Linda Billet is a glass artisan working in two disciplines: fusing and mosaic, which offer her much creative freedom. Her greatest love is to be in her own shop, using the tools she has accumulated over the years, while working with her own hands. In 2011, she began sharing her love of glass in residencies. But, just as she has combined mosaic and fusing, she is working toward projects with a large enough budget to combine her own skilled glass work with residency work. In the past, she has directed 30 groups of people with little or no glass experience to create amazing mosaics that they are proud of. Her goal is to always surpass the last project.

Gamut® Theatre is the combined company of Popcorn Hat Players Children’s Theatre and Harrisburg Shakespeare Company, with a mission is to tell classic stories in new and exciting ways. The theatre company envisions a world in which all people cherish classic stories and share them with future generations.

Each year, Gamut presents approximately 250 performances to 30,000 people. Moreover, 20,000 students per year enjoy their theatre classes, workshops, residencies, and shows. Since its inception in 1993, Gamut has cumulatively reached more than 575,000 children and adults through our touring and educational programs and is consistently voted “Best Drama/Theatre Classes” as awarded by Central Penn Parent magazine.

The theatre group has been recognized by the press and the public for the quality of its productions, the breadth of its programs, its reach into all segments of the community, and its ability to keep classic stories relevant and alive.

Coming Soon.

Ellen Jamiolkowski is an artist who was born and raised in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Being surrounded by nature all her life, it has become an endless source of inspiration for her. Ellen attended Tyler School of Art of Temple University in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania where she received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Ceramics. She also holds a Teaching Artist certificate from The University of the Arts in Philadelphia. As a Teaching Artist, Ellen provides a hands-on learning experience with clay. It helps build confidence and is an active approach to learning, which engages students and allows for a more meaningful experience. Working with children, teens, and adults in schools, with nonprofit organizations, and in community settings, Ellen teaches essential hand building with clay techniques and decoration. Students also experience the organic qualities of clay and make their own discoveries just by pinching, pulling and rolling the clay in their hands. Through this exploration, Ellen’s hope is that each student finds their own creative voice and expression.

Born in Germantown, PA and raised nearby in Ambler, Gail Jones’ artistic future was further shaped being enrolled at an early age in art classes at Heritage House of North Philadelphia, an artist-based community center which her grandfather was involved in establishing. Later, Jones spent her school years using all her class electives in creative environments, metal, woodworking and sewing. After the birth of her first son, Jones enrolled at Montgomery County Community College, focusing on Ceramic Arts. She fell in love with the hand-building process and another part of Gail Jones, the Artist, was activated. This was the last of any formal training, as she launched into the following decades developing as an independently trained artist.

Jones spent much of her early years as a batik artist, creating a wearable art line from the shapes and designs that flowed out of her. She then created flat pieces which began to display in shows and galleries. More than twenty years ago, Jones returned to working with ceramics, opening her first studio inside a rented space in a tiny little village named Forksville, in North-Central Pennsylvania until moving to an equally obscure location in Muncy Valley, PA, where she currently resides.

As a drummer and percussionist for 15 years, Urie Kline’s goal is to empower students through the art of percussion. Currently, he performs in several Williamsport-area bands and teaches at Lycoming College. He is also the founder and chief performer of Lyco Taiko, a group dedicated to traditional-style Japanese drumming. He currently teaches residencies on taiko, in which students learn to combine drumming with movement, and learn about Japanese culture and art as well. In the future, he hopes to share the wide world of rhythm with his residency students. Urie is proud to contribute to the artistic development of his native Pennsylvania.

Mary E. Knysh is the founder of Rhythmic Connections, an innovative company advancing education, health, and creative development through drum circles and music improvisation. An international teacher/trainer with the Music for People organization, Mary is also an Orff Schulwerk clinician, professional musician and international teaching artist. She is endorsed by Rhythm Band Instruments and Remo corporations. Mary travels throughout the United States and internationally offering conference presentations, clinics, teacher-trainings, performances and workshops.

Evgeny Krayushkin is an artist who strives to tell a story in a variety of mediums. Often, he develops the narrative with the group and the setting he is working in. His approach is strength and competency based, so that every member of the group can benefit from and enjoy the process. Creating an art project is a journey and it is his goal to make sure that at the end of the journey, there is a discovery!

Cheryl Kugler is a life-long artist from South-central Pennsylvania. Rich colors and gentle compositions of nature’s flora and fauna inspire her canvases. Versed in oils, pastels, acrylics, gouache, charcoal, and graphite, she equally enjoys naturalistic lifestyle photography and she dabbles in clay. While creating, it is not uncommon that her beautiful and well-loved cats nap on her studio desk. A resourceful and skilled “creative aging” teaching artist, Cheryl brings artsy goodness to her classes at senior centers and in long term care communities. She holds artistic skills that easily adapt to one-on-one sessions too, to enhance quality of life for individuals in healthcare and home care settings. Her openness to the creative process enables artists to experience classes that are infused with self-expression, reminisce exploration, discovery and more.

Jon Laidaicker is a painter and a storyteller, who designs narratives that express within one composition the passage of time for the people and culture that call the relevant space home. In preparation, he conducts extensive research on the history, walking and listening to the sounds of the area and its people. He also conducts extensive research on the architecture and environment that surround the proposed work of public art. The end product is a realist painting with trompe l’oeil elements that capture the historical narrative along several visual axes: with portraiture, color, and diagonal movement. Historical elements are often subtle but they often build in the evolution of the image.

Rachita is a professional Bharatanatyam artist with more than 35 years of experience in this classical dance style from Southern India. She is currently using this art form in “Creative movements and storytelling.” This program enables her to bring movement and storytelling into a classroom setting using Bharatanatyam hand gestures and facial expressions providing a creative outlet for emotional growth and learning. Rachita is an artist in residence and has successfully completed an Artist residency with Derry Preschool in Hummelstown, PA in 2020. She is also working with Gamut Theatre to bring Bharatanatyam to the theater stage, in the spring production of “Panchatantra Tales.” Rachita is the founder and artistic director of Rasika School of Dance and has performed extensively all over the United States and India.

“Once you know where you come from, you have a better understanding of where you’re going.”

Emily Nell marches to the beat of her own drum, creating pieces that are whimsical and unique. Just like her Pennsylvania German ancestors, she weaves paper-cutting and watercolor, painting the many charms of nature.

As an artist and teacher, she provides Artist-in-Residence programs to K-12 students across the nation. Subconsciously, the words she shares with students have a direct impact on her artwork. She felt a deep need to learn about the Folk Art of the Pennsylvania German people, also known as Pennsylvania (PA) Dutch.

Her ancestral quest took her to the Heritage Center in Kutztown, Pa., where she was introduced to Scherenschnitte, German paper cutting, and Fraktur, family records such as births. She instantly made a connection with these two forms of expression and used them as a vehicle to drive her work in a fresh, personal direction, creating a stronger sense of self and excitement as an artist.

As a kid, Todd Tabb was given the nickname of Earth/Water/Fire because he was constantly playing with at least one of the three elements. He is a lifelong resident of Juniata County, and after high school attended Lock Haven University. It was there that he learned the basic building blocks for the pots he now creates. Todd has been a practicing studio potter for more than 12 years. His pots are wheel-thrown and embody a simple, yet elegant, functional style. Todd’s use of several different clay bodies gives him the ability to tailor-fit a pot’s function to the best clay for the job. Employing both modern and traditional methods of glazing, he adds yet another layer to the aesthetics to the work. He has committed to several green initiatives which make his work not only pleasing to the eyes and hands, but more environmentally friendly than most other ceramic art.

Lara Vracarich is passionate about all styles of dance and rhythm and inspiring others to break through their inhibitions and open into experiencing the healing joy of these modalities. Through Creative Spirit Fusion, she perform an expressive and multicultural dance, music and spoken word, honoring sacred traditional dance forms, intending to cultivate an appreciation for diversity and encourage world peace. Performances include Flamenco, African-influenced dance, modern dance and gypsy fusion dance (inspired by East Indian, Middle Eastern and Sufi dance forms) with audience participation.

As a teaching artist, her mission is to provide a safe, non-judgmental environment for students to get comfortable in their bodies and explore self-expression. She assists students in discovering that exercise can be fun, while providing a healthy outlet that releases tension and emotion; becoming more grounded/embodied and enhancing their body-mind connection, aimed at strengthening self-acceptance and developing a healthy body image; increasing listening skills through drumming exercises; and learning mindfulness techniques/coping skills, to return to calm, stillness and quiet.

Box Of Light is a company immersed in technology and the digital arts. From educational performances to  collaborations with teachers, Box Of Light constantly explores the use of film and animation in education. Rand Whipple and Box of Light are proud and happy to teach young and old how to use computers, cameras and digital technology as tools of expression and communication.