Staff Bios

Executive Director

ashley@mainstreetarts.org 

Ashley’s passion for community building began in Portland, Maine, where she worked as the Assistant Director for the State of Maine’s Refugee Resettlement Program. She later received her Master’s in Intercultural Service, Leadership, and Management at the School For International Training, where she focused on designing programs in arts education for social change. For the past five years, she has worked at Vermont Academy as the vocal instructor and also as the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Director. She performs as a singer-songwriter in the duo “The Early Risers.” She lives in Putney with her husband, two young daughters, a slew of chickens, and a wildly large vegetable garden.

Communications and Office Manager

nora@mainstreetarts.org 

Nora is a creative and community-minded person with a background in office administration, customer service, and the arts. She’s a self-taught jeweler, aspiring homesteader, and lover of all things creative. Nora has been part of the Main Street Arts team for over a year, where she works in communications and gets to combine her love of creativity with her passion for community. She also works part-time at Luna Roots, in their apothecary where she gets to explore her love of plants, natural ingredients, and making things by hand. Outside of work, Nora enjoys making jewelry, experimenting in the kitchen, getting outside, and spending as much time as possible with her daughter.

Theater Chair

Since graduating Bowdoin College with a degree in philosophy, Putnam Smith has worked as an actor, director, playwright, nationally touring musician, farmer, letterpress printer, teacher, and  librarian. As the Education Director at the New England Youth Theatre, Putnam wrote and directed numerous plays and organized the Town Schools Theatre Program, working with numerous elementary schools throughout Windham County. He lives on a working homestead in Putney, Vermont, with his wife and two kids. 

Afterschool Drama Teaching Artist

Trish Roberts has been engaging children and teens in theatrical endeavors for over twenty years. She has directed preschoolers and elementary-aged children both for after-school and homeschool programs, including literature-based drama programs, and has staged several full-length productions at the high-school level. She holds a BA from Middlebury College and a CT teaching certificate in both French and Theatre, has a Master’s Degree in English Literature from Trinity College, and is the founder and director of Wildbrook Forest Theatre, a nature-based theatre project in Westminster, VT. She is thrilled to be offering the imagination-building work of theater through the Main Street Arts After-School Drama program.

Creative Aging Teaching Artist

Amber Paris is a Putney-based visual artist and creative community engagement facilitator.  She has taught bookmaking across Southern Vermont for the past 12 years.  You can learn more about Amber and see her work at amberparis.net.

Creative Aging Teaching Artist

Evie’s work spans cyanotype and analog photography, digital media, storytelling, encaustic painting, teaching, public art and community art-making and placemaking. What fuels her is putting the tools of art-making in people’s own hands, enabling them to explore aspects of themselves, their families, their communities, and the world around them through art-making and community collaboration, fearlessly and with joy. Learn more via Evie’s Creative Ground profile.

Feldenkrais®

Paris is a Senior Feldenkrais® Teacher with more than 35 years of experience. After a long and vibrant practice in Baltimore, she has moved to Saxtons River, Vermont. She continues to travel internationally to train the next generation of practitioners and teach workshops such as Your Body Sings and Riding with the Whole Self and The Sounder Sleep System™  to treat insomnia and anxiety.

Arts

Tobi (they/them) is incredibly excited to be working with Main Street Arts! In previous jobs, they worked as a zookeeper, a cook on sailboats, and a preschool teacher. Currently, they can be found baking at the Putney Co-op and gardening at an elementary school. Tobi absolutely loves anything and everything creative, so being able to run an afterschool art program with MSA feels like a gift more than a job! 

NIA Dance & Soul Line Dancing

Rachael has been teaching dance in Southern Vermont since 2010.  Formerly a Zumba Fitness and Cardio Line Dance Instructor, she has fallen in love with Nia, and is excited to share it with the community.

Arts

Susan E. Rosano, MA, is a Mosaic and Mural Artist with a Master’s Degree in Fine Art from Wesleyan University. Susan’s mosaic work has been shown at craft fairs, galleries and she has given mosaic classes in different venues across New England for the past 20 years. Susan is also a Registered Expressive Arts Consultant and Educator, with a Registration from the International Expressive Art Therapy Association. For the past twenty years she has taught many different types of creative arts projects with communities throughout New England as a Master Teaching Artist on the juried rosters of the Vermont Arts Council, Vermont Arts Council’s Creative Aging Teaching Artist, State of New Hampshire Arts in Healthcare, Arts for Learning Connecticut, and the State of Connecticut Commission on the Arts. Visit: https://www.creativeground.org/profile/vermont-mosaics

Mixed Media Arts

Annie Quest has been a jewelry maker, painter, theater director, stage and lighting designer, and musician for many decades.  Having performed and shown her work throughout New England, she is now concentrating her energies on jewelry making and painting. View some of her current work here: https://www.marlborocommunity.center/art-exhibits

Tai Chi

John Bohannon has been practicing tai chi and qigong for about 30 years. He has practiced two versions of the Yang tai chi form and some of the more than 7000 qigong forms. He has led groups in Saxtons River and Bellows Falls for the last 10 years. In his practice he emphasizes the health and meditative aspects of the forms, as opposed to the martial aspect. He also finds great value in the social bonds that seem to arise from practicing these arts in a group.

African Dance & Drumming

Originally from Washington, D.C., Tara grew up studying ballet, theater, played saxophone and oboe, and sang in her school choir. She earned her B.A. in theater and religious studies at Yale University, where she began studying African dance and drumming from Ghana, West Africa. At this time Tara began exploring her heritage through African studies at Yale, and was awarded a fellowship to study traditional dance and drumming at the University of Legon in Ghana. For the past 25 years, she has studied dance and drumming with many African artists. Her primary mentors have been Issa Coulibaly of Mali and Mohamed Kamara of Guinea. She now also studies with Aimee Gelinas in western MA. In addition to African dance and drumming, Tara has also practiced yoga and meditation since she was a child. Tara recognizes the practice of African dance and drumming as a tremendous force for healing, meditation, empowerment and community. It is her greatest honor to share the inspiration of these ancient traditions.

Dance

Matthew Peake was a practicing family physician in Rockingham for 27 years before changing careers in 2006 to become a visual artist. He has been dancing a variety of dances over the last two decades, and his interest in bringing dance into our community prompted him and his dancing friends to offer dance instruction at Main Street Arts beginning in 2022 as "Matt Peake and Friends."

Creative Arts & Writing

(BA Counseling Psychology, MFA) has been a practicing mixed-genre artist, writer, educator, and clinical trauma specialist for over three decades. With a passion for exploring difficult questions, a deep & abiding love for our species, her animals, and her family, and a lifelong commitment to making and honest communication, Andrea is honored and grateful to have the opportunity to connect with Main Street Arts.

African Drumming

Founder of Root Sounds Productions, specializing in the rhythmic traditions of the Congo Basin and their integration into contemporary music. Master percussionist and composer bridging ancestral and modern musical expressions.

Music

Originally from Wisconsin, Valerie earned a BA and MA in Music Ed from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has enjoyed 25+ years as a music educator and children's chorus conductor in the Midwest, New York City and New England. In 2002, Valerie worked with MSA founder, Mary Hepburn to create the MSA Children’s Chorus which continued on with great success for many years. She is thrilled to bring the Children’s Chorus back to Main Street Arts!

Visual Art

Joan is a self-taught, slightly late-blooming creative soul who loves sharing the joy she has found on her artistic journey. She has taught many classes in both Westchester, New York, and Vermont on a variety of creative subjects. Her passion for painting was reawakened a few years ago after taking an acrylics class (shout out to Debbi Wetzel!), and it wasn't long before she found herself helping others (re)discover the magic of self-expression through art.

Open Writers Studio

Group leader Ellen Goldstein holds an MFA in poetry and has published poems and essays in numerous journals and anthologies. Her favorite things include mountains, dogs, and inspiring people to write.

Theater

Lorraine Gilman is a Vermont artist with a background in theater, puppetry, and clowning. Her work has been seen throughout New England. Most recently, she developed and performed an original puppetry show, XOXO, in Japan, about friendship and connection.
Lorraine has taught students from elementary age to high school and adults. She supports students in discovering their creative process and developing their own voice.
Lorraine has a master’s degree in Puppetry from the University of Connecticut and also attended Sandglass Theater’s Puppetry Institute. She is a graduate of Ringling Brothers’ Clown College. She is delighted to be joining the Main Street Arts team!