Offered by the City of Santa Clarita, the FREE Arts Symposium joins New Heights Artists Development Series during ‘ARTOBER’ for a sequence of workshops and panel discussions designed to engage and educate creative individuals, no matter what level of experience. Learn how each panelist effectively teaches art online. Panelists will provide some insight and understanding of how they have taught students online.

CKAY WALKER (SCAA)
Chrystal Walker was born in Afton, Wyo. A small rural town with plenty of space to roam and allow her imagination take hold. Her first art experience was at the age of seven; art has been a major part of her world since. Art and child psychology were her studies at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah where she attended on a Track and Field Scholarship. College of the Canyons became her next stop in continuing her art and music studies.
Chrystal enjoys teaching and creating both privately and publicly. Her work can be found at the Art Tree in Newhall, CA. Where she is teaching virtual art classes. Chrystal volunteers her time curating and co-chairing the Santa Clarita Artists Association Gallery in Newhall, as well. She also finds great joy working with students as a sub for kids that need extra care for CAUSD.

BELINDA DEL PESCO (Nancy Eckels)
Belinda Del Pesco is a full-time watercolor painter, printmaker and blogger. She launched an art blog to share process steps in watercolor and printmaking in 2005. Encouraged by requests from subscribers to see more detail, she learned how to shoot and edit video of art in-process in 2014 and started a YouTube channel. In 2018, she created BelindaTips.com to offer more in-depth video courses. Belinda works in the classical tradition of figure, landscape and still life painting and printmaking. She is inspired by the nuances of the face and figure, and seasonal changes in natural light. Her subjects are primarily from family photos, past and present; she paints and prints the people she loves, and the rooms she lives in. Her artwork, course details, art blog, Etsy Shop and YouTube channel can be found at www.belindadelpesco.com

MICHAEL STRAUSS
Michael Strauss is an Emeritus Professor of Chemistry and Art at The University of Vermont (UVM). He conducts workshops and teaches chemistry, educational pedagogy and drawing classes. In the past two decades, he has taught drawing for the Honors College, the College of Arts and Sciences, for Continuing Education and for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at UVM. Strauss has published over 80 articles and 4 books. Many of these are on educational topics related to pattern, form, symbolism and artistic expression. His latest book is titled “The Mind at Hand – Stories of Exploration, Discovery and Design” (BrownWalker Press). Its focus is ‘Drawing to Learn Across the Disciplines.’ Professor Strauss is also a painter who works in his studio in South Burlington, Vermont. His paintings are curated by Burlington City Arts. He is currently teaching two Zoom classes for UVM OLLI; “Drawing for the Terrified” and “Drawing du Jour,” with students from around the USA and Canada. Recent exhibitions of his work have appeared in a number of Vermont galleries and other venues. To learn more, visit his website at mjstrauss.com.

DARYL BIBICOFF (moderator)
Daryl Bibicoff started drawing at the age of 8 and dedicates his life to the Visual Arts. His passion for the visual arts comes from his grandfather on his mom’s side of the family. Credentials that Daryl holds include Secondary Level Art and CTE Arts, Media, and Entertainment. Daryl is in his 29th year of teaching secondary level visual art and most of this experience is with the William S. Hart High School District. While his focus has been educating teenagers in the visual arts, Daryl is also a formally trained professional artist. His accomplishments include the emerging of many improvements to art education and his evolving “In Motion” art series. As an art educator, Daryl’s involvement with the curriculum council for the Hart School District lead to an expansion of coursework offered in the visual arts. He is the first district educator to create a high school yearbook using computer technology. Daryl is successfully teaching 3 distance learning art education courses which includes Beginning Art, Advanced Art, and Digital Photography. Daryl is now creating Black and Color Motion Digital Art Abstractions about the year 2020 during Social Distancing. As everyone is witness to this year, Daryl is sharing digital art that plays a huge role in our future. My social distancing art inspiration is specific to the year 2020, and the challenges we are facing globally. I want viewers to see and feel this necessity for movement and change for everyone. Creating this work digitally, I feel, really enhances the 3D quality and movement. Whether it be the Covid Pandemic, BLM Marches, LGBTQIA, or World Cultures, my vision is expressed digitally.