Ryan Frost received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Percussion from UNI and a Master of Arts degree in Percussion Performance from Middle Tennessee State University. Prior to this appointment as visiting instructor at UNI, Frost served as an Adjunct instructor of Percussion at Middle Tennessee State University where he taught classes in applied percussion, percussion methods, music appreciation and was the director of MTSU Steel Band II. Additionally, Frost directed Steel de Boro, a steel drum ensemble for elementary age students. He also worked for Row Loff Productions, a Nashville-based music publisher.
Gary Lambert started Route 86 Music in June 2005 after seeing a need for music lessons in the area. Route 86 Music provides instruction in drums, guitar, bass, piano, and vocals, and also features a music store and recording studio and sponsors the Okoboji Rock & Roll Camp each summer. Gary has an extensive background in music from playing with a variety of bands, church groups, community theatres, private events and as a studio musician in Minneapolis. It is Garys studion background that led him to start Route 86 Records, which has produced several albums including Christmas in Okoboji. Find out more about Gary at www.route86music.com.
Chad Elliott is an artist/songwriter who resides in Spencer, IA. His versatility in the arts started at an early age when he first pursued paintin at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and finished his Bachelors of Art at Graceland College with an emphasis in Ceramic Sculpture. He later earned M.F.A. credit at the University of Montana for Ceramics. He has also received a number of awards for his songwriting skills, including a song picked out of 200,000 to be in the top 20 New Fold Songs in the Just Plain Fold Awards, which put Chad among such greats as Art Garfunkel, Lori McKenna, and Janis Ian. He performs, teaches guitar, plays numerous instruments, writes songs, records his own albums and leads open jams at the local coffee house. Chad has toured Canada and the U.S. and has released 7 CDs in his career. Find out more about Chad at www.myspace.com/chadelliottfoldmusic.
Linnea Lambert is the Manager for Route 86 Music & Indoor Golf, as well as the Business Manager for Treasure Village. When not handling administrative responsibilities, Linnea relishes her creative side for Treasure Village and designs and builds sets and also directs for the childrens theatre company. Linnea loves music, theatre and design, and incorporating those passions together.
Jesse Dagel is an instructor for Route 86 Music on the guitar, bass and drums. He has ben playing instruments for over 10 years, and will pursue his passion for music at college in the fall. He participates in the Sibley-Ocheyden chamber and show choirs, and the concert, pep and jazz bands. He is a worship leader at church, plays electric guitar, and jams in the rock band Rock a la Carte, which has performed at the National QUEEN convention in Detroit.
Hank Hall is a full-time working artist in downtown Spirit Lake where he has renovated an historic wood-working shop into an art sutdio and gallery. He taught middle school and high school art in Iowa for 34 years and continues to teach clay, painting, and drawing classes in his own studio. Many of Halls students have studied art in prestigious art institutions and have pursued art-related careers. His creative skills were shaped early in his career by two summers of instensive training in Guerneville, CA with Marguerite Wildenhain, a Bauhaus-trained master potter considered to be on of the ten most significatn clay artists of the 20th Century. Today Hall creates one-of-a-kind functional & sculptural pieces with mixed media embellishments. His artwork has been exhibited regionally and he has earned several best of shows in recent juried art shows.
Marcia Joffe-Bouska received a Bachelor of Arts degree in studio art and art education from Clarke College, Dubuque, IA. After teaching elementary art for three years, she earned her Masters of Art degree in painting and drawing from Northern Illinois University, DeKalb. Her artwork has been exhibited in solo and group shows and is represented in corporate, public and private collections, including the University of North Dakota, Grand Forks; University of Nebraska, Kearny; Schiff, Hardin & Waite, Chicago; and Peed Corporation, Lincoln, NE. She has taught numerous workshops and residencies to people of all ages, many through the Iowa Arts Councils Artists in School and Communities program. She lives in Council Bluffs and works from a studio in her home.
Dan Ruf has photographed hundreds of beautiful and inspiring fine art, nature, and landscape scenes. He was a spotlight artist at the Minneapolis Center for Photography and has also been the recipient of the Katherine Cogswell Maul Art Award. In addition to leading numerous photography workshops and judging photography exhibits, he was an art instructor at Leelanau Schools in Glen Arbor, MI, and has acted as the director of the Northwest Iowa Center for Photography. He has had numerous photographic fine art exhibits across the Midwest and participates in the Artisans Road Trip show.
Heidi Quandt is the owner and director of Fusion Dance. She is a graduate from the University of Iowa with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Dance, where she was also a captain and member of the Iowa Hawkeye Dance Team.&nbs
p; Heidi has danced professionally with the Denver Nuggets Dancers in Colorado and has judged Nationals for Ameridance in Walt Disney World. She choreographs and judges for various high school and college dance teams, and previously coached the Millard North competition team.
Mary Waugh-Taylor received her B.F.A. from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah. She performed with Ballet West under the direction of both William Christiansen and Bruce Marks, and was a company member for Mid-Columbia Regional Ballet in Richland, Washington as well as Heritage Dance Company in Spokane, Washington. Upon moving to Omaha, Nebraska she began her own studio with an affiliated performing group for seven years. Presently she teaches at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, the Jewish Community Center, Creighton University and Omaha Academy of Ballet. Mary won two International Choreographic Awards in Cessena, Italy in 2000
Marta Barnard is a director, actor and choreographer. She has worked as a performance artist in Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming. Recent Colorado high school productions include "Hamlet, Cha Cha Cha" and "Smells Like Teen Spirit". She and her husband, Chad Branham, have recently relocated to Spirit Lake and are starting "Willow River Arts", to bring theatre, dance and film outreach programs to the Midwest
Chelsea Cunningham, a native of Des Moines, Iowa, will graduate from the University of Northern Iowa in May 2008 with a BA in Speech and Theatre Education, after student teaching with Westside High School in Omaha, Nebraska, in the spring of 2008. She has been heavily involved with performance and production work. Her work as Hermia in A Midsummer Nights Dream earned Chelsea a nomination to compete for the Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship at the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival in January 2008. Other roles include Bebe in A Chorus Line, Krystal in Pyrates, and Jane Cumming in The Misses Pirie and Woods. Chelsea has worked as both the chief intern and as a lead teacher at the Des Moines Playhouse for three years, where she designed and executed creative drama and performing arts day camps, as well as scripted and directed youth productions
