Our Instructors
Pamela Hiatt
Pamela Hiatt was was born and raised in Dubuque, IA. She worked as a mail carrier for 33 years and then started painting. She hopes to reach mastery level before she leaves this world and works every day to achieve this. Find her work at The Collective in Elkader,IA.
Pamela has also participated in Dubuque’s Bluff Strokes Plein Air Paint Out. She belongs to the Plein Air Painters Of Dubuque (PPODs). Pamela also belongs to National Oil & Acrylic Painters Society, American Impressionist Society, American Artists Professional League, Galena Center For The Arts, and Allied Artists Of America. She has shown her work regionally and in online shows.
Louise Kames
Louise Kames holds an MFA degree in drawing and printmaking from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a MA degree in Art History from the University of Illinois. She is professor of art at Clarke University.
Recent artwork includes drawings of transitory organic imagery, roots, and leaves arranged in an iconic manner as well as installations honoring personal history that presents the viewer with meditative spaces. She has exhibited her drawings, print, and installation-based work across Iowa and the Midwest region. She is a regular participant in regional, national and international juried exhibitions. She has worked at numerous international and national residencies.
Kames created site-specific installation works for Dubuque’s Voices from the Warehouse Exhibit in 2005 and 2010. The 2010 installation, Sacred Grove, was selected for inclusion in, Beacons, An Exhibition of Luminous Art at the Urban Institute of Contemporary Art in Grand Rapids, MI, and the 2012 Iowa Artists: Print at the Des Moines Art Center. She was selected as a 2021 Iowa Artist Fellow by the Iowa Arts Council.
E. E. Kono
EE Kono is an artist based in Dubuque and Los Angeles. Her Artwork explores, history; both real and imagined. Kono’s vibrant egg tempura paintings and large monochromatic oil and ink drawings create a personal mythology that is specifically interested in place; how place holds stories through materials; how the land influences the lives that pass through it. Kono favors a slow meditative process using materials and imagery selected for their layered significance. Her work has been exhibited internationally and in notable venues and has been seen in Beautiful Bizarre Magazine, American Art Collector, and Juxtapoz magazine. Additionally, she is an award-winning author and illustrator with over a dozen books published by major trade houses. Her book illustrations are in the collection of the Mazza Museum (Findley, OH)
Jess Ochoa
Jess Ochoa is an artist and educator based in Dubuque, Iowa. With a Bachelor’s degree in Art from the University of Iowa, Jess has dedicated over two decades to her craft, enriching lives through creativity and artistic expression.
Her artistic journey is as diverse as it is meaningful. Jess shines in her ability to design engaging art programs that inspire and connect with people of all ages and backgrounds. Over the years, she has taught art across the globe, from Taiwan to Montana, helping individuals discover their own artistic voices and embrace their personal inspirations.
In addition to her work as an educator, Jess is deeply fascinated by bead artistry and paper crafts. Under the name Paper Rainbow, she creates intricate beadwork and paper designs that burst with vibrant colors and patterns, bringing her vision to life in every piece.
John Preston
John Preston grew up on all 3 coasts and moved to Iowa in 1979. He received a BFA from Maharishi International University in 1984 and began painting full time in 1986. His initial focus was the agricultural landscape, primarily images from southeast Iowa. That focus shifted to its small towns and rivers and recently to European travel subjects. He conducts workshops and participates in regional Plein Air events. He has exhibited widely in Iowa and elsewhere in the U.S. His work is in numerous public and private collections including John Deere, Iowa State University and the Chicago Federal Reserve.
Gilded Pear Gallery shows John’s work.
Jessie Rebik
Jessie Rebik is a figurative photo-realistic painter who received her MFA from Florida Atlantic University in 2007 and has been teaching college art courses for twenty years. She is an Associate Professor of Art at Clarke University in Dubuque, Iowa. Her work has been exhibited nationally in galleries, museums and art festivals, featured in several art publications, and collected nationally and internationally. Her paintings have been awarded honors in several juried exhibitions and have been represented by commercial galleries in Arizona and Florida. She currently lives in Galena, IL with her husband and two sons.