BFA from the College of Mt. St. Joseph and studied at the Art Academy of Cincinnati with the renowned colorist and landscape painter, Wolf Kahn. Kay’s landscapes in oil and pastel make dynamic use of color and contrast to achieve a sense of harmony and vibrancy.  For over 30 years, she has been a working artist in Cincinnati . Kay has exhibited in Europe and is represented in several premiere galleries in the U.S. Her work is in numerous private and corporate collections throughout the U.S. Her website is www.mkatherinehurley.com.

Young Hi Lee is an Oriental painter, art teacher and sculptor. She received her BA in Fine Arts from Seoul National University in Korea. She exhibits her ink and watercolor paintings throughout the region.

Anissa Lewis, born and raised in Covington, KY, received her BA in Studio Art from Knox College in 1996 and her MFA in Painting/Printmaking from Yale University in 1999. After graduation, she moved to Philadelphia, where collaborating on community art projects and teaching came to the forefront of her career. In 2005, she returned home to paint full-time. Website: www.anissalewis.com.

Thommy Long received his BFA in Graphic Design from the Art Academy of Cincinnati. He has more than eight years’ experience in advertising and design. He is currently an Art Director at Lamson Design and has done a variety of work both locally and nationally.

Steve Meek is a seasoned Graphic Design Professional and has his own design firm (SM Design). Steve has taught design as an adjunct professor at University of Cincinnati, NKU, and Purdue University. With more than 10 years teaching experience, he brings a multitude of resources to the Art Academy.

Rebecca Nava, a painter and educator, received a BFA in Painting from the University of Cincinnati DAAP in 2000 and an MFA in Painting from Boston University in 2004. She currently lives and paints in Cincinnati where she has recently been the lead artist for three public murals through the Artworks organization.

John Ruzsa is an accomplished stained and blown glass artist. He has worked as an instructor, consultant and assistant at several glass studios for the past 20 years.

Libby Sillis received her BFA in Graphic Design and a minor in International Art and Design from the College of Mt. St. Joseph and completed a study abroad program at the Huron University in London, England.  She has worked as a Graphic Designer in Cincinnati for major corporations including Western & Southern Financial Group and American Red Cross.  In addition, she has done a multitude of freelance work for an array of companies and non-profit organizations. Libby is an accomplished designer with a creative skill for fresh producing design concepts.

Marlene Steele is an Academy alumna and local working artist whose works in a variety of media are exhibited widely throughout the region. She is one of the founders of the Greater Cincinnati Calligrapher’s Guild and has 10 years of experience in the greeting card industry.

David Umbenhour has an MFA in printmaking and continues to produce and collaborate on letterpress prints in his own printmaking studio. He has taught letterpress printmaking and graphic design at the university level and currently works as a graphic designer.

Matt Wright is a local artist with an MFA from the University of Tennessee who has taught drawing and painting at UC and the Art Academy. His work can be seen throughout the South and Midwest.