Programs, classes, and exhibits at the Passaic County Arts Center would not be possible without our local arts community. We are excited to work with many artists of varying disciplines.
Meet the Instructors
Chris Rodriguez
Chris Rodriguez is a New Jersey-based educator, community organizer, and practitioner of Puerto Rican bomba music. He has served as a high school English teacher for nine years, advocating for racial equity and culturally-responsive education. Outside of the public school system, Chris explores decolonized education through bomba and critical consciousness raising within, facilitating book clubs and cultural workshops in grassroots spaces such as community gardens, museums, and local art studios. He is also a founding member of the New Jersey Bomba Collective, which hosts monthly events educating the public about the history, culture, and practice of Puerto Rican bomba. Throughout all of his work, Chris explores, with others, the psychological legacies of colonization, the reclamation and power of Indigenous and African knowledge systems, and the creative potential of intergenerational spaces of nature, culture, music, and expression.
Jamie Wandel
Jamie Wandel is an artist and educator with 14 years of teaching experience. She holds an undergraduate degree in Studio Art and Art History, a Master’s of Science degree in Museum Studies from Glasgow University in Scotland, and a Master’s of Arts in Teaching degree from New Jersey City University.
Jamie believes that art education should foster critical thinking, creativity, and individual potential. She emphasizes the importance of autonomy in learning, advocating for providing students with the resources they need to build their knowledge and skills. Her approach focuses on empowering students and igniting their curiosity and interest from within.
Jamie is the art teacher at Little Falls Middle School, a studio instructor at Montclair Art Museum for children and adults, the children’s art instructor for the Village of Ridgewood Parks & Recreation, and an art faculty at Passaic County Art Center.
Jamie is currently pursuing a 60-credit Master’s of Fine Arts degree at William Paterson University with a concentration in painting and drawing.
Kyeong Keun No
Kyeong Keun No is an accomplished artist and experienced educator specializing in drawing, painting, and ceramics. With a solid foundation in fine arts, Kyeong has an extensive academic background, earning degrees and training from prestigious institutions both in the United States and Korea.
Kyeong graduated from the New York Academy of Fine Art in 2015 with a major in Painting, further enriching their craft with study at the National Academy School of Fine Art, Art Student League, and Hong-ik University in Korea. They have been honing their artistic skills and expanding their knowledge of the visual arts for over two decades.
As an educator, Kyeong has dedicated much of their career to teaching drawing, painting, and ceramics at a variety of renowned art institutions. Since 2023, Kyeong has been sharing their expertise at The Art School at Old Church, guiding students through the nuances of both traditional and contemporary techniques in drawing and painting. They previously taught at Master Art Studio and have been a key figure in private tutoring, teaching at various art schools such as the New York Yewon Art Studio and Korean Community Center.
In addition to their teaching career, Kyeong has held roles as a curator at Art Lines Gallery and worked as a teaching assistant at the New York Academy of Fine Art. Kyeong’s professional involvement extends to the fine art exhibition world, having participated in numerous group exhibitions, including “Power of Silence” at Art Lines Gallery, as well as notable shows at Sotheby’s and Panepinto Fine Art.
Kyeong’s artistic excellence has been recognized through several prestigious awards, including the Portrait Scholarship from the New York Academy of Fine Art and the Merit Scholarship in 2013. Their work has also earned significant recognition at the National Academy, where Kyeong received the Year-End Exhibition Prize and First Prize in Figure Drawing.
With a deep commitment to the arts, Kyeong Keun No continues to inspire students and peers alike, sharing a passion for both the technical and creative aspects of visual expression.
To learn more about Kyeong’s work or to inquire about their classes, visit their website www.kyeongkeunno.com or follow their Instagram @kyeongkeun.no.
Marisol Rodriguez
Marisol Rodriguez is an elementary first grade educator with 25 years’ experience working with early childhood students. She has a Bachelor of Arts Degree from St. Peter’s College with a background in Art History and Education. She has had a passion for fine arts for many years, and has incorporated art in her curriculum.
She believes that all young children need to be exposed to many forms of art to enhance and express their inner creativity, and that participating in the arts will help them become strong leaders and professional adults, regardless of the careers they choose. She has participated in professional educator workshops in creative art movement at Montclair State University and dance choreography at NJPAC with the Alvin Ailey Teaching Artists. She is the founder and owner of Parasols By Marisol where she has honed her skills designing and hand painting oil paper, silk fabric parasols, and umbrellas while incorporating them into her art creative classes, festivals, and private events. She enjoys using her hand-painted parasols for school concerts and performances where her students can use them in their creative movement routines and create their own.
She is a member of NJEA, DanceNJ, and the Montclair Art Museum.
Susan Ward
Susan Ward is a professional musician who lives in Mahwah, New Jersey. A lifetime lover of music, she started playing piano at a very young age, and gave her first piano lesson at 18 years old. She has turned piano instruction into a lifelong calling, with more than 40 years of experience as a teacher.
Her teaching style selects from different piano method books that have resonated with her students, across the styles from classical to jazz, blues to country, and all the current hits. By teaching pieces that students want to play, she conveys music theory and fingering exercises in a way that helps students learn quickly, as long as they put the time into learning.
Ward also plays piano before movies at the Lafayette Theater in Suffern, New York, on Saturday evenings, and provides instruction to over sixty students per week.
Jimena Vega
Jimena Vega was born and raised in Ambato, a community in the Andean mountains of Ecuador. After experiencing a childhood full of traditions interwoven with nature, she immigrated to urban New Jersey as a teenager to reunite with her family. While the cultural shock was initially bewildering, Jimena was able to persevere and attain a Bachelor’s Degree in Architecture from New Jersey Institute of Technology in 2012.
Her art career began after her graduation. Drawing inspiration from her nature-filled childhood, the trauma of migration, and the cultural and artistic resilience of immigrant communities in the United States, Jimena began to explore diverse mediums such as illustration, sculpture, and art-making with organic materials; she also began participating in and facilitating women’s circles centered on plants, healing, oral history, and therapeutic art-making. Her art and her workshops have been featured in as diverse places as Guttenberg Arts, the Queens Museum, community gardens, and more. You can view her work on her website or Instagram.
Yamilka Castellanos
Yamilka Castellanos began her journey into macrame in 2022. After praying to God for guidance and for any talents or gifts she could share, she heard a voice telling her to “take the yarn and knit.” She had given macrame a try previously but had never succeeded. Suddenly, she understood it and began crafting yarn with the skill of a professional.
What started as a simple calling turned into a passion that led her to create handbags, bassinets, curtains, blankets, tapestries, and countless other handmade creations. In 2023, she officially launched her shop on Etsy and Amazon, GGOMacrame, which has become a best-selling enterprise. In 2024, she joined Michael’s Marketplace, and in 2025, she was selected as a vendor for one of Michael’s New Jersey locations.
She also began offering macrame classes in 2024, as a way to share her love for the craft with others. Teaching brings her immense joy, and she is thrilled to have the opportunity to inspire and guide others in this beautiful craft.