Creative Mentors
Get to know our team of passionate, dedicated people who believe in supporting teens and fostering creativity.
Artists as Mentors
At Arts In Reach (AIR), teaching artists are mentors, collaborators, and creative role models.
More than skill-builders, they support young people in finding confidence, voice, and a sense of belonging through creative expression.
Teaching artists work alongside AIR staff and Youth Program Leaders to design and lead engaging, arts-based experiences for youth ages 10–18. Programs are rooted in creative youth development and emphasize care, curiosity, collaboration, and youth voice.
Julie Lawson
Julie grew up in Seattle WA, but has called New England her home for the last six years. When she loaded her life into her car, she had the choice of bringing her guitar or her sewing machine. The sewing machine won out, which is probably for the best, because she is now fully sewing obsessed.
In 2022 she graduated from MassArt with a certificate in Fashion Design. Shortly after graduating she competed in Project Upcycle, the sustainable fashion competition based out of Portsmouth, NH.
Julie has been working towards setting up her own sewing studio, where she hopes to create one-of-a-kind garments and accessories, using techniques such as natural dyeing, block printing, and screen printing. Additionally, Julie teaches sewing, serger, and longarm quilting classes at Portsmouth Fabric Company.
Sarah LoVasco
Sarah has been passionate about teaching from a young age. Some of her earliest memories involve classrooms of stuffed animals and lesson plans inked in Mr Sketch watermelon markers. Sarah’s interest in the creative arts was discovered during her time studying photography at the University of Vermont. Upon graduating and living and working with several different artists around the country, Sarah came to the realization that she was less interested in showing and selling her own work. Instead, Sarah preferred the supporting roles that were necessary to those practicing artists: installer / curator / exhibition manager / cheerleader / marketing specialist / etc etc. There’s nothing more exciting than listening to an artist, of any age- there is so much to discover about humanity through the perspective of an art-maker.
The spirit of support and guidance is what drives Sarah’s business, SJ Art Consulting, a multi-faceted, arts-based business that has served artists, residential and corporate clients, galleries, and museums for the past 15 years. She is honored to consider herself a creative and silly human being with a deep love for the uniqueness and passion of artists. When she’s not busy hanging a show or wrapping artwork, Sarah loves collaging with her 6-year-old son, Orlando, and talking about plants with her husband, Joe (a sculptor!).
Rebecca Marella
Rebecca is a multi-disciplinary artist based on the Maine Coast. Rebecca’s background is in darkroom printing & analog photography, however her artistic career has evolved her to also become a painter, illustrator, designer, and muralist. Inspired by the throws of life’s unexpected highs and lows, Rebecca weaves together pictures and scenes of seafaring mermaids and oceanic wanderlust. With a more sensitive look, Rebecca’s artwork explores a romance with yourself – finding strength, light, and complexity from within even at the darkest of times. Color, gesture and surrealism are key themes across the expansion of Rebecca’s work. Her only permanent aspirations as an artist are about trying things that seem ridiculous and pushing the boundaries of the traditional techniques she adores.
As a freelance artist, Rebecca creates creative work for individual and commercial clients, and takes commissions for custom artwork and large scale murals in her unique style. In her work as a wedding & events photographer, she doesn’t smother her artistic flair. Rebecca values connecting with the client and reflecting the vision of her client with her camera.
Elise Morissette
Elise Morissette is an illustrator from southern New Hampshire with a passion for scientific illustration and naturalist art. Elise has been an art educator around the seacoast for the past 5 years, sharing her love for art and sciences through unique lessons and hands-on learning. Elise’s current art uses printmaking that highlights environmental experiences, systems of the body, and humor through animals. She focuses on use of texture and value to engage viewers in a sentimental and personal way. She continues to push her range of art, exploring mural arts, scientific communication, plus supporting and uplifting the local communities through art all along the eastern seacoast.
Katrina Pratt
Katrina has been dancing and weaving stories for as long as she can remember; performing for the rocks and trees as a small child and eventually joining the circus in New York, building giant puppets and swinging from theater rafters above the audience. She has been working with children for more than 20 years, incorporating storytelling, movement and puppetry into educational therapy and alternative forms of teaching. She is currently pursuing her master’s degree in Education and Human Development.
She graduated from the University of Colorado with a B.A. in medical anthropology, focusing on birth and child development across cultures. Her interest in evolutionary biology, social dynamics, and the relationship between play and learning informs the way she shapes curriculum. Stories are a huge part of this – inspiring critical thinking, collaboration, the processing of challenging experiences, and igniting a sense of wonder. She lives between Colorado and New Hampshire dancing in trees, making potions, puppets, and honing her archery skills.
Jade Ruscio
Jade is an artist, designer, and educator born on the North Shore of Massachusetts and currently based in Kittery, Maine. She received her BFA in Graphic Design from Montserrat College of Art and works across printmaking, ceramics, freelance design, and teaching at a local nonprofit.
Her work explores ritual, gathering, and the sacred spaces the queer community creates. Drawing influence from spiritual and visionary art, she uses color, pattern, and form to shape experiences that hold memory, intimacy, and care. She approaches making as world-building, creating spaces that feel intentional, tender, and expansive.
Her practice is rooted in a background of community organizing and advocacy, guiding her work with empathy, collaboration, and a commitment to meaningful connection.
Meghan Samson
Meghan grew up in Southern New Hampshire. Most of her early childhood she lived on a farm where her parents grew vegetables, raised chickens, and tapped their maple trees. Meghan loved playing with her brother and sister in the fields and woods pretending to be animals both real and imagined, or characters from their imaginations. This upbringing played a crucial role in her interests in the handmade and helped shape her as an artist from a very young age. She cannot remember a time when she did not make things with her hands or have the desire to tell a story through artmaking.
Meghan received her BFA in clay and sculpture from the University of New Hampshire and later received her MFA from Boston University with a concentration in sculpture. She has been teaching art for the last 15 years and loves nothing more than spending time cultivating creative exploration with each and every artist she is able to work with. She is currently an adjunct professor of ceramics at the University of New Hampshire, and teaches and works out of her studio MudCity Clay in Rochester, New Hampshire. There, she is able to work with many different clay artists and invites organizations, such as Arts In Reach, to study and explore clay in new and exciting ways. Meghan lives in the wild woods of Barrington with her husband and young son, and their crazy dog Rita.
Viridian Soule
Viridian Soule is an actor, musician, and writer from San Diego, who has recently moved to the New Hampshire area. They have a Bachelor’s degree in theatre arts from California State University Fullerton, and have spent the past five years teaching film and media to adults with disabilities. In addition to their career in performing and education, Viridian is also a huge fan of board games, card games, trivia games, and all sorts of other nerdy hobbies.
“Working with AIR refreshes my love of music and reminds me why I decided on this career path.”
– Roxanne O’Connor, Guest Teaching Artist Alum