Executive
Elected Officer Positions
MYRAJEAN MARSHALL
President 2025-2027
Uy skweyul. If you are here, I am guessing you love art and believe in the power of arts education.
As an artist/educator myself, I can not imagine a world, and more importantly a school system, without art, artists, and art teachers. I deeply believe that all humans are artists in one way or another. As a teacher, my job is to find the mediums and experiences that make my students engaged and curious about their own world and to inspire them to add their own unique beauty to it.
I am incredibly blessed to live on beautiful Vancouver Island, surrounded by the wild mysteries of the Salish Sea, on the lands of the Hul ‘qu ‘minum speaking peoples. I am an artist, a teacher, and a proud mother of four. I teach visual arts, marketing, leadership, and journalism at Frances Kelsey Secondary School in Mill Bay.
I’ve been working with and teaching children and youth for well over 20 years. With a degree in communications from Gonzaga University, I view art as a powerful form of communication in a challenging and changing world. During my Masters in Teaching from Concordia University, I focused on experiential learning through visual arts across the curriculum. I am currently finishing up an MEd in Arts Education at University of Victoria, where I am connecting marketing and entrepreneurship with art in schools.
I joined SD79 as the Art Lead at Mill Bay Nature School where I spent 4 years
immersed in the vibrant spirit of the child, working alongside Cowichan elders, and rooting myself in Indigenous Ways of Learning. It was a powerful time of growth and deep learning for myself and my own Cree children.
I am humbled to be serving as your BCATA President for 2025-2027.
Huy tseep q'u Siem, Thank you friends.
@myrainbowartteacher
COLETTE DOAN
Vice President
BA, BEd, MEd
Joining from beautiful Vancouver Island, Colette Doan is an elementary teacher with a joy and passion for everything creative! With 27 years of elementary teaching experience, she includes Art throughout her transdisciplinary Units of Inquiry in her grade one classroom. Colette has a passion for sharing creativity with her community from volunteering at Super Sundays at the VAG to teaching after school art classes through Artist for Kids in North Vancouver to offering pottery and art classes from her home in Port Hardy. Colette has found her people in the BCATA and is excited to support elementary classroom teachers throughout BC with creative lessons grounded in the principles and elements of design.
FRANCES ANDERSON
Treasurer
I teach Studio Arts, Media Arts and Photography at Prince George Secondary School in School District 57. In my personal art practice I work primarily in watercolour and photography to explore ideas around connection and belonging. I enjoy listening to audiobooks, hiking, and road trips with good company and a good podcast to digest and discuss. I love learning new things, solving problems, making stuff and being in community. I have been teaching at the high school level for just a few years as my teaching career has taken many twists and turns over the past 20+ years including 5 years in Kindergarten. There are times when I feel like a complete beginner and others times where I feel proud of the skills I have gained through my years of teaching. I am pleased to be joining the executive of the BCATA this year and I am looking forward to our time together. I am grateful to live, work, and create on the unceded ancestral lands of the Lheidli T'enneh First Nation.
SAMANTHA FREEMAN
Recording Secretary
I’m an elementary teacher with several years of experience teaching in an Arts Core program in Alberta. I am happy to be back home in the East Kootenays! I am currently teaching in the Southeast Kootenay School District, on the traditional and unceded territory of the Ktunaxa Nation. I am grateful to teach and create on this land. I work to honour the deep artistic traditions, stories, and relationships held by the Ktunaxa people. I’m passionate about integrated arts education and the way creativity supports wellness, belonging, and community. I’m thrilled to be part of the BCATA and to support the inspiring work, as well as learn alongside art educators across BC.
NICOLE PORTER
Past President 2021-2025
Hello amazing Art friends!
As an organization of volunteer art educators, I can say the BCATA truly understands and appreciates all that you do. The role of an art teacher must be one of the toughest jobs out there. It is an exhausting combination of small budgets, big classes, diverse needs and managing all those supplies. Yet we continue to imagine and re-imagine projects and methods of creating that will engage and inspire our students to make meaningful and skillfully crafted artwork. We provide a safe and welcoming space for every student to create. Every. Single. Day. We honour the diverse visual voices of our students speaking to us through their work and strive to act as a supportive facilitator of making visual their dreams, issues and ideas.
So what part then can the BCATA play in helping you in your day to day experiences in your classrooms? The primary purpose of the BCATA is to support teachers across the province by providing resources, opportunities, advocacy and community. The resources we offer are many – our visually speaking website full of lesson ideas for a variety of media and grade levels and our new journal “Perspective/s” that will bring back more explorations of current ideas and issues that face our profession.
Opportunities like our annual PSA conference and online workshops offer great professional development and inspiration just when you need a fresh idea and a good laugh with friends. We build community through our conferences and outreach to districts outside the lower mainland and through our social media. We provide advocacy for the visual arts through our role at the BCTF and do our best to stand up for Visual Arts in BC.
In short, the BCATA is a group of educators just like you – working hard to make things brighter, more creative and meaningful in our province through art. We invite you to join us in celebrating all that you do and explore all that your membership has to offer. We put in countless volunteer hours outside our classrooms simply because we believe in art education. We believe in you.
Elected Positions
BRITTNEY TOWNROW
Indigenous Curriculum Rep
Brittney Townrow (Heiltsuk Nation) serves as the Head of Indigenous Curriculum and Pedagogy at West Point Grey Academy and teaches as an Adjunct Professor in UBC’s Teacher Education Program.
As BCATA’s Indigenous Curriculum Representative, she supports educators across BC in bringing Indigenous perspectives, land-based learning, and arts-based pedagogy into their practice with respect, reciprocity, and relational care.
Her work spans K–12 teachers, school administrators, and pre-service teachers, helping to deepen understanding of Indigenous Education through story, place, and community-rooted learning. Brittney’s research and practice focus on weaving, land-based art education, and Two-Eyed Seeing as pathways for nurturing creativity, cultural understanding, nature literacy, and responsible, relationship-centred teaching.
Grounded in gratitude for her community and the lands she learns from, Brittney strives to create spaces where learners of all ages can slow down, listen deeply, and learn in good relation. Outside of her professional roles, she enjoys time with her daughter, doggy, family and stays closely connected to her culture, community, and the land that holds them.
DANIELLE UNGER
Primary Curriculum Rep
Teaching for almost 20 years and exclusively are for the last 12, I started my career in Winnipeg and moved out to Vancouver in 2006. Soon after I began my M.Ed in Art Education at UBC, I began working at West Point Grey Academy where I teach K-7 Art and am the department head of Junior School Visual Arts. I am excited to be part of this art teacher community and hope to bring new ideas and vital resources to primary teachers of art across the province.
AMBER GRANT
Intermediate Curriculum Rep
SOFIA TRUJILLO
Graduation Curriculum Rep
I respectfully acknowledge that I live and work on the traditional, unceded territories of the Coast Salish Peoples, including the Katzie, Kwantlen, and Semiahmoo First Nations.
I am an Art Educator and Fine Arts Department Head at École Salish Secondary in the Surrey School District. I teach students in Grades 8–12 and proudly serve as Past President of the Surrey Art Teachers Association, where I work with colleagues to advocate for and strengthen art education in our community. My role in the classroom allows me to guide students through their artistic journeys, helping them discover their creative potential and build confidence in expressing themselves.
Outside of school, I enjoy traveling, photography, reading, creating art, and spending time with family and friends. These passions inspire my teaching and bring fresh ideas and perspectives into the classroom.
Being an art teacher is more than a career—it’s a calling. I love inspiring creativity, encouraging self-expression, and witnessing the joy that art brings to students’ lives. Guiding them through the transformative process of creating and exploring different mediums is deeply rewarding. This journey continues to inspire me every day as we explore the limitless possibilities of art together.
LEANNE WHYNOT
Photography & Media Curriculum Rep
I am a Visual Arts and ADST Teacher at Ecole Salish Secondary, where I teach a variety of Media Arts courses such as Video Production, Animation and Photography. I also facilitate the AV Club in which students who are passionate about learning about all things Audio Visual for school events. While I started my teaching career specializing in traditional visual arts (drawing, painting and sculpture), my love for digital media won me over and led me to teaching Media Arts. Outside of teaching I spend my time challenging myself with photographing sporting events and wildlife as well as digital drawing, animation and modelling.
SHARON RICHARDS
Visually Speaking Editor
Past positions: Membership, President, Past President, Treasurer, Webmaster, Conference Co-Chair
I teach art at Westsyde Secondary in Kamloops, which is also the high
school I attended. Although I work mainly in acrylic in my own studio
practice, my work is defined more by the element of colour than it is by
a particular medium or genre.
Why membership in the BCATA is important:
I value membership in the BCATA because it connects me to inspiring visual arts educators around the province. I’ve been hooked every since I attended my first BCATA conference.
Appointed Positions
DAVID SANDQUIST
Membership
I currently teach at DW Poppy Secondary and enjoy painting as my primary art form although I have been expanding my carving practice (wood and stone) over the past few years. I think our PSA offers art teachers a host of benefits in the shared knowledge and experience of our membership, whether it is from our publications filled will helpful ideas for the classroom or our Conferences that provide both practical profession development as well as collegial collaboration and camaraderie. I have personally benefited from my membership in the BCATA, and I look forward to giving back in my role on the executive.
JUSTINE CHEUNG
BIPOC Art Educator Rep
I am happy to be joining as the inaugural BIPOC Art Educator Rep for the BCATA. Art Education, in particular through the lens of underrepresented groups, has and still is a big passion of mine. I am a 2nd generation immigrant from Hong Kong and am so grateful and humbled to live, work, raise a family, and continue my journey on what it means to be an unsolicited settler on the traditional unceded lands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) nations. The path ahead may be tricky, but I believe having compassion and keeping an open mind and open heart will lead to better listening and understanding.
My art teaching career spans 15 years and counting. Most of my experience lies in independent schools as I have taught at 5 different schools. I studied Visual Arts and have a BA and BEd in Secondary Methods in Art, and a Masters of Museum Education from UBC. I also studied and taught in Japan for a cumulation of 2 years.
In my spare time, I love to spend time with my daughter and partner. We love to go swimming, go for bike rides, and of course, make art! Aside from being a teacher, I am also part of an art collective called Yactac (Young Asian Canadian Twin Artist Collective). We have been curating art events and supporting young, contemporary artists in the local art scene since 2007.
JAIME ROSE
Member At Large - Outside the Lower Mainland
REBECCA SCHEER
Member At Large - Vancouver Island
ROJIA DADASHZADEH
Member at Large - Lower Mainland
BCATA Journal Co-Editor
Rojia Dadashzadeh is a contemporary artist, educator, and researcher based in Vancouver, BC. Her interdisciplinary practice spans sculpture, painting, and drawing, often exploring narrative, identity, and materiality through a playful and performative lens. She is particularly interested in the relationship between gesture, character, and memory, and how abstraction can evoke deeply personal or collective stories.
Her work has been featured in Preview, The Vancouver Sun, Georgia Straight, Canadian Art Teacher Journal, and The City Without Art?, and has been exhibited nationally and internationally.
Dadashzadeh teaches Visual Arts to Grades 1–7, working within a Reggio Emilia–inspired framework. Previously, she taught IB Visual and Culinary Arts to Grades 6–12 and continues to serve as an IBEN Educator and Workshop Leader. She is also a co-editor of BCATA journal Perception/s.
She holds a BFA (Honours) from the University of Waterloo, a postgraduate diploma in New Media Design from Sheridan College, Le Grand Diplôme from Le Cordon Bleu (Paris), and both a BEd and MA in Art Education from the University of British Columbia. She has also trained in Richard Pochinko’s clowning method, an improved performance practice rooted in Indigenous and European traditions. Her teaching and artistic practices remain deeply interconnected and mutually enriching.
BARBARA SUNDAY
Retired Teacher Representative
I have been fortunate to have enjoyed a lengthy career teaching art in public schools in West Vancouver, at all the grade levels. In my recent years, I have become involved in offering the Advanced Placement (AP) Art and Design courses. I am currently involved as an AP consultant, workshop presenter, and scoring team member for AP Art and Design. I very much value working with teachers and first-year faculty who are located across the US and in a variety of countries.
In my current BCATA position, I am working to promote inclusion, networking, and an exhibition opportunity for our retired members.
DONNA USHER
Webmaster
Donna Usher taught Photography, Graphic Design, and Arts & Activism at the Langley Fine Arts School for over 24 years. During that time, Usher also produced the Arts Matter lecture series for 10 years, co-organized Compassion 2 Action Conference, co-founded Project Kenya Sister Schools (now PA-MOJA), lead the LFAS Photographic Mosaic Mural, initiated “This is Kwantlen” public art installation, and curated countless photography exhibitions and projected shows.
Now Donna has recently retired to explore new creative possibilities and is now living on Galiano Island.
The BCATA is a great venue for BC Art teachers to connect and share the art of Art teaching.
Appointed Positions - Art in Public Places
BROOKLYN BELMOND
Art in Public Places - Vancouver
PHYLLIS SCHWARTZ
Art in Public Places - Victoria
Phyllis Schwartz is a multi-disciplinary artist who works in photography, ceramics, collage, and publishing. A graduate of Emily Carr University with a concentration in photography, she received the Canon Photography Award in 2010. Her work has been exhibited and published locally and internationally, with pieces in collections such as the Farmboy Collection at the Rosewood Hotel Georgia and St. Paul’s Hospital Art Collection. Recent exhibitions include Illuminations and Impressions in Hamburg, Light in Texas, and Apeiron: in the Whitemud Valley at Victoria’s Xchanges Gallery. Originally from Brooklyn and raised in Texas, Phyllis moved to Western Canada in the 1970s, where she developed her artistic practice. Inspired by her artistic family and early photography experiences, she infused creativity into her teaching career before transitioning to a full-time artist. She is currently a member of Metchosin ArtPod, an artist-run centre showcasing her work in their gallery. Phyllis collaborates with Edward Peck on projects that engage the community through art-making. Together, they curated Intervals: Photography in Flux for Vancouver’s Capture Photography Festival and published Artists in Residence: Mary Filer and Harold Spence. They also released the second edition of Seeking the Nuance, a book about nuances of glaze making in the ceramics community in Vancouver that is inextricably tied to the work of Bernard Leach, founder of the Leach Pottery, St.Ives in Cornwall, UK. Recently, they explored themes of permanence in a prairie community during their residency at the Wallace Stegner House in Saskatchewan. Schwartz's work has appeared in PhotEd and Aeonian magazines, and she is currently part of Agora's Experimental Photography Mentorship, which exhibited at the 2023 Experimental Photography Festival in Barcelona.
REGAN RASMUSSEN
Art in Public Places - Victoria
See Bio Below in University Reps
Appointed Positions - University Reps
ARANTXA 'CHA-CHA' LEDDA
Emily Carr Representative
I am the Programs Coordinator for Youth + Community in Continuing Studies at Emily Carr University of Art + Design. Before joining ECUAD, I spent eleven years as a secondary art teacher in Edmonton, Alberta (amiskwaciy-wâskahikan). I recently completed a master's degree in art education from the University of Victoria where my research explored how an artist-teacher’s identity can mirror collage practices. As an artist, I gravitate towards mixed media because I enjoy the freedom of working across multiple materials and letting ideas shift through hands-on experimentation. Outside of work, you can often find me running or biking along the seawall, exploring new cafes, or gathering inspiration for my next collage.
MARIE-FRANCE BÉRARD
UBC Representative
BCATA Journal Co-Editor | Archivist
Committed to art museum education for more than twenty-five years, I was Responsable des visites at the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal from 1995-2008, then I had the great pleasure to work as gallery educator for over a decade at the Vancouver Art Gallery, and I am currently a full-time lecturer in art education at the University of British Columbia. Other exciting challenges for me are being president of the Special Interest Group on Education & Mediation in Museum (SIGEMM) within CSSE, and co-editor of the Canadian Art Teacher. After an M.A. in Art History from l’Université de Montréal, I completed my Ph.D. in Art Education at UBC. My research interests are the notion of the art museum educator as the Deleuzian ‘mediator’, interrogating the concepts of interpretation in the art experience, in unsettling received ideologies and pedagogies in art education, and developing spaces of encounter for pre-service teachers. In my spare time, I am a devoted apprentice of ceramics and cello.
Since I work with UBC teacher candidates (the elementary generalists and the secondary arts cohort), being a member of the BCATA has been extraordinary as a way for me to reflect on my practice, to better grasp current issues in art education in B.C., to learn about stimulating projects developed across the province, and to enjoy the collegiality of amazing art educators.
I am grateful to live, learn and work on the ancestral territories of the ʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.
HEATHER PASTRO
Vancouver Island University Representative
Artist, Teacher, Researcher, Professor of Art Education at Vancouver Island University. Heather teaches Art Education for pre-service teachers in the Faculty of Education at Vancouver Island University.
Why I am a member of the BCATA…
I have been involved with the BCATA executive since 1992 - an organization that I feel very passionate about!
The executive members of the BCATA are hard working professionals and like minded advocates for art education. As members of the BCATA, we have the opportunity to collaborate and implement change for positive growth and development of art in education, not just locally and provincially, but globally, through our network of art educators and art organizations all over the world.
Our annual conferences, newsletters, and journals are the best- extremely well thought out and designed with the needs of our provincial classroom teachers and learners always at the forefront.
The BCATA is a welcoming professional organization that offers so many opportunities for teachers to explore their love for art, teaching, creativity, and commitment to children and students in the K-12 system and teacher education in our province.
My involvement in the BCATA, over many years, has endured many changes in curriculum models and delivery of art education throughout all of the grade levels. However, the BCATA members through affiliation and collaboration with the Ministry of Education and the BCTF, have ensured that art education remains at the “heART” of education and a critical component of our children’s education in BC. Many BCATA members are my longtime friends and colleagues, and my career has been enriched because of their friendship, and commitment and dedication for art in education.
REGAN RASMUSSEN
University of Victoria Representative | Art in Public Places | Advocacy
Regan is a contemporary artist/educator whose process is informed by the phenomenology of living experience and human interactions. Themes and narratives are explored through drawing, ceramics, printmaking, and installation. She holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in studio and visual arts-based research from University of Saskatchewan, University of Winnipeg, and University of Victoria.
In addition to her studio practise, Regan teaches at University of Victoria and is committed to arts advocacy in the community. Her art has been exhibited in public and private collections across Canada and in the UK and she is the recipient of national and international teaching awards. She has served on the BCATA executive in many different roles, including co-presidency. Regan is co-gallery coordinator for arc.hive artist run centre in Victoria, BC.
As a fourth-generation settler of Ukrainian and Polish heritage, Regan gratefully acknowledges the Lək̓ʷəŋən-speaking peoples on whose traditional territory she lives, works, and creates.
@regan_rasmussen4
www.reganrasmussen.com
https://arc-hivearc.org