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TONA BELL
Tona Bell, proprietress of The Paper Seahorse, has always had a passion for all things paper, packaging, writing and making. All through her successful career in public relations, marketing and creative services, she found new and exciting ways to use paper. She used hand-written, stamped letters to 100 specific people as a very personal way to launch a successful marketing company. In her18 years as President of that company, Tricycle Studios, she continued to encourage the use of handwritten letters. With The Paper Seahorse, her dream has come true to share these creative pursuits with others. She hopes to inspire people to follow their dreams and make the world a lovelier, more thoughtful place.
CLAIRE FORMILAN
Claire grew up in a family whose motto was, "I can make something with that." So she's a natural maker. Her bookmaking passion started in Chicago when she stumbled into a corner paper shop, took a bookmaking class and fell in love. She has been playing with paper ever since. Now, bookmaking is at the heart of her paper passion. She loves the process of creating or "making something" with her hands, and getting people involved in their own creative process. Aside form bookmaking, she also loves laughing out loud, gardening, baking cakes for her husband from the British Bakeoff Cookbook and playing with her cat, Cici.
LYNDA FISHBOURNE
Lynda has been an artist all her life. Crayola crayons and pencils were her favorite things when she was young. In a former life, she worked as a Designer and Creative Director for large and small ad agencies, corporations and design studios in NYC, Boston and Tampa. She also had her own design business for 12 years, but always kept a visual journal and did art in her free time. Now she works in acrylics, watercolor, collage and encaustic art full time. She teaches small group workshops in drawing, journaling, watercolors, meditation and yoga. She counts nature and the abstract, big Florida skies, portals, sacred circles and more as her inspiration. Her affinity for Wabi-Sabi allows her to appreciate old worn textures and the beauty of imperfection. Envelopes, handwriting and postage stamps often find their way into her work, as she keeps a visual journal and enjoys handwritten letters.
JENNI GLASER
Jenni Glaser grew up in Shreveport, Louisiana and has lived in Tampa since 1986. She received a BFA from Tulane University and a MEd from the University of Missouri. She has taught art in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties, is the mother of four, and currently is creating art in the medium of clay and fiber.
YUKI JACKSON
Yuki is a poet and educator focusing on empowerment and enlightenment, specifically speaking as the historically excluded divine feminine figure. Her poetry has been published in literary journals such as Four Way Review, Hobart Pulp and Cream City Review, for which she was nominated for a 2021 Best of the Net Award and the 2020 Summer Poetry Prize. She is a regular contributor for the “Poet’s Notebook” column of Creative Loafing and has been featured as a poet, speaker and panelist at various institutions, organizations and media outlets, including the University of South Florida, Spady Cultural Heritage Museum, Metro Inclusive Health, 88.5 WMNF radio station and WEDU PBS. Most recently, she was commissioned to write and perform a poem for the Goodwin-Procter law firm.
Yuki has taught writing classes as a professor at Ringling College of Art and Design and as a freelance teaching artist for community-based nonprofits such as Keep St.Pete Lit, SpaceCRAFT and Cultured Books. Her work as an arts educator includes being the founder and director of The Battleground, a poetry-based program serving a historically marginalized community in Tampa, Florida. Since the launch of her career as an educator in 2018, she has created and facilitated over 300 writing classes, sessions and workshops.
Her website is YukiJackson.com
AMANDA KAMMARADA
Amanda is a wife and mom of two. She is the designer behind Amanda Kammarada Hand Lettering, which specializes in hand lettered art and design that hopes to bring inspiration, happiness and joy. Art has always been a part of her life but didn’t find her love of hand lettering until 2015. Amanda enjoys spending time with her family, going to Universal Orlando and DIYs. She loves Harry Potter, coffee and chocolate.
Find more of her work at: www.amandakammarada.com
RANDY ROSENTHAL
Randy Rosenthal is an artist/entrepreneur. As co-founder and Creative Director of Tricycle Studios, he advises business leaders at some of the world’s best-known brands like Johnson & Johnson, and Olympus on customer engagement strategies. He is very excited to bring these proven techniques to the local creative business community. Randy brings his signature “human-centered” approach to all of his wildly different endeavors like stand-up comedy, hypnosis, and filmmaking.
MONICA SIMON
Monica lives and breathes creativity. Her motto is: Art Is Life. A Tampa native, she has home schooled her kids and adds art into everything she does. Her natural talents extend into letter writing and making artist trading cards (ATCs) . She feels most herself when creating and teaching others.
Please check back for updated bios. If you have a wonderful idea for a class or workshop, please feel free to reach out and let us know. We would love to collaborate with you!
