Who We Are
KATHIE VEZZANI
Kathie Vezzani is the chief organizer for Bellissima Art Escapes. She combines her extraordinary organizational skills with her passion for creating art in designing workshops for other artists. Her experience includes nineteen years working with Culinary Adventures, Inc. designing culinary trips to Mexico and over 10 years designing workshops with Bellissima. She also tested recipes for three cookbooks written by Marilyn Tausend. Experiencing local cuisine is an integral part of every trip she plans, as well as visiting other artist's studios and local places of interest. And quite frankly, she believes chocolate is a food group so each trip is bound to have a tasting or two. In another life, she was a caterer. Kathie loves to paint, play with wax, rust and create assemblages.
Who Teaches - Experienced Artists
Gary and Mary Ann are Minnesota sculptors, mixed media artists, and retired art teachers. They will tech Out Of Context - Objects Redefined in the Bellissima Studio again July 10-13, 2025. Their first class was July 11-14, 2024.
Daniella will teach Black and White studies in Oaxaca in October 2025. She is an internationally recognized artist with a long list of accolades and awards for her encaustic and textile installations.
Judy Wise is an Oregon artist who has worked as a printmaker, painter, writer and teacher for four decades and has kept daily journals of her writing and art since childhood.
Judy's workshops for Bellissima Art Escapes include: Paint Oaxaca - Sept. 2014, Paint Mexico City - 2015, Paint San Miguel de Allende - 2015, Indigo Indigo - 2015, Free Spirits Amsterdam 2016, Painting Big Spain - 2016, Journal with a Circle of Friends, Catalonia, Spain - 2016. Cold wax, 2017. In 2018, London/Northumberland. Plaster and Paint, 2021, The Art of the Journal, 2022. Sizzling Papers, 2024
Shem is an abstract painter from California. He will be teaching Abstraction by Design June 14-16, 2024 in the Bellissima Studio and in Oaxaca in 2025.
Ane Elena is a pastry chef and caterer from Puebla, Mexico. She also worked for Culinary Adventures, coordinating everything in Mexico. She organizes the Mexican Bellissima Art Escapes with Kathie and often teaches a cooking class during the trip.
MORGAN BRIG
Vashon artist, Morgan Brig loves to evoke humor and playfulness in her mixed media sculptures that are collected by people all over the world. Her layers include etched metal detail, enamel patinas and found objects that suggest the old and familiar. She taught Mixed Media Sculptures on Bainbridge Island, WA. in 2017 and in Gig Harbor in 2018. She co-taught Mixed Media Sculptures with Geoffrey Gorman in San Miguel in 2019 and 2020. She taught in Oaxaca for Dias de Muertos, 2019. Spirit Beings, 2021, 2022. Creating Totems, 2022. Fabric and Metal Creatures, 2023. Wheeled and Sitting Creatures, 2024. In Motion 2025.
An Industrial Design Professor at Western Washington University, Arunas designs beautiful metal creations through his Red Rivet Studios that he sells throughout the US in art festivals. He taught metal quilts in Port Orchard, WA July 2023 and 2025.
Diane Kappa is a licensed artist, illustrator and product designer. She will be teaching Block Printing in May 2025.
GILLIAN LEE SMITH
Gillian Lee Smith hails from England but is Scottish. She started her career designing costumes and then focused her many talents on sketching and painting. Her widely viewed courses are often touted as life changing for the artists who participate in them.2017 Workshops include two Moments in Time, in Seattle and Portland, and Portraits in Amsterdam. In 2018, Expressive Explorations, London/Northumberland, Unearthing Portraits in Seattle and Abstract Landscapes in Manzanita, OR. In 2019, Urban Landscapes in Seattle and Marks on the Landscape, Santa Fe, NM. In 2023, Shadowed Places, Northumberland, and the Mysteries of Oban, Scotland (co-teaching with The Pale Rook). Woodland Wanderings, Curious Collections 2024. Irish Anthology and Evocative Landscapes, Scotland 2025
ALEX CASTRO FERREIRA
Alex is a mixed media artist from Portugal. She loves to rust, stitch, create papers and collages for her journals. She taught Keepers of Memories in Oaxaca in 2024. A Patchwork of Memories in Sintra, Portugal, 2025.
Past Instructors
Johanna Flanagan
The Pale Rook aka Johanna Flanagan is a Scottish textile artist, doll maker and costume designer, trained in fashion, constructed textiles and historical costumes. Stitching Souls in Oaxaca, October 2022, San Cristobal, Chiapas, 2023, and the Mysteries of Oban, Scotland (co-taught with Gillian Lee Smith), Mythical Creatures in Oaxaca 2024.
Bridgette is a Maryland mixed media artist whose work incorporates marrying nature with art. She is teaching A Dialogue with the Earth, August 2024 in the Bellissima Art Studio
Carla Sonheim is an internationally recognized mixed media artist. She is a published author and creator of her online network, along with her husband, Steve, of Sonheim Creative Inc. She co-taught two Escapes with Lynn Whipple, Spark Oaxaca in 2016 and Fiesta Flores in 2017. She taught Favorite Artist Animal Books in Chiapas, Mexico in 2018. Art Lab, San Miguel de Allende, 2023
Geoffrey Gorman's mantra is "Old Sticks, New Lives" which is aptly demonstrated in his fanciful creatures that he builds out of found materials. He is from Santa Fe, New Mexico. His work is collected privately and in public collections across the country. He taught Finding the Soul of Forgotten Materials in Gig Harbor, 2017 and 2018, 2021. He co-taught Mixed Media Sculptures with Morgan Brig in San Miguel in 2019 and 2020. Birds in 2023 and 2024.
Los Cerrillos artist Bill Skrips has always collected things or their constituent parts, treating them as raw material for his sculptural work. He is taught “Busted” in his studio in September, 2021 and A Bird in Hand, 2022. Masks in 2024
Julie Hamilton is a Canadian mixed media artist who is teaching The Spirit of Unstructured Play + Experimentation June 2024 in the Bellissima Art Studio
Papier-Mache Artist Tiffany Ownbey creates sculptures and collages from her cabin in North Carolina. Her workshop in Port Orchard, May 1-4, will be her first Bellissima Art Escape.
Dianne is a San Francisco mixed media artist. She will teach Art Assemblage March 15-17, 2024 in the Bellissima Studio.
Graceann Warn taught Day of the Dead in Oaxaca, 2017 and Transformation - Encaustic and Assemblage, in San Miguel de Allende in 2018. In 2019, Encaustic Workshop in Gig Harbor, WA. and an Encaustic Assemblage class in 2022.
Michelle Allen co-taught with Lori Siebert in San Miguel February 2023.
LORI SIEBERT co-taught with Michelle Allen in San Miguel de Allende, February 2023.
TORY BROKENSHIRE Taught Santos Assemblages and Felting in Gig Harbor and Bainbridge Island
FRANK SHELTON AND DEBRA FRITTS
Taught Hidden Voices in Oaxaca and Connections in Gig Harbor
PAMELA CAUGHEY
Pam taught two cold wax workshops in San Miguel and Oaxaca. And in San Miguel 2025.
PAM NICHOLS
Our Dyeing To Rust Queen who now lives in Perth, Australia
She co-taught two workshops with Carla Sonheim in Oaxaca and San Miguel, and two with her husband, John, in Oaxaca and San Miguel.
Taught two escapes in Gig Harbor
Workshops in Oaxaca and San Miguel de Allende
Katie Kendrick - 8 Art Escapes in Mexico, Spain, Amsterdam, Gig Harbor
Orly Avineri, Integrative Portraits
Viva Frida, Mexico City