Julia Christian has been captivating the young children in the Summer Arts and Youth Arts program since she began teaching at the Ice House in 2004. Her fascinating classes such as “Cosmic Mobiles” are met with bright eyes and eager hands. Julia holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts from St. Mary’s College of Maryland where she was an academic honoree. She was Ice House Gallery coordinator and manager of the H Street Playhouse where she was curator for bi-monthly exhibits in Gallery H. Julia worked as a freelance writer and ad designer for the Voice of the Hill Newspaper in Washington, DC and she currently is a freelance graphic designer for Phoenix Graphics in Washington and Berkeley Springs. She did prop design for “3/4 Mass for St. Vivian” at the John F. Kennedy Center and costume design for “You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown” for Theater Alliance. Her newest challenge is daughter Chloe, born in July 2007.

Michael Dennis developed the book arts program at George Washington University in the early 1980’s and taught book arts at GWU and American University. He has taught workshops and seminars for a variety of arts organizations including Pyramid Atlantic center for Contemporary Prints, Paper and Book Arts in Silver Springs, MD. As principal in the design and communications firm, Dennis/Konetzka/Design Group, which he co-founded in 1985, Michael has developed comprehensive visual identity programs for major corporate, institutional, association and governmental clients including the National Park Service and the US Geological Survey. In 2002 he opened Bath Bookworks in Berkeley Springs where he has lived half time since 1996. Michael holds a BA in Graphic Design from American University and a Master of Fine Arts from George Washington University.

Jane Frenke is a fiber artist and award-winning quilter who owns and operates a fiber art company, Loom Room. Jane chairs MAC’s Gallery Committee and is active in the successful Ice House Artist Cooperative Gallery. MAC is not the only organization that benefits from Frenke’s energy and creative vision. She has been instrumental in expanding the Delectable Mountain Quilters and initiated their lucrative Yard Square Quilt community fundraiser. After Jane’s initial class, Silk Screen Basics, she has called upon several other expert artists, with whom she has worked, to provide a variety of styles and techniques: spinning wool (Sam Herrmann), water color for fiber arts (Johnnie Schell), hand dying and sun printing (Shirley Hilgren and Rika Bennett). In addition to fiber arts there will be guest artists demonstrating jewelry making (Jill Moran) and using patinas and burnishing on metal (Anne Larsen).

Margaret (Margi) Griffiths has been teaching Youth Theater classes as part of the Ice House Theater Project since 2001. She began her acting experiences while attending Berkeley Springs High School. As a Theatre Arts major at Davis and Elkins College she became involved in children’s theater and creative dramatics. She taught theater arts to grades K-6 at the Spencer Valley School in Julian, CA, directed children’s theater productions for the Pacific Theater Arts Program in Panama City, Panama, and at a primary school in northern Arizona. She returned to Morgan County in 1995 and received an MA in counseling from WVU in Morgantown. Margi recently completed a series of theater classes with at risk kindergartners and first graders and she is a regular performer and director for Ice house Theater productions. She is a mother of three children who are following her footsteps onto the stage.

Mary Anne Haines has been inspiring the creativity of youngsters in the Morgan County schools since 1984. She developed and produces an annual Medieval Fair where students perform art and drama and design their own costumes and sets. In 2003 she moved far from that time period and had her students design clothing for a 21st Century fashion show that was part of the Smithsonian “Yesterdays Tomorrows” exhibit. She conducted dragon-making workshops for children during the MAC Five Rings Festival in 1996 and has done song writing/mask making residencies in regional schools. She is a visual artist member of the Ice House Co-op Gallery. She works with masks, sculptures and paintings. She holds a BA from Virginia Wesleyen College and advanced credit from Shepherd University. In her spare time she writes music and has recorded with the Beach Boys. Her 2 daughters are both artists.

Lynn Lavin brings whimsy and magic to her work as a potter and sculptor. She has been a member of the Ice House Cooperative Gallery since 1998. Lynn holds a BA from Goddard College and an MA from Central Michigan University. She has continued her art education at Arrowmont School for Crafts, Appalachian School for Crafts, the Callanwolde and Abernathy Fine Arts Centers and with Manhattanville College in Crete and Italy. Lynn has curated Ice House shows and has been Gallery Co-Ordinator for the MAC Special Exhibit Gallery. Her works are sold at the Ice House, Tari’s Restaurant Gallery, the Contemporary Arts Gallery in Hagerstown, MD and through her own business “Carrot Patch Pottery”. She is a charter member of Potters Council, a member of Baltimore Clayworks, and the American Craft Councl. She teaches at the Ice House and in her home studio.

Jane Ping holds a Master of Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where she attended on a full tuition waiver. She began her own business in 2005, Synergy Studio of Creative Arts, in Hedgesville, WV where she has her interdisciplinary art studio and offers classes. “Synergy” also describes the interaction in Jane’s Youth Art and Summer Art classes at the Ice House. She has extensive teaching experience including workshops in Bookmaking at the Lee Arts Center in Arlington, VA, Shadow Puppetry for Blair Thomas and Company in Chicago and as guest artists for a Performance Art Workshop at the State University of New York, Oswego. Jane has acting credits that include performer/puppeteer for Wonderment Puppets at the Apollo Civic Theatre in Martinsburg, WV and as Mercy in “Meredith Monk and Ann Hamilton”, for Performing Arts Chicago.