CEDARBURG CULTURAL CENTER
Julie Ashlock
As Director of the Center for Teaching Excellence at Milwaukee Area Technical College, Julie is committed to helping faculty adapt to contemporary approaches to teaching and learning by consistently developing within their profession. Her education includes a Doctor of Education in Higher and Postsecondary Education – Teaching and Learning, an MFA in Painting and Drawing from the University of Oregon and a BFA in Art from Colorado State University.
As an artist, Julie investigates an interaction between her physical and spiritual body and the natural world. She typically begins her work by going out and gathering sketches from life, paying close attention to the sensations she feels, hears, sees, smells, and tastes; translating them into visual form. She allows the sensuality and beauty of lived experiences to come through in color and mark. To enter her work requires taking a risk, not knowing exactly where one is, or what adventures might be ahead. Julie has 20+ years of experience as an academic leader and teacher in postsecondary education.
Julie completed The Artist’s Way program five years ago and looks forward to utilizing her experience in teaching this program at the CCC.
Alice Struck
Alice Struck is a local artist, instructor and art therapist who has been working in southeast Wisconsin for 35 years. From early on, she wanted to become an artist. She made room for art while raising her family, replacing oil paints with watercolors because they were a safer medium to use around her children. "The most important direction I took was choosing watercolor, which shaped the way I see and approach a painting," says Alice.
Her passion is painting the special qualities of light in landscapes and urban neighborhoods of the Midwest, especially Wisconsin. She paints outdoors on location in a plein air style as well as in her studio. “I hope to capture an emotional expression with the spontaneous beauty of watercolors,” shares Struck. She participates in art shows, solo and group exhibits and plein air events. Her work is housed in numerous private and public art collections locally as well as internationally in Great Britain and Canada.
Alice received her Bachelor of Art from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Master of Science in Art Therapy from Mount Mary College. She is credentialed by the American Art Therapy Association as an art therapist and registered/certified by the Art Therapy Credentials Board.
During her career, Struck served as director for Donna Lexa Community Art Center. She taught as an adjunct instructor of graduate and undergraduate courses in art, interior design and art therapy for Mount Mary College and Marian College of Fond Du Lac. She has worked as an art therapist, therapeutic recreation department art therapist and activity director with Autumn Lakes Health Care. She continues teaching art classes with the Cedarburg Cultural Center and has since 2000.
A longtime leader in the community, she served as president of the Cedarburg Artists Guild and president of the Wisconsin Art Therapy Association and currently serves as president of the Wisconsin Watercolor Society-since 2017. She is a longstanding member of the League of Milwaukee Artists and Wisconsin Plein Air Painter's Association.
Nancy Lohmiller
Nancy Lohmiller is a Milwaukee artist and art instructor who studied at Cardinal Stritch University and earned a Graphic Design degree and master's degree in Visual Arts . She has a rich and diverse work background that includes providing end of life care, teaching, graphic design and fine art. She has served as chair of the Graphic Design Department at Mount Mary College.
Kate Mann
Kate Mann is a dance educator, teaching artist and trusted guide in expressive arts experiences and somatic experiences for people of all ages and abilities. Kate’s movement classes are a unique blend of her life-long studies in dance and healing arts. She has studied and taught Neuromuscular Integrative Action (NIA),
As an award-winning artist, Nancy specializes in artist books, watercolors and oils. Since 1997, she has participated in individual and group shows and exhibited a wide range of work throughout the U.S. Her artist books have been shown in London. Nancy will tell you that she seeks to unify the past and present through her artist books. She creates pages inspired by medieval manuscripts and infuses them with hand illustrations done in watercolor, story and verse. She sees this artistry as a timeless evolution that also gives the viewer an opportunity to be enchanted and see the depth of their own history.
Nancy seeks to create environments that support individuals’ exploration of their creative process. She is compassionate and understands how art provides individuals with a broad spectrum of possibilities for growth and in finding their creative spirit. She completed The Artist’s Way years ago and continually explores the human journey while refining her personal understanding of a soulful human process.
NIA is a guided music & movement experience that encourages individuals to become present in their body and to playfully and joyfully discover “their own body’s way” of moving to different music, imagery and feelings. These classes are a means of practicing self-care, healing one’s relationship with their body and nurturing one’s imagination. She studied this expressive arts process with Anna Halprin, who is a dancer, choreographer, teacher and master healer. Additionally, she has studied other healing arts, including the 5 Stages of Healing, Life\Art Process, Dance and Yoga for Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Medicine.
Kate has completed the Artist’s Way program and continues to benefit from incorporating the arts as a way to process life experiences and grow personally. She looks forward to making this rich experience available to others.
Currently, Kate teaches Every Body Can Dance, Parkinson’s Dance classes and Chair NIA technique for seniors. Recently, she began teaching movement classes for the Cedarburg Cultural Center that incorporate creative dance and NIA freedance. Her classes invite participants to make time and space for experiencing dance and the expressive arts of painting, drawing and writing. Her classes quickly become a safe environment, where participants are able to physically free up their visual and verbal creativity.
Recently, she has enjoyed leading memory care groups in art projects that include watercolor painting, clay sculptures and collaging moments in participants’ lives. She teaches at the Cedarburg Cultural Center and has served as Artist-in Residence there.