Art Encounter Staff and Board of Directors

Staff

Joanna Pinsky, Founder/Artistic Director
Joanna develops our tours, workshops and programs for youth, the elderly and special needs groups and leads most of our education programs for the general public. Joanna also leads monthly critique sessions for professional artists. With an active artistic practice, Joanna has exhibited her shaped paintings nationally and internationally in solo and group shows including several at Perimeter Gallery in Chicago. She is a founding member of Space 900 Gallery, an artist’s collaborative in Evanston. Joanna has a BFA from Cornell University where she studied painting and art history. View Joanna’s art at joannapinsky.com. Email: joanna@artencounter.org

Lea Pinsky, Executive Director
Lea is Art Encounter’s inaugural Executive Director, and oversees the organization's operations, finances, and strategic plan, as well as the EMAP mural program. She was formerly AE's Outreach and Community Programs Director since 2015, and has been a teaching artist with AE since 2002. Lea has worked in arts administration for two decades with organizations such as Lifeline Theatre, Columbia College Chicago, Urban Gateways, and the Chicago Humanities Festival. She received her MA in Performance Studies from Northwestern University and her BFA in Drama from NYU Tisch School of the Arts. In her creative life, Lea has painted over 25 murals with her husband Dustin Harris from 2005-2018, and has been dipping her toes back into acting endeavors from time to time since 2019. Email: lea@artencounter.org

Annie Trincot, Communications and Development Manager
As Communications and Development Manager, Annie plans events, manages development campaigns, creates marketing materials, and assists with programming. Prior to joining the Art Encounter team in 2018, she was an artist resident at Trestle Gallery in Brooklyn while working as the After-School Program Coordinator and Marketing Assistant for a nonprofit music and art school in Manhattan. She has a BFA in painting from Indiana University. As an artist, she feels very passionately about public art and accessible arts programming, two major parts of the Art Encounter mission. Email: annie@artencounter.org

Sarah Packer, Public and Member Programs Manager
Sarah has been affiliated with Art Encounter over the past 35 years working as a teaching artist and a board member. In 2019, she came aboard the staff, working with our local Expanding Visions program, as well as coordinating domestic and international travel. She also leads our Night Visions programs. Before returning to Art Encounter, she developed and taught enrichment programs for young children on the North Shore. Sarah grew up in Evanston and received degrees from Northwestern University and National-Louis University (MAT), and is currently a practicing ceramic artist. Email: sarah@artencounter.org

Leslie Luning, Community Outreach Programs Manager
Leslie has been a teaching artist with Art Encounter since 2013 and Art Encounter’s Community Outreach Programs Manager since 2019. She earned her Master of Arts in Teaching from National-Louis University and taught kindergarten and 1st grade at University of Chicago’s North Kenwood/Oakland Charter School. As Community Outreach Manager, she oversees the curriculum design for Art Encounter’s outreach programs. She especially loves supporting the amazing work that the Art Encounter teaching artists are doing in schools, senior homes and with other community partners throughout the Chicago area. Email: leslie@artenounter.org

Dustin Harris, Evanston Mural Arts Program
Dustin joined Art Encounter in 2017 as co-founder of our new public art initiative Evanston Mural Arts Program. Dustin is a painter and sculptor as well as a working deejay most weekends. He has been painting murals with Lea Pinsky since 2005 and co-managing the Mile of Murals in Rogers Park since 2010. He supports artist selection and site management for EMAP murals, and works with Lea on all aspects of community engagement. Dustin received his BA from Columbia College Chicago in Sculpture and Trombone. Email: emap@artencounter.org

Miriam Bahena-Cardona Bisby, Curriculum Specialist
Miriam is Art Encounter's first Curriculum Specialist as of Fall 2023 as well as a senior teaching artist. She joined Art Encounter in 2015 shortly after receiving her BFA, and continues to work as a multidisciplinary artist. She enjoys teaching students to use not only new mediums but everyday objects to create art. As a lifelong Chicagoan, she also loves bringing students to view the considerable art and culture the city offers during field trips. Miriam has led programs for other arts organizations as well, including workshops at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. Email: miriam@artencounter.org

Board of Directors

Elizabeth K. Whiting, President

Terry Shewfelt, Vice President

Charles Harper, Treasurer

Carrie Kane, Secretary

Gale Goldstick Cohen, Past President

Carol Cohen

Tapiwa Dzingai

Susan Gaud

Marsha Goldstein

Gail Kahn

Amy Krupsky

Bonnie McGrath

Michael McLean

Sally O’Hara

Abby Ohl

Peter Vale

Ahadi White

Are you interested in joining the Art Encounter Board? We’re always interested in adding new members! Please email us to learn more.