Meet the Artists
- Dianne Moran, teaching artist, folklorist, storyteller and naturalist. Dianne's residency programs have been redesigned exclusively for ARTS-CORE Productions.
- Sherry Norfolk, teaching artist, storyteller and author. Sherry has designed a new workshop and residency exclusively for ARTS-CORE Productions. See Sherry's new Book! http://www.greenwood.com/books/printFlyer.aspx?sku=LU6944 to see the flyer.
Pam Beagle-Daresta, teaching artist, visual artist. Pam's residency programs are designed exclusively for ARTS-CORE Productions to help students think deeply about the curriculum.
Modern American Dance Company, teaching artist, dance company. MADCO has designed a new performance exclusively for ARTS-CORE Productions.
Tana Spiekermann, Educational Advisor
Dianne Moran, teaching artist, folklorist, storyteller and naturalist
“From the time I met with her before she arrived to my classroom to her final day, I was sold! Dianne truly becomes the characters she presents and builds engagement and excitement for the children from day one!” 5th grade teacher
Photo by Matt O'Shea
An award-winning folklorist and teaching artist, Dianne Moran has captivated audiences through her living history performances, workshops and residencies for over 30 years. As a Chautauqua Scholar Dianne tours the country with her programs and transports her audiences to another time and place. Once there, she fascinates participants with surprising details and historically accurate information to help them genuinely understand what life was like in a time gone by. Dianne is truly a living treasure to our region.
Dianne Moran is a professional naturalist with over 20 years at the St. Louis Zoo and a life time of fascination with nature. She has built an extensive personal collection of strange reptiles, amphibians, invertebrates and small mammals, which she integrates into her programs. She is tickled by the comical side of animals (outlandish behaviors and smells top the list) and enjoys sharing her animals and some of her personal experiences with her audience. Children love nature and are engaged by Dianne’s authentic presentations of her characters and live animals.
Dianne makes her home in a log cabin. She lives in a tiny Ozark town in Missouri deep in the woods where live animals abound.
Sherry Norfolk, teaching artist, storyteller and author
"Sherry Norfolk is the finest teacher of the modern craft of storytelling. Period."
-- Carmen Deedy, storyteller & author
Photo by Matt O'Shea
Sherry Norfolk is an internationally acclaimed storyteller, appearing at the International Storytelling Center, the Singapore Storytelling Festival, and many more festivals, schools, libraries and universities nationwide. Her strong, clear, direct stage presence immediately connects to audiences of all ages. AND… that VOICE! Perhaps there lives in her chords a pantheon of BOTH gods and goddesses! Her use of tones, timbres, and rhythms in her telling breathes life into her rich repertoire of folktales from around the world. Engaging and entertaining, compelling and educational, Sherry’s programs are tailored to each audience and venue. In addition to an electric stage presence, she embodies the term "teaching artist" - that is, an artist who can not only talk the talk but walk the walk.
Sherry leads residencies and workshops internationally, introducing children and adults to story making and storytelling. She is on the roster of seven state arts councils, a testimony to her value as a teaching artist. Her dedication to and deep interest in children and literacy have been recognized with national awards from the American Library Association, the Association for Library Service for Children, the National Association of Counties, and the Florida Library Association. Sherry and her husband Bobby are coauthors of The Moral of the Story: Folktales for Character Development (August House, 1999) and six picture books. She is also co-author of the award-winning Storytelling Classroom: Applications Across the Curriculum (Libraries Unlimited, 2006) and the forthcoming book Literacy Development in the Storytelling Classroom (Libraries Unlimited, 2009). Sherry currently serves as Chair of the National Storytelling Network Board of Directors.
Drawing by Pam Beagle-Daresta
Pam Beagle-Daresta, teaching artist and visual artist
A graduate of the Ringling School of Art, Pam Beagle-Daresta is a visual artist and teaching artist with over 30 years of classroom experience. She has developed and taught curriculum-integrated children’s art programs for art centers and schools K- 8th. Pam practices nontoxic art making as a printmaker and teacher. Her artwork has been featured in several solo exhibits and she also exhibits with the Atlanta Printmakers Studio.
Her residencies are curriculum integrated and her repertoire includes printmaking, mural making, papermaking and book arts. Pam inspires students to search for deeper meaning through their work and to find the best in themselves. Her philosophy is to include all students in the process so that they have a sense of ownership and community. One of her middle school residencies was a Georgia History mural created for US Senator Johnny Isakson’s Washington office.Printmaking programs are developed to utilize processes and tools appropriate to the grade level working exclusively with nontoxic water based inks. They may focus on a process or an overview of intaglio, relief, silkscreen, and/or monoprinting techniques.
Mural imagery is generated through student drawings based on curriculum and painted by the students on panels. Mural residency stages include research, concept development, preproduction and production , reflection, which mirror scientific process.Modern American Dance Company, teaching artists and dance company
MADCO instructor Jennifer Reilly works with 5th grade students on "Archer's Quest."
Modern American Dance Company (MADCO) creates innovative and memorable dance performances combining passion and technical excellence to provide audiences with a world-class arts experience. The company is known for its versatile and athletic style, presenting dance that is entertaining for audiences to watch and demanding for dancers to perform. MADCO has wowed audiences throughout the United States and Canada with recent engagements in New York, Orlando, and Toronto. The 15-member repertory ensemble is headed by Executive/Artistic Director, Stacy West, and Associate Artistic Director, Todd Weeks.
Tana Spiekermann, Educational Advisor
ARTS-CORE Productions’ Educational Advisor, Tana Spiekermann, taught in elementary education for thirty-one years in Hawaii, North Carolina and Missouri, grades Kdg-6. Mrs. Spiekermann is the recipent of the Emerson "Excellence in Teaching Program” awared in the field of education. She worked with the Danforth Foundation to improve effective teaching methods in the Hazelwood School District and presented "Literature Based” workshops for St. Louis area school districts. She retired from the Hazelwood School District in 2002 and became a district mentor.
Currently working at Webster University as an adjunct professor Mrs. Spiekermann teaches curriculum implementation and classroom management to education students. She also supervises apprentice teachers for Webster University. Her great interest in the fine arts community and participation in vocal groups in the St. Louis area motivated her to become a program evaluator for local arts organizations and an advisor for ARTS-CORE Productions.
Mrs. Spiekermann has a B.S.in Elementary Education From Southeast Missouri State Univerisity and a Masters in Education from the University of Missouri-St. Louis. She has accreditation for middle school from Truman University.
ARTS-CORE Productions is thrilled to have the expertise of Tana Spiekermann!
Representing only the highest quality teaching artists and performers!
