Art Department
Greta Marie Carlos
Greta Marie Carlos: Art Instructor for Adult Art Classes
Greta Marie Carlos was born and raised in Southern California and has recently moved to North Carolina. She has been involved for more than 50 years in the art field including several one-man shows, memberships in many art groups and numerous art teaching experiences. She has taught calligraphy, drawing and painting, colored pencil and pastel techniques and theories, all in the Los Angeles area. Her many art commissions have included her specialty in animal and human portraits done in water-soluble oils and in oil pastels as well as other media.
Mike Ericsson
Mike Ericsson: Art Instructor for Adult Art Classes
Mike Ericsson is an award winning graphic designer & illustrator with over forty years’ experience mostly in the Cleveland, Ohio area with American Greetings, Plus Mark, Those Characters From Cleveland, Joann Stores, Telarc Int., The Creative Group, ad agencies and studios. Mike had always done figurative paintings and pastel portraits concurrently. He has been exhibiting artwork and winning awards since the early seventies. Now he works full time in North Carolina as a fine artist painting in oils, pastels and watercolors.
Frederick Hasenzahl: Art Instructor for Adult and Youth Art Classes
BFA 1969 Philadelphia College of Art
Frederick Hasenzahl is a multi-media artist with a career of over fifty years as a creative director with several prominent exhibit design firms including Discovery Place in Charlotte, NC as well as a professional artist in sculpture and painting. His sculpture commissions include the Phil Hughston Award, sculpture commission for Arthur Andersen LLP Philadelphia, The Phil Hughston Memorial award, and a 36 ft. bronze wall relief for IBJM, Chattanooga, TN. He has also exhibited his work in various galleries including a one man show at UNC Chapel Hill.
Currently, in addition to producing artworks, Frederick has been teaching Indian and Vietnamese students online and for two years in Kerala, South India, taught art and English to tribal residential school students, was a resident art teacher in an orphanage, and held oil painting workshops for graduate painting students at Raja Ravi Varma Art School.
Janie Oglesby: Art Instructor for Homeschool, Adult Art, & Pottery Classes
Janie is a multidisciplinary artist with a focus in painting and ceramics. She received her BFA in 2022 from Maryland Institute College of Arts in Baltimore. She has shown work in numerous exhibitions and won Best in Show at Longhouse Reserve Student Annual. She has also been a finalist in the Congressional Art Competition and in the Teeny Awards. Janie is from Long Island, NY, but her artwork is largely inspired by the UFOs she has seen while traveling through the states. She enjoys sharing her love of art through teaching.
Janie Oglesby
Tim Stiles
Tim Stiles: Art Instructor for Pottery, Arts for All, and Youth Art Classes
Tim has three Associate degrees in Applied Science in Architecture Technologies, Science in Civil Engineering Technologies, and Fine Arts which he was honored with the title ‘Graduate of the Year’. He earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Winthrop University, SC with a concentration in ceramics and painting. In 2011, he earned National Board Certification in Visual Arts. Tim started teaching at Gaston School of the Arts in 2008, and currently teaches General Art classes to students 2nd through 12th grades in the after school program and summer camps. He has been teaching in Gaston County Schools for 15 years and currently teaches art at Stuart Cramer High School. Tim has been married to his wife, Holly, for 14 years and they have 3 children ages 11, 7 and 2. Together they partner with Gaston County as foster parent and have been licensed since May 2014. Tim, a native of Gaston county, is proud to share his love of the Visual Arts to students of Gaston and surrounding counties. His goal for each student would be to create visual art that expresses their ideas and interests by experimenting and most importantly having fun throughout the process!
David VanDyke: Art Instructor for Comics Class (Teen & Adult Classes)
David is a professional comic book artist and illustrator with credits at DC Comics, Image, and Skybound. He’s the co-creator of Mercer and Starlancer, and has collaborated with filmmaker Kevin Smith on projects including Quick Stops. With over a decade of experience, David’s work spans comics, film posters, sketch cards, and music. He receintly led a masterclass at the Gaston County Museum of Art & History.
Drama Department
Mrs. Marilyn Evans is a Children’s Theatre Specialist, Playwright, Director, and writer of children’s stories, who has taught theatre arts for over 20 years. She grew up in Brooklyn New York, but now lives in Gastonia, North Carolina. Mrs. Evans earned teaching credentials in Theatre Arts from Fresno State University in California. She has taken acting, directing, and scriptwriting at Los Angeles Southwest College and the Art Institute of Atlanta.
Mrs. Evans taught at: EGYPT Theatre in Oakland CA, Black Repertory Group in Berkeley CA, The Parks and Recreation Department in Modesto CA, and Spelman College in Atlanta Georgia, for the after school and summer camp program. Mrs. Evans enjoys teaching youth and loves to see them grow and build their self-esteem. Her goal is to let youth unfold the talents they have by realizing there is more to theatre arts than acting. She wants: Stage managers, stagehands, singers, dancers, artist, musicians, choreographers, set and costume designers to sign up to complete a production.
Marilyn Evans: Drama Instructor
Caroline Ross
Caroline Ross: Stage Manager/Director
Caroline started acting when she was 12 after seeing her middle school’s production of “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.” Then in high school she worked as an apprentice for four years at her local regional theatre, The Temple Theatre. For college, she went to Catawba College where she received a BA in Theatre Arts with a minor in English and an emphasis in Psychology in 1999. She has acted and directed all over the country in places like Atlanta, Raleigh, Charlotte, Baltimore, New Hampshire, Seattle, and Louisville. Her favorite characters she has performed are Miranda in “The Tempest” at the Georgia Shakespeare Festival, Nurse Ratchet in “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest” at Magical Productions, and Mary Lennox in “The Secret Garden” at the Hampstead Stage Company. Her favorite Directing adventures have been “Watching Left” at Catawba College, “Shakespeare for Kids II” at the Hampstead Stage Company, and “Moana” at GSOA. And, the best stage managing experiences she has had are “Shrek” at GSOA, “Scams of Scapino” at Catawba College, and she is really looking forward to Assistant Stage Managing “Into The Woods” at GSOA.
Breanna Suarez: Drama
Breanna Suarez is a theatre educator from Miami, Florida. She is a Theatre Arts Teacher at Ashbrook High School. Her previous directing credits include Dragons Love Tacos (Davidson Community Players), The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (Old Court House Theatre) and The Little Mermaid Jr. (Piedmont Players).
Breanna graduated from Davidson College with a BA in Educational Studies with a Theatre Minor. She was a recipient of the Posse, Bonner Scholar and Rupert T Barber Jr. Theatre Scholarship. Her favorite performance roles include Mimi Marquez in Rent, Veronica Sawyer in Heathers, Pugsley in The Addams Family and Brigid in The Humans. She is looking forward to nurturing a love of theatre and singing in the next generation.
Elka Martin: Costumes
Elka Martin is thrilled to be partnering again with Gaston School of the Arts as costume designer/seamstress. She has previously worked with GSOA as a costumer for Beauty and the Beast Jr., Annie Jr., Moana Jr., and Aladdin Jr., as well as Kings Mountain Little Theatre's production of The Secret Garden and Gaston Day's productions of Peter Pan and Mary Poppins.