ART ONE ACADEMY - Key Persons
With a personal history at Art One since childhood, there's a unique touch to the role. Having experienced the academy as a student, Alecia brings an intimate understanding of the artistic journey.
Anna was born and raised in an old Siberian city of Irkutsk (Russia), located close to the picturesque Baikal Lake. Her art education started at the Irkutsk Art College where she specialized in Decorative-Applied Arts and Folk Crafts. Anna further specialized in Decorative Sculpture Art at the Irkutsk State Technical University, from which she graduated with Honors in 2005.
Over the past two decades, Anna pursued a dual career path - as an independent art practitioner and as professional outdoor advertising and stained glass designer. Upon her resettlement in Canada, she spent several years working as a designer at 3 Art Design company in Toronto creating drawings, making sketches for metal railings, fences, lattices, gates, and lamps. Wanting to dedicate more time to her artistic side, she gradually moved into teaching, and currently works as an art instructor, helping children understand textures, shapes, and colors and develop their artistic skills by cultivating creative expression. She paints and draws daily, and continues to be dedicated to the development of her independent art practice.
As an artist and educator, Brendon cares deeply about the value of an education in the arts. His philosophy of teaching is anchored by a personal goal to be a lifelong learner, to consistently be improving and evolving his pedagogy through self-reflection, acting as a guide while also being a listener, and leading as a role model in and out of the classroom.
Although his interest in arts and crafts began at a very young age, for Brendon art never seemed like a practical career choice at first. However, after six years at the Ontario Collage of Art and Design University his heart became set on a career teaching the creativity of art and language to students of all ages.
Brendon's love for the arts has driven him to explore several mediums including water-based paints, sculpting, wood, metal and fabric work, collage, crafting with recyclable materials and sketching. This open approach has proven to be highly beneficial when introducing new ways of art making in his classroom.
Brendon's teaching practice focuses on pushing students to become better makers and thinkers by mentoring their abilities in craft and process, and guiding them throughout the identification and pursuit of their motivations as artists. Through personal engagement with teachers and students, it has become his passion to spread the knowledge and ideas he is continuously collecting. Brendon has now received his Bachelor of Education from York University and plans to one day teach Art and English at the secondary school level.
Born and raised in Toronto, Eddie enjoyed having the creative freedoms that art allowed. Through high school, he had a special interest in both Sciences as well as Art through the Enriched Art program at A.Y. Jackson Secondary School. Eddie pursued a degree in Kinesiology and Visual Arts at the University of Western Ontario and furthered his education by acquiring another degree in Industrial Design at Humber College.
Upon graduating with an Honours Bachelor of Industrial Design, Eddie was hired to design protective garments for the equestrian and rodeo industry. His designs and contributions led to his first US Patent for a protective calf collar to be used in calf roping in rodeo competitions. Eddie eventually moved from soft goods design to working in the Point-of-Sale industry to design security mounting solutions for payment devices, as well as improving ergonomic function for both the retailer and consumer. Currently, Eddie's designs are implemented across Canada on a national level in most major retailers as well as the fast food and lottery industry.
With a passionate hobby in audio and the ability to contribute to design and manufacturing, Eddie was awarded with a US and a Canadian Patent for a unique way of integrating a sound system onto a jet ski by essentially turning the recreational vehicle into a speaker.
Through the years, he has had the opportunity to mentor young designers and help them pursue successful careers. Eddie understands the importance of building a solid academic foundation with art so children can approach problems with a creative and open mind. The ability to explore the limits of creativity are priceless.
Elena Yim was born in Lima, Peru. She graduated from OCAD in the Drawing and Painting Department, participating in the Florence Off-Campus Program in her last year, and has also received a BFA Honours in Art Education from Concordia University. After her studies, she painted props for a glow in the dark mini-golf company, The Putting Edge, and worked on murals and set design for the Phoenix Concert Theatre.
Her own personal artwork is inspired by the body: photomicrographic images of microorganisms that inhabit the body, the graceful movements of the body, and the connection and interdependence between body and nature. Her practice involves sketching, collecting, and photography. She mainly paints with oils, acrylics, and inks, but also experiments with materials such as fibres, wires, and found objects.
Elena finds pleasure in teaching children and believes a child's self confidence develops through stimulation, trust, exploration, and dialogue. In her opinion, art making is not only about pretty pictures, but thinking outside the box, delving into ones imagination, and learning throughout the creative process. It is a skill to be used in everyday life. Her love for art and her interest in working with children lead her to Art One Academy, a great combination of both interests.
George was born in Ukraine. He took his B.A. from Kyiv College of Art and Industrial Design and his M.A. from Ukrainian Institute of Printing (Book Graphics).
He worked as a website/graphic designer, mural artist, keeping up on his traditional drawing and painting.
George allowed both sides of corporate design and personal art to feed each other. The sphere of his creativity is basically landscape, portrait, and abstract. This artist does not depend on traditional themes and technique. His credo - "What seems conventional to the eye, is palpable to the senses."
His searches for aesthetics of color combinations are connected with his own vital aesthetic views.
Finding a new way of doing something and finding a new room in his imagination is what he loves about the work. His older son Vadim Bazhanov under George's guidance and training was accepted and successfully graduated from Sheridan Institute's award-winning animation program at the top of his class. Vadim has worked in leading industry feature film studios including BlueSky Studios and DreamWorks Animation as a feature film storyboard artist. During the last 3 years, George has been teaching art for kids, young adults, and seniors, and continuing his artist career.
Grace Darakjian is a multidisciplinary creative from Richmond Hill who is working for her BFA in Drawing and Painting at OCAD University, with a minor in sculpture and installation. She also completed a Dual Credit at Seneca College for Design and Composition. In 2021, Grace was a part of CGAC's "diaspora babies" exhibition, and in 2022, she was a part of "[ed. 22]", a portable exhibition at OCAD University. In 2022 Grace published her first zine titled "KALEIDOSCOPE" featuring her abstract oil pastel and marker illustrations.
Grace works with abstract and surreal imagery to bring paintings, drawings, and sculptures to life. She explores ideas of culture, nature, the body, and identity to represent her innerworld and the world around her. Her works utilize imagery of human body parts, repetitive patterns and shapes, bright colours, and surreal imagery to create dreamscapes. She creates otherworldly atmospheres with motifs that manipulate space. She primarily works with acrylic paint, oil pastel, markers, and clay.
Grace hopes to inspire young kids to venture into their own creative paths by sharing her passion for art. Children hold power in their willingness to create, and as an instructor, Grace has the power to encourage children to keep persevering.
Meet Helen, one of our co-directors at Art One Richmond Hill. Born in Taiwan, Helen moved to Canada at a young age and began her journey in the world of business where she honed her strategic thinking and leadership skills. Upon graduation from University of Toronto with Honours Bachelor degree in Management and Economics, she decided to fulfill her passion in arts and design at the prestigious Parsons School of Design in New York City.
There in NYC, Helen developed a strong foundation in the Arts and refined her skills in Interior Design. She returned to Toronto after completing her second degree and worked at several notable interior design firms in Toronto for over 15 years. Helen's expertise in interior design not only showcases her creative flair but also her ability to blend functionality and aesthetics seamlessly.
After having her two boys, she saw the importance of expanding one's creativity in education at a young age. She volunteers at her children's elementary school, assisting teachers and developing a rapport with the children. Helen believes that a solid art foundation is the bedrock of many professional careers. Together with her husband Eddie, Helen is co-directors at the Art One Richmond Hill. Their mission is to maintain a fun, safe and nurturing environment for the next generation of artists.
Janaina graduated from Seneca college in Illustration, where she specialized in sequential art. Since then, she has been producing several commissions for different individual clients. Janaina has always been passionate about teaching and learning with children. Her love for art and creativity leads her to join Art One Academy Team.
Janaina Spada's biggest inspiration in life is fantasy and storytelling. She encourages children to think outside of the box, inspiring them to translate their own feelings and creativity to the paper.
Janaina Spada biggest passion in life is fantasy and storytelling.
In 2023, Janaina graduated from Seneca college in Illustration, where she specialized in sequential art. Since then, she is working with children in art camp and teaching classes. She also is an active artist and have been producing several commissions for different individual clients.
Art has always been the source of her inspiration, which resulted in creating numerous artworks and drawings in particular. Jana genuinely believes that all visual arts promote the individual perception of consciousness and profound emotional expression. That is why art is the root component of human development and particularly in childhood.
Ms. Lisa graduated from the Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD) with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, majoring in Drawing and Painting. She is a veteran instructor at Art One Academy. Her professionalism and creativity are evident in her artwork and approach to teaching, as is her commitment to quality art education for children of all ages.
Job Titles:
- INSTRUCTOR
- Member of the Art One Academy Team
Lydia is an Illustration graduate from Seneca college. She has a passion for storytelling and creating colourful and whimsical worlds to explore. From comics to children's books, visual development work and anything in between, Lydia enjoys her more cartoony and graphic style to express her ideas.
Teaching and helping children grow has also been a passion of Lydia's. She has taught not only visual arts but the dramatic arts as well. Lydia has been a part of many local productions, both as an actor, working backstage, and making sets and props.
Overall, Lydia is excited to be a member of the Art One Academy Team. With her artistic, energetic, and friendly personality, Lydia cannot wait to help your children grow.
I have been teaching students from all ages since 2017. Art One Academy as well as George Brown College, The Cartooning and Illustration program, have contributed greatly to my own education. I combine this experience with my passion to teach and share my knowledge and find deep satisfaction from my work. My goal when teaching art is to help my students learn as many techniques as possible by working with different mediums while having fun and expressing themselves through their art work. I try to challenge my students to step out of their comfort zones, try new techniques and subjects that will expand there artistic skills. I develop a unique program for each student, considering the student's strengths and weaknesses and what I can do to help them improve. I always take note on what the student's personal goals and interests are, and guide them in developing the specific skills that will aid them in achieving those goals.
Melissa was born and raised in Hong Kong and graduated from the Academy of Visual Arts (Bachelor of visual arts), Hong Kong Baptist University in 2021. Her main areas of creative focus are illustrations and paintings.
Melissa sees herself as a storyteller, she believes every artwork has its own story. With illustration and painting, through her imagination, she depicts imaginary scenes and creates weird characters with her emotions and feelings.
Melissa enjoys teaching art and loves sharing her art passion with the future artist. She has been teaching children and adults since 2017 in a variety of art forms, including painting, drawing, and illustrations.
Job Titles:
- Artistic Director
- Founder
- Member of the Administrative Team
From the young age Olga loved to draw and paint. She was born and raised in Moscow, Russia and attended an art school. She has participated in art shows and exhibitions and was always passionate about visual art. She completed a Master of Science degree and later got her Interior Design degree.
After moving to Canada she started teaching art to children in a home based studio and when her hard work, desire and dedication attracted numerous students she partnered with Tatyana Trunov to start a new innovative art school Art One Academy. Working with a great team of professional art educators, they created a unique art program, which has been successfully used for more than 10 years.
Besides Art One Olga enjoys creating her own artworks in oils and acrylics as her primary media, as well as fabric painting.
Job Titles:
- Instructor
- Artist and Illustrator
Raffi Anderian is an artist and illustrator, best known for his award-winning artwork for the Toronto Star Newspaper. Raffi has received dozens of national and international awards. Over 1200 of his illustrations are designated cultural property and in the permanent collection of the Library Archives Canada for their significant contribution to Canadian culture. Raffi is a graduate of Sheridan College in 1985, where he was top of his class. In 1988, at age 24, he was the youngest person to win the coveted National Newspaper Award for Editorial Cartooning.
Raffi moved to Richmond Hill from downtown Toronto in 2002 with his young family to a home with a studio. Here he started painting landscapes in oils. He has traveled coast to coast throughout Canada, producing paintings ranging in size from small oil sketches on the panel to larger works in oil on canvas. In 2006 he started painting scenes of downtown Toronto to share them with Toronto Star readers who responded with calls seeking to obtain prints of the artwork. Thus a monthly feature, ‘Raffi‘s Toronto' was born, which went on to sell thousands of art prints and yearly calendars.
Raffi looks forward to sharing his versatile knowledge and vast experience with students at Art One Academy starting April 1st, 2019. He will be teaching drawing, painting and art mentorship.
Since her earlier teaching years in Latvia, Margarita has always loved working with children. She holds a Master's Degree in Education, and after relocating to Canada, she found an opportunity to obtain and develop managerial skills in one of Canada's top universities.
With over a decade of management experience in a university setting, Margarita transferred her skills to Art One Academy. There she gained the knowledge and know-how of the school's operations, acquired new skills and abilities, and built meaningful relationships with teachers, parents, and students.
Five years later she opened her own Art One Academy franchise, located in Markham, and is striving to bring it up to the highest standards of art education.
She believes that children should be provided with access to the boundless world of art, and have the opportunities to open up their inner creative potential. She works hard to construct and maintain a caring and loving environment, in which she is able to inspire and motivate children to achieve their creative goals and find the paths which can lead them there.
Sabrina is a university student studying Business Management in the heart of downtown. She is inspired by helping others and is curious about contributing something valuable to the world.
In her free time she loves to explore all kinds of nature, snowboard during the winter, cook unique dishes for friends and family and explore her artistic skills that are shown through making collages and pottery painting.
Selina graduated from York University with an Honours Bachelor of Fine Arts - Piano Performance (BFA) and later pursued a Bachelors of Education from the University of Toronto (OISE). She is now an elementary school teacher and has been actively teaching Kindergarten to Grade 8 for the past two years.
In Selina's classroom, you can expect that your child will enjoy every moment. She encourages her students to provide input, background knowledge, and ideas of how to elevate the artwork presented. Communication is of the utmost importance because students are immersed in a conversation about art and there is an important learning aspect to that. Selina strongly believes that with each lesson, students will find ways in which they can work on and grow as individuals and artists.
Selina's devotion to the arts started from an early age and was first sparked by animation in comics, television, and films. Always finding spare time to sketch or take art lessons as a young child, she was able to explore the various mediums of art. Music was also an important aspect of her life, and still to this day Selina is actively playing the piano.
Stefania has been creating art since she was a little girl, and is currently completing her Fine Arts Degree at OCAD university for painting and drawing. Her artwork is very eccentric, and often abstract. Combining realism and abstraction within the female form is her favourite type of art to create. The main medium she works with is acrylic paint, Indian ink, and time based media.
Stefania is great with kids, as she is very patient and loves to encourage creativity and create comfortable environments. She is a very outgoing, caring and supportive person who loves working with creative people. She enjoys meeting new creative people and working alongside them; to stay motivated and learn new things in life and the art world. Stefania continues to experiment with new mediums and art forms as often as she can.
Her goal is to complete her BFA and then get her Art Therapy degree, so she can use her talent and compassion to benefit others. She believes everyone deserves to be happy and love themselves. She cares a lot about mental health awareness, and wants to help others find their worth and purpose through art.
Job Titles:
- Administrative Director
- Founder
- Member of the Administrative Team
- Director of Art One Academy Inc
Since 2009, Tanya, a Director of Art One Academy Inc. effectively combines her passion for education, art, and business. She holds a Master's Degree in Education and Bachelors Degree in Business.