Say hello to our art education team! These wonderful artists are passionate and experienced in their respective fields. Click on each headshot to learn more about each team member’s background and artistic expertise!
Meet Our Instructors
Christine Cabral is an artist and a teacher of art. She holds a BFA degree from Valdosta State University and an MFA from Florida State University, with an emphasis on mixed media and installation. Although her earlier works were largely three dimensional, her current focus is acrylic paint on canvas. She occasionally incorporates mixed media fabrics and vinyls into her paintings as well. Christine’s studio is in Valdosta, Georgia where she lives with her husband and two young children.
Image: CAVERN by Christine Cabral
Dr. Cheryl Carvajal, facilitator of the Young Writers League and the Writers League and coordinator of the Art of Writing Contest, is the Assistant Dean of the Arts and Sciences Department of Wiregrass Georgia Technical College, where she teaches English, speech, and humanities. When she's not writing, she's making music, singing, painting, drawing, and sewing, though she wishes she had a time-turner so that she had more time for all of it.
Author of several books, including a researched book of ghosts and the first book in a young adult fantasy novel series, she also writes short stories, plays, screenplays, and exceptionally bad poetry. Married with two kids, a dog, and a cat, she tries each day to balance family, teaching, and creating.
Anda Chance exhibits her work in galleries and art exhibitions and has received recognition for her work in watercolors and colored pencil. Her work has been purchased for government locations and charitable fund raisers. In addition to showing her own work, Anda also curates and installs art shows and exhibitions for galleries, art groups, public exhibitions, and individual artists. Currently she works out of her studio in McAlpin and stays busy working with the Live Oak Art Guild, and as an Exhibitions Director for the Colored Pencil Society of America. She attended Arkansas Technical University majoring in Art and Art Education and then went onto earn a degree in Education at Florida Southern College. Anda holds two signature recognitions from the Colored Pencil Society of America.
Art Instructional Experience:
Art instructor - Osceola Center for the Arts
Art Instructor - Orlando Museum of Art
School District Osceola County, Florida
Santa Fe Community College Outreach Adult Programs
Local and statewide workshops
Affiliations:
Florida Art Group (FLAG)
Live Oak Artists Guild, Inc.
Colored Pencil Society of America
Gainesville Fine Art Association
Ann Kullberg Colored Pencil Magazine & online instruction
Image: All That Remains by Anda Chance
For Annette Crosby, all roads lead to Valdosta, Georgia. Her enthusiasm for her life there is evident in her energetic personality, immersing herself fully in home, family, community, and art. She grew up in Valdosta, went through all levels of school there, including college at Valdosta State University, and lives there now in the same home where she and her husband raised their three children. From childhood to now, she has consistently been an artist, her forms and techniques shifting and maturing to shape the established artist she is today.
She earned two degrees, a BFA in art education and a MEd in Elementary Education. She has garnered awards in regional and national juried competitions, exhibits in invitational solo and group shows, and her work is held in numerous public and private collections. She has been published in The Palette and Southern Living magazines and other publications around the South Georgia area. See her work on her website (annettecrosbyart.com), Facebook, Instagram and her gallery Artists on Ashley in Valdosta. But she will also effusively add, “and you can come to my studio!” at the Turner Center for the Arts, where she is artist-in-residence and teaches classes.
Like her personality, her abstract work is vibrant and lively, full of energy and sensation.
Why do I paint? It is my passion, something I do for my own pleasure. There is nothing so rewarding as “making something from nothing.” Some people say, “Oh, but I don’t have any talent. I can’t even draw a straight line.” My answer is that if you have the desire and commitment, you can learn the skills. I did.
After a career in social work (adoption and foster care), I retired in 2005. Wanting to learn something new, but having never held a brush, I decided to learn how to paint. I took numerous workshops with well-known artists. Although I was usually the “new kid on the block” in the classes with the most to learn, I never gave up. After miles and miles of painted canvases and tubes and tubes of paint, I am still learning. BUT, nothing gives me more pleasure than to share what I have learned through instruction and practice with anyone who, like me, has the desire. Thus, the Turner Center for the Arts has given me the opportunity to share my passion with others. I hope my enthusiasm for art and painting might give others the incentive to pursue their own creativity.
Most recently, I have enjoyed painting notecards using gouache (opaque watercolor) and gift bags and tags with acrylic.
Growing up, art always inspired me. Whether it was to find joy in the small things, appreciate the value of time, or the dream to be an artist myself. Art has a tendency and the ability to bring people together and that is exactly what it did for me. From small art projects in elementary school to creating bigger, better things in high school, art has allowed me to open myself up creatively and always look at things in a different and unique way. I have always loved creating new things, and I feel that art is the best way to do just that. I love learning new mediums and taking the time to master them.
Valencia Fussell is an Art Education major at Valdosta State University. At VSU, Valencia has been able to learn from talented professors who have fueled her love for all things Art. Her dreams consist of obtaining her bachelor's, furthering her education in a master's program, and teaching her deep love of art to future generations.
Valencia has a passion for teaching and prays that she can inspire creativity in young artists. Valencia is a firm believer that every child can create great art. She hopes to encourage students' artistic abilities inside and outside the classroom. With the help of the Lead Instructor, Valencia’s main goal is to create a loving, positive, and welcoming environment.
Anita said,
"I’m a mom and rug hooking artist. I have a background in retail and graphic art, and am both a certified McGown teacher and president of the Wiregrass Rug Hookers (meets in Thomasville, Ga.). I focus on learning everything I can about rug hooking so I can help you on your journey. I dye, color plan, customize patterns, and provide video tutorials and personal lessons in my home or through the web camera. I also sell kits, wool, and more."
Steven Heddon has been the owner and creative director of Fusion Creative Marketing for the last 17 years, offering photography and video production services. His videography projects include advertising, promotional, corporate, educational, tourism, and entertainment content. Through his commercial work, Steven expanded into film making. He has produced three documentaries - The Southside Project, about the Southside minority neighborhood in 2022, and two others in 2023 - Below The Line, on homelessness in the Valdosta area, and The Reformation Project, which explores the hardships experienced by those incarcerated and their families, as well as issues within the criminal justice system. He was Key Grip/Key Gaffer for "Three Times a Lady," a proof of concept film that was featured at the 168th film festival in 2023.
In the summer of 2022, Steven was an instructor for The Philanthro Films film camp as part of South Georgia Film Studios. He has mentored multiple Mass Media interns from Lowndes High School, Valdosta State University, and Wiregrass Georgia Technical College. Many of his interns have gone on to have successful careers in the film industry. Steven is also screening films for the 2024 South Georgia Film Festival.
Lyberty Huerta is currently a senior at VSU pursuing her bachelors in Art Education. She is a firm believer that everyone is an artist and wants every child to find their creativity and love for art. She hopes one day to share her love and passion for art in the classroom and create a nurturing environment. Lyberty has experience with multiple mediums but her favorites are ceramics and sculpture.
Meet Ciara Jones, a class assistant who has been engaged in crafting and creating since a young age. Hailing from Massachusetts, her interests/ experience range from paper crafts, fiber art, graphic design, bead crafts to polymer clay. A combat veteran and currently a property manager, Ciara also manages her own online business. She brings a practical and experienced perspective to classes, drawing from her diverse background. Ciara is dedicated to sharing her extensive knowledge and love of creating with students.
Debra developed her love for Art visiting the Detroit Institute of Arts on Sunday afternoons with her father when she was a child. After taking a summer semester at Parsons School of Design at NYU, she attended College for Creative Studies at in Detroit a block from the Art museum she lived as a child. After a career in advertising design she “retired” to raise her two sons.
Debra re-entered the workforce as a Realtor when her children were grown; but returned to her artistic beginnings in actual retirement. When she’s not playing with paper, paint and pastels in her home studio, she enjoys sharing her love of art by teaching painting and crafts to local area adults and children.
Debra is the Turner Center's 2024 Art Educator of the Year (this is an annual award given to someone on the Turner Center's instructor team for exemplary work).
Emma said,
"I'm originally from the Kansas City area -- I moved to Valdosta in 2021. I started working with glass as a medium when the Richard Hill Glass Studio opened at the Turner Center in 2022. My specialty is fused or kilnformed glass vessels and sculpture. I consider myself a lifelong learner -- I'm currently seeking a BFA in Art and Design at Valdosta State University, where I also work as an Assistant Professor of English."
Iliana Liborio is a visual artist from East Dublin, Georgia, specializing in acrylic painting and currently exploring ceramics. Her work is inspired by the objects and moments that shape everyday life, using color, texture, and form to highlight the beauty in the ordinary. Through both painting and clay, she creates pieces that reflect personal experience and a deep appreciation for the familiar. Iliana is currently pursuing her BFA in Art Education at Valdosta State University, where she continues to grow as both an artist and educator.
Dean says, "It is hard to remember a time when I was not focused on drawing and painting and experimenting with all kinds of media. In my young life I was absorbed with the love of drawing. This, however, did not serve me well. It seems that I spent a lot of my time drawing cartoons behind my spelling book.
I was very fortunate to know what I wanted to do in life, but I just didn’t know how it was going to pay the rent. So, I sought out a formal education attending Middle Tennessee State University, a small commercial art school in Nashville and finally the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. The realization was I needed to pursue commercial art and advertising.
After school my wife and I found ourselves in South Florida where I landed my first real job with a printing company. This gave me the technical experience on what could and could not be produced commercially. Within a few years the natural progression was to start my own business in graphic art and design employing full time and contract personnel. For 37 years we worked with the top 300/500 corporations in the country. During that period, I also taught adult classes in technical and freeform drawing, watercolor and other media. It has been a great, fulfilling experience. If only I had known where a simple cartoon was going to take me.
Our retirement 15 years ago brought us to Thomasville, Georgia. It was the first time we had slowed down in all those years. Being here has allowed me to appreciate the time and space to once again dedicate myself to the fine arts both in personal pursuits and teaching. To that end, I was first a student with Fay Bridges Hyatt at the Annette Howell Turner Center of the Arts. Since then, I have taught drawing classes at the Center and for the last seven years it’s been my pleasure to be an instructor of an oil painting class surrounded by enthusiastic students who share the same love of learning, experimenting and creating. I truly love the art of teaching and the teaching of art."
Dean was the 2023 Turner Center Art Educator of the Year (this is an annual award given to someone on the Turner Center's instructor team for exemplary work).
Phylisicia Lundy is a multifaceted African American artist hailing from South Georgia. Lundy specializes in graphic design, photography, and ceramics. Her identity deeply influences her work, rooted in a profound love for African American culture, architecture, and humanism. Drawing inspiration from various facets of American culture, Lundy strives to illuminate the shadows and highlight the diverse narratives that shape our society. Her art consistently reflects a humanitarian perspective, exploring themes of identity and individuality.
As a ceramicist and encaustic oil painter, Taylor Nalley finds that the solitary company firing her raku vessels or marking canvas allows space for reflection and vulnerability, which she then uses to address her opportunities for growth as a person. She uses particular motifs to personify the act of grieving. The unpredictability of raku informs her to relinquish control to the flames of firing.
Nalley has embraced and celebrated the raku philosophy of wabi-sabi with others through raku workshops, as embracing the chance of imperfection informs the transient moments of life. She resides in south Georgia where she maintains a studio practice at the Hudson Pottery Studio, teaching Kids and Adult Pottery Workshops, as well Raku Firing Workshops.
My name is Alexandra! I am in college to be an art teacher! I have loved to create since I was young. Art is a beautiful piece of self-expression that I can’t wait to help others learn!
Kiara said,
"What do I do? My two specialties are painting and ceramics, although ceramics is something I focus on the most. Everything I do usually has a feeling. I've been painting since I was little; it's always been something I've loved. Ceramics came into my life as a way to express myself 100%. Everything I try to do, I do with feeling and dedication because I consider that's what gives life to art. One goal I always have is for everyone to be able to understand the message and the feeling of a piece just by looking at it, demonstrating how valuable art is."
Melissa Pihos, Associate Professor of Dance at Valdosta State University (VSU), began dancing at a very young age and has performed professionally across the United States for over 25 years. She is certified as an instructor in the IMPROVment® method.
Melissa is an award-winning filmmaker, and her film work has screened in several film festivals across the country. Her choreography has been performed internationally. She has danced for Flatlands Dance Theatre, Larry Keigwin, Van Dyke Dance Group, John Gamble Dance Theatre and Sidelong Dance Company. She has also performed in works by Martha Graham and Twyla Tharp. Melissa recently worked with Texas Tech University professors, Dr. Ali Duffy and Dr. Peter Fischer, on a multidisciplinary performance titled "Evolution of Gaia."
She is currently touring her work, "PIHOS A Moving Biography," at Alzheimer’s disease awareness events. "PIHOS A Moving Biography" is a documentary dance/film performance that explores the life of her father, NFL Pro Football Hall of Fame receiver Pete Pihos, and his battle with Alzheimer’s disease. The work has toured to Charlotte, NC., Winston-Salem, NC., Lubbock, TX., Philadelphia, PA., New York City, NY., Valdosta, GA., and Santa Fe, NM. In 2022, Melissa was featured in an NFL Films Presents feature titled "Remembering Forgotten Heroes.”
Melissa has written, directed, and choreographed two children’s performances for the VSU Theatre and Dance department's Theatre for Youth Audiences Tour, titled "Planets View from the Hubble Space Telescope" and "The Butterfly and the Bee". Both performances incorporated science education. She has recently co-written and published an interactive digital dance textbook, "Dance and Culture" with Associate Professor at Florida Southern College, Erin LaSala Phillips. She has also written an essay for a new book by Dr. Ali Duffy, Professor of Dance at Texas Tech University, titled "Dancing Motherhood."
Melissa holds an MFA in Choreography/Dance from UNC-Greensboro and a BA in Biology. Her previous dance faculty appointments include UNC-Greensboro, UNC-Charlotte, High Point University and Salem College. She has been a national dance judge for Dance Machine and Boogie Fever since 2015.
Hunter Pope is an award-winning artist from Valdosta. She earned a Master of Arts in Arts in Medicine from the University of Florida and a Bachelor of Arts in Art and Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Valdosta State University. She enjoys painting, drawing, pottery, photography, printmaking, and other art forms, including singing and learning to knit. She has worked as a private art tutor and has taught classes for Valdosta State University’s Camp Discovery, Learning in Retirement, and Continuing Education programs. She volunteers with South Georgia Medical Center’s In-Patient Rehabilitation Unit, where she uses art to help patients heal mentally and physically.
South Georgia based artist, Ramiro Santillan, is a ceramicist and oil painter who experiments with his mediums to tilt the ordinary on its head. Drawing references from modernism and pop culture, Santillan’s inspiration comes from asking questions about the everyday things we say, do, or see. With asking questions comes learning. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Valdosta State University where he studied and worked as a ceramic studio technician. Santillan is passionate about education and its ability to foster positive communities. Santillan is currently the pottery studio manager and instructor at the Hudson Pottery Studio at the Annette Howell Turner Center for the Arts.
Santillan was awarded the Turner Center's seventh annual Art Educator of the Year award in June 2025.
McKenzie Simpson is the graphic design instructor for digital art programs, as well as a teaching assistant for adult pottery workshops at Annette Howell Turner Center for the Arts. She is a multimedia artist and senior at Valdosta State University pursuing a BA in art. The main media forms she focuses on are graphic design, printmaking, and ceramics. She is experienced in both hand-building and wheel-throwing ceramics techniques.
Daisy Taylor is a mixed media artist living in Hahira, Georgia. She teaches all subjects of art at Lowndes High School where she has worked for eight years. She earned her BFA in Art and BFA in Art Education from Valdosta State University, as well as her MA in Art and Design from Kennesaw State University. Daisy enjoys drawing and painting, focusing on expressive color and mark-making throughout her work. For her, art is healing and she believes in play over perfection, with a personal goal to work in her sketchbook daily. When she isn't teaching or making art, she loves to spend time cooking or playing outside with her two favorite dudes (her husband and her son).
Sherry said,
"I am a native of Valdosta, but spend half my time in Florida - I travel around with many famous artists to learn new and unique techniques for my paintings. I love learning and creating! I have attended a painting class with Dean Little once a week for twelve years, and I learn something new every week. You are never too old to learn something new - anyone can be trained to paint, and you do not need to know how to draw!
Painting is one of the most rewarding things you can do. It's my happy place. I am an impressionist artist, and love big and bold strokes, bright colors, and happy paintings! My studio is my happy place where I never know what the end result will be - it's always a new and interesting result. I love teaching others to create. I wrote and painted the cover of a children's book, "Caroline finding Miss Lilly."
I spend lots of time in Sarasota Ringling School of the Arts."
Elizabeth is a recent VSU graduate with a Bachelor’s of Fine Art. She works with many different mediums including ceramics, graphic design, and oil painting. Her current work is influenced by family experiences and memories. Being in school has opened her eyes to the possibilities of where art can take you. She uses this time to discover and experiment with the direction she wants to take her art, practice technical aspects of art and be introduced to new forms of making. In the future she aims to work in graphic design and have free time to continue working on all other forms of fine art and craft.