Our mission statement:
“hudson valley atelier aims to be a gathering place of instructors and students all learning from each other. a place to grow, to find peace, to gain insight and to explore. a creative space to escape to.“
Atelier Teaching Instructors
Carlise Azmitia
Education director and instructor (classical, fiber and fine art)
Current classes at the Atelier:
August 4-7: Texture Sculpt Class
*click each class to register
beth verblaauw
Young artist teacher
Beth is a children’s programmer who currently teaches preschool at the Kids Club House in Pine Island. Beth enjoys bringing her love of the outdoors and her love of teaching children together by exploring, experimenting and making art! Beth has taught at the Florida Public Library, and AOOA in Goshen as well as private events for children!
July 21-24: Flower Power Art Camp
August 4-7: Nature's Texture Art Camp
*click each camp to register
Rebecca Bratt
Weaving and crochet
Rebecca comes to us from Carmel New York. She has a master's degree in math and education, but a passion for creating beauty from the natural world around us. She especially loves to work with invasive materials, turning them into useful, eye catching vessels. Rebecca loves the slow, meditative process of wild basketry. From the foraging and drying of materials, to the preparation of materials; And then using the materials to transform them into something completely different. It's like the magic of alchemy at my fingertips, all from what I find in the forest.
Please give a warm welcome to Rebecca for bringing the art of weaving and basket making to the Atelier!
Current classes at the Atelier:
Coming Soon
Classes at Hammond Museum:
Classes at That Creative Space:
*click each class to register
Allison Ray Jeraci
Mosaic Tile Artist
Allison Ray Jeraci is a mosaic artist and creative movement educator known for transforming simple materials into vibrant, joy-filled works of art. Blending bold color, texture, and playful design, Allison creates handmade mosaics and accessible DIY kits that inspire creativity in all ages. Her work celebrates the small pieces of life that join together to create our own spectacular vision of life.
Allison also owns an online yoga studio dedicated to yoga and understanding the underlying mechanics of the body and enjoys spending time with her husband and cats.
Visit Allison here:
Current classes at the Atelier:
8/2 - Mosaic Bee Bath
*click each class to register
Melinda Lee
Yoga, journaling and paper craft
Melinda received her 200 hour yoga teacher training in 2024 with the intention of sharing with others what yoga has brought into her life. The practice of yoga provides her space to cultivate focus, grounding, strength, and calm in mind, body, and spirit which gives her the space to meet herself with curiosity rather than judgment. In 2025 she began exploring Yin Yoga more deeply and fell in love with this slower, more introspective, and often overlooked style of yoga. She has since completed 100 hours of continuing education and loves introducing others to the practice, which invites people to pause in both body and mind, something she feels deeply honored to hold space for.
Alongside yoga, Melinda has been creating since childhood, exploring many mediums but always returning to mixed media art and journaling. In 2024 she began creating handmade self-reflection journals decorated with collected materials like dried flowers, book pages, stamps, washi tape, and other found treasures from her travels. She is excited to share this meditative creative process with others, guiding students in making their own journals complete with reflection card prompts that invite them inward and offer a safe space to explore their thoughts with curiosity and care.
Current classes at the Atelier:
May 17 - Journal & Meditation pt 1 - 10am
May 24 - Journal & Meditation pt 2 - 10am
*click each class to register
Visit for more yoga:
Kirsten Gabrielsen
Knitter and natural plant dyer
Kirsten Gabrielsen is a natural plant dyer, knitter and knitting instructor based in Orange County, NY. Kirsten grew up in Denmark and moved to the United States in 1985 after marrying her American husband Bill, a high school art teacher. Kirsten, with a background in Clinical Sciences, worked at her local Community College as a technical assistant and Sustainability Coordinator until her retirement in 2022. Upon retirement, she took up the craft of natural plant dyeing and hasn’t looked back since. Spending the first season experimenting with mostly harvested plants from her surrounding areas, she began to grow her own dye gardens the following year. Her dye gardens now include about a dozen different dye plants. In addition, Kirsten purchases natural dye materials from various reputable suppliers.
Kirsten uses dyeing processes that are gentle and each dye lot is unique while the colors produced reflect nature in beautiful and subtle ways. She uses various yarn bases, including locally produced New York State yarns in her practice.
In addition to plant dyeing, Kirsten teaches knitting at her Danstrik Studio and organizes Knit-alongs and Knit-togethers at local Orange County, NY establishments.
You can see Kirsten's work at
Current classes at the Atelier:
8/15 - Natural Plant Dye Workshop
Catie Massa
Illustrator and Teaching Artist
Catherine Massa is an illustrator based in both Brooklyn and Connecticut. She received a BFA in Communications Design (Illustration emphasis) with a Creative Writing minor from Pratt Institute. She currently works as an extracurricular art instructor at various schools across New York City and has exhibited and sold work at MoCCA Arts Fest, FlameCon, Brooklyn Independent Comics Showcase, and many other local art markets. Catherine primarily specializes in digital painting and comics, heavily emphasizing storytelling at the heart
of what she makes.
Current classes at the Atelier:
Aug. 23 & 30:
Comics & Manga for teens - 1:30pm
*click to register
Laura Leigh
Fine art and watercolor
Laura Leigh is a fine artist and maker of organic watercolor paints based in New Paltz, NY. Laura blends the line between abstraction and landscape in her plein air oil paintings. After completing her BFA in Painting and Drawing from SUNY New Paltz in 2014, she has completed several artist's residency programs, many in national parks. Laura has created her own earth pigment library made from Ochre minerals and clay from around the country, and now spends most of her time teaching online and in person classes. She believes that painting is therapeutic and wants to help heal and connect people through creative expression.
Current classes at the Atelier:
5/29 - Nature's Palette (watercolor making)
*click each class to register
Classes throughout the region:
Mothers Day Paint and Sip - The Eleven - Albany, NY
Lisa Stewart
Writer and award winning author
From her website: lisaswriting.com
A few years ago, I was holding my hand on the soft head of a very old dog and trying to find the right words for a four-year-old. There weren't any — at least not on the bookshelf. So I started writing. The little book that came out is now called Heaven is Amazing, and it began everything else.
I've spent most of my life telling stories to small people. As a kid, I told them to my stuffed animals. As a teacher, I told them at carpet time. As a mom, I told them at bedtime — and somewhere in the middle of all of that, I noticed how much grown-ups need stories too. We just call them other things. Memoirs. Essays. Magazine articles. Texts to a friend at midnight.
"The opposite of scrolling isn't productivity.
It's making something — even if no one ever sees it."
Lisa's Writing is the small studio I built around that idea. I make a few things, slowly and on purpose: a picture book about a dog and a meadow, an early-reader bundle starring a pinchy little crab named Twinkle, and a slow photo zine called the Hudson Valley Happizine — full of permissions to make things, badly and joyfully and at any age.
Every product here is built with the same question in mind: could a child carry this around? Could they read it, feel it, fold it, keep it in a shoebox under the bed? Even the things I make for adults are, in some quiet way, for the kid we used to be.
Thank you for being here. Thank you for caring about small, careful things. I hope something on these pages reaches you on the right day.
— with so much love,
Lisa
Current classes at the Atelier:
June 12 - Write your own Story - 6pm
*click to regioster
Do you have a specialty craft you'd like to share?
Would you like to offer a workshop at the atelier, contact today!
Wood, glass and textile teaching artists are welcome!
These are highly requested classes and would love to have you teach, contact today!
Are you a crochet/knit intructor?
Atelier is always looking for fiber artists that teach, contact today!
Visiting Teaching ARtists
Meryl Lipton
Micro macrame jewelry
Meryl Lipton is a Hudson Valley based macrame artist specializing in micro macrame jewelry. Her love of macrame began in the 1970s when macrame wall hangings and plant holders were part of popular culture.
Meryl rediscovered her passion for macrame in 2019 while experimenting with micro macrame cord, gemstone beads, and semiprecious stones and crystals. Combining her love of nature with her love for macrame, she turned her passion into a business and can now be found selling her beautiful nature-inspired jewelry and gifts at local craft festivals, pop-up markets, and holiday fairs.
You can follow her on Instagram at @knotty_andnice
Aaren Connoly
stained glass artist
Aaren travels and teaches throughout the Hudson Valley. Please follow on Instagram at @boltedlightning
Keith Dougherty
Welcome to Mooka Moon, a charming gift shop nestled in the heart of Montgomery, NY. Featuring beautifully handcrafted items by local artisans, Mooka Moon is your perfect destination for unique, one-of-a-kind treasures. Each piece is thoughtfully curated with love by Keith Dougherty, whose own collection, Keith Dougherty Designs, adds an extra touch of creativity and magic to the shop. Whether you’re looking for the perfect gift or a special item for yourself, Mooka Moon invites you to explore handmade art that tells a story.
Wendy Forte
Wire wrap jewelry
Wendy Forte of Peppered Sunlight has been creating jewelry since the 90s. First with beads and leather then with wires and stones. Although Wendy works in other mediums to feed her creative juices, her real love has been teaching jewelry making for over 10 years. To her, seeing the joy in her students when they discover they can make beautiful pieces too is the best feeling in the world!! You can regularly find her teaching a multitude of workshops at the Alice Desmond Center in Newburgh, NY. Her classes are suitable for ages 8-adult. Cannot wait to see all your beautiful creations taught by Wendy!
Amanda Light
Paper and Fine Art
Amanda Light is a self-taught and community mentored artist, curator, and creative facilitator from the Hudson Valley.
Amanda developed a system for teaching mobile Paper-Making Workshops in 2017 with the assistance and support of Ozioma Egwonwu through the Dream Effect Fellowship Program. Amanda facilitated her first paper-making workshop in Newburgh NY at the Dream Center in 2017.
Since 2017 Amanda has facilitated paper making workshops throughout the Hudson Valley, offering space and recycled and found materials for creative experimentation, expansion and most importantly play.
Amanda looks forward to fostering creative relationships, sharing her artistic experience and skills, and learning from fellow teachers and the greater community.
Courtney Salerno
weaving artist and instructor
Courtney regularly travels throughout the Hudson Valley teaching Weaving workshops. Follow on Instagram at @madeby_cjk
Tina Thooft
horticulture and moss art
Tina Thooft is the founder and botanical designer behind Botanical Designs by Tina, a Hudson Valley business specializing in nature-inspired botanical art, seasonal container design, houseplant care, and creative plant workshops.
She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Horticulture and brings over 20 years of greenhouse growing experience and design to her work. Her background blends professional plant
knowledge with artistic design, allowing her to create workshops that are both approachable and inspiring. Tina is known for creating welcoming, hands-on experiences where participants of all skill levels can slow down, connect with nature, and create meaningful botanical pieces to enjoy in their homes.
Current classes at the Atelier:
*click each class to register
Jenny Torino
Fiber art, felting and textiles
I am an interdisciplinary artist that uses felting wool, textiles, yarn and paper mâché to create sculptures and interactive spaces. I have taught art for 10 years at organizations and venues throughout Orange County such as Wickham Works, Confetti’s Create and Celebrate, AOOA Farm and the Warwick Area Farmworkers Association, along with the Rhode Island Museum of Art and Science. I teach primarily fiber arts such as needle felting, wet felting and sewing for children and adults. You can see my work at www.jennytorino.com or on Instagram @j.torino
Maria Zhungo
Leather Artist
Maria Zhungo - Zhungo Handbags and Crafts was born out of my passion for creating 100% handmade leather accessories. I have spent over six years focused on this beautiful art and a large part of my life sewing and creating with my hands right here in New York. Every piece I craft reflects dedication, creativity, and a love for the handmade. In 2026, I decided to share and teach the benefits of creating handmade pieces, inspiring others to discover the value, patience, and satisfaction that comes from artisanal work.
Current classes at the Atelier:
August 1 - Leather Card Holder
*click each class to register
Atelier gallery and student work
