Instructors
Sally Feng graduated from the Tianjin Institute of Fine Arts in China. There she studied with, and was influenced by, many well-known artists and teachers. She continued her training at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, graduating Magna Cum Laude. Ms. Feng is an oil portraitist, sumi-e artist and art teacher. Her work has been exhibited at many solo and group art shows nationally and internationally.
Honors and Awards
In the past few years Mrs. Feng has had seven solo art exhibits in New York and Beijing. She was presented with an award at the Sumi-e Society of America’s 49th annual national juried exhibition. In the same year, her work was selected for inclusion in the 2013 GE Asian Awareness Cultural Art Exhibit in Connecticut.
In 2016, Ms. Feng’s work was selected for inclusion in a unique Exhibit called “Ink Imagists, Modern Ink Paintings”, at the Tenri Gallery in Manhattan. For the first time ever, this show was a joint effort which exhibited works by a small number of artists from Japan, Taiwan and the United States. Recently, Ms. Feng was honored to have her work awarded the Best in Show at the Sumi-e Society of America’s Annual Juried Exhibition in Tallahassee Florida.
Teaching
Besides her work as an artist, Ms. Feng has been an art teacher for years. She introduced Sumi-e watercolor technique and culture to many Americans. She is passionate about teaching and after years teaching art, her enthusiasm has only grown. “I believe that every child can draw and create art. The teacher must take the time to explore each child’s individual personality and allow that child to express art in his or her own way. Each child is different. Attempting to fit every child into the same mold would only lead to frustration and failure.
Sandra has worked as a graphic artist for 17 years at various companies including major publications including Newsday. During that time, she developed her computer skills as a digital graphic designer, winning several awards( FCPNY and AFCP) in her field. Her software knowledge expands from Indesign, the industry standard layout program, photoshop, iMovie, premier pro and illustrator. Her art training began at the fine arts program at FIT and SVA School of Visual Arts. From there she pursued a career in advertising in TV commercial production in NYC working for major ad agencies like Doyle Dane Bernbach, KSW&G and HT&S Advertising.
She returned to her design career as a freelancer in her own business, Grafix Design Studio managing several accounts. Sandra left the corporate world and freelancing to pursue her desire to teach art to children and has gained her teaching experience with kids, creating weekly summer art programs of art projects for The Smithtown Historical Society and other organizations. She has experience with clay hand building, basic drawing and character development for graphic novel books.
“This has been the most rewarding time of my entire career. Influencing young minds to open themselves up to their inner creativity has been a great satisfaction and fulfillment of mine”.
Sandra’s teaching techniques involve developing the children’s drawing skills starting with the basic elements and principles of design. Her creative projects encourage and challenge the child’s imagination.
Drawing upon her own marketing and advertising skills, Sandra is able to help kids not only to observe the world around them but interpret what they see in an artistic way. She teaches them not to be a spectator but a participant in influencing the world around them through art. If they can re-create an everyday item or occurrence, what would that look like as an art project? Sandra loves the challenge, her projects range from creating characters for graphic novels to using different mediums like, clay, watercolor, markers to create self images. It’s amazing what these projects reveal about a child.
Sandra’s teaching philosophy is children ,any age, given the right tools, instruction and encouragement can express their voice creatively through art.
She is passionate and encouraging about teaching and helping children invest in their imagination and explore the world of art.
Max Gottfried is a mild-mannered professor and educator at Nassau Community College (Garden City, NY), Rambam Mesivta (Lawrence, NY) and Shalhevet High School for Girls (Hewlett, NY). He has taught Drawing, Painting, Advertising, Illustration and Graphic Design for over 35 years to students from Elementary school to Adults. He has educated students at the Connecticut Institute of Art, Usdan Center, Montclair State University, Hebrew Academy of Long Beach, etc. He received his BFA from Pratt Institute in 1975. Max Gottfried is a master painter in the Airbrush technique. He has illustrated record albums, CD covers, Broadway shows, movie posters, advertisements, logo designs, packaging and produced graphics for various websites. His paintings, prints and 3D constructions are the inspired result of a steady diet of comic books, film noir, 1960s garage music and vintage textiles. He is currently engaged in a series of paintings, drawing and prints highlighting Gangsters from the 1920s and 1930s. Recent exhibits include: BWAC (Brooklyn Waterfront Arts Council), The Jewish Comic Con (Brooklyn, NY), Coffee Nut Gallery (Long Beach, NY), The Tower Gallery (Garden City, NY), Mill Pond Gallery (St James, NY), Babylon Village Art Show, the Freeport Memorial Library (Freeport, NY), Brooklyn Jewish Art Gallery (Brooklyn, NY) and Repair the World (Brooklyn NY). He has lectured and demonstrated at various public and private schools to children and adults along with libraries and learning institutions in the New York area. Max Gottfried has curated and organized Art Shows in public spaces, galleries and religious institutions.
Philosophy: Continue to educate and inspire students to do their absolute best without being afraid to make mistakes. Challenge their abilities to take the next step and go beyond their comfort zone. Share my passion for all forms of visual art to further encourage students. www.maxgottfriedmakesart.com
Catherine Lan is an interdisciplinary artist who specializes in painting, mixed-media, installation, performance, and video. Born in Taipei, Taiwan in 1980, she is currently a doctoral candidate in Art and Art Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. She obtained MFA from Yale University in 2009, Artist Diploma from National Higher School of Art in Paris in 2006, and Bachelors from Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing in 2003. She is the recipient of Queens Council on the Arts Grant for Individual Artists (2015) and the Andrea Frank Foundation Sanyu Scholarship Fund from Yale University (2008-2009).
She recently collaborated with fashion designers, choreographers, and composers and her work was performed at the 2017 Central Park 50th Anniversary Performance Art happening event and 2016 Interactive Art Show at Queens Museum. She recently exhibited at El Museo de Los Sures in New York, and Guanshanyue Museum and Hexiangning Art Museum in Shenzhen, China.
As an art educator for the past 10 years, she has been teaching a wide range of students, ranging from K-12 to college levels and adults. She fuses hybrid pedagogy into her curriculum that is student-centered and inquiry-based, and focuses on constructive learning processes and individualistic outcomes. She has guided tours at MOMA, Guggenheim, Whitney, and Chelsea galleries, and incorporates the theory and history of modern and contemporary art into her curriculum and set her pedagogy into important contexts.
She fuses various concepts and disciplines as well as techniques and materials in order to enhance creativity and imagination. One of the lesson plans she designed for K-12 students—“Hybrid Animal Monsters”—was adopted by the New York City Department of Education in 2016 as a model for all teaching artists in all fields (dance, music, theater). As a Zankel Fellow who teaches Creative Technology at the Teachers College, Columbia University Community School, she helps students in developing their artistic repertories and fusing them with aspects of physical computing: circuitry, stop-motion animation, computer programming, 3-D printing, and laser cutting.
John Cheng artistic path started when he was just a wide-eyed six-year-old, captivated by the allure of drawing. This early fascination ignited a passion for art that has never waned, leading him to pursue an illustrious academic journey.
He graduated from the Maryland Institute College of Art, where he majored in illustration. Those years were transformative, providing him with a solid educational foundation and honing his skills across various artistic mediums. Digital art, pen and ink, pencil, oil pastels, color pencils – these are just a few of the tools in his creative arsenal, each offering a unique way to convey his artistic vision.
While his academic journey was invaluable, it was his four years of teaching that truly kindled his dedication to art education. Thanks to the comprehensive training by Sally Studio, the moment he stepped into the role of an instructor, he realized the profound joy and fulfillment it brought him. There’s a special kind of happiness that bubbles within him when his students create outstanding works of art. It’s a happiness that often feels even greater than their own, a feeling of immense pride in their growth and achievement.
One of the fundamental beliefs that guide him in his role as an educator is the strong conviction that teaching is a reciprocal experience. As he imparts knowledge, techniques, and inspiration to his students, he is equally engaged in a continuous learning process. Each student brings a unique perspective, a fresh way of seeing the world, and innovative ideas that challenge him to expand his own horizons as an artist.
His commitment to the transformative power of art and his belief in the symbiotic relationship between teaching and learning continue to drive him. He cherishes the moments when students make breakthroughs and unveil their artistic potential, he is grateful for the inspiration they provide him with. This reciprocal journey of learning and teaching is at the core of what he does, and he is excited to continue this adventure with his students at our art studio.
Crystal Liu
Art Background
An Asian descent, Crystal Liu, is an arts enthusiast. She majored in Fine Art from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. Her major in the university allowed Liu to be adept in various types of art fields. This is in consideration that she initially focused on drawings. However, the Fashion Institute of Technology honed her artistry in various fields beyond drawing. She practiced art for around ten years. Her experience in art has made her artistry homed in different fields where she focuses on drawing, painting, sculpture, and digital art.
Particularly, her drawings are dedicated towards portraits and animal portraits. As for her paintings, she focuses on abstract paintings, portraits, and landscape. She is also adept in human sculpture, clay, plaster and wood sculptures. Aside from tradition art, she is also knowledgeable on digital art. Her expertise and knowledge in art made her want to teach children about art-in hopes that she can also bring out and inspire children to become artists.
Teaching
Liu’s passion for art has transcended to her another passion of teaching children art. She believes that children have the capacity to express their artistry in various ways through art. With that, she wants to unleash the children’s creativity through teaching them art. Children have so much potential in translating how they perceive the world through art. This potential can be heightened through proper training and guidance-which Liu aims to give to children.
Teaching
Kezia joined Sally’s Studio in March of 2023 being trained for 3 months by Sally Fung to learn the methods and standards of the studio. After 3 months training Kezia began by teaching classes over the summer on her own. With a new found passion for teaching Ms. H, as many students may know her, has begun as a primary teacher in the fall 2023 school year. With this passion for teaching Kezia has found that each student can create wonderful art with proper instruction and room to use their imagination and creativity. She says that “Seeing each child create something totally unique from the same prompt gives me so much joy as a teacher.”
Kezia is deeply inspired by the students she teaches being able to see their creativity bloom as they create beautiful works of art. She hopes that by teaching and sharing her love of art that the students will be inspired and continue to pursue art further into their life.
At a young age, Jay Stuart found himself drawing things from out of his mind inspired by the depths of his imagination. As he got older, he began studies at Hofstra art classes for the young and then attended the School of Visual Arts in NYC studying illustration and cartooning. From then he has worked for various art jobs from comics to fashion design. His work is mainly illustrations with india ink and brush which he finds the perfect medium to translate his macabre ideas into reality. He also extends his illustration in acrylic paints and mediums, bringing to his audience a set of imagery that only he can explain. Jay Stuart has now started Poppycock Productions which produces various products like story books, tarot cards and comic books showing at galleries, events and conventions within the Long Island area while also teaching illustration and self publishing at local art leagues.
‘My goal as an artist is to seek beauty and truth in my paintings and to find an element that viewers can relate to.’
William Graf is a fine artist, professional illustrator and international instructor of drawing, oil and watercolor in both plein air and studio painting. He teaches drawing, oil, watercolor and acrylic painting at The Atelier at Flower field in St. James, the Art League of Long Island and the National Art League of New York. He also conducts plein air painting workshops both here and in Italy.
His extensive art career began after completing his drawing and old master painting studies at the Art Students League of New York and in Florence, Italy, at the Cecil- Graves Studio.
Graf continues to be commissioned for work as an illustrator for major publishing companies as well as his portraiture. One of his noteworthy commissions was for a mural depicting a scene of President Theodore Roosevelt’s children in the White House, which was painted to be displayed in the Museum of American History.
Recipient of numerous awards from the International Miniature Portrait Show of Montreal, the NYC Students Art League Figure Drawing 1st Prize for figure drawing, Huntington NY Arts Council for Best In Show for portraiture and Honorable Mentions, NY Nassau County Art Leagues 1st Prize for figure painting and 1st prize for still life, Christy Award for best Christian book cover design & illustration. Recipient of the Frank J. Reilly Scholarship Award. Recently he has received Honorable Mention & Merit Awards in the prestigious Richeson75 International Show for Portraiture. The Best In Show award for Small Works in the Richeson75 International Exhibit, National Art League 89th Annual Juried Open Exhibit and 2019 Adirondacks National Exhibition of American Watercolors.