LIAFA Instructors
Steve Forster was born in Boston but spent most of his life in central Florida. He was educated at the Florence Academy of Art in Italy and the New York Academy of Art, where he received his MFA.
He is Co-Director of the Long Island Academy of Fine Art and also teaches painting at the New York Academy of Art. Steve’s paintings have been exhibited in solo and group shows nationally and internationally and are currently represented by Island Weiss Gallery in NYC and Grenning Gallery in Sag Harbor.
LIAFA’s Co-Director and Administrator Rebecca Forster grew up in southeastern Tennessee, where it was easy to fall in love with the beauty of the mountainous landscape. Her interest in naturalism led to her undergraduate studies in art at Union University, followed by two years in Italy, where she studied drawing and sculpture at the Florence Academy of Art. There she met her husband, Steve Forster. Returning to the States, Rebecca used the techniques she’d learned abroad to teach sculpture to students of all ages, first in Elizabeth Rogers and Cessna Decosimo’s studios in Chattanooga, TN, and then in New York City.
A New York City native, Daniel G. daSilva began his career in the decorative arts studying at the Van Der Kelen School of decorative painting in Brussels and fresco painting at the Fondazione Villa Fabris in Venice. His fine arts studies continued at the Barnstone Studios in Coplay, PA, the Art Students League in NYC, and as a proud alumnus of Atelier Armetta right here at LIAFA. He most recently received his MFA from the New York Academy of Art in TriBeCa. He continues to make paintings in Brooklyn and is head artist at Felix Chavez Inc, a leading and established art restoration, conservation and design firm in New York.
Megan K. Euell is a classically trained representational oil painter from Southampton, NY (b. 1988), based in Brooklyn. She specializes in land and cityscapes as well as portraits.
Euell studied at the Long Island Academy of Fine Art, then in Riverhead, NY throughout high school, before attending Savannah College of Art and Design. She graduated from SCAD Magna Cum Laude with a BFA in 2010. She then received a three-year intensive classical fine art training in Florence Italy, at the Florence Academy of Art under Daniel Graves. Euell completed the Advanced Painting certificate program in June 2015.
Euell teaches privately in NYC, and the Hamptons during the summer, as well as running yearly workshops in plein air painting. She is a proud member of The Salmagundi Club of NYC and The Portrait Society of America. She has received recognition through awards and grants from The Art Renewal Center, The Salmagundi Club, The Portrait Society of America, The Stobart Foundation, The Artist’s Magazine, and The National Cowboy Museum. Her work can be found in private collections throughout the US and Europe, as well as the permanent collections of Savannah College of Art and Design, The Stobart Foundation of Salem, MA and The Florence Academy of Art.
Euell works out of her studio space that she shares with her husband, shoemaker Francis Waplinger, in Industry City, Brooklyn.
Felicia Feldman was born in Taegu, South Korea. She was adopted when she was 3 months old, and grew up in Moline, Illinois. Throughout her youth, she planned on a career in music, playing both violin and piano, but made a decision in 2003 to pursue art instead. She decided to concentrate on representation, with an emphasis on the figure. Some notable achievements include a 4-month study with Norwegian painter Odd Nerdrum, selling work at Sotheby’s Auction House, NY, and showing in juried exhibitions in Iowa, Illinois, Baltimore, and NYC. Felicia is a 2007 graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art and a 2010 graduate of the New York Academy of Art. She currently resides in New York.
Tanisha Hanley is an Early Childhood Educator who believes in allowing children direct contact with the best of history’s art. She desires to cultivate in children a love for learning and to lead them to self education. Education to her is an atmosphere, an art and a way of life. She is from Brooklyn, NY and first began her artistic training at The Art Students League of New York where she studied figure drawing. Since then she has attained her Master’s degree in Education from Brooklyn College with an additional focus on studio art (ceramics, painting, printmaking, charcoal drawing) and art history. Trained by the renowned Valerie Jaudon in Advanced Painting she desires to share her passion and knowledge of this subject with young artists. She has volunteered doing Art Therapy at the Behavioral Health Unit at Lutheran Hospital in Brooklyn, NY and believes in arts’ ability to heal all ages. She subsequently saw this in practice at the VA Hospital in New York where she worked in the Mental Health Department with war veterans suffering from PTSD and other neurological issues. Recently educated at The Long Island Academy of Fine Art in Still Life Drawing and Painting she is excited about teaching it’s “little artists” with the quality of instruction and care in which she herself received. She currently teaches at Saint Dominic’s Elementary School.
Michael Korol received his MFA in Fine Art Photography and Printmaking from Cranbrook Academy of Art and his BFA in Photographic Illustration from Rochester Inst. of Tech. (R.I.T.) Michael has served many industries within the photography field, including commercial photography (advertising and celebrity portraits) and fine art photography, but he found another passion as an instructor of photography, printmaking, and ceramics for adults and kids. He taught Photography at Parsons and the New School, as well as teaching special workshops including classes for developmentally challenged YAI, NYC and the Roslyn School District as and various camps over the years. He has been published in all major art magazines, including Art in America, Art News, Architectural Digest, Town and Country to name a few. Michael’s fine art has been exhibited nationally, including many awards and national shows. His works are also in the collection of Major Museums, including the MET and the Whitney. In addition to his teaching, in his own studio he specializes in historical photography processes and was featured in Jill Enfield’s book Photographic Alternate Processes.
Nina Chavchavadze is a classically trained illustrator who has a passion for teaching all ages and levels. In addition to teaching in the LIAFA summer programs, she is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Fine Arts, Design, & Art History at Hofstra University. A native of the country of Georgia, she received her BFA at Tbilisi State University before immigrating to the US and continuing her studies. She received her MFA from SUNY FIT.