Teaching Artists/Specialists

Gilda Hamilton’s background includes a career as a teacher and school principal in Guadeloupe. She also performed and taught dance at L’ecole du Raizet (France), the Katherine Dunham School (Rome), and at the Mathilda Beauvoir School of Dance in Paris. Madame Hamilton is the coordinator of Springboard & Young Audience’s International Dance Festival, produced each December at the Missouri Botanical Garden.

Leigh Hanna grew up in New York City and has made art for as long as she can remember. She moved to St. Louis in 1991 to attend Washington University where she earned a bachelor of fine arts degree in painting with a minor in art history. She has worked for City Museum where she reigned as the “Painting Princess,” and for many local art galleries and children’s programs. Leigh offers classes that combine painting, collage and the use of recycled materials with a focus in self–exploration. Her personal art consists of mixed–media paintings that incorporate text, recycled materials, and fibers.

Ruth Hanson is a seamstress and designer whose original creations include everything from Viking wear to bridal gowns. She holds a bachelor of science in textile and clothing from Iowa State University. Recently, Ms. Hanson designed the costumes for Metro Theater Company’s production of “Beowulf.”

Peggy Neely–Harris holds a bachelor of arts in speech communications from the University of Missouri–St. Louis. She is a recording artist, who has also worked for Muny 1st Stage and COCA as an actress and instructor. One of the highlights of her career was performing in a 49–day European musical theatre project for the Department of Defense. Peggy has also done a variety of film, radio, television, and print work. She was a finalist in the 2006 St. Louis Children’s Variety telethon. She was honored by the Black History Wax Museum recently for her work in the St. Louis community as a griot and storyteller.

Annette Harrison has been a master storyteller, educator and author for 27 years. She is known for her dynamic, interactive and nurturing storytelling workshops. She has two popular storytelling resource books – STORYTELLING ACTIVITIES KIT, co–authored with Jerilynn Changar, Ph.D and the award winning, EASY–TO–TELL STORIES FOR YOUNG CHILDREN. For five years she co–hosted CBS’s GATOR TALES, a children’s TV program fostering responsibility, respect and tolerance. All of Annette’s workshops are high energy and interactive. They include bibliographies, useful handouts, stories and ideas to use in the classroom.

Kathy Hart has a master’s degree in special education and has taught in a variety of school settings during her teaching career. Most recently she held a position as a Reading Specialist for the St. Louis Public School District. She has always been drawn to stories about African American history and the Jewish experience during the Shoah. Questions of how people maintain their human dignity under such adversity, and why some choose to risk their lives to help others in peril intrigue her.

Matthew Henry is a performer, educator, clinician, and a specialist in Afro–Cuban drumming, trap set, and vibraphone. He serves as the Director of Percussion Studies at University of Missouri St. Louis.

Megan Higgins is a member of the Union Avenue Opera.

Debra Hillabrand is a member of the Union Avenue Opera.

Ellen Hinkle is a member of aTrek Dance Collective.

Cheryl Hoard, horn, has performed with the Saint Louis Symphony, the Amsterdam Philharmonic, the San Francisco Opera and Ballet, the San Jose Symphony, and the Cabrillo Festival Orchestra. Formerly principal horn with the Hong Kong Philharmonic for 11 years, she now owns and operates Cheryl’s Herbs, an international wholesaler and retailer of fine herbal products.

Jeffrey Hoard was principal tuba with the Hong Kong Philharmonic for 11 years. After moving back to St. Louis in 1991, he founded Cheryl’s Herbs with his wife, Cheryl. Jeffrey does freelance work with the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra. In addition to writing and performing original music with The Great Flood Band, Jeffrey is also a studio instructor at the University of Missouri–Columbia.

Sharon Hoffmann recently retired from teaching in the Webster Groves School District where she taught for fourteen years. During that time she developed several units on endangered animals. Sharon used those units to teach reading, writing, history, and geography as well as ecology and biology. She holds a bachelor’s degree in elementary and special education from Southern Illinois University (Carbondale) and a master’s degree from Webster University. Sharon has taught special education and 1st, 2nd, and 6th grade throughout the United States and in Switzerland. She attended Audubon Society–sponsored camps in Wyoming and Minnesota, studied with wolf experts in Wisconsin, and spent a winter weekend tracking them in northern Wisconsin.

Ann Homann graduated from the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University, where she received her bachelor of music degree as a student of Joseph Turner. She was Co–Principal Oboist of the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra. As a student of Peter Bowman and Marc Gordon, she received her master of music degree from the St. Louis Conservatory of Music. Ann is a member of the Illinois Symphony Orchestra and the Illinois Chamber Orchestra, performs as Principal Oboist of the Webster Symphony, and plays English Horn for the St. Louis Philharmonic. She is a member of Quintessence - St. Louis, and frequently performs with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, the Fox and Muny Orchestras, the Kammergild Chamber Orchestra, the Gateway Festival Orchestra, the Ballet Orchestra of St. Louis, and other area ensembles, as well as maintaining her own private studio.–

Nanae Hunter utilizes personal life experiences and arts and crafts skills to share information about the diversities of her native Japanese culture. As a tour guide for the USO organization in Okinawa, Japan, Nanae spent two years giving tours of historical sites. Nanae received a recognized teacher’s certification in Shogetsu and Senshoikenobo styles of flower arranging from Ikebana International. While participating in cultural awareness programs for University of Missouri–St. Louis, St. Louis University, the women’s league Veterans of Foreign Wars, and several parochial and public schools in the St. Charles area, Nanae also taught the program, “Passport to Japan,” for three years at the Community Arts Center in St. Peters. In 1998 Nanae received the Individual Accomplishment Award from the St. Charles County Arts Council.