WHO's who?
“…is to the manor born, deliciously deadpan…” - D.L. Groover, Houston Press
Susan Blair is a Houston-based creative artist. She is an accomplished writer, choreographer, dancer and actor.
Susan is the creator of “Art Saves Lives”, a grassroots organization that uses the universal language of the Fine Arts to create a platform for interactive conversation with young adult survivors of homelessness and neglect. Ms. Blair has partnered with Step Onward Foundation (formerly Grace Foundation USA) to serve these populations with accessible outreach and interactive performances since 2014. The first...
Patrice Pike
“EXUBERANTLY SOULFUL." - Margaret Moser, Austin Chronicle
Big talent and a huge heart are just a few words to describe singer-songwriter-musician Patrice Pike. Patrice burst on to the music scene as the electric front woman for the seminal Austin jam band Sister Seven. She was honing her creativity as a vocalist and songwriter at Booker T. Washington School for performing and visual arts as well as the legendary music programs at the University of North Texas when she realized all of her mentors were graduating from programs and then trying to make a living
on stage and in the studio. She left her entrepreneurial scholarship in the school bank account and started Little Sister that soon became Sister Seven...
Penelope (Penny) C. Tschirhart
Penny received both her undergraduate and graduate degrees from Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas. She danced in, and around, Houston with the likes of Sarah Irwin, Leslie Scates, Amy Ell, Sandy Marcello, Priscilla Nathan-Murphy, and Jane Weiner’s Hope Stone Dance Company until retiring from the company in 2010. Most recently, Penny performed in a collaborative performance and outreach arts exchange between sister cities Houston, Texas and Nice France at the invitation of project creator Susan Blair.
Penny has been working in the Houston Independent School district since arriving in Houston. She taught dance at Gregory-Lincoln Education Center and M. B. Lamar High School and spent summers rolling on the floor with 2-5 year old children at the Jewish Community Center’s Bertha Alyce campus. Penny currently is the Manager for International Baccalaureate...
Laura Harrell
Laura Harrell is currently the Studio Manager for Hunter Dance and Open Dance Project’s Company Manager. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts, and Master of Fine Arts degree from Sam Houston State University. She is currently an adjunct professor at San Jacinto College, Houston Community College, and Lone Star College. Laura has presented choreography at The Dance Gallery Festival (Texas/New York City), the American College Dance Festival, Fringe Festival (Houston), Brazos Contemporary Dance Festival, and in the first ever, Art Saves Lives: A Cultural Conversation performance and educational outreach program in Nice, France. Additionally, she has set work at SHSU, Booker T. Washington High School, SJC, HCC, LSC, and West Texas A&M University. Laura served as assistant choreographer for Recked Productions site-specific project, Up For Air, and co-choreographed Tower and Super Nova presented by NobleMotion Dance at Zhilka Hall (Hobby Center, Houston, TX).
Harrell was a featured emerging artist by NobleMotion Dance in the first ever Next Step Series, and most recently was recognized as one of Dance Source Houston’s 2017 Artist in Residence. She is also a 2017 Houston Arts Alliance Individual Artist Grant recipient.
Cami Holman
Cami is a Dallas Native. She attended Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts as a dance major. She then went on to receive her Bachelors in Dance Education for grades K-12 from Texas Woman's University. Cami began working with Art Saves Lives in 2014 in conjunction with Patrice Pike's Grace Foundation scholarship recipient. She has taught middle school dance for DallasISD. Now, you can find Cami working for Big Thought- Thriving Minds After School Program as well as Terrance M. Johnson Dance Project's Educational Outreach Director, dance performer, and choreographer.
Mackenzie Edmondson
Mackenzie was born and raised in the Houston Art scene and is currently pursuing her Bachelor's degree in Film.
She is known for her work as Director of Photography, Lead Editor, and an actress on the Houston-based web series Presto! Fairy Tales.
She has been the recipient of awards such as The Ewing Citation Scholarship, as well as countless others through her alma mater, Lone Star College. She is also published writer in both Nota Bene and Uproar magazine.