Teaching Artists

Alveshere  was a long-term resident at the Clay Studio of Missoula. Originally from North Dakota, he earned degrees in ceramics and art education from Minnesota State University Moorhead and his MFA in ceramics from Alfred University and is co-founder of Workroom Montana. 

Baquero is an interdisciplinary artist born and raised in Colombia. She is the creator of Ecosapien Evolution, an arts and ecology project for ecosocial, decolonial change, with the longterm vision of collaborating with artists, philosophers, and scientists to create interdisciplinary art-making spaces where we practice being natural. Her work has taken her across the world as an ecovillage organizer, facilitator, eco-educator, and theater artist and teacher. She is currently co-director of Turning the Wheel Missoula. 

Barrett is a Ukrainian native who earned his MFA at the University of Montana. His current work responds to the 2022 invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces, , the humanitarian crises, and his relationship to friends and family living in a war zone. Barrett was named the 2019 Ceramics Monthly Emerging Artist. 

Davis began caring for mammals and raptors in the Cincinnati Zoo Junior Zoologists Club in 1973. She earned a degree in zoology from the University of Montana in 1982 and founded the non-profit educational organization Raptors of the Rockies in 1988. 

Davis has led the beloved “Raptors and Art” summer camp at MAM for over a dozen years. Raptors are the subjects and source of inspiration for her own drawings, paintings, welded steel sculptures, photography, and dry-point etchings. Davis has authored and illustrated six books on raptors; Raptors of the West won the National Outdoor Book Award and Montana Book Award Grand Prize.  

Decker is Diné, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation, and a descendant of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai tribes. He is fascinated with printmaking, painting, drawing, digital art and public arts. He earned his M.A. in integrated arts in education (Creative Pulse program) at University of Montana. Decker is co-founder of Xʷlxʷilt with his partner Aspen Decker. They support Montana schools and institutions with authentic, appropriate, and engaging lessons about Indigenous values, contributions, and innovations. 

Garcia grew up in the desert bordering Arizona and Mexico. When she found herself in a college ceramics class she discovered the generosity fostered in arts communities. Her enthusiasm for clay  fuels her community work. Garcia started her work as a teaching artist while earning her Bachelors of Fine Arts at Western New Mexico University and has extensive experience teaching wheel-throwing, hand-building, and tile and mosaic mural creation. Shewas a resident artist rat Wildfire Ceramic Studio and completed a two-year Post-Baccalaureate Program at University of Montana. 

Flanery has an MFA from The University of Florida 2013, and a BFA from The University of Montana 2005. Her artwork has taken her to residencies in Germany, China, Minnesota and Helena, MT. Her playful painted pottery encourages light-heartedness in a world full of serious problems. Donna's works promote a joy-filled, tender approach to living. Her artistic endeavors are bolstered by her family, love of learning, and time spent in nature. 

Glueckert has been an art instructor and workshop facilitator for adults and children for over 30 years. Her work has been widely exhibited throughout Montana and the Northwest region, as well as nationally. She taught drawing and printmaking at University of Montana and University of Great Falls and is a member of the SALTMINE artists group. She earned her BA from the University of Idaho and her MFA in printmaking from the University of Montana. 

Nall is a First Descendant of the Apsáalooke (Crow) Tribe. She graduated from the University of Montana in 2020 with a BFA in printmaking, a BA in psychology, and a minor in art history and criticism. Her murals can be found across Montana, and her work is collected in the Montana Museum of Art and Culture, Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, and Institute of American Indian Arts Museum of Contemporary Native Arts. In 2025, she had a solo exhibition at MAM. 

Ogden is a working artist and longtime contributor as a teaching artist at MAM. She has been teaching K-12 art at Victor Public School in the Bitterroot Valley since 1995 and previously taught for the Missoula Family YMCA, Evergreen Kids Corner Summer Explore program, and the Bemis School of Art. Ogden is also a teaching artist for SPARK! Arts Ignite Learning for Missoula County Public Schools. She is enrolled in the Creative Pulse Integrated Arts Master’s program for educators at University of Montana.   

Born and raised in the border town of Douglas, AZ, Ramirez discovered her enthusiasm for clay at Cochise College. She earned a BFA with an emphasis in ceramics from Western New Mexico University in 2017. After a 2-year artist-in-residence program at WNMU, she moved to Montana. She co-founded and was a resident artist at Wildfire Ceramic Studio, and is currently making work in a new private space called Speakeasy Clay Studio. Ramirez is a member of Missoula's BIPOC art collective, COHESION. 

Ryan has served as a teaching artist at MAM since 2013. Ryan earned her BFA at University of Montana in painting and photography, with a minor in art history. She earned a Master’s in art education from Lesley University in Cambridge, Mass. During her graduate studies, she taught art to children of all ages and worked for the Boston Art Institute. She is thrilled to continue her art education journey at MAM and enjoys Missoula’s thriving arts community.   

Werle is a mixed Filipino American painter. She received her BFA from the University of Montana. Werle has established, designed, and implemented several racial equity art programs such as the BIPOC Arts Advisory Council, COHESION Art Collective, and the MCPS BIPOC Student Mural Program. She currently co-chairs the COHESION Art Collective Advisory Committee and serves on the Pinaysphere Creative Committee. In 2022, when Werle was awarded the Montana Arts Council ARPA Grant, the Holter Museum of Art presented her first solo museum exhibition, Mga Hunghong Sa Diwata (Whispers of Spirits). Werle’s murals can be found internationally.