Artifice

Caitie Mikhel believes that art is a method of expression, and also a method of understanding. It’s the documentation of how a person sees and interacts with the world.

After completing a double major in art and music at Westminster College in SLC, UT, Caitie earned her Master’s in Secondary Education at Grand Canyon University. As a teacher, Caitie primarily works with special education populations including Title 1, emotional disorders, and behavioral disorders. She spends the majority of her time working with students to help them build a relationship with their creativity. While technical skills are given plenty of focus, Caitie sees greater value in helping her students get to know themselves as they explore the creative spectrum in both visual and performing arts. She is a firm believer that art serves as a bridge between all facets of our personalities—allowing us bring our whole selves together—and loves teaching her students to embrace failure as part of the learning process.

Caitie is currently working on a meditative arts practice curriculum to combine therapeutic practices like Dialectical Behavioral Therapy with the visual and performing arts, and plans to pursue a PhD in this same vein.

In her own work, Caitie is quite painterly. She likes to see her brushstrokes, and the way the different colors interact with one another. She enjoys seeing evidence of a process—evidence of failure and problem solving--rather than focusing on a "perfect" final product. You can find her work on Instagram @mikhelcaitie

Mark Sheldon is a carpenter, artist, woodworker, and amature everything else who set up shop in Cache Valley, UT 26 years ago where he continues to frustrate clients with unrealistic project timelines yet manages to deliver project results that inspire tears of joy. When Mark is in-between projects, he finds, rescues, and restores vintage woodworking tools to pass on to the next generation.

https://www.amswoodworks.com/

A former Young Ambassador who does it all! Bailee has quickly become recognized as one of the top vocal instructors and one of the top headshot photographers in the area, especially when it comes to acting headshots. As a seasoned performer, she knows exactly how to capture the real you that directors want to see in a headshot. Bailee recently played Mae Tuck in Tuck Everlasting at the Hale Center Theatre in Sandy.

https://www.tayandbay.com/

https://www.instagram.com/tayandbay/

Holly Parson Nielsen’s art encompasses painting and drawing, mixing abstract elements with narrative impulses. Much of her work is created through the element of line, using mix mediums of charcoal, graphite, watercolor and or acrylic paint. As an illustrator, she has published with a variety of publications, including Covenant Communications, Hickman Music Editions, and the National Society for John Steinbeck. In 2018 she received the Moon Beam children's book Gold Medal Award.

Holly has taught as adjunct faculty at Utah Valley University and is currently an instructor of record at the University of Utah. Her work has been featured in group exhibitions at the East Idaho Museum of Art, the UVU Faculty Show at the Woodbury Gallery of Art, and the Heming Village Juried Exhibition. She presented a solo show at L.E. and Thelma E. Stephens Performing Arts Center in 2018, and is currently collaborating on a group exhibition titled A Sense of Place, sponsored by the Utah Museum of Fine Arts.

Holly is currently an MFA candidate at The University of Utah. Her thesis exhibition, Reclaiming Motherhood: I Will Not Vanish, will open May 24th at the Gittins Gallery at the University of Utah. The show focuses on resilience, reclaiming motherhood/personhood and dealing with past trauma. She uses acrylic paint and charcoal to create an atmosphere partially removed from reality through a fantastical lens, where images and motifs transition and

shapeshift through a narrative journey of a central character.

You can visit her website and follow her on Instagram.

Website: artbyholly.com

Instagram: @illustrations.by.holly

Lindsey Leavitt is the author of over a dozen books for children, tweens, and teens, many of which have appeared on lists like YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults and Amazon's Best Books of the Year. Her next book, WILLIS WILBUR WOWS THE WORLD, about a nine year old life coach, comes out March 2022. She moved to Utah 5 years ago to blend a family and watch the snow fall from the safety of her home office.

http://www.lindseyleavitt.com

Upcoming: WILLIS WILBUR WOWS THE WORLD, summer 2021

Recent: COMMANDER IN CHEESE, THE PAGES BETWEEN US, GOING VINTAGE

twitter: @lindseyleavitt

instagram: @lindseyleavitt

Christian McKay Heidicker reads and writes and drinks tea. He is the author of the Newbery Honor-recipient Scary Stories for Young Foxes, as well as Cure for the Common Universe and Attack of the 50 Foot Wallflower. With William Shivering, he wrote Thieves of Weirdwood and Ghosts of Weirdwood. He lives in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Julia Lowe (Jera) is a visual artist, UX/UI designer, singer, songwriter, and witch. As an artist, her style varies-- from playing with stripped down visual information that solely represents philosophical concepts and human moments, without color or focus on aesthetic, to highly detailed fanciful depictions, rich in color and visual interest. As a designer, her style is also rich in color and airy, with a focus on simple interfaces coupled with beautiful visuals. As a songwriter, her style is described as "Pop for nerds, witches, and weirdos."

You can find her on Instagram @thisis_jera

Dr. Reed Criddle is Director of Choral Activities at Utah Valley University, where he conducts the Chamber Choir and Men's Choir and teaches conducting and voice. Twice recipient of the UVU Faculty Senate Teaching Excellence Award, his compositions and arrangements are available through Earthsongs, Hal Leonard, and Santa Barbara Music Publishing. As a conductor and U.S. Fulbright Senior Scholar, he has directed ensembles, conducted research, and led workshops throughout Europe, Asia, Cuba, and the United States. He is editor of "Chanting the Medicine Buddha Sutra" (A-R Editions), an ethnography of Buddhist liturgy. His pioneering English translation of third-century philosopher Ruan Ji's "Essay on Music" is published by Asian Music.

Dr. Criddle has served as president of the Utah chapter of the American Choral Directors Association. UVU choirs under his direction have performed many times at the national conference of NCCO, the western division conference of ACDA, and state conferences of the ACDA and NAfME.

Recent invitations include guest conductor of the Utah Valley Symphony, Timpanogos Symphony Orchestra, Utah Lyric Opera, Sine Nomine (Cuba), FACE Choral Festival (Texas), Utah Men's High School Honor Choir, Utah Junior High Honor Choir; professor-in-residence at Musikhochschule in Weimar, Lubeck, and Hamburg (Germany), National Sun Yat-sen University (Taiwan), Taipei National University of the Arts, and Fudan University (Shanghai); and keynote speaker for the China Children's Center in Beijing and Shanghai Music Conductors Association Conference.

He is a graduate of Stanford University, the Eastman School of Music, and the University of Michigan.

https://reedcriddle.webs.com/

WOAH! This is weird...a monologue. We're coming up on the second anniversary of the podcast, and I've got some things to say. Thanks for listening! ♥

Michelle Flowers is an avid trombonist who has performed nationally and internationally in the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, and Germany with a wide variety of ensembles ranging from opera and musical theater orchestras to jazz ensembles to a circus band.

Dr. Flowers’ ground-breaking research on self-handicapping among the musician population has led her to be a stand-out in the field of music and medicine. She has presented her findings on several platforms, including the Performing Arts and Medicine Association International Symposium in Aspen, CO (2017), the International Brass Women’s Conference in Phoenix, AZ (2019), the International Trombone Festival in Muncie, IN (2019), and is a regular presenter at the Texas Music Educators’ Association in San Antonio, TX, the largest music education conference in the United States. In addition to her work on musicians’ mental health, she also is the author of a regular column discussing Golden Age film scores in Film Score Monthly Online Journal.

Michelle is currently the trombone professor at Texas Woman’s University where she has a flourishing studio. She founded and conducts the TWU Trombone Choir which recently was invited to perform at the TMEA convention. Flowers holds a Master’s and Doctorate of Musical Arts in Trombone Performance from the University of North Texas and received a Bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University. In addition to music, she enjoys hiking in the mountains with her golden retrievers and binge-watching Doctor Who.

https://www.tromboneflowers.com/