JoAnn Early Macken is the author of the rhyming picture books Sing-Along Song (Viking) and Cats on Judy (Charlesbridge). Her forthcoming picture books include Waiting Out the Storm (Candlewick) and Flip, Float, Fly! Seeds on the Move (Holiday House). JoAnn has also written more than eighty nonfiction books for beginning readers, about a dozen biographies, and several science books. Her poems and articles have appeared in magazines, anthologies, and writers? guides. JoAnn received the Barbara Juster Esbensen 2000 Poetry Teaching Award. She is a graduate of the M.F.A. in Writing for Children and Young Adults Program at Vermont College. Visit her web site at www.joannmacken.com.

Molly Snyder Edler is a writer and editor for OnMilwaukee.com where she writes articles about interesting people and places in Milwaukee with an emphasis on kids and family content. She also helps to coordinate OnMilwaukee family events such as Milwaukee's first public spelling bee. She earned a BA in English and Creative Writing as well as a Certificate in Women's Studies from the University Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Since then she has worked as a journalist and copywriter as well as taught workshops on creative writing and poetry for the YMCA and with students at Lincoln Middle School of the Arts.

Jill Erickson owns a mural and decorative painting business, Create A Scene. After earning her graduate degrees in painting from the University of Iowa, Jill returned to her hometown of Milwaukee. Engaging a "school family" in the history and process of mural-making is especially meaningful to Jill. Students in all grades at 37th Street School and Barton Elementary participated in the design and hands-on painting of a school community mural which is now displayed in a prominent area of their school.

Dennis Felber has received three Associate degrees from the Milwaukee Area Technical College, in Visual Communications, Photography and Cinema. He has over 25 years experience as an independent photographer and has also exhibited sculptural works at the Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum. He has worked on a number of School Studio projects, including those at Pierce Street and Manitoba Schools.

Juan Flores is a sculptor and a painter who hails from Aquila, a small town in Mexico located in the Veracruz region. He studied visual arts at the National School of Fine Arts, La Esmeralda. Juan's work has been shown in Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Italy and the United States. In sculpting, Juan works in a variety of media, including plaster, clay, sand, concrete, bronze, fiberglass and ice. At Milwaukee Spanish Immersion School, Juan worked with the 2nd-5th grade students to create a plaster ceiling installation based on traditional Mexican mask-making techniques.

Jeffrey Holub has worked in a variety of theater productions over the past 25 years. He has designed and built puppets, props, sets and lighting for several professional production companies in Chicago, Washington DC, and Milwaukee. He has taught student workshops and/or youth related productions for the Milwaukee Jewish Day School, University Wisconsin-Milwaukee Theatre Department, First Stage Children's Theater, Mask and Puppet Theatre, Milwaukee Public Theatre, Longfellow School, and Milwaukee's Boys and Girls Clubs.

Bo Johnson is an actor/director with a Bachelor of Theatre Arts from University Wisconsin-Eau Claire. Much of his career has been spent in Milwaukee working with the Milwaukee Shakespeare Company and Milwaukee Chamber Theatre. He has taught Shakespeare and Introduction to Contemporary Acting for First Stage Academy for several years. In the spring of 2006, Bo worked on a collaborative theater arts Three Discipline project with the fifth graders at Longfellow Elementary School.

Eriks Johnson is a native of Milwaukee. Pursuing his interest in painting and drawing, he received his BFA from the Art Institute of Chicago and an MFA from UW Milwaukee. He has also studied in Lacoste, France and the OX BO summer program. His work has evolved from observation-based realism to an organic abstraction. An interest in collaboration fuels his approach to teaching. "I try to locate and uncover the source of inspiration in every student." Johnson has taught for UW-Milwaukee, Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, Community Arts Consultants, North Shore Academy of the Arts, Walker's Point Center for the Arts, the Milwaukee Art Museum, and for AWE.

Angela Jones, an Illinois native, has made it her mission to become an expert in African arts, and in particular African dancing. She has been a proud member of the Milwaukee-based African dance company, Ko-Thi, since 2000. She underwent a two-year training period and was made a full time dancer in 2002. As a member of Ko-Thi, Jones teaches residence classes at various schools and organizations, performs in annual shows at the Pabst Theatre, and tours with the company, both locally and nationally. Jones gained a world-view while working with a travel agency, where her training included traveling to destination spots, in the United States and abroad. She has extensive experience working with children through Ko-Thi and is a site coordinator at the John C. Cudahy YMCA, where she teaches dance. She is currently seeking her BA in Management Communications at Concordia University.

Dasha Kelly has been writing in one form or another for 15 years. A marketing and public relations professional by trade and training, she is also a contributing writer to local and national publications such as Upscale, Black Enterprise and Milwaukee magazines. She has released two audio compilations of original poetry: "Mixed Greens: Anthems for Grown Folks" (2001) and "Still Waters" (2002). In March of 2003, she published her first novel, All Fall Down, which earned her a place in Written Word Magazine as one of the Top 10 Up and Coming Writers in the Midwest. With an engaging and dynamic stage presence, Dasha has performed around the country. She has a bachelor's degree in public relations and a master's degree in marketing communications. Dasha worked with students at Siefert Elementary School on their Three-Discipline School Studio project.

Thea Kovac is a visual artist, writer of essays, fiction and poetry, private art coach and facilitator of creative process workshops. She is also an instructor in the Continuing Education Departments at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design (MIAD), Cardinal Stritch University, Carroll College, and Alverno College. She also leads workshops at Woodland Pattern Book Center. She received an M.S.W. from UW-Milwaukee in 1975. In 1986 she left an established career in social work to attend MIAD and pursue a lifelong dream of creating art. She now helps others make similar transitions by conducting classes, lectures, individual art coaching sessions, and sponsoring informal artist support groups. Her studio, The Lost Playground, is located in the Walker?s Point area of Milwaukee.

Jen Lyons has been a properties artisan at the Skylight Opera Theater for two and a half years. With a special interest in mask and puppet theater she has worked with Milwaukee Public Theater, Polaris Puppet Theater, St. Joseph's High School Theater and with students at Clarke Street School. She has also taught workshops in life casting and mask building for Next Door Foundation.

Kate Madigan is a muralist who has directed numerous large-scale murals with children in Milwaukee, including projects sponsored by AWE at Trowbridge, Garfield, and Mitchell Elementary schools. A graduate of the University of San Francisco and the Academy of Fine Art, Kate employs a method for conducting large-scale murals that was developed by Precita Eyes, a San Francisco-based nonprofit organization that sponsors community mural projects. By incorporating each child?s drawing into the master plan and by directing each child to paint what he or she drew, the process enables all participants to feel a sense of personal ownership of the completed mural.

Kathy Maersch received a BFA in Drawing/Painting from UWM in 1985. She has taught at the Milwaukee Art Museum and is owner/designer of Barking Pony Studios, a full-service Art Studio that designs and fabricates special event décor. Barking Pony Studios clients include the Milwaukee Art Museum, the Hyatt Regency Hotel, Northwestern Mutual Life, and many other Milwaukee businesses. Kathy has exhibited widely throughout Milwaukee and in Chicago and has collections in several Southeastern Wisconsin locations. She recently worked on a 3-D project at Maple Tree Elementary, entitled "Oh, the Places You'll Go!"

Dennis Manley is an aggressive achiever with over 30 years of design and construction experience. He has become a recognized craftsman in the areas of residential and commercial design, as well as creative woodworking. He currently teaches at UWM in the School of Architecture and Urban Planning. He worked with artists Dasha Kelly and Susanne Carter and the students of Siefert Elementary School on a Three-Discipline project in Spring 2005, entitled "Lessons in Advertisement / Healthy Choices."

George McCormick is a self-taught artist who carves basswood into unique dolls including jointed lumberjacks, angelic whirligigs, and what the artist calls "flat people." He also carves basswood to create painted reliefs and describes his genesis as an artist in spiritual terms. "Acknowledgment, of both the secular and the religious, is an important influence in the development of my subject matter." In recent years, he has been working with welded scrap metal and incorporating found objects into his whimsical painted sculptures.

Dan McFeters has been a professional artist since 1976. He has taught at the Milwaukee Art Museum for 15 years and currently holds part-time teaching positions at Waukesha County Technical College and the University School of Milwaukee. In the spring and fall, hundreds of students come to his studios for field trips for raku pottery and pit fire living history experiences. He worked with students at Burbank School to create a large tile mural celebrating the cultural diversity of the school.

Jane Moore is a fiber artist who combines her love for people and art in her business, the Creative Connection. She brings hands-on visual art experiences to diverse groups of people in school, community and professional settings. She uses the creative process to spark self-expression, social interaction, inter-cultural understanding and fun for participants. She also teaches art for VSA Arts programs and has taught classes for children at the Milwaukee Art Museum. Jane worked as a social worker for 20 years and has a BA in sociology from Northwestern University. She has worked on AWE School Projects at Fritsche Middle, Craig Montessori, La Escuela Fratney, Milwaukee Sign Language, Thoreau, Congress Elementary, Custer and Northern Star High Schools.

Francisco Mora was born in Mexico City and studied at the Superior School of Painting and Sculpture (La Esmeralda). Since 1980, Francisco has made his home in the United States, working full time as an artist of multiple disciplines: fine art painting, print making, sculpture, ceramics, silver works and the writing and illustration of children's books. Over the past ten years, he has been actively involved with children's literature and related community programs such as the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra's A.C.E. program (Arts and Community Education).

Fujie Moses is a painter who was born in Japan and began her training there. She has exhibited throughout Wisconsin, nationally and internationally. She is a graduate of MIAD in Painting and Printmaking and has studied Printmaking at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She has a degree in commercial art from MATC. In working with young people on projects like the Asian Moon Banner and the Journey Quilt, Fujie aspires to share an artist's way of living, creating and dreaming.

David Niec is a sculptor and painter who walks along the line between seeing the nature of a thing and creating it. In sculpting, David creates a delicate balance of natural found materials, including tree roots, trunks, branches, stones, and beaver-chewed wood. As a painter, he is fascinated by the night sky, and makes nocturnal paintings on location with the aid of a battery powered light. During an artist residency at Elm Creative Arts School, David introduced students to the wilderness, the night sky and the rhythms of nature from which his art is derived.

Ras' Ammar Nsoroma, known as Ammar, has lived in Milwaukee for most of his life, except for a few years when he attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He has exhibited extensively in both Chicago and Milwaukee and has created over 50 murals in cities such as Milwaukee, Chicago, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, and Washington, DC. Ammar is a founding member of African-American Artists Beginning to Educate Americans About African-American Art (ABEA). He is an avid reader, and the knowledge he gains through reading is reflected in his drawings, paintings, murals, and mixed media pieces. He has worked with AWE on projects at Madison University High School, MacDowell Montessori and Congress Year Round School.

Bonnie Paruch is a signature member of the Pastel Society of America. Her impressionistic oil and pastel paintings have been exhibited in many national and regional exhibitions and her work and writings have been published in national and international art publications. Her work is represented in galleries in Arizona, California and Wisconsin. She received a Bachelors Degree in nursing and recently became certified as a Biology/Life Science teacher for grades 6-12. Her art education came from, as she says, "the school of life." For the past fifteen years she has been teaching art in many school and community settings, mostly in Wisconsin but also in Kansas, with people of all ages and a wide range of ability.

Zene Peer is a Milwaukee-based fiber artist and educator. Incorporating a multicultural and multimedia approach, her work represents a change in paradigm with regard to the traditional concept of quilting, form and structure. Found objects, photographs and non-monochromatic color schemes are coordinated in multiple theme, array and message. At Lancaster Elementary, Zene called upon her history and heritage to share the communal spirit of quilt making with children.

Max Samson founded The Mask & Puppet Company in 1972 after he concluded a residency with the Bread and Puppet Theater of New York. While touring throughout Europe and Israel, Max taught a puppetry workshop in Jerusalem that culminated in a nationwide tour by students. In recent years, The Mask & Puppet Company has performed multi-cultural, mixed-media pieces at Summerfest, Winterfest, the Milwaukee Public Museum, the Betty Brinn Children's Museum and other festivals and public venues around Milwaukee. At Humboldt Park School, Mr. Samson worked with 6th graders to create puppets for two plays, "Why We Tell Stories About Ananse the Spider" and "Why There Are Not So Many Tigers Today."

Lisa Schlenker works in opera properties production, and freelances as a scenic and prop designer for local theatrical companies. A graduate of the MFA program in Theatre Technology at UW-Madison, her professional work includes collaborative endeavors with Actors Theatre of St. Paul, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, Memphis Opera, African American Children's Theatre, Theatre X, Renaissance Theaterworks, Skylight Opera Theatre, Milwaukee Shakespeare Company, and the AWE-sponsored project at Clarke Street School. Borrowing from Robertson Davies, Lisa strives, through her art, to allow people "to forget some things, remember others, and to refresh the dry places in our souls."

John Schneider is a well-known and award-winning Milwaukee actor, director and playwright. He was a founding member, resident playwright and artistic leader of Theatre X from 1971-2004. John also founded or co-founded other theatre and performing arts groups such as The Post-Romantic Theatre Company, The John Schneider Orchestra, and The Hotel Milwaukee Radio Show. Among the many awards he has received, one of the most meaningful to him was the honor of being the first person to receive the Milwaukee Arts Board's annual Award of Excellence for contributions to the cultural life of the city. He is currently an Adjunct Professor in the Theatre Program at Marquette University and works with Milwaukee youth on theatre pieces focused on reducing violence through the Project Non-Violence Youth Theatre, which he also founded.

Tarence Spencer is a veteran with the Milwaukee-based Ko-Thi Dance Company, where he is a musician specializing in African and Caribbean musical instruments. He has served as Assistant to the Musical Director, Musical Director-Ton, and now Interim Musical Director. He assists in the training of all new musicians, maintains the musical repertoire, conducts annual auditions, and assists with musical rehearsals, performances and residencies. Through Ko-Thi he has introduced numerous children to the music, dance, culture and history of the African Diaspora. He has also performed African music with the Milwaukee Repertory Theater, and the Walt Disney World Company during a promotional premiere of The Lion King. He received his musical training in African Drumming, African Cuban (Conga) and Caribbean (Conga) through Ko-Thi, under the former Musical Director's Dumah Saafir and Luther Gray. He has also studied with musicians in New York, Washington, D.C., and St. Louis.

Marc Tasman, an intermedia performance artist, was born in Louisville, KY. Marc also lived in Columbus, OH, and Chicago before coming to Milwaukee in 2001. In his own art work and in his teaching, he explores the magic that can be found and awakened in everyday actions and objects. Marc?s favorite works and mediums include Polaroids, chocolate syrup, refrigerator magnets, the Internet, and paper bag puppets. He brings a unique style of creative play to the kids.

Renato G. Umali received an MFA in film and video production at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He currently teaches new media and digital video production to high school and college-aged students. Additionally, he gives private piano lessons at the Brass Bell music store.

Della Wells is a native Milwaukeean and self-taught artist who began seriously drawing and painting at age forty-two. Since then, she has created more than two thousand images in various media, often incorporating her own folklore set in a magical place called Mambo land. In addition to being the Founder and President of African-American Artists Beginning to Educate Americans About African American Art (ABEA), she has taught art and has given workshops to children at the Milwaukee Public Museum, the Boys and Girls Club, many schools in Milwaukee, and to women in recovery at Meta House, and to mentally challenged adults. As part of the 2003 International Arts Festival, she taught a workshop on Collage Dolls at the Milwaukee Public Library.

Nomusa Xaba was born in Chicago and is a veteran of the Civil Rights Movement. The mother of 5 children, she is a teacher by profession. Coupled with her many years of performing experience as a poet/percussionist, she has been able to seamlessly wed the two professions, teaching and performing. What has emerged is an educational consultant who is eager to share her talents with all audiences whether they are teachers, administrators or children. Her training workshop, Classrooms Alive! focuses on integrating arts-culture into the curriculum and emphasizes state-of-the-art brain theory and classroom management techniques. "Mama Nomusa" has performed all over the U.S., Canada and East Africa where she taught school for South African refugee children in Tanzania.