Meet Our Team
Larchmont Leadership Team
Caito Stewart | Director
Caito Stewart (she/her) is a multi-disciplinary visual artist and educator. After getting her BFA in Painting from Wash U in St. Louis, she moved to Tokyo to teach English for one year. Caito loved teaching, learning Japanese, and singing karaoke so much that she stayed almost ten years! In 2017, she returned to New York and got her MFA in Sculpture from Pratt Institute. She absolutely adores teaching people of all ages and is devoted to making the Larchmont One River School location a welcoming, exciting, and fun place to learn and make art!
Renata Francesco | Assistant Director of Education
Renata Francesco is a multimedia artist, illustrator, knitting enthusiast, and educator. She has been with One River since 2020, starting as an instructor at the Allendale studio before moving to the Larchmont location in 2024. Prior to joining One River, she completed a dual major in Visual Arts and Spanish Language and Literature at Fordham University in 2019, then received a Master's of the Arts in Teaching from William Paterson University in 2022. With considerable experience teaching art in public schools, private studios, and partnering organizations, she is so excited to work with Caito, Thea, and the fantastic Larchmont teaching team to better nurture the next generation of artists!
Thea Heilbron | Assistant Director of Member Services
Thea Heilbron is a multidisciplinary artist with a BFA in Studio Art and a BA in Art History from the University of New Mexico. She spent close to twenty years in the specialty coffee industry and will excitedly share brewing best practices or latte art tips. Her professional art practice is often in flux, but primarily focused on painting, digital imagery, embroidery, and crochet. Thea’s goal is to create a fun and safe environment to encourage artists of all ages to cultivate their creativity to the fullest. She believes everyone is an artist and hopes to contribute to the artistic growth of her community. Outside of celebrating the creative expression of her peers, she is an avid fan of the WNBA, a dedicated auntie, and the best friend of her dog, Ruthie.
In-Studio Educators
Maria Campos | Instructor
Maria (she/her) received her BFA at Mercy College with a concentration in Digital Illustration and Graphic Design. She is inspired everyday to make art because it give her the ability to teach what she learns to other people. She began by looking through artbooks of concept art from her favorite animated movies. Concept artists like Glen Keane and Jim Kim, and the beautiful illustrations of modern artists like Lois van Baarle (Loish) and Xiao Tong (Velinix) are what keeps Maria inspired to learn and to teach every single day!
AJ Tignonsini | Instructor
AJ Tignonsini received his BFA in Design + Animation with a concentration in 3D Modeling at Mercy College in 2020. He's pursuing a Certificate in 3D Animation at WCC (2022-2023). His passion for teaching is rooted in the creative process. Aj's teaching philosophy contains both technical and imaginative perspectives which assist students at any skill level. He believes that to be a great artist, determination is needed to execute creativity. Students will then develop a critical eye and become more inclined to learning new techniques or softwares. Aj is experienced in the animation pipeline from Storyboarding, painting, modeling, animating, all the way to the final render.
Zsolt Derka | Instructor
Zsolt Derka is an award-winning CGI Visual Artist who has brought imaginative worlds to life for clients like Marvel, WWE, and Nicktoons. He brings that same storytelling process to the classroom, guiding every student on the journey from their first creative spark to a finished piece of art they can be proud of. Zsolt is passionate about giving students the tools and confidence to express their unique personality through their art.
Joselyn Solano | Instructor
Joselyn Solano is a versatile artist with a vast range of styles and skills that include oil painting, acrylics and her main passion of digital art. Her passion for art derives from her childhood exposure to anime and the various art styles and expressions showcased on her favorite shows which served to spark the artistic flame in her art and is what motivates her to better her understanding and utilization of her artistic skills into her own work and fuels her passion for all animated projects.She is open to all forms of creative expression and loves opening the minds of students unsure of their artistic paths, she adapts to every students individual needs and aids them accordingly throughout their artistic journey. Joselyn’s goal is to further the artistic possibilities of her students and help them refine their individual art styles and surpass their own creative capabilities.
Julieanne McCarthy | Instructor
Julieanne (she/her) is a multi-disciplinary artist, craftsperson and product designer who loves exploring contrast in the old and the new and loves experimenting with materials. She earned her BA in Art History and Drawing from Lycoming College, a Master’s Certificate in Art Education from William Paterson University, trained at the Florence Academy of Art in Italy, and honed her skills at the Art Students League of New York. Over the years, she has painted portraits, created murals, designed products, and explored sculpture and mixed media. Always curious about how things are made and why art matters in our lives, her current studio work is aimed at blending classical technique with contemporary approaches - testing and contrasting techniques in drawing, painting, sculpture - while investigating sociology, culture, and how they contribute to how we develop identity under constraints of societal norms. Passionate about inspiring creativity, she is thrilled to be back in the classroom, sharing her skills and fostering artistic growth in students of all ages.
Amaya Tavares | Student Services Coordinator
Amaya Tavares is a visual storyteller with a passion for photography and theater. Her early interest in landscape and still life photography led her to pursue an individualized major at NYU Gallatin, where she studied storytelling across novels, film and television, and theater. She is excited to help foster creativity and community at One River School and hopes to inspire students to explore their unique perspectives and find joy in the creative process.
Lizzie Cohen | Instructor
Lizzie (she/her) is a portrait photographer and painter, and she received her BFA at Manhattanville College. She is currently a graduate student in art education at Manhattanville College and working towards a Master of Arts in Teaching. Lizzie loves teaching art and finds so much joy in bringing art into the lives of her students. During her free time, Lizzie loves making and doing commission work. She especially enjoys creating abstracted portraits based on a photograph. Lizzie finds that art makes such a difference in everyday life, and she aims to bring this idea into the classroom—encouraging her students to connect with art. Lizzie is a Larchmont resident, and she is thrilled to join the One River team.
Dora Tomulic | Instructor
Dora Tomulic is a graduate from the Academy of Fine Art of University of Zagreb, Croatia with a MA in Fine Art. Following graduation, Dora spent a decade in Sri Lanka where she first worked as an art director in advertising before transitioning into teaching. Together with a group of like-minded artists and designers, she founded a design school (Academy of Design, AoD). She was fully involved in setting up the programs and writing course curriculum. Additionally, she was the editor of a monograph about the archaeoastronomy of the Diocletian’s Palace in Split, Croatia. She also contributed a chapter to a book on the poetic and theoretical ideas in visual art. In addition to theoretical research and teaching, she is a practicing artist as well. She has participated in many shows both locally and abroad, as well as having a solo museum exhibition. In her free time, Dora enjoys hiking, gardening, and landscape design. She is excited to share her knowledge and passion for art with the students of One River.
Samuel Chen | Instructor
Sam Chen graduated from SUNY Purchase with an Interdisciplinary BFA in Sculpture and Printmaking and is currently enrolled at Hunter College to receive a MA in Visual Arts Education (K-12). Sam enjoys working with students of all ages and sharing the endless possibilities in artmaking with them. He believes art can be an outlet to creatively discover the beauty within oneself and encourage students to become leaders in the classroom. Outside of art education, Sam is a ceramic artist and frequently collaborates with other ceramicists in upstate NY. Sam also enjoys going on long roadtrips, baking bread, and playing with his dogs.
Sarah Lakicevic | Instructor
Sarah Lakicevic is a freelance graphic designer and a practicing artist. She holds an AAS in Visual Art and Communications from Nassau Community College and is currently applying to finish her BFA. She has been involved in art since a young age and has recently completed work with small artists and businesses for package design. She is always inspired by Charles Robertson, her childhood neighbor and an encaustic artist. He gave her a solid foundation of knowledge and encouraged her to paint and draw the world as she sees it. She loves to foster environments with creativity and positivity both inside and outside of One River. In her spare time, she enjoys using watercolor, sculpture, or acrylic to create whimsical and fairytale-like pieces.
Dre Davis | Instructor
Andre Davis is a Bronx-based visual artist and multidisciplinary creator specializing in digital art. He holds a BA in Studio Art from Lehman College, where he developed fluency across mediums—from screen printing, sculpture, and photography to video production, painting, and collage. With over 20 years as a professional graphic artist, Andre has exhibited internationally, including in Paris, and was a featured artist at the New York Botanical Garden. Beyond the visual arts, Andre is a third-degree black belt with nearly 30 years of martial arts experience, and he brings the same discipline to his explorations of culinary and healing arts. For Andre, creativity transcends traditional boundaries—it’s a mindset that shapes how he engages with the world. He is passionate about empowering students to discover art as a means of personal and creative growth, both in and beyond the classroom.
Ciara Gougherty | Instructor & Student Services Coordinator
Ciara is a multimedia artist with a digital background in the arts. Ciara has loved recently working with watercolor and gouache to do pet portraits. Ciara received a BFA in Animation specifically in the pre-production world from Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) in Savannah, Georgia. Ciara is hoping to achieve higher education in the following years. Ciara’s passion for teaching comes from the ability to give students opportunities to express themselves through art. Ciara believes anyone has the ability to make wonderful and thought provoking work no matter the age, background, or ability. Ciara’s teaching philosophy is to be comfortable with being uncomfortable therefore you’re always ready to try new ideas and mediums. When Ciara isn’t creating or teaching, Ciara loves to play video games, listen to podcasts, and eat sweets!
Chris Madeira | Instructor
Chris is an interdisciplinary educator and creative practitioner with a Bachelor of Arts in Urban Studies and a minor in Mandarin. Chris spent six years as a Creative at Apple, where they led workshops on digital storytelling, design, and creative tools for learners of all ages. Their artistic practice focuses on oil pastel, digital media, and charcoal, with an emphasis on color theory, light, shadow, and the visual language of graphic design. They’re excited to join One River School to help students explore and express their creative voice.
Join Our Team
Career opportunities at One River School allow passionate artists, educators and lovers of art to share their love and knowledge of art and enhance the lives of people they connect with everyday.