Teachers

Ana Schreck

Ana wants to empower people by incorporating yogic principles into the social work world and bringing social work into the yoga world. She teaches Kripalu Yoga and Divine Sleep Yoga Nidra at The Breathing Room in Cambridge and is pursuing a Master’s in Social Work at Boston University. You can connect with her on Facebook.

Adam Jankauskus

Teaching Home Composting

Adam Jankauskas is a Somerville resident who recently left the world of technology to break into urban agriculture. He has started City Compost (www.citycompost.com) which offers a residential compost collection as well as free guidance on home composting.

Andrew Anselmo

Teaching Origami 101

Andrew Anselmo has been creating and folding origami for over 20 years, and has been a street performer for over 10 years at Waterfire (Providence, RI) as well as at Faneuil Hall, Boston Common, and many other venues. He also has taught origami at local libraries and museums throughout New England, and currently has a studio at Artisan’s Asylum in Somerville.

Anita Shriver

Teaching Stylize Your Space: Techniques for Modernizing Wooden Furniture

My name is Anita Shriver and I’m a Somerville resident, set designer, interior decorating enthusiast, and collector of old fashion magazines. Ultimately, my work is about making spaces as beautiful and interesting as possible because we all deserve to love our surroundings.

Athena Moore

Teaching Link Stitch Bookbinding

Athena Moore has been binding books for ten years. She is a graduate of the North Bennet Street School and works out of Washington Street Studios in Somerville, MA. From 9-5, she is a book conservator at the Northeast Document Conservation Center.

Blake Evitt

Teaching Intro to Parkour

Blake, a lifelong Somerville resident, is a Level 2 qualified ADAPT instructor (the only international parkour teaching certification endorsed by Parkour’s founders) and has been teaching parkour around the world since 2010. A Thomas J. Watson Fellow who spent a year studying parkour internationally, Blake is the Director of Parkour Generations Americas, which offers parkour classes in Somerville and around the country. His work was recently covered by The Boston Globe.

Camille DeAngelis

Teaching Intro To Creative Writing

Camille is the author of the novels Mary Modern, Petty Magic: Being the Memoirs and Confessions of Miss Evelyn Harbinger, Temptress and Troublemaker, and the forthcoming Bones & All (St. Martin’s Press, 2015). She’s also written a first-edition guidebook, Moon Ireland. She received her B.A. from New York University and her M.A. in Writing from the National University of Ireland, Galway. She blogs about books, writing, travel, crafting, and veganism at Cometparty.com, and spends a lot of time hanging out in Diesel Cafe in Davis Square.

Edie Shimel

Teaching Taking Better Picture With Any Camera

A Somerville resident with an MFA from the University of Chapel Hill, Edie teaches Digital Photography at the Institute of Contemporary Art and serves as community arts educator at the Peabody Essex Museum. MA. She has an active photography practice, using digital and large format film photography. Recently she was chosen as a Greater Boston “30 under 30” Artist through the Arsenal Center for the Arts in Watertown.

Ellen Blanchette

Teaching Brew Like a Barrista

Ellen, a Somerville resident, has been a certified barista for over three years and store manager/coffee educator at Pavement Coffeehouse in the Back Bay. She loves all things coffee, and and believes that people should (and can!) be able to brew coffee at home just like their favorite baristas in their local coffee establishments. “There are a lot of myths and false information out there about coffee, and it would be an awesome experience to help people learn what is accurate and what is not.”

Emily Garfield

Teaching Imaginary Mapmaking

Emily Garfield creates intricate maps of imaginary places that explore the origins of cities and the function of maps themselves. Her drawings are inspired by the visual language of maps and the fractal similarity that cities share with biological processes such as the patterns of cells and neurons. She has a studio at Artisan’s Asylum, a local makerspace, and organizes Somerville Open Studios. Check out her work at www.emilygarfield.com.

Alex Teixeira

Teaching Investing and Stock Market Princi ples

Alex Teixeira is a stock research analyst at an asset management firm in Boston with over five years of personal investing experience. He loves investing and normally adopts a long-term, value-oriented approach. He’s also a big fan of de-mystifying investing for others. Alex spends an inordinate amount of time hanging out in Somerville because the city is so darn cool.

Emily Thibodeau

Teaching Basic Bicycle Maintenance

Emily owns Hub Bicycle Co in Inman Square. She has been working in bike shops since 1995. When she’s not fixing bikes, she’s teaching folks how to fix them, or riding them very slowly.

Emily Worden

Teaching Business Marketing Tips for Artists and Crafters

Emily, (emilyworden.com) started eThreads.com, a custom handbag business, in 2006. Based out of Somerville, she started Ferocious Friends, a cat toy business, in 2012. She received her MBA in 2008 and specializes in writing, consulting, and strategy for solopreneurs and businesses alike. She’s the author of “Crafter Corp: How to Turn Your Handmade Hobby into Big Business” (March 2014).

Eric Tondreau

Teaching Intro To Contact Staff

I’m a junior at Tufts University majoring in Cognitive and Brain Sciences, but in what little free time I have I like to set big sticks on fire and dance with them. I am one of the members of the Tufts Jumbo Jugglers, which has a close relationship with the Medford Spinjam, a group of spinning and flowtoy enthusiasts in the greater boston area, who meet once a week at Tufts for an open unlit and fire practice, and organize larger object manipulation events.

Erin and Blake Geno

Teaching From Farm To Table

We are pretty typical Somervillians that happen to have been sourcing >85% of our food from local farms since 2008. Both of us have day jobs, have done the Sept 1^st move and managed a farm to table lifestyle in one bedroom apartments. We have been described anywhere from “committed locavores” to “those crazy people with the whole pig in their freezer” and hope to share our experiences with you.

Ileana Hernandez

Teaching Creative Photography

Ileana is a Mexican Photographer and Visual Artist and member of Washington Street Art Center in Somerville. Her work has been exhibit and publicized internationally. Last year she earned a Post-Baccalaureate certification in Photography from MassArt. Ileana has been working on the Animal Nature project since 2012, constructing images that portray her adaptation to a new environment where her main companions are her tireless pets

Jacob LaRocca

Teaching Duct Tape Sculptures

I am an electrical engineer who has always had a passion for making things. I have been building things out of many things including duct tape for more than 12 years, and I have developed my own form of duct tape geekdom. I love scifi, movie props, music, tap dancing, and most of all MAKING! I currently have a studio at Artisan’s Asylum in Somerville.

Jane Hammer

Teaching Fermentation for Taste, Preservation, and Nutrition.

I have years of experience in home food preservation and storage. I am also marketing and distribution (and education!) director for Shared Harvest CSA, a multi-farm winter farm share operating near Somerville.

Jenna Fizel

Teaching How To Make Physical Things With Computers

Jenna Fizel is Programmer and Designer at a design company in Cambridge. She graduated from MIT’s Department of Architecture with a BSAD in 2007 and previously worked at KPF NY as a computational geometry designer. She’s also know for her co-invention of the 3D printed bikini. In her spare time Jenna enjoys exploring folded forms and creating small DIY projects. Check out her work at http://www.trianglesandcurves.com.

Jodi Colella

Teaching Felted Orbs

Somerville resident Jodi Colella engages ordinary materials and craft practice into burgeoning shapes and installations. She received a BA from Boston University and studied at Mass. College of Art & Design and School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. She has exhibited at NK Gallery, Danforth Museum, Wheaton College and the Textile Museum. Awards include 2013 Artist-in-Residence, Fruitlands Museum; and Pollack-Krasner Fellowship, Vermont Studio Center. Her work is collected by Meditech, Fruitlands Museum and many private individuals.

Jude Shabry

Teaching Make Your Own Tofu

Jude is a Somerville resident and tofu aficionado who taught this class at the 2010 Boston Skillshare.

Judith Poole

Teaching Beginner Tai Chi

I am a certified Sr. Instructor with the Universal Healing Tao, and began my studies of this discipline in 1983.

K.Adam White

Teaching Digital DJing

K.Adam White (“KAdam”) taught himself to DJ in college, and has played parties with a variety of software tools (in addition to the traditional records). He is extremely excited about recent applications like the very capable Mixxx, the first completely free and open-source DJ program, and is looking forward to sharing his passion for music and technology with Somerville Skillshare. K.Adam is a JavaScript engineer at Bocoup, where he builds web applications with free and open source technologies, and helps to organize the Boston WordPress Meetup Group. He can be found online at www.kadamwhite.com.

Kevin Gao

Teaching Intro to Poi Juggling

Kevin is a Somerville resident and Tufts student. He has been spinning poi for five years now, and has been teaching it for nearly two years at various juggling conventions and festivals. He helps organize and run the local Medford Spinjam and Tuft’s student run juggling club, the Jumbo Jugglers. When he’s not spinning or juggling, he’s doing science: researching pharmacology and studying biochemistry at Tufts University.

Liz Corkery

Teaching Basic Silkscreen Printing

Liz Corkery holds a Masters in Fine Arts from Cornell, where she largely focused in print media. She has refined her techniques studying in both London and Australia, recently having taken up resident in Somerville. Liz’s prints and installations have been displayed in many shows throughout New York and her hometown of Sydney. She is also the creator of The Print Club Boston.

Mike Connolly

Teaching Online Tools for Community Organizers

Mike Connolly is an attorney, project manager, and community advocate. In 2012, he ran for State Representative for MA’s 26th district, which covers Cambridge and Somerville, collecting over 4,000 votes without accepting a single dollar in financial contributions. He also successfully organized a local movement to promote green buildings in Cambridge and has contributed to organizing efforts for a number of political campaigns and other social justice causes.

Miranda Aisling

Teaching Don’t Just Make Art, Make Something

As an author, painter, and singer-songwriter, Miranda Aisling (ash-lean) spends all her time making things. This past year, Miranda captured her creative process in her new book, Don’t Make Art, Just Make Something. A resident of Somerville, she has traveled across Greater Boston teaching for the Museum of Fine Arts and leading community art projects all in the name of reconnecting art to daily life. http://mirandaaisling.com.

Paula Junn

Displaying telling.jpg

Teaching Intro to Storytelling

Paula Junn is the program director for massmouth, inc, a 501c3 nonprofit promoting the timeless art of storytelling through education, digital/social media and live performance. She has led storytelling workshops and taught in high schools in the Greater Boston area. Paula strongly believes in the power of storytelling and how it builds stronger and healthier communities. She is honored and excited to bring this class to the first Somerville Skillshare event.

Rebecca D’Antonio

Teaching Beaded Jewelry Making

Somerville resident Rebecca D’Antonio has been designing and handcrafting jewelry since 2005. At the encouragement of a large base of loyal customers she started J.M. Jewelry Designs in 2006. She has a growing online presence and has become a fixture at many area craft markets and fairs. Her passion is to create affordable, unique pieces of wearable art using semi-precious materials.

Sam Newland

Teaching Intro to Salsa Dancing

Sam Newland started dancing Salsa at Tufts University in an attempt to prove to himself that he could dance – something that nobody believed he could. Since college, Sam has taught and performed along the east coast from Florida to Connecticut. He currently dances with Mambo Revelation and is thankful for the warm, friendly Salsa community.

Sarah Clark

Teaching CPR and First Aid

Sarah, a Somerville resident, was previously a CPR and First Aid instructor for the American Red Cross. She was also a certified EMT in Vermont and is currently working at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

The Best Bees Company

Teaching Urban Beekeeping

The Best Bees Company is a group of experienced beekeepers that raises money for research to improve honey bee health by providing beekeeping services to residents and businesses throughout eastern Massachusetts and beyond.

Todd Kaplan

Teaching Tenant Rights and Responsibilities

I am a Somerville resident, attorney at Greater Boston Legal Services and have worked for over a decade with tenants and landlords around tenancy issues focusing mainly on stabilizing tenancies. While I exclusively represent tenants, I understand that landlords have needs and rights too. I know that to stabilize a tenancy I must listen to and try and understand the landlord’s concerns.

Tonya White

Teaching Yarn Mandalas

Tonya is a graduate of Lesley University’s Expressive Therapies program with an undergraduate degree in Studio Arts. She has practiced and taught a variety of visual arts as well as movement, acting, writing and more! She is the type of artist who likes to explore many materials and techniques and translate the creative practices into learning about life.

Vilma F. Sullivan

Teaching Indoor Gardening

Vilma is a Somerville resident and Massachusetts Principal Master Gardener, having taken the prescribed courses through the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. She has taught similar gardening courses before, most recently at the Somerville Council on Aging.

Yochai Gai

Teaching How To Start a Worker-Owned Co-op

Working out of Somerville, Yochai Gal is a co-founder of TechCollective, a worker-owned IT firm in San Francisco, CA, and also of its second chapter in Boston, MA. He is also a former board member of the Network of Bay Area Worker Cooperatives, an affiliate body of the Federation of Worker Cooperatives. His expertise is in cooperative business operations, systems administration, data recovery, and general IT.

Zack Hankins

Teaching Intro To Songwriting

I’m a Somerville resident who has been a working musician for seven years now, playing original music I have written myself. My band, the Relevant Elephants, has received radio air time in Australia. I’ve also written professionally for Boloco. I’d love to have the chance to teach others the basics on how to put songs together of their own.