Welcome to our resource biographies section. Please scroll down the page to find the instructor for your Yucatan trip.
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Dale Thomas is a professional photographer and owner of Northern Photographics and NP Studios in Ashland,
Wisconsin. After careers in network television and educational theater, Dale changed direction to focus on his
passion for photography. Although largely self-taught, Dale has studied through UC-Berkeley and UC-Santa
Cruz where he studied with noted photographer and former Ansel Adams assistant Mark Citret. In the studio,
Dale enjoys portrait photography because of the level of interaction with the customers. He also loves moving
outdoors where workshops focus on the art of nature photography. Dale has won numerous awards and his
nature photography appears in various books and periodicals. Commissioned photographic assignments have
included Los Padres National Forest, Channel Islands National Park, Lake Superior Big Top Chautauqua,
Northern Great Lakes Visitor Center, The Nature Conservancy. |
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Michaelin Otis grew up in Californian where she got her feisty, artful, free spirit from her movie star mother.
She began her art career with pencil, charcoal and acrylics but watercolor eventually became her medium of
choice. She later moved to Minnesota where she co-founded a gallery and studio; Avalon Arts. Painting and
teaching watercolor became her full-time career in 1986. Michaelin regularly participates in juried art shows
and has won numerous awards. She is a signature member of the Louisiana Watercolor Society, Northern Plains
Watercolor Society and the Taos National Society of Watercolor. She is the author of ‘Watercolor for the Fun
of It: Painting People’, has illustrated three children's books and is a contributing author of ‘Drawing and
Painting People the Essential Guide’. |
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Victor Javier has a studio and shop at the base of Coba, a Mayan archeological site with the tallest pyramid
structure in the Yucatan region. His skill and intensity are easily perceived in the brilliant colors and rich Mayan
designs of his artworks. Victor studied with a batik and painting master in Cozumel, and has continued to
explore technique and design throughout many years of practicing this vibrant art form. Victor was invited to
teach batik and present a body of work in November, 1999 at Seminole University in Florida, funded by a grant
in cultural anthropology. Mayan symbolism, calendar signs, and history are carefully detailed on artful cloth
hangings while tropical fish, shells and seascapes grace his wearable art. Two Mayan apprentices presently train
with Victor and help assist with an increasing demand for his work. |
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Leticia Rioja Medina hales from central Mexico. She graduated with a major in physical education; a focus of
her thesis was on the role of breathing in physical movement. She studied contemporary, classical and Russian
dance methodologies at the National School of Dance. Leticia's work has included research on interpreting
dance and movement patterns from symbolism and coding depicted on ancient engravings and paintings. For
many years, she was a member of a Mexican drumming group that performs contemporary interpretations of
Folklorica traditional music using pre-Hispanic instruments. Leticia is an accomplished singer and dancer and
performs in various venues in Playa Del Carmen. Her first CD, ‘Al Son de Mexico’ will be followed soon by a
second recording of contemporary music. |
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Annette Colón has been surrounded by talented cooks most of her life. Born in New York and raised in Puerto
Rico, she spent her summers with her grandmother & friends learning the traditional cookery of the Island.
This experience shaped her future and fired a passion to keep the culinary tradition from her family alive.
Annette, whose travels are always a culinary learning adventure, has worked with talented chefs in Key West,
Cape Cod, Boulder, Wales & England. She is presently executive chef at Lucia’s Restaurant & Wine Bar in
Minneapolis, MN where she has worked for 8 years. A restaurant emphasis is to support sustainable agriculture
and community youth farms. Annette teaches classes and cooks for special events, her favorite being the Slow
Food Conference. |
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Ruben Lopez Ayala grew up in the northern Yucatan peninsula where his mother was a professional cook.
Following a rich background of food experimentation at home, destiny took him to the tourist town of Playa Del
Carmen. Here he worked with chefs at Yaxche and Negrosal Restaurants, where he began
learning the nuisances of the fine palate. They recognized his extraordinary talents and sent him around the
world to several high level cooking institutes. Ruben was awarded the honor of representing Mexico and the
Mayan food culture at the International Olympics of Food in Europe in 2006. He is presently opening his own
restaurant of Mayan fusion cuisine in Playa Del Carmen. |
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Kevin Caufield has been working with clay for 32 years. He was a founding member and is currently on the
teaching faculty at the Northern Clay Center in Minneapolis, MN. This bedrock of experience in artistic clay
works has established Kevin as a foremost artist in this media and his works are shown nationally and
internationally. He is dedicated to understanding and mastering the transformation process of clay; a specialty
of his is primitive firing techniques. Kevin's talent and creativity exude through his vibrant teaching style. Over
his many years of teaching experience, Kevin has taught a wide range of students, young and old, newcomers
and experienced, to explore and develop their skills and talents while appreciating the process of working with
clay. |
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Don Luis Echeverria is in a class of his own. He is an historian, artist and visionary. The life of Senior
Echeverria is centered on the preservation and education of techniques, materials and ceramic traditions of the
ancient Maya; he uses them to such exactitude that world-renowned archeologists commission his ceramic
replicas for museums and educational centers. He is the co-founder and director of ArteMaya, a cultural art and
heritage center in Tikul, Yucatan. Mayan educators and students travel to ArteMaya to observe his frescoes and
art pieces and for hands-on learning in the studio. The precision and artistry of Luis's sculptures and
frescos ranks him among the World's finest clay artists. Beautiful examples of his wall reliefs and frescos can be
viewed throughout the website of Yaxche Restaurant. |
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Jan Sivertson was surrounded by art growing up on the North Shore of Lake Superior and has made ART her
living since 1980. She has dabbled in lots of media, but batik is her favorite, the perfect medium for outdoor tropical environments where joy and delightful surprise are natural outcomes. She owns Sivertson Gallery in Grand Marais, Minnesota, where the specialty is 'art of the north'; Jan travels to far off northern places to find
the most exquisite stone and bone carving. Currently Jan is working on the transformation of her Sivertson Gallery in Duluth, MN to a new shop called Siiviis. Jan finds art in all she does, from running a business, choosing artists, serving on a community board and currently serving on the city council of Grand Marais. |
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