Summer Art Camp 2025

Sara is a 24-year-old artist from Louisville, Ohio. Her favorite creative endeavors include printmaking and making shirts/posters for local bands. She also loves making large-scale chalk art and has been a featured chalk artist for Canton’s First Friday festival 6 summers in a row.

Sara graduated from the University of Mount Union with a BA in Art Education. Since moving to Athens, she’s worked as a substitute teacher and a bartender. She is SO excited to return to the Dairy Barn this summer and see what our campers will create!

Jessica Held has been a visiting, resident, and teaching artist in schools and art centers for decades. Since earning her Bachelor of Fine Arts, she has taught art enrichment and appreciation classes, interdisciplinary and STEAM lessons, all-ages community art events, and summer art camps in Ohio, Texas, Indiana, and Michigan.

At The Dairy Barn Arts Center, she teaches teen art clubs and summer art camps. Additionally, through Ohio University’s Kids on Campus partnership, she teaches after-school art enrichment for elementary, middle, and high school students in neighboring counties of Southeast Ohio. Recently, Jessica was accepted onto the Ohio Arts Council’s (OAC) Teaching Artist Roster and selected to teach in OAC’s Creative Aging Initiative, a program for aging adults in Ohio.

As a practicing artist, she continues to create, exhibit, and publish her paintings, photographs, and collaborations. Her work has been exhibited in the Women of Appalachia Project and published in the Women Speak book series.

Jessica is the artist and owner of Flux and Function LLC, where she creates functional art, including painted lazy susans, coasters, TV trays, and light switch plates. Also, her detailed photographs are printed on cards, journals, trivets, scarves, and earrings. She prioritizes using locally sourced materials and services whenever possible. Recently, her small business was awarded an Ohio’s Winding Road Seed Grant.

In addition to her art practice, Jessica serves as the Community Marketplace Coordinator for the annual Ohio Pawpaw Festival. She recently had the opportunity to be the art editor for Native Fruit: Poetry and Fine Art Inspired by the Pawpaw.

Chip Wagner is an art educator who works with a variety of media. They have an M.Ed. in K-12 Art Education and a BFA in ceramics, both from Ohio University. Currently, they are the art teacher at Wellston High School. They completed their student teaching at Federal-Hocking.

Chip has led before and after-school art projects for K-8th grade students for Project SAFE in the Logan-Hocking school district. At The Dairy Barn, Chip has taught at Summer Art Camp for the past three years, was the Ceramic Studio Assistant, and taught Introduction to Pottery classes. 

Teaching art and helping people through the creative process is a precarious endeavor. For an individual, this means ensuring their artwork is significant to themself. Chip’s goal as an art educator is to help others consider themself an artist.

Allyson Pappas has been teaching elementary school in Southeast Ohio for the past 30 years…ranging from 1st to 6th grade, Art, Physical Education, and reading intervention support. She graduated from Ohio University with a degree in elementary education and a minor in visual arts.

Allyson has fond memories of her own daughters attending Dairy Barn Art Camp and enjoys creating similar memories with new campers.

Margaret is an experienced artist and educator. During the school year, you can find her in her classroom as Nelsonville-York’s Middle School Art Teacher.

Margaret also engaged youth in Nelsonville through the Circle Around the Square program and spent time managing Paper Circle, a unique handmade paper shop on Historic Nelsonville Square.

An accomplished potter, she also is a regular Teaching Artist at The Dairy Barn Arts Center. Margaret is excited to join in the fun and creativity of Summer Art Camp this year!

Cindy Poland has taught at The Dairy Barn’s Summer Art Camp for over 25 years. Her college background is in art education, but art camp is much more fun than a school classroom. Memorable topics from all those Summers include the Art of Egypt, Space, Ancient Persia, Patterns from Nature, Under the Sea, and everyone’s favorite…Wizard Camp.

Cindy created the beloved Wizard’s Corner setup, including all the paraphernalia young wizards need to fire up their imaginations. Everyone gets to dress up and play! However…we could still use a stuffed crocodile if you happen to have one to spare. 😉

Jean Vandervaart grew up creating drawings of original characters and animals. Through the art classes they took each year in grades K-12, they developed a love for multimedia. With Color Theory in mind, they learned to utilize colored pencils, markers, and watercolor to create vibrantly colorful pieces of art.

They have taught watercolor painting to children and families at Athens County Public Libraries, and different art techniques and mediums to elementary, middle, and high school students through the Kids on Campus partnership with The Dairy Barn. Jean has been a Summer Art Camp Group Leader and joins the imaginative magic of Wizard Week this year as a Teaching Artist!