Our Team

Ashley Cottrell, Studio Manager

Ashley has her Bachelor’s in Psychology from Kent State University and is currently attending Ursuline College earning her Masters in Counseling and Art Therapy. Ashley has always been interested in the connection between art and mental health because art has been a powerful tool for me personally in times of stress. The media I gravitate towards tends be acrylic painting, pencil drawing, and a little bit of digital art.

Mellissa Redman, MFA, Instructor

Mellissa earned her Masters in Painting from Kendall College of Art and Design of Ferris State University and a Bachelors in Painting and Drawing from The University of Akron. She is presently the Art Specialist at the Shaw JCC of Akron’s Camp JCC and the visual art coordinator for Akron’s 2017 High Arts Festival. During the 2015-16 school year Mellissa was a featured artist in the Midwest Artist Studios ProjectTM. Watercolor is her favorite medium to work with and her paintings tend to include drawing, serigraphy and collage.

Sara Eversole, MA, Instructor

Sara has her Bachelor's degree in Fine Art with a focus in painting and art history and has earned her Master's degree in Curriculum and Instruction for Art Education from the University of Akron. Sara is also a middle school art teacher. Although she enjoys learning about, making, and teaching art of all kinds, she is especially passionate about oil painting, multicultural art, and figure drawing.

Samuel Hoskins, Instructor

Samuel is one of our studio assistants and instructors. He studied art at East Tennessee State University and has a background in teaching K-12 students. He has been a freelance artist for over 10 years. Samuel’s primary art mediums are mix-media/watercolor and digital art.

Alexis Huntsman, Instructor

Alexis is one of our studio assistants and instructors. She graduated from Kent State with a Bachelor's degree in Studio Art with a minor in Sculpture and Expanded Media. She is currently pursuing a Master’s of Humanities in Art and Visual Media at Tiffin University. Alexis is a practicing artist in both Summit and Stark county. She is well versed in all areas of art creation with a focus on 3D work.

Kate Stewart, Instructor

Kate graduated from the Cleveland Institute of Art with a BFA in Illustration and additional concentrations in Art Education, Creative Writing, and Graphic Design. They run a small Illustration business called Star Catcher Studio where they use their skills of product design and storybook illustration. She enjoys learning new mediums/materials and making cool things!

Becca Putnam, Instructor

Becca Putman is a new art instructor here at Akron ArtWorks! Becca is a licensed visual arts teacher and has been teaching for 4 years. She enjoys exploring new kinds of artwork and loves most 3 dimensional mediums. Becca also enjoys adventuring, gardening and her pups.

Lauren Havel, Studio Assistant

Meet Lauren Havel! Lauren is one of our new studio assistants! Lauren attended Alfred University, achieving a BFA in photography and painting and an MFA in painting. Her figurative, whimsical paintings are made using gouache and yupo paper. When not painting, Lauren works in the mediums of film photography, ceramics, and glass blowing.

Jessica Hirsh, Studio Assistant

Jessica has her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Kent State University, though she has always been passionate about art. She is currently an apprentice at a local tattoo studio. Besides tattooing, her favorite medium to work with is charcoal.