Water Street Studios Staff

Water Street Studios is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization.

Mission: Batavia Artists Association at Water Street Studios was founded to advance art education and appreciation by developing the promotion of fine arts in Batavia and neighboring communities. As an integral part of our community, the Batavia Artists Association at Water Street Studios strives to create a personal and diverse venue for creativity, collaboration, expression and education.

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General Manager

Jill Kramer Goldstein

Jill received her MA in Art Education from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and her BFA in printmaking from Kent State University. She has been teaching for over 15
years in both museum & community art settings and has facilitated programs for preschoolers to senior citizens. In 2009, she was chosen by the National Park Service
to act as artist in residence at Acadia National Park in Maine and her prints were used to promote the 3rd Annual Acadia Night Sky Festival. More recently, Jill facilitated an
international print exchange, titled "Un-Natural Disasters". The prints were exhibited in Canada, Mexico, Nicaragua and the United States. Her involvement in arts
administrative work has found place in both public schools, museum and various community art organizations. As a practicing artist, she is drawn to the democratic
nature of the print as a means to lend group voice to pertinent social and environmental issues. Her artistic practice reflects some of these issues via her focus on landscape &
environment, it's deterioration and idealization. Jill works from her home studio in Oak Park where she lives with her husband and two children. Email: Info@waterstreetstudios.com

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Gallery

Steven Lockwood - Gallery Director (WSS Founding Member)

Steven graduated from Northern Illinois University where he received a Bachelors Degree in Art for 3D studio. Not only is Lockwood the Gallery Director, but he is a founding board member of Water Street Studios. Outside of his gallery duties, Steven works as a professional sculptor. As a formalist artist, he works primarily with metal to create his geometric shapes. His work's artistic value is entirely determined by its form-the way it is made, its purely visual esthetic, and its medium. As an artist concerned mostly with form, the context for the work, including the reason for its creation, childhood memories, or life as an artist, is considered to be of secondary importance. Lockwood has recently finished a number of commission pieces including one for Redmoon Theater in Chicago. You can view Steven's work here. Email: Gallery@waterstreetstudios.com

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School of Art

Caroline Baty-Barr - School of Art Director

Caroline has been a resident artist at Water Street Studios since its move to the permanent location at 160 S. Water Street in August 2009. Caroline holds a BFA in Visual Communication from N.I.U. and has fond memories of loving all things art from the age of three. Born and raised in North Carolina, she was exposed to the art community in Durham and remembers the smell of tempera paint when walking into the Durham Arts Council building. Upon learning about Water Street Studios during the Batavia Green Walk in the summer of 2009, Caroline knew immediately that she wanted to be a part of Water Street. She dove right in and became part of the creative team developing print materials, marketing tools and website development.

While throwing functional pottery on the wheel is her artistic outlet, she has discovered that it is even more satisfying to simply help and be a part of the developing Art Center. The presence of WSS in the Fox Valley community has created an avenue for anyone and everyone to connect with art. Stepping into the role of School of Art Director is exciting and Caroline plans to continue to nurture the program that Kari Kraus, founding member and previous Education Director, developed over the past four years.

The opportunities that the School of Art at Water Street Studios offers opens the world of art to all from Awesome Art Afternoons - FREE family art every Sunday, visiting artist workshops, trimester classes and the Community Outreach Program which seeks to fulfill scholarships for students in need as well as Art Flow, the Community Outreach Program serving youth on- and off-site. What inspires you? Join us to find out. Email: Soa@waterstreetstudios.com

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School of Art Team

Cara Schuster - Registration Manager

Cara has a background in the field of Education. She first encountered Water Street Studios on a field trip with her son and immediately realized how unique and special it was. Her hope is to support the artists at WSS and to encourage the development of the arts in the surrounding communities through the activities that WSS provides. She feels it is a privilege to be at the heart of Batavia's creative community.

Deb Glascott - Curriculum Advisor

Deborah Di Vita Glascott's belief in individual potential led her to Water Street Studios, a place where exposure, experience and participation in creative expression serves the local community. Deborah has been an Oil Painting instructor with WSS School of Art since its inception in 2009. She has welcomed the cooperative opportunity to expand upon the current SoA offerings to further enhance an already varied educational program.

Deb's teaching style derives from the principles of passion and personal vision. She is a firm believer that art is drawn from a person's individual experience and desire for expression. As an instructor she encourages a student to enable his/her style to develop through recognition and implementation of personal strengths. This along with consistent practice of the student's chosen medium, results in work of rewarding self-expression. Deb has taught Advanced Life Drawing at the college level, at the Illinois Institute of Art in Chicago, and Watercolor and Oil Painting through the Adult Continuing Education programs at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, and Triton College in River Grove, IL. Deb earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in Printmaking and Painting from Northwestern University, in Evanston, IL and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Northern Illinois University, in DeKalb, IL. Deb is no stranger to collective artist's studios. As a member of Bluegill Studios in Chicago, an independent gallery collective of artists similar to Water Street Studios, she worked in a co-operative effort to produce member shows and exhibits of invited artists. In addition, she was Owner/Partner of "Boomerang Whipsmart!," a gallery and studio in Glen Ellyn, IL.

As an artist, current work draws inspiration from people and the places they inhabit. The subjects themselves include portraits, environments, and still life. The content is somewhat rooted in reality with some images derived from personal photographs that may be digitally manipulated. These modified images then become part of the palette from which painted interpretations are composed. All work is an effort to lure the observer into the picture through seductive color and compositional elements where slightly skewed stylization adds an element of interest and intimacy.