Art Instructors

Kaj Lofgreen (Kai) holds bachelor’s degrees in fine art and art education from the University of Nebraska and a master’s degree in art education from the University of Missouri. He has taught art at the secondary level and workshops through an art league. Kaj also has done illustration and graphics work with a large architecture firm and has worked in art gallery sales.

For the past few years, his focus has been primarily on landscape painting and particularly outdoor, en plain air painting with oil, and additionally studio paintings in oil and acrylic. He has gained knowledge and skills through instruction received from some major American landscape painters.

Kaj is a caring instructor who has a good foundation to draw from and knows the importance of drawing skills for all expressions of art; and the importance of drawing instruction to help students move forward in their art skills and goals.

Born and raised in Northwestern, Nebraska, in farm country with little exposure to art or artists, opportunities for art classes were nonexistent. As a result, I am self-taught. I resided outside the Continental United States from 1979-2001 in Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, Guam, Hawaii and Yap, Micronesia, and taught watercolor and drawing. My focus on my work was influenced by the cultures around me. I worked as a creative animation director in Indonesia and Australia. I developed and conducted drawing and portfolio presentations for a Youth Adult Bureau in Melbourne. Life in Guam confirmed my work as an art instructor teaching DOE a Gifted and Talented Program. Read more on her page...

I am a native of Montreal, Quebec. My professional life began as a teacher of English as a foreign language for eight years. After moving to the US, I entered the business world in finance, then the dairy industry and finally as a technical writer for a government agency in El Paso, Texas. My work has taken me into five states before retiring to Sun City in 2015.
My recreational interests were primarily in music until I was approaching retirement. I took a sketching class and thanks to a great teacher I shocked myself by producing a recognizable image of a friend and was encouraged to continue. However, the class was discontinued. I gravitated to making jewelry. I formed my own little company selling my work at local craft shows and markets on weekends.
On moving to Sun City in November 2015, I decided to make my own beads in clay but I had lost my enthusiasm. I began taking art classes in 2018. I entered my first show in 2019 and was thrilled when the piece sold. I work primarily in watercolor, colored pencil and alcohol ink.
I enjoy exploring new artistic trends as they apply to both realistic and abstract expression....Read more on her page

Alison Evans Killam is a Calgary born mixed media artist focusing mainly on watercolor, ink, fabric and paper.  

She picked up a brush during a recreational opportunity and from there it all began.  Recently retired, allows the Alison the gift of painting every day.  

In the past, she developed a couple of close mentorship relationships which has helped be where she is at today as an artist. 

 Alison continues with studio classes under Calgary artist Lori Lukasewich.   She continues to grow and develop her work with workshops and any opportunity to continue growing and developing.

Bright, bold, captivating color can be found in her florals, landscapes and abstracts.  Living in the prairies close to the Rocky Mountains, she....Read more on her page

I started out working in watercolor and took many classes at Paradise Valley Community College. However, discovered that after time, found my “niche” in botanical/floral subjects which led to further classes at the Phoenix Desert Botanical Gardens. As a result, I expanded my medium to include both ink and colored pencil.

Since that time, I then discovered Zentangle which I have been working in for over 12 years now.

I am now combining the Zentangle Technique with watercolor, ink and colored pencil which has resulted in very unique results.

After graduation from Baldwin-Wallace University with an art major my career began as a junior high school art teacher. After a couple years I segued to other occupations, including a stint as a union carpenter, Local 509 of Cleveland Ohio and selling shoes at Dillard’s. More recently I returned to art, taking classes from western artist James Coulter (oils), Ellen Wagener (pastels), and at ABTL and PV Artists. Read more on her page...

I am a Minnesota native, moving to Arizona in 1982. I am a self-taught artist and work in all mediums. I have taught classes for the Palo Verde Art club for almost 19 years. Currently, I have been teaching Acrylic painting. I have earned degrees in CADD drafting and Graphic Design and taught classes in the Graphic design program for 11 years before moving to Sun City. I don't have one favorite medium; I love working in all of them.