smac pta

VISUAL ART: Greg and Susie Brantman

American Ceramicist Greg Brantman and Painter and Ceramicist Susie Brantman met at Fort Hays State University where Susie earned a BA in Painting, Ceramics and Teaching and Greg received an MA after obtaining at Bachelor of Science degree in Art Education at Northwest Missouri State.  Susie received her Master’s degree from the University of Kansas.   Both went on to teach art in the Shawnee Mission School District – Susie for 18 years before spending 27 years at Hallmark Cards as an Art Director and Design Manager (she retired in 2017), and Greg for 39 years. retiring in 2012 from SM North High School.  Both Greg and Susie are practicing artists, and Greg has won several awards and recognitions over the years, including Shawnee Mission School District’s Master Teacher.

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FILM PRODUCTION: Bill Pryor

Bill Pryer came to Kansas City in 1968 as a writer-director for Calvin Productions, a nationally recognized nontheatrical film production company. He has written, directed, or produced educational, training, sales, technical, and motivational films for many multinational corporations, organizations and governmental agencies. Bill was also a founding board member of the Kansas International Film Festival and has curated documentary and feature films for over 15 years. He has produced documentaries and short films for festivals, including a short that was a finalist in the Russian International Horror Film Festival in Moscow in 2019. He has served for more than 10 years on an advisory panel judging senior class film projects at Avila University. He has also produced educational films for grades one through 12 and for the National Middle School Association. Bill is now retired from corporate filmmaking but still continues to work on independent documentaries and narrative films.

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LITERATURE: Connie Strand & Lois Hunt

Connie Strand is retired from a long career as an editorial director at Hallmark Cards and before that was a newspaper reporter. She has a degree in journalism from Kansas State University, and is also a proud product of the Shawnee Mission School District. Lois Hunt spent her entire career working for Hallmark Cards. Before her retirement she was Creative Director working with editors, writers and members of the design community. She attended Kirksville State College which is now Truman State. 

MUSIC COMPOSITION: Joe Stanziola (Second Hand King)

Local KC musical artist Second Hand King, aka Joe Stanziola, walks down a lane not commonly heard in the standard definition of hip hop. With influences and sounds that range across several genres of music including Classic Rock, Doo Wop, Folk, Rap, and Hip Hop, he provides unrivaled passion you can feel & hear from a genre he defines as Doo Wop music. The constant evolving of this artist shines through to give perspective to his unique stance in the local music scene.

DANCE CHOREOGRAPHY: Liz Kelley-Hansen

Liz found her passion for dance in her teens and has spent her life as a singer/dancer, dance instructor, and studio owner.  At a young age, she travelled to California and began an illustrious career in the entertainment business, including performing as a Golddigger on the Dean Martin Show and touring with the Bob Hope USO tour to entertain military troops.  She later returned to KC and founded her own studio, Dance Studio I, running from 1984-2018, passing on her knowledge & passion to countless aspiring young dancers.

PHOTOGRAPHY: John Tygart

John Tygart is a retired professional photographer and engineer with a long career in local Kansas City broadcast news including PBS-KCSD, KCIT-TV, KSHB-TV and KCTV5. John worked both as a technical director and as a photographer across a wide variety of productions including All Star Wrestling, I-70 Speedway Show and Mother’s Nature’s Children’s Hour. During his varied career he managed the operation of a remote TV satellite truck and also spent countless hours chasing tornadoes and covering weather related stories for national broadcast on the Weather Channel, NBC, ABC and CBS. In his retirement John enjoys capturing the beauty of nature in still photography.