Our Instructors
Pasco Fine Arts Center is a building dedicated to community engagement and art education. We have amassed an amazing cadre of instructors who teach regularly throughout the year. We offer group classes and private lessons. Learn more about our experienced instructors.
Suzanne Natzke is originally from Michigan but has lived in Florida since 1985. She began to paint in watercolor in 2001 and has since studied under several local and nationally renowned artists. She is a Signature Member of the Florida Watercolor Society and the Florida Suncoast Watercolor Society. Her work has been featured in state and national exhibitions, online shows, and publications. Suzanne teaches watercolor and mixed water media classes at the Pasco Fine Arts Council in New Port Richey. She also offers workshops and demonstrations on a variety of water media techniques.
Vana Meyers is a Florida artist who started her art career after retiring. She was interested in art from an early age and had been partly inspired by her maternal grandfather, Joe W. Clancy, whose accomplishments earned him a place in Who Was Who in American Art, 1564-1975. During her college years she took several art courses and discovered that the realistic style art she wanted to learn wasn't on the menu. So she switched her major to English and taught secondary English and computer classes for the next 33 years while helping her husband raise their children.
In 2013 she was finally able to pursue her art dreams and enrolled in art classes at two local art centers near her home. In addition, she began taking online classes from several award- winning artists. According to Vana, never in her wildest dreams did she realize how art would consume her life. As she progresses in her career she continues to take classes, watch videos, and read art books and magazines.
Vana prefers painting from life, whether it is a still life or a portrait. Occasionally, she will finish a painting from a photograph or use photographs when the subjects (mostly her cats) refuse to cooperate! In her brief career she has already earned awards from both local and international art shows.
Dessolena Bottiglieri (Lena)
• Is an alum of Gulf High AND Parsons School of Design
• Began visual arts career in NYC, first as a fashion illustrator, illustrator, seguing into graphic design, art direction and digital art. Can name drop big fab corps and beloved NFPs as clients
• Has extensive experience as a volunteer, advocate and in activism. Example: Trained lots of folks to effectively lobby and raise funds in D.C. AND Albany (Rough! Tough!)
• Ran a tech art cooperative in Red Hook, Brooklyn before and after Sandy
• Is a certified NAUI instructor. Got up to apprentice level in cave
• Is a dedicated origami enthusiast; you should see my folds!
• Karaoke pick: “One Way or Another”
• Is a pretty decent potter now
Christa Stanelun - Christa was born and raised in Germany and moved to the U.S. as a young adult. She attended the University of Rhode Island, majoring in art history. Through contact with other students, she got her hands into clay and found that she loved it. Eventually she and her family moved to Holiday, Florida, where she quickly found other clay-enthusiasts. The earth, growing things and being creative has always been her pleasure. Clay fit well into her life and has become an important part of it for more than 30 years. Christa now teaches pottery at the Pasco Fine Arts Center. She loves teaching, passing on the skills she has acquired over so many years. She is talented and a skilled crafter, teaching all student levels from children to adults, showing them how to hand.
