The People of SFOA

Chase has been a part of SFOA for 11 years now and enjoys it every single year, and loves gaming, art, nature, and cooking.

Lucy is a junior in high school. She loves theater, music, and crafts. She’s helped at SFOA summer and winter camps the past few years and is looking forward to this summer! 

Cecelia Blackett is a recent graduate of Mount Desert Island high school. This is her 12th year at SFOA overall and her 4th year working here! She loves the arts having grown up in theater and performed with MDI Drama for the entirety of her high school career. While she will be studying creative writing, theater will always have her heart. 

This will be Isaiah’s third year at the Summer Festival of the Arts. A lifelong artist—ever since it was possible to hold a marker—Isaiah enjoys creating models and dioramas, and playing music. Isaiah also brings three years of experience as an apprentice jeweler, combining creativity with attention to detail in both visual and tactile forms.

Kristin is a clinical social worker who works as a counselor in private practice and with local schools. She has a degree and background in theatrical arts and a love for artistic expression. She is a board member of SFOA and in 2016 she and Haley Merchant developed the Body Art class, and she has been teaching it ever since. She is a master grilled cheese artist and curious about everything. 

Dawn is an Art Therapist and co-founder of The Counseling Collaborative in Town Hill. This will be her third year co-teaching Body Art and she is also on SFOA’s Board. In addition to loving all things visual arts, Dawn enjoys growing her own food, knitting, traveling and spending time with family and friends. 

Born and raised in Maine, Mori returned to MDI last summer after finishing his MA in Worldbuilding and Creature Design. Familiar with fine and digital arts, Mori is a writer and illustrator primarily, although he did act in college and his early professional career. Mori currently works at the high school as an instructor and is excited to start his first summer at SFOA as a teacher after attending it as a student oh so many years ago.

Candace is a stay-at-home mom and caregiver who has lived in Southwest Harbor for 13 years and has a Bachelor of Science in Biology.  She comes from a long line of needleworkers including her mother, grandmother, and great grandmother!  Cross stitch and plastic canvas were the first techniques she learned at age 9, and she began learning embroidery 5 years ago.  When she is not playing family cab service she enjoys needlework, reading, and hunting for sea glass.

Cameron grew up in Bar Harbor and brings a deep love for his hometown to everything he does. Passionate about volunteering and inspiring the next generation, Cameron is a gifted storyteller who knows how to connect with young minds through creativity and enthusiasm. When he’s not giving back to his community, you can find him at the local movie theater, listening to his favorite music, or getting in a workout around town. He’s thrilled to be part of the Summer Festival of the Arts and to help make this summer educational, fun, and unforgettable.

Tennille Moore, MEd, is a mathematics teacher at Mt. Desert Island High School.  She has studied many forms of dance, beginning at an early age with classical ballet and then studying tap, modern, African, Jazz, highland, and Cape Breton Step.  In addition to a mathematics degree, Tennille also has a music degree, playing 18 instruments, including oboe and bagpipes.  From an early age, working with her grandmother, she found a love for fiber arts through embroidery and cross-stitch, through 4-H she was introduced to plastic canvas, and finally, as a young adult she learned to crochet, again with her grandmother.  Her free time is spent enjoying time with her eleven-year-old son.

Rosalie began exploring fabric “color in motion” in 1974 by creating kites for her kite shop on the coast of North Carolina. Her path has led from kites to fabric sculpture and street theater complete with pyrotechnics. 1981, she formed Wind Gypsy Designs as a production company for bringing color into public spaces.

Rosalie’s development as an artist was a natural progression of interest. Natural forces, seen and unseen, have always intrigued her. A sailor from childhood, she loves the play of the wind and the water on the solid force of the hull and malleable sail... thus kites to banners to large scale environmental sculptures flowed from one to the other. In recent years her commitment to ecology and sustainable living systems has inspired her to create a series of fiber sculptures she calls Home Planets.

Dasha’s passion for singing and acting has led her to take part in a variety of concerts and community events, including fundraisers for refugee families and cultural organizations. She has performed both solo and with ensembles such as the Show Choir, and in the musical production Chicago at Mount Desert Island High School.

She has worked with vocal coaches from Ukraine, Poland, and the U.S., and is fluent in five languages—something she often tries to incorporate into her performances. Her recent theater experience includes roles in the One Act play Eurydice and the spring production of Cyrano at MDIHS.

In the fall, she will be attending Emerson College in Boston to study Theatre and Performance.

This summer, she will be a teacher’s assistant and yoga teacher at SFOA. As someone with an artistic spirit, she’s found that yoga helps unlock creativity, ease anxiety, and bring clarity—gifts she hopes to share with everyone who joins her. She loves creating a welcoming space where people can recharge while feeling supported.

Hilary was born and raised in Wisconsin.
She has been in Maine for 13 years and
lives in Southwest Harbor. Hilary has a
BFA in Art Education and an MS in Art Therapy MEd in Applied Behavior Analysis. I am an art therapist. She loves cats and has 6! Hilary loves to create art!