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Our Teachers

Robert K. Carsten,is a signature member of the Pastel Society of America, the Connecticut Pastel Society, and an Honorary lifetime member of the Southwest Florida Pastel Society. He is a  contributing writer for The Pastel Journal and the Artist’s Magazine. He is a popular workshop instructor and has won many awards including the Best in Show at the Northeast National Pastel Exhibition, Joseph V. Giffuni Award, Best of Show at the Thorne Regional Juror’s Choice Competition, Irene Hunter First Prize, Robb Sagendorph Award, Academic Artists Award. His paintings were featured on the cover of and in the December, 2004 issue of The Pastel Journal and in Pure Color/ The Best of Pastel by North Light Books, and also in American Art Review. 



James D’Andrea has undergraduate degrees in Arts Education, Illustration and an MFA in Figurative Drawing from the New York Academy of Art.  He has shown his work in numerous exhibitions, including the popular Take Home a Nude,  organized by Sotheby’s and The Drawing Room, here at The Arts Center. He has a wide range of teaching experience including teaching in public and private schools, as well as at the college level.  His work is included in private collections around the world.



Carolyn Justice is an F.I.T.  graduate who has worked as an  illustrator, portrait artist and teacher.  She has a studio in her home and at the Beekman Street Co-op.  Her work is currently being shown at Mimosa Gallery on Beekman Street in Saratoga Springs and has been exhibited in regional and national shows.  She has also received numerous awards for her work, including, her most recent award, The Marion Strueken-Bachmann Award for Landscape, given by the Pastel Society of America.  www.carolynjustice.net/

Ann Larsen is a representational landscape painter working in oils and pastels. Small field studies, done directly from nature, comprise the subjects for larger paintings later created in her studio. Ann’s choice to paint representational subjects comes from a desire to describe in her own way the excitement she feels seeing how light plays across water, or how shadows glow with illumination, or how colors change with the seasons.  Ann Larsen was born in Indiana and, at the age of 18, began traveling and living throughout the United States. Now living in the Adirondack Mountains with her photographer husband, Gary Larsen, she still travels several times a year to paint in Maine, Colorado and California. www.annlarsen.com 

Tom O’Brien  - “While I have been involved in many aspects of art, my heart has always favored portraying the dynamic of the human condition.  When creating a portrait, I strive to capture the defining qualities that make an individual exceptional.”   Tom O’Brien has earned critical acclaim for his commercial sculptures and paintings for the Franklin Mint, Willits design, The Bradford Exchange, and The Danbury Mint.  His theme steins and mugs created for Avon Products and CUI are unsurpassed in the field.  www.obrien-fineart.com



Tom Ryan is a past president of the Upper Hudson Valley Watercolor Society and a juried member of the Central New York Watercolor Society and the Chaffee Center for Visual Arts, Rutland, VT.  His work has also been chosen for the highly competitive Adirondacks National Exhibition of American Watercolors in 2006.  In 2000, with a grant from The Saratoga County Arts Council, Tom published The Art and History of the Bow Bridge.  www.larac.org/Tom_Ryan.htm



Nancy Sharples received a Masters Degree in Weaving and Teaching from the Rhode Island School of Design and taught weaving and related fiber arts at the College of Saint Rose for twelve years.  Nancy has worked extensively with the Arts-in- Education program and has received several grants through Saratoga Arts.


Lawrence White's career as a photographer spans over 4 decades. His work has been published in such periodicals as Rolling Stone, Time, Forbes, People, Vogue, Boston Globe, NY Times, Le Monde, and Der Spiegel. Mr. White also won the 2001 NY Press association award for his photos of the 9-11 terrorist attacks in NYC and an award from the American Film Institute for his short films in 1994. In addition Mr. White's photography has been exhibited at Lincoln Center in NYC and the National Museum of Dance in Saratoga Springs. Mr. White is currently the chief photographer for Saratoga Living Magazine. 

Susan Wiley is an award-winning artist who teaches ongoing classes in watercolors and drawing in Saratoga Springs and the surrounding area and holds workshops throughout the Capital Region. She is a signature member of the Central New York Watercolor Society and has recently won the StuArt Award in the 31st International North East Watercolor Society.  www.susanwiley.com