Artmill

Barbara Benish-Kalná, the school’s founder and director, is an artist, raised in the U.S., who moved to the Czech Republic in 1993, after completing a year as a Fulbright scholar in Prague. Benish’s own work has been shown at P.S.1 Museum in New York, U.N.E.S.C.O. Headquarters in Paris, the Venice Biennalle in Italy and a survey exhibition at Pomona Museum of Art, at the Claremont Graduate University in California, (her alma mater). Her work is represented in public and private collections around the world including the Getty Museum in Los Angeles and the Stadtgeschichtliche Museen in Nurnberg, Germany. [ www.bbenish.net ]. 

Šárka Hnátova, when not racing her horse Fram, teaches horsebackriding in Šumava, C.R. She is an accomplished artist and craftsperson. [ www.konici.com ]

Mariana Dočekalová is a teacher of visual arts at an elementary school in Prague. She works as a an author and lector at the department of educational programs of Rudolfinum gallery in Prague. She also teaches at the MOM (Mother’s center). Her graphics and sculptures have been shown locally. She recently finished her MA at the Faculty of Pedagogics, Charles University, Prague, and is currently Assistant Director at ArtMill.

Maruška Kovaříková, has been cooking for the local elementary school for nearly 5 years, as well as cook at ArtMill since 2005. Her speciality, as all kids remember, is pastry and desserts. But others would argue her soups are the best in Central Europe.

Maruska Kovarikova ml. is a very talented young artist in art school in southern Bohemia. She has either attended or worked at ArtMill since the first year.

Allison Gravis graduated from Redlands University in California, majoring in Environmental Studies. Her thesis project involved the environmental impact of local fishing practices on sea turtles in Baja California, Mexico. Allison taught swimming lessons at a local community pool for several years, worked as an educator at the Port Townsend Marine Science Center in the Pacific Northwest, and volunteered for an Emergency Re-building Team in New Orleans after the hurricane. She recently relocated to San Francisco to pursue a Master’s Degree in Education.

Carolanne Patterson has been teaching in the Art Department at New York University for the past 10 years, and has also taught at Parson’s School of Design, in New York City. She holds a Master’s of Fine arts and a Bachelors of Fine Arts, both in the area of metal-smithing. She also has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art History. She has exhibited her work in the US and Europe, and continues to show her sculpture, drawings, and jewelry. She was a Fulbright Fellow to Prague in 1993–4. Carolanne lives in Brooklyn, New York with her family. [ www.jewelerswerk.com ]

Martina Kocmanová is studying art at Brno’s Academy of Art, Architecture and Design, in the Czech Republic. She has studied also in France, and is fluent in that language. Her hobbies include hip-hop dancing and scenography.

Sabina Luger graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. She has traveled extensively and received several awards for her fine drawings. Since 1990 she works exclusively with metalpoint, in all formats

Antonín Melka is our Master Welder and general Handyman. "Tonda" has been working at the Mill since 2004. Known to be able to do anything, including helping students make sculptures out of any material, building rafts, hauling boulders, making furniture, or lifting a Caravan into a tree, he is an irreplacable part of the Red Mill's family.

Kim Corcoran has been teaching English as a Second Language for over 20 years in Santa Barbara, California. She has been interested in Art since way before that, and finally started painting in 2005. Besides raising three children into successful adulthood, Kim has been an avid hiker and nature lover since her childhood.

Anna Corcoran is an accomplished and promising young star of the San Francisco Conservatory for Music. She plays the violin. She was also caught  moonlighting in her high school years as a violinist/vocalist in a rock/punk band in Santa Barbara, CA.

Klára Stuchlová hopes to study animal medicine at the University next year. As a high school student, she has worked at ArtMill for several summers running.

Martina Kubátová is studying agriculture at a local high school. She is due to graduate this year. She helps in the Mill’s gardens each summer, and trains her horse whenever possible.

Tim Kopra is an art student at the University of California at Santa Cruz. It will be his first teaching experience in Europe.

Robin Lovell teaches Spanish bilingual third grade to young people in the Oakland public schools, near San Francisco, California. She grew up in Southern California, and moved to Mexico at age 22 where she lived for 6 years before settling in Northern California. She is married to artist Daniel Camacho. This will be her first journey to Central Europe.

Daniel Camacho has been painting for over 25 years. Much of his work deals with the beauty and tragedy of his home country, Mexico. The garden in his new home in the San Francisco Bay area inspires his work with peace and tranquility. Daniel practiced his art for over two decades. He is having his first European show at Galerie Califia in the summer of 2010. [ danielcamachoelpintor.com ]

Susan Marcinkus. Producer/Director is Co-Producer of Manifest Films, in Chicago and Los Angeles. Over the last fifteen years she’s worked as director, producer and editor on award winning film and TV projects. She was associate producer/editor of the feminist feature documentary, Right Out of History-The Making of the Dinner Party, chronicling the process of Judy Chicago’s acclaimed mixed media installation. She also lectures on Czech and Slovak Cinema. Marcinkus holds a BFA from the University of Wisconsin and an MFA in Film/TV Directing from the American Film Institute, Los Angeles.

Javier Orcaray was born in Spain in 1980. He is a photo historian and a graduated Master degree in Visual Culture: theory at NYU (April 2010). At the age of 12 he learnt how to make pin-hole-cameras and started a passionate journey through the photographic medium. His work has been exhibited in Prague and New York.

Gabrielle Mangeri was born in New York City in 1978. She specializes in black and white silver gelatin printing with a heavy dose of darkroom experimentation. In 2000 Gabrielle was introduced to the International Center of Photography where she first began working in the darkroom, and would later assist in many different photography classes and workshops with masters such as Chuck Kelton and Anders Petersen. She has exhibited both nationally and internationally at the Centre d’Art Santa Monica in Barcelona and the International Center of Photography in New York among others.

In addition to the ten or so student-teachers, ArtMill has counselors from the various local art academies and schools. The ratio of teachers to students is approximately 2:1.