Missy Kimsey-Hickman studied art at Seminole Community College under Grady Kimsey and received her B.A. from Colorado State University. From her Uncle Grady, she learned about primitive clays and pit firing at a young age. She has a focus on primitive clay techniques not only as a potter but as a professional archaeologist. She learned to love working in high fire clays from the instruction of the late Crealdé potter Susan Vey. Susy taught with meticulous detail how to hand build and throw. Those core techniques are used in all of her clay pieces. Missy eventually expanded the medium to sculpting under the instruction of David Cumbie. Kimsey-Hickman works the clay with imagination to create new and unusual figures. She also works in multimedia with old and new items using epoxy clay for added features. Her personal belief is that you should always be yourself as an artist and enjoy the process. Her sculpting is anthropomorphic and whimsical.  

A native of Winter Park, Charles Hodges earned his M.F.A. at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago with a focus on Printmaking.  He embarked on a commercial photography career extending 30 years.  Upon returning to Florida, Hodges opened a studio that produced work for Orlando Magazine, the Shakespeare Theater and textbooks for Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.  In 2019, in collaboration with The American Red Cross, Charles produced a series of Black and White Portraits honoring the volunteers and their personal life stores, exhibited at the Museum of Arts and Science in Daytona Beach.  In January 2022, Hodges was selected as one of 30 local artists to display his work on a billboard as part of the I-4 Corridor Show.  He believes in “paying it forward” and is an active member of Karios Prison Ministry and also serves on the Board of Directors for Habitat for Humanity,

American-born Jeff Rogers has traveled extensively in pursuit of excellence in ceramic arts, exploration of humanitarian concerns and community empowerment. He is currently probing the intersection of classically beautiful forms as a metaphor for his de-facto inclusion into a privileged group and the responsibility privilege requires with its centuries-long narrative that includes various iterations of violence, genocide, and conquest. Finely crafted clay often skirts the edge of the disturbing—well curated forms torn by surfaces referencing the bias and violence that are still, sometimes insidiously, present in the fabric of our structures, institutions and interactions.

Jeff is a highly trained production potter, and multiple galleries across the US have represented his earlier work. He established studios in Flintstone, Georgia; Windsor, Vermont; Key Largo, Florida; Pandiassou and Jacmel, Haiti; and Arles, France. His exhibitions include Hidden Voices at Men Nou Gallery, Pettionville, Haiti 2014, A Quatre Mains with Cecile Cayrol, Hotel Nord Pinus, Arles, France 2015. From 2014 to 2018, Jeff was commissioned to design and create dinnerware for some of the finest restaurants in Miami and Southern France where it has been used to serve President Macron. From 2018-2022, prior to Jeff’s current role as an instructor and Ceramics Program & Studio Manager at Crealdé School of Art in Winter Park, Florida, he worked in the prestigious studios of Simon Pearce and Stephen Proctor, both in Central Vermont, honing precision production and design skills and developing techniques for the production of large scale pieces.

Jeff’s training has mainly been through traditional rather than academic venues.  He began as an apprentice to Charles Counts at Rising Fawn Pottery, Rising Fawn, Georgia, in 1984. From 1986 through 1988, he apprenticed at Atelier La Chouette with Michele Bailly, Nimes, France, and at Potterie du Don with Suzy Atkins in Montsalvy, France. He has taught in a variety of institutions, including Chattanooga State Technical and Community College, Baylor School, and Lee University in Tennessee; Covenant College in Georgia; Ceramic League of Miami in Florida; and Popular University of Pandiassou in Haiti, in addition to numerous workshops in the US and abroad.

He has organized and curated numerous exhibitions, including Masters and Students and Pottery from Nicaragua and Peru in 1999, funded through Georgia Council for the Arts and Hope from Haiti: An Exhibition of Haitian Craft at Konbit for Haiti Center, Miami, Florida, in 2013.  At that time, Jeff also founded and directed Epple Seed Arts as a nonprofit arm of Beyond Borders to celebrate and support their efforts towards sustainable livelihoods for Haitians. Jeff’s ceramic practice has always been tied to his heart and work toward justice, equity and inclusion.

Mike Goodge studied art and film at the University of Central Florida, received a B.A. degree in 1996.
He has taught art classes and workshops at various schools and community centers for the City of Orlando, Toronto and Clermont, Florida for more than twenty years.
Mike’s paintings have been exhibited in the Orlando Museum of Art and several galleries in Florida and Toronto.
His art is influenced by animation, Warhol, Picasso, life experiences and film.
http://www.mikegoodge.com

A recent addition to the Painting & Drawing faculty at Crealdé, Joseph Mattus has a B.F.A. in illustration from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.  He later graduated from Grand Central Atelier, where he studied under nationally recognized Jacob Collins, Joshua LaRock, Scott Waddell, Justin Wood and others.  Since completing a five-year study in New York, Joseph has taught privately.  As a new Florida resident, he has entered several local exhibitions, winning Best in Show at the Dunedin Art Center, the Pinellas Park Art Society exhibitions and the Winter Garden Art Association “SOBO” Annual exhibition. 

Silvana is a Brazilian-American artist who has been creating for 25 years. After graduating with a degree in Occupational Therapy, she dedicated herself to making art in her studio.  Silvana specializes in paper marbling and bookbinding, though she has practiced over 20 disciplines, including watercolor, ceramics, wood turning, printmaking, enameling, and more.  She is most passionate about helping others learn, new, exciting and beautiful ways to make art!

Originally from New Orleans, Deborah Gabriel Umphrey obtained a Bachelor’s degree in English at the University of New Orleans.  Later, after moving to Orlando, she earned a Masters in Art Education from the University of Central Florida and taught for several years in Seminole County schools, including Lake Brantley High School, as well as teaching drawing and painting to youth at the Casselberry Art House.  Umphrey further developed herself as an artist through Crealdé School of Art’s Fellowship Program and was a Painting & Drawing Studio Artist in 2015.  A Crealdé faculty member since 2022, she teaches both adults and youth classes, and leads workshops at local festivals.  She is also a member of the Central Florida Watercolor Society and Continues to exhibit her work at local galleries.

Alyssa Foxson is an Orlando based macrame artist. Alyssa has degrees in biology and currently teaches in her field but has also been doing fiber arts since she was a teen. She owns a macrame business named Lily Cords where she sells her macrame art online, at art shows, wholesale, and teaches macrame through workshops. Recently, Alyssa has been vending and hosting workshops with local Florida businesses such as: Enlighten Us, East End Market, West Elm, The Florida Local Market, Tommy Hilfiger, and Free People. Come embrace your inner boho goddess and learn the beautiful art of macrame with Alyssa!

Fontaine Rodgers attended the Maryland Institute, College of Art and the California College of Art (cum laude). Her personal art has always reflected her love of nature, landscapes, flora and fauna, especially birds and horses. She delights in printmaking, creating linocuts and woodblocks that are often amusing or whimsical. Her passion has always been drawing, which is the foundation for all her art. Her art can found at several Florida galleries and in private and public collections here and abroad. Rogers joined the Crealdé faculty in 2022.