Garret Brown
Garrett Brown (Focus 5, Inc.) is a national teaching artist for Focus 5, Inc., specializing in cartooning, illustration, and sequential art (comic books). Garrett earned a BFA in Studio Art from the University of Missouri, Kansas City, where he resides with his family. He earned a Master's degree in Elementary Education from the University of Missouri, St. Louis. While Garrett has over a decade of highly-qualified experience as an Art Specialist and a K-12 arts integration mentor, it is his years as a classroom teacher that give him an appreciation and perspective for designing projects that both students and teachers find engaging and worthwhile.
Kay Thomas
Kay Thomas (Focus 5, Inc.) is a visual artist who received an M.F.A. in ceramics from Arizona State University and a B.F.A. degree in ceramics from Texas A&M University. A national teaching artist with over thirty years’ experience, Kay has worked with grades Pre-K -university presenting integrated arts experiences that guide students in the creation of sculptures, drawings, and paintings that represent classroom objectives across the curriculum. In addition, she is a designer and presenter of a variety of art workshops for teachers.
Currently, Thomas is a Teaching Artist for the Texarkana Regional Arts and Humanities Council and a National Teaching Artist with the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. She continues to create her humorous ceramic sculptures that celebrate and satirize in a humorous way America’s fascination with pets, politicians, and celebrities.
Paige Whelan
Paige Whelan (Focus 5, Inc.) is a problem solver.
She grew up watching her father tinker with half-built computers in the garage. He often pulled her away from roller-skating to help him with any task that required extra hands. They found new ways to accomplish goals when the first (or second) idea failed. Paige brought that problem-solving experience to her twenty year career in education. She taught preschool in Boston and then fifth grade at a Title I Changing Education Through the Arts (CETA) school in Arlington, Virginia. Paige was named Teacher of the Year and became the school’s technology and arts integration specialist, designing and launching an arts-integrated technology program for the students and mentoring their teachers. She created a similar program for a middle school in her home state of California. Since then, she moved to Boise and travels as a teaching artist with the occasional return to classroom teaching to learn about current educational challenges firsthand.
Paige earned her BA in Psychology from UC Davis and a Master’s in Educational Technology Leadership from Lamar University. She is a National Board Certified Teacher who is also endorsed on the John F. Kennedy Center’s National Roster of Teaching Artists. Beyond education, Paige troubleshoots family life with her husband and two kids, occasionally making time for yoga or mediocre tap dancing.
Kuniko Yamamoto
Kuniko Yamamoto (Focus 5, Inc.) a native of Japan and an award-winning theatre performer and artist, embarked on her journey to the United States in 1985 to study theatre. For the past two decades, she has captivated audiences with her solo shows, “Japanese Storytelling with Magical Mask, Mime, and Music” and “Origami Tales,” performing at prestigious venues such as Disney Epcot Center, The Kennedy Center, and the National Storytelling Festival. Her enchanting presentations foster cross-cultural communication and understanding in an entertaining and engaging manner. As a dedicated teaching artist, Kuniko has inspired and educated students in over 2,000 schools and colleges with her unique Origami & Math workshops.
Tampa Tribune praises her as a “Magical Teacher!”
Jamin Carter
Jamin Carter (Focus 5, Inc.) is a visual artist and art educator. He holds a BFA in Sculpture and Painting and a Masters of Arts in Teaching in visual art education.
As an educator, he has experience teaching in K-12 classrooms and taught studio art and AP art history in a public high school. He spent five years working as an art educator in three diverse Title I schools, ranging from grades K-8. Additionally, he has worked as a mentor in elementary and middle school art classrooms, modeling skills and techniques that utilize arts integration as well as other unique approaches to art education.
As an artist, Jamin has worked in various mediums such as oil painting, sculpture, and brush with ink. He currently has a studio in Memphis where he has exhibited work and served as a consultant for public art works with the Urban Arts Commission and Vita Brevis.
Melanie Rick
Melanie Rick (Focus 5, Inc.) is a National Board Certified Teacher, a certified Reading Specialist, and an arts integration consultant. Melanie designs and leads workshops, in-depth courses, and summer institutes focused on arts integration, specifically addressing how to integrate visual art and poetry throughout the K-8 curriculum. She works in museums, schools, and arts centers across the country and is a course leader and coach for the Kennedy Center's Changing Education Through the Arts (CETA) program in Washington, D.C. Melanie has served as consultant to the CETA, working with teaching artists to develop and evaluate workshops presented at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Melanie was an elementary classroom teacher, middle school special education teacher, and arts integration resource teacher before becoming a national consultant with Focus 5, Inc.
Sean Layne
Sean Layne (Focus 5, Inc.) is the founder of and Senior Consultant for Focus 5, Inc., and author of the book Acting Right: Building a Cooperative, Collaborative, Creative Classroom Community Through Drama. He holds a BFA degree in Acting and studied acting in London, England. Sean has worked in the field of arts integration for 35 years. He leads residencies for students K-8, presents workshops for teachers, and has designed training seminars for teaching artists nationwide for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. He is a National Teaching Artist for the Kennedy Center as well as an arts coach for their Changing Education Through the Arts (CETA) program.
For over a decade, Sean acted, directed, and designed sets for the Interact Story Theatre, a professional theater company that has served more than 4,000 schools, museums, libraries, and festivals around the world. He began working with the Wolf Trap Institute Early Learning Through the Arts program in 1989. As a Master Artist, he represented Wolf Trap across the country and internationally, and he designed and piloted new residency and workshop models.
Lynne Silverstein
Lynne B. Silverstein (Focus 5, Inc.) is the Senior Program Consultant for the Kennedy Center's Education Department. She has more than 35 years of experience in arts education, arts administration, and professional development. From 1993 to the present, Ms. Silverstein has provided extensive consultation to the Kennedy Center's Education Program. In this capacity she writes about programs, designs and teaches seminars for teaching artists, directs films, creates web sites, and develop Semperformance guides. Previously, Ms. Silverstein initiated and directed the Kennedy Center's national Partners in Education Program (1990-93) and the Kennedy Center's local Professional Development Opportunities for Teachers program (1980-90), and taught visual arts (1971-80) in the public schools.
