Heather mae suter - camp counselor

Heather is a graduate of East Carolina University with a BFA in Studio Arts with a concentration in Ceramics. She was born in Michigan and moved to Apex, NC in 2001 where she began to pursue her love for both visual and theater arts. Moving to Greenville for college in 2007, she explored her loved for jewelry design, interior design, and pottery. Heather is currently our Education Coordinator and loves being involved with our youth classes and public events. As an artist her inspiration comes from colors, repetitive imagery, and organic patterns found in nature. The objective of her artwork is to simultaneously create decorative and utilitarian ceramics.

gail ritzer

Gail Ritzer received her BS in Art Education from the University of Missouri-Columbia and an MFA in Ceramics and Painting from East Carolina University. She has been exhibiting her work nationally since 1980 at such locales in New York, The University of Missouri-St. Louis, Eastern Kentucky University and the University of Nebraska. Her work has appeared in several publications including FiberArts Design Book, Art/Quilt Magazine and exhibition catalogs. Gail has been fortunate to receive a number of grants from the North Carolina Arts Council to pursue a variety of personal and community arts projects. She has been teaching surface design techniques, mixed media methods, painting, and ceramics to students of all ages for many years at workshops, as Outreach Coordinator for the Greenville Museum of Art and as an instructor at Emerge Gallery & Art Center.

Jacqueline Hobbs

Hello! My name is Jacqueline Hobbs. I was born and raised right here in Greenville, North Carolina, and I am graduate from East Carolina University where I received my BFA in Art Education. I began taking art classes at a very young age and have never stopped. While I have dabbled in several different art forms and medias over the years I find the most joy in ceramics. I've been hand building for about twelve years now and have been on the wheel for about nine. While I love anything I can get messy with, nothing has captured my heart like ceramics has and honestly I'm not sure anything will!

Ragan Heifferon

Ragan Heifferon is from Greenville, NC, and is in the class of 2024 hoping to achieve a B.F.A. in Graphic Design at High Point University. She hopes to achieve her B.F.A. and then move to getting her Master's in Business and Communication in 2025. She loves working with bright colors, fun patterns, and loves illustration work. She has a passion for fitness, travel, music, and all areas of the arts. She hopes that with these degrees, she will work as a graphic designer for the music industry and for other creatives worldwide.

Gabriella Galvan

Gabriella is a Sophomore at East Carolina University earning her Bachelor's of Fine in Art Education and Bachelors in Arts in Psychology. She has experience in many different mediums of art but primarily works with painting and photography. She enjoys being able to share her love of art with students and help them grow as artists, creative thinkers, and help them find their own unique voice. After completing her degree, she hopes to go on to get her Masters in Art Therapy to use art to create a positive change in others.

Carrie Cranwell

Carrie Cranwell was born and raised in Creswell, NC. She received her BFA in Art Education from ECU with a concentration in Textile Design. Currently Carrie works in Pitt County, teaching high school art and ceramics classes. In addition, she has also worked with several after school and summer art programs over the past 9 years. She enjoys exploring and using a variety of art media, such as ceramics, laser cutting, digital art, weaving, fabric dyeing, and more.

Erika Gibson

Erika is a largely self-taught, versatile and eclectic designer. She built her first simple websites by age ten, and had a multi-page site under her belt by the end of middle school. Erika's first experience with entrepreneurship was a screen-printed t-shirt business she started her senior year of high school. Her interest in ceramics dates from summer camp experiences in her single-digit years, and she rediscovered the medium as an adult. She then went on to study Fine Art at East Carolina School of Art & Design, and Business Administration, Marketing at Western Governors University. Erika’s primary aim is to empower and encourage others to create. There are prevalent misconceptions, like that an artist must have a degree and be able to draw a straight line without a ruler. The professed perfection of others can be intimidating; but the process of creation can be approachable, accessible and centered on the sheer joy of making something unique and authentic.

Haley McElroy

Haley McElroy graduated from Appalachian State University with a BFA in Art Education and a BA in Art Education. Since Graduating she has taught elementary art for 5 1/2 years. She has lived in Greenville, NC, for the last two years and excited to be teaching summer art camps for my second year. In her own studio, she enjoy constructing figural wall pieces and surface decorating simple functional forms. In her free time she enjoys spending time with my partner, AJ, curling up on the couch with their cat, Little Man, and getting lost in a new show.

Gloribel Irizarry

Gloribel Irizarry is a visual artist from Puerto Rico who resides in North Carolina. She graduated from Information Systems and worked as an IT professional for about twenty years, until she decided to pursue her dream of becoming an artist. She has been always passionate about art and crafts. In 2012 she created the Frambuesa y Tamarindo brand to bring artsy inspiration to others, offer workshops, DIY, and create handmade items. Her work was published in Papeles y Más magazine. Irizarry has a BFA in Photography from East Carolina University. Her work focuses on current and cultural issues such as sexism, immigration, and also her family history. She is interested in alternative photographic processes, digital media and textiles arts.

Raven Moore

Raven was originally born in Chesapeake VA, but has lived in Greenville NC for 15 years and considers herself a native. She recently graduated from ECU with a BFA in Art Education, and plans on teaching art at a public elementary school this fall. Her passion for art started at an early age, and only grew at she got older. In addition to teaching, Raven enjoys pursuing the mediums of drawing, painting (especially watercolor), and photography. She is inspired by plants, organic shapes, and the small everyday objects and scenes that are often overlooked.

Kimberly Cusack

Born in Stuttgart, Germany, Kimberly Cusack has lived in New Bern, NC for sixteen years. She is a junior at ECU's School of Art and Design and is pursuing her BFA in painting and drawing. Along with an Entrepreneurship certificate and a minor in public and regional planning, she is working to become involved in community arts management once she graduates. After interning at Caven Arts her senior year of high school, she became inspired by how public art can help heal communities, raise awareness for important issues, and bring color to public spaces. Her body of work encompasses paintings and found object sculptures that use distorted abstract forms combined with realism to dissect peoples true intention.

Noelle Gunn

Noelle Gunn is a North Carolina based artist who paints and draws, as well as creates sculptural worlds out of fibers, handmade paper, and local materials found, collected, and handstitched together through mixed media, layered assemblage approaches. She is an instructor at East Carolina University, teaching first year foundation courses and concept development. She earned her MFA in Painting and Drawing at East Carolina University in 2021. Noelle grew up with her bare feet in the dirt, watching thunderstorms, and exploring the fields and forests of Southeastern Virginia. After the completion of her training in traditional drawing, painting, and printmaking at The College of William and Mary in 2003, she earned a Masters in Teaching from Christopher Newport University in 2005 and taught high school art on both coasts for nine years. Since 2018, Noelle has been awarded three scholarships to attend workshops at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts; the Hannah Graduate Award and The Claire Armstrong Scholarship in 2020, the 2020 Purchase Award by the Friends of the Joyner Library for the East Carolina University Joyner Library Permanent Collection; and was one of three selected winners for the 2020 North Carolina Museum of Art Park Pictures Exhibition in Raleigh. Noelle, also known as Jet Sematary, loves playing roller derby, adventuring with friends, and taking long walks with her husband. She treasures the relationship with her new son, soon to be daughter and her partnership with a husband, all while experimenting with mixed media materials to build, paint, and express the lush, rich textures she experiences in life.

Molly Rublewski

Molly Rublewski is currently a sophomore and is pursuing a BFA in art education at East Carolina University's school of art and design. Her body of work mostly consists of themed realistic portraits and anime-inspired characters. Molly's favorite mediums to experiment with are painting, printmaking, and realism drawings. She has previously taught at Idlewild Elementary school in Charlotte North Carolina as a volunteer art teacher, she also has been working as a summer camp counselor for three years, learning how to make interesting art lessons for her campers. Molly’s art classes were about how to draw her student's favorite anime and cartoon characters, and building her student's confidence in their own artistic abilities.

Sienna Zylis

Sienna Zylis is a graduate of East Carolina University residing in Greenville, NC. She is an art educator and artist specializing in textiles and realism portrait drawings. What drew her into teaching was the sheer joy that children and adults alike share when creating art. With this center of focus, her teaching and personal art aim to direct artists and viewers to the beauty of creation.

Jacqui Cumings

Jacqui Cumings is an Art Education major at East Carolina University. Her love of artistic expression began as a child and was dominated by the natural world around her. She has explored many facets of the art world with her favorites being mixed media, ceramics, movie production, painting, and drawing. She enjoys sharing her love of art and positive energy with others.