Her love of art started in Palestine where she spent her elementary years.  Growing up in a small village north of Jerusalem she spent her afternoons climbing fruit trees, working the olive harvest and playing with her little cousins.  It was then that she found ways to entertain them with materials she would collect from around her village. But the birth of Magical Minds Studio began after Haj became a mother herself. With an art education and early childhood background she knew the importance of art in a young child’s life. With the support and hard work of her husband Thomas, together they built Magical Minds Studio.  Haj attended Daley College and completed her associates in Liberal Arts.  Afterwards she transferred to Northern Illinois University and completed with a Bachelors in Art Education and minor in sculpture. She pursued her Masters in Early Childhood Education at the Erickson Institute.  Haj is also an active member of the North American Reggio Emilia Alliance and often communicates with fellow members around the globe to enhance the experience at Magical Minds Studio.

Thomas is a long time Oak Parker who loves anything having to do with building, design and technology. He’s a Northern Illinois graduate with a degree in Industrial Technology.  In his free time you will find Thomas playing with his dog and two cats, working out, shuffling his kid off to hockey games and gardening.

Staci comes to Magical Minds with over twenty years experience as an elementary school art teacher. She is passionate about fostering children’s creativity to help them become more confident artists and problem solvers. She earned her Bachelor’s in studio art from Michigan State University and her Master’s in art education from The School of the Art Institute. She loves inspiring young people with a variety of media through play, process and practice. She is a lifelong learner who enjoys sculpting, crochet, gardening and travel. Her perfect world is a place where curiosity and creativity are free to roam and where mistakes are viewed as detours and not dead ends.

www.stacisterenberg.com

Kim loves inspiring children and drawing inspiration from them.  Originally from the Chicago suburbs, Kim has traveled and lived in many places, worked many different jobs and spent many years studying art. She currently lives in Oak Park, Illinois.  Kim holds a BFA from Massachusetts College of Art and an MFA from Yale School of Art. She runs her own small photography business and devotes most of the rest of her time to her family and making random works of art in her spare time.

www.kimbeckerphoto.com

Melina began painting when she was twelve years old. The skills she has developed through the years reflect Melina’s curiosity, experimentation and joy found in her artistic process. People, bright colors, and details are the inspiration for most of her pieces.

melinascotte.com/originalartwork

“As a fine artist, I am motivated by the idea of empathy. By portraying first person reactions to real-world struggles such as poverty, disease, violence, and immigration, I create pieces that explore different ideas of identity, borders, and kinship to inspire wonder and social action. My themes and approach lend themselves to collaboration, and I am looking forward to working with other artists on dynamic, socially aware, creative projects.”

Robin Dluzen is a Chicago-based artist, art critic and curator, regularly exhibiting her artwork around the country. In 2017, Dluzen will be mounting a solo exhibition at the Evanston Art Center, and will be included in group exhibitions at Heaven Gallery and Tiger Strikes Asteroid in Chicago. Dluzen writes regularly for Art Ltd Magazine and Visual Art Source, and is the Exhibitions Manager at the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art in Chicago. Dluzen received an MFA in Painting and Drawing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

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Brooke Glaser is an illustrator and children’s designer. She creates home decor items, greeting cards and clothes. She works with hand-rendered and digital techniques. Brooke has taught art in elementary schools, museums and art schools across the country and around the world, including Australia, Hawaii, Costa Rica, Thailand and of course, Chicago.

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“I love movement and to explore movement with the body and mind. My works include movement, visual art and contemplative practice in the process. And I have collaborated with different artists to created choreography, performance and video together. I enjoy working with people: children, adult, or anyone who would like to invite creative process into their life. My wish is to share many creative tools that I have found during my artistic journey with them, to provide these tools for expression and for discovering oneself.”

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“I have worked as a street artist, watercolorist, printmaker and mosaicist. I am currently teaching at a CPS school on the east side of Chicago called Jane Addams. I work with students outside of the school day to create murals to fill the school with color and thoughtful messages of support.”

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