Folklorico ● Flamenco ● Modern ● Beginning Ballet (bilingual)

Pilar Mendoza learned folk dances in Mexico. Her mother was a dance instructor and Pilar performed in every event her mother organized. As a child she learned that dance, culture and community always go together.

She moved to Greenfield, California in 1994. Here, she volunteered to coordinate dance performances at her daughter’s school. She worked for the Saturday school, teaching folkloric Mexican dances. Once her second child was born, she looked for dance lessons locally for her children. After she found out that there were no programs that offered these activities in Greenfield, Pilar formed ‘Fiesta Mexicana’ a dance group which she managed for 7 years.

At the same time she was working with the PAS program of the Arts Council for Monterey County as a dance instructor.  She worked with children at the elementary level with the after school program, migrant program, and community programs in the south county.

Pilar has been taking music classes at Hartnell College and dance at MPC. She graduated last year from CSUMB with a B. A. in Liberal Studies and did her capstone on how dance assists children with their self-esteem.

Pilar’s dance experience includes line dance, beginner’s ballet, modern, flamenco, and folk regional Mexican. At the moment Pilar works for the Arts Council for Monterey county PAS program, First Night Organization and the Greenfield Arts and Cultural center where she is the director of a the dance group “Arcoiris Cultural” with 35 dancers.

Pilar’s goal in every class she teaches is to improve every child’s confidence through dance.

I have been honored three times at the Carmel Art Festival, was winner of the first Monterey Plein Air Festival, and have been part of a number of painting competitions and exhibits across the nation. I have lived in nearly every region of the country from Alaska to the Deep South, from the California to Maryland. This variety of scenery has contributed to my long fascination with the enduring beauty of the landscape. Plein air painting is the perfect expression of my love of landscape and being in the landscape.

Rod Heywood raises money through his sale of fine art photography for worthy projects that help children throughout the world. Beyond the adventure of getting out and capturing beautiful images, he is also passionate about creating an opportunity for both the photographer and the patron to make a tangible difference in the lives of many children and communities.

Rod was born in San Francisco, raised in Southern California and has been living on the Central Coast of California since 1992. He is an educator and entertainer (substitute teacher), community service worker, bilingual public speaker, plays guitar and harmonica, and is a writer of songs, motivational literature, and his own third person photographer bios.

Ruth has a B.F.A. from C.C.A.C. in Oakland Ca. in drawing. Her studies included life drawing and portraiture, watercolor and bronze sculpture. She spent ten years doing commercial art for the amusement park industry, carving and sculpting full size carolsel figures as well as painting scenic panels, etc. Her work is all over the world. For the past seven years Ruth has been focusing on painting with oils on canvas and encaustic on panels. She is committed to paint what inspires her. Her favorite subjects include landscape, still life and figurative work. She enjoy's getting outdoors to paint in plein air and also working in her studio. Ruth's studio is at the 17th Ave. Studios in Santa Cruz, Ca. She has participated in the Open Studios Art Tour in Santa Cruz for six years.

Sibyl grew up in the Bay Area and spent summers exploring the mountains and beaches around Monterey Bay as well as the Sierras.

Sibyl holds a B.A. in Education and Fine Art as well as a Master's degree in Education. A thirty year teaching career was interrupted only once for the opportunity to teach art as a single subject for the Dept. of Defense Schools in Germany. After a long career in the classroom the goal to paint full time and return to live in her family's Carmel cottage has become reality.