About Our Instructors

Directory of Instructors by Medium Taught:

Acrylic

Dar Brooks

Drawing

 Mary Albury Noyes

Nelson Anderson

Louise Gillis

Jo Storey

Internet/Technology

Amy Zellmer

Oil

Mary Albury Noyes

Richard Abraham

Nelson Anderson

Bonnie Featherstone

Louise Gillis

Douglas L House

Pat Kness

Richard Kochenash

Mike Rada

Jo Storey

Pastel

Mary Albury Noyes

Bonnie Featherstone

Louise Gillis

Douglas L House

Mike Rada

Photography

Darrel Tangen

Amy Zellmer

Watercolor

_{Dar Brooks}

Andy Evansen

Bonnie Featherstone

Louise Gillis

Richard Graves

Pat Kness

Jo Storey

Dan Weimer

Youth/Teens

Nelson Anderson

Louise Gillis

Jo Storey

Mary Albury Noyes

Figure, Portrait and Anatomy Instructor

Mary has been a successful Medical Illustrator most of her adult life. She studied portrait and figure at the Minnesota River School of Fine Art where she was also an instructor. In 2007 she moved her fine art studio to Savage Art Studios.

Richard Abraham

Landscape Workshop Instructor

Featured on Minnesota Public TV's "Minnesota Originals" Visit our YouTube Channel at: www.youtube.com/savageartstudios

Class and workshop instructor Richard Abraham studied painting and design in college, He made his living as a designer for 14 years. First in broadcast television design at the CBS affiliate in Denver, then in 1990 at an animation studio in Madison, Wisconsin, producing work clients such as PBS and The Learning Channel. In 1998 Richard made the decision to paint full time, and moved to Minneapolis to study classical oil painting techniques.

Richard studied the figure from life at The Ateliers in Minneapolis for 2 years and then to The Hurinenko & Paquet Studio. He studied with Jeff Hurinenko's portrait painting and was introduced to Flemish painting techniques and with Joe Paquet in outdoor landscape and composition. He says, "The first time I set up a French easel outside and painted with the sun on my face, I was hooked, (I had spent too many years in front of a computer monitor on beautiful days)."  For the past six years Richard has concentrated on learning to paint plein air, and working these paintings into larger studio paintings.

Nelson Anderson

Youth & Adult Instructor

Nelson is teaching too many classes to be listed here!  Nelson Anderson is an inspiring Youth and Teen Art Instructor, adding energy and a lot of fun. to each class.  Nelson has been painting and drawing since early childhood.  His paintings are in collections in Minneapolis, Chicago, Toronto, Calgary, and as far away as Brazil!  Wherever Nelson lives and works, he always seems to teach classes too, passing on his passion and skill to the next generation.  His daily discipline includes painting in his studio, as well as doing nature studies out doors, to continue learning from nature as a foundation for studio paintings. Nelson studied painting at the Alberta College of Art and holds a Masters Degree from North Park Theological Seminary in Chicago.

Dar Brooks

Acrylic, Watercolor & Mixed Media Instructor

Dar is an award winning multi-media artist.  She teaches class and workshops in art, creativity, creative visualization, personal growth and transition, to adults and children.  Dar has enjoyed teaching in the Twin Cities art community for groups and art centers for over twenty-two years.  She also travels regularly as an instructor for groups across Minnesota, the United States, France and Mexico.  Dar's teaching style is fun, spontaneous, and easy for adults and children to become engaged with and enhance their existing skill level. 

Andy Evansen

Outdoor & Studio Painter in Watercolor

Andy Evansen began painting watercolors in the mid-1990s. Though largely self-taught, he has studied with such well-known watercolorists as Alvaro Castagnet, Eric Wiegardt, and Skip Lawrence. He served as president of the Minnesota Watercolor Society from 2004-2006 and teaches at workshops in the Twin Cities area. Evansen exhibits and competes widely in regional and national galleries and juried competitions, and was the winner of American Artist magazine’s international watercolor competition in 2006 and a finalist in International Artist magazine’s landscape competition in 2007.

Evansen relishes the unique and unpredictable qualities of watercolor and the medium’s ability to render a scene in a manner that is both believable and spontaneous. By concentrating on the larger shapes and overall design, and leaving something to the imagination, Evansen forces the viewer to interpret details by drawing from their own experiences and memories. “It is quite a trick to make it look easy, and I take it as a compliment when viewers tell me how simple my paintings look up close while appearing complex and detailed from a distance.” 

Bonnie Featherstone

Pastel, Oil & Watercolor Painter

Bonnie Featherstone studied art in college and had a successful career before she returned to her art full time. She studied and taught at the Minnesota River School of Fine Art, and still maintains her studio in Burnsville today. Bonnie is award winning artist in Oils, Pastels and Watercolor.  She is a member of Minnesota Watercolor Society, Lake Country Pastel Society, and Burnsville Area Visual Arts  and a Founding Member of Burnsville Area Society for the Arts.

Louise Gillis

Studio, Outdoor & Figure Instructor in Oil and Watercolor

Noted oil painter and watercolorist Louise Gillis is an accomplished representational artist, who studied at the University of Minnesota and completed a four-year program at Atelier Le Sueur in Excelsior with additional studies at Atelier Lack in Minneapolis. Louise is an experienced oil and watercolor instructor who currently teaches at the Edina Art Center.

Richard (Dick) Graves

Studio Watercolorist

TRichard (Dick) Grave’ university degree is in architecture, was an Architect for his professional life. He also has a passion for international and domestic travel, having spent considerable time traveling in Central and South America and as well as throughout the U.S., Africa, Europe, and British Isles. After a life time of working he sold his Architectural firm so he could paint full time. His topics for paintings are varied, but are primarily landscapes, seascapes, and those of architectural elements.

Patricia Kness

Impressionistic Oil & Watercolor- Floral, Still Life & Landscape Artist

Patricia Kness has always been an artist.  From a young child, growing up in Scott County, she enjoyed sketching and painting the world around her.  Pat attended art school in Minnesota, then later studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art in Philadelphia where she was greatly influenced by the New Hope Impressionists of PA.  When Pat returned to Minnesota she continued her art career at the Minnesota River School of Fine Art where she was an instructor and studio artist.  In 2006, Patricia joined a small group of artists who moved their studios to Savage Minnesota and became a signature member of Savage Art Studios & Gallery, where she works and teaches today.   Patricia is a Signature Member of Savage Art Studios where she maintains her studio and works in the gallery.

Richard Kochenash

Direct, Figure, Floral & Landscape Painting in Oils

Lessons learned in art included a B S in Art Education from Kutztown University and later 5 years at the Atelier LeSueur.  These schools afforded me a set of tools to produce fine works of art however they only tell part of the picture.  

Life constrains me to produce fruit in a wider range than just art.  I live now for a purpose greater than this.  As a son, father, husband and teacher I press on to the best of my ability to act and live in light as much as to paint it.    My paintings, primarily in oil paint and watercolor, span a wide range of interest.  Each reflects a point in time with its particular present moment story to tell as well as my mood and emotion when I painted it.  They each stand independently.  My hope is however that when viewed as a whole all my works, including the art, present to the viewer the hand behind my signature.

Mike Rada

Outdoor & Studio Landscape Instructor in Oil

Being a full-time artist was a dream of mine all the years  I worked in a cubical.  Since Fall of 2001, I have been able to pursue that dream thanks to the support and encouragement of my wife, kids, family and friends. Landscape painting is my main focus as it challenges me to convey the emotions they so powerfully offer, while creating positive images that invite the viewer into the picture.  Thankfully, I learned early in my art career, talent is not enough and I've been fortunate to study with nationally recognized artists.

Jo Storey

Director

Watercolor, Oil Studio & Landscape Artist

Jo has always been an artist or that is how it seems to her.  Even while attending Western Washington University where she received her business degree, Jo kept her art alive by taking extra classes in studio art and working on campus as Assistant Gallery Director.  Her college friends would not be surprised at her life direction.

After university in the Pacific Northwest, Jo focused on a career in business where she found success, but missed her art.  Finally while attending a Executive Management Leadership course she was told that she "needed a creative outlet to balance her life."  So she took an art class with Patricia Jerde in cast drawing at the Minnesota River School of Fine Art.  That was all it took to open the flood gates.  Jo and her husband Jeff, reorganized their lives, so she could attend art school full time beginning in 2001.  She studied there for four years and also took a studio their.  In 2006, Jo moved her studio to Savage with several other artists to open Savage Art Studios & Gallery.  She is currently co-owner of SAS along with her partner Mary Aries. She teaches oil and watercolor.

Darrell Tangen

Photography Instructor

Dan Wiemer

Watercolor Workshop Instructor

Dan grew up in northern Illinois with a love of nature. He studied art and design at Iowa State University and received his Bachelor of Arts degree (graphic design) in 1986.  Following college, Dan worked at a Minneapolis design firm.  Three years later, in 1989, he began his freelance career.  He juggles a passion to create commercial illustration as well as fine art.  While his paintings adorn living rooms across the country, his illustrations are used by Paul Masson wines, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Pillsbury, Chippewa spring water and Bakers Square Restaurants, to name just a few.

 Watercolor has been Dan’s media of choice for the last twenty years.  “I truly love the spontaneity of watercolor,” he said.  “Watercolor, in particular, is ideally suited to intuitive painting.” The fluid medium lends itself to a unique decision-making process as the painting develops.  Sometimes even the artist is surprised by the final piece.  “I read in a golf magazine that you should plan like a surgeon and swing like a hippie,” Wiemer said.  “This is the way I find myself doing some of my best paintings.” Dan says he enjoys the process of painting and creating more than the finished product.  “The experience I have when I’m painting, the interaction between myself, the paint and the paper—that, to me, is the ultimate art form."

Amy Zellmer

Social Networking & Photography  Instructor

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