Instructors at the Pearl

Billie Scalisi recently moved from Louisiana to Houston, Texas. She was a very successful hairdresser and salon owner for over 40 years. She became a self-taught artist starting in oil painting who always had a love for color, whether it was on canvas or someone’s hair. It was the love of creating something beautiful. Over the years, she was invited to go to a watercolor class and fell in love with watercolor and the wide variety of styles, paper, and techniques. Once she saw how the colors moved, she never looked back. She studied with Nancy Melton for years, who is a very successful artist and teacher in Louisiana. During those years, she prepared and instructed watercolor camps for kids at a local university. She also assisted Nancy Melton in adult leisure learning classes for watercolor. Over the years, she took many weekly workshops with artists like Lian Quan Zhen and Janet Rogers who travel the world teaching. She loves both sides, teaching and being a student, because as artists we are always learning. She belongs to a group of artists in Louisiana who meet weekly and share ideas and techniques and hopes to bring that same passion for learning here. In addition to teaching watercolor, she teaches for Young Rembrandts after school, specializing in drawing. She is now teaching at the Pearl Fincher Museum, offering watercolor classes for beginners and intermediate classes for both adults and kids. In addition to teaching, she creates original artwork, note cards, and takes commissions for homes, pets and portraits.

She has been teaching Art since 1984. There are those who believe that you are either born with creative and artistic abilities or you are not. It is her belief that all people are Creative by God’s Design.
 
Linda has been a full time Art Teacher at Extraordinary Education in Magnolia, Texas since 2011. She teaches Drawing, Painting, Art History, Art Studio, Ceramics and Animation.
 
Linda began teaching Art in College. While attending Kendal School of Art & Design, in Michigan, she developed a curriculum for children to draw as a language. In 1985 she moved to San Diego, California and opened Art ala Carte learning Center. For the next 15 years, she built a community of young, talented artist and friends.
 
Linda’s positive philosophy has been successfully demonstrated through the lives of hundreds of students. Her students have gone on to Art school, Teach Art and work in the Art Industry. It is her hope that the seeds of Creativity were planted in each of them. This is Linda’s second year teaching Summer Camp at Pearl Fincher Museum.

Pam Mayo is a retired elementary art teacher having taught art for a total of 29 years in  Huntsville, DeSoto, and Cy-Fair school districts.  Since retiring from teaching in public schools, Pam has taught for Young Rembrandts, an after school drawing program in Klein ISD, taught art at The Center for Teaching and Learning, a private school in The Woodlands, TX, presented workshops for Board&Brush, a creative studio in Cypress, TX, and most recently taught children’s classes and workshops at The Pearl MFA. In addition to teaching art, Pam volunteers  for various organizations including The Pearl MFA where she is a docent for school tours. Pam enjoys researching topics related to art, preparing art lessons and exhibits, visiting art museums, travel, event and workshop preparation and presentation. Pam is an avid collector of children’s picture books about art and artists. Many of these books she uses in her art lessons. As for her own art, Pam has rekindled her passion for watercolor painting with the help of another Pearl MFA instructor Billie Scalisi. Pam believes as the famous artist Pablo Picasso. According to Picasso, every child is an artist because they have the ability to create without limitations and express themselves freely. Children have a natural curiosity and imagination, which allows them to approach art with a sense of wonder and playfulness. As we grow older, we often lose this sense of creativity and self-expression, but it’s important to continue to nurture this part of ourselves.

Vivian Celeste Pinotti is a fashion designer and vintage clothing collector. After design school, she worked as a design assistant and digital patternmaker for Chloe Dao, winner of Project Runway season 2. Her combined passions for art, archaeology, and historical dress drove her to earn a Bachelor of Arts in Art History and plans to soon pursue Masters Studies in Historical Textile Conservation. She spends much of her time perusing estate sales, thrifting, and thrift flipping, which entails the deconstruction of an outdated or ill-fitting garment and reworking it to create something new. Her other hobbies include ceramics, metalworking, and exploring the world, through which she finds her greatest sources of inspiration. Her Brazilian heritage has always been a strong influence in her worldview as well as her design aesthetic, and hopes to one day create a sustainable clothing brand that embodies those unique characteristics. While in design school, Vivian worked as a bilingual instructional aide for grades pre-k through fifth in the public school system, and finds great fulfillment in working with kids. On teaching fashion at the museum, she expresses, “I would have loved to have had the opportunity to learn fashion design at a young age, and it’s truly been a pleasure to provide that experience to potential future designers!”

Brooke Silva is a native Houstonian, wife, and mother to two creative boys. As a child, art was always a part of her life and she would often visit the city’s artistic landmarks-like the Orange Show and the Art Car Museum. Inspired by the whimsy and inventiveness of this style of work, she began creating art of her own, working mostly with paper and fibers. But it wasn’t until college that she found her true passion, art history. Brooke received a B.A. in Art History from Texas State University.   After university, she worked as the Volunteer Coordinator for the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston for five years-engaging with a fantastic and dedicated group of docents and volunteers of all ages. Here she learned the importance of art programs for young audiences and was encouraged to bring her boys to the Art Start Program at the Pearl Fincher. When the opportunity arose to teach the class, Brooke jumped at the chance. She has been the instructor for the Art Start Program going on two years and finds so much joy in introducing preschool age children to the world of art. Recently, she has expanded her curriculum to include a Little Art Historians class, which gives kids ages 3-5 a foundation in art history. Each week they learn about the life and style of a specific artist, they hear a children’s book about the artist, and then they have the chance to create like the artist. Brooke loves costumes and takes this opportunity to also dress like the artist-giving the students a truly immersive experience!