Staff
Maria Nestle, Director
Maria has over 29 years of experience in administration and marketing and development. Prior to becoming Director of the Nigra Arts Center in 2023, she was the Operations Manager, and oversaw the planning and support for a wide range of events and activities. Maria has also managed the international band, Flame, an amazing group of musicians who happen to have disabilities. As band manager, she oversaw concert tours, helped produce CD recordings and has been involved with several music video projects. When she is not at the Nigra Arts Center, Maria is in the community as a volunteer firefighter, Certified First Responder (CFR), member of the Montgomery County Emergency Management Rehab Team and member of the financial advisory team for the Canajoharie Volunteer Fire Department. She is also on the Board of Directors for The Arts Factory of Montgomery County. She enjoys spending time with her family and helping her community during her time off. Contact Maria at
(518) 661-9932 or at nestlem@thearclexington.org.
Lori White, Events Coordinator
Lori White joined Lexington in June 2015 as its events coordinator, responsible for booking events at the Nigra Arts Center. Previously, Lori co-owned and operated The Railyard, a family restaurant, for 20 years. Lori has extensive experience catering a wide variety of events, from small parties to large elegant affairs, including weddings, conferences, retreats, meetings, graduation celebrations, social events, banquets and more. Lori is looking forward to working with you to plan the perfect event! Contact her at (518) 661-9932 or at whitel@thearclexington.org for meeting and event rental information.
Brenda Dwyer, Community Gallery Curator
Brenda is a self-taught artist who expresses herself through the artwork she creates. As co-owner of Adirondack Stained Glass Works in Gloversville, she has explored various styles of art design for more than 30 years. Brenda’s position as environmental and creative arts specialist for Lexington has enabled her to study art in its many forms and media while sharing her wisdom and expertise with others. As the Community Gallery curator at the Nigra Arts Center, Brenda develops and oversees our rotating art exhibits, from submitting calls for artists and selecting pieces to displaying the work. She also teaches a multitude of art classes and participates in our children’s day camp program. Contact Brenda at (518) 661-9932 or dwyerb@thearclexington.org.
Megan Balser, Community Engagement and Communications Specialist
Megan is a 2014 graduate of the Savannah College of Art and Design’s Writing program. Born in Ohio, she lived overseas with her family as a child in Europe and the Middle East before settling in West Virginia. In college she served as an assistant copy editor for District, SCAD’s student-run news source, and interned for two summers at the Spirit of Jefferson newspaper in West Virginia. In addition to editing and proofreading, she wrote for both publications, and between the two has had more than 40 clips published. Currently, Megan is Lexington’s Community Engagement and Communications Specialist. Contact Megan at balserm@thearclexington.org or (518) 661-9932, ext.123.
Art Faculty
Bill Ackerbauer
Bill is a Johnstown, N.Y.-based singer-songwriter and folk musician who performs solo and with bands such as The Bentwood Rockers, The Doghouse Carpenters and Junk Rocket. Specializing in traditional folk, vintage country, blues and other "roots" styles, he teaches acoustic guitar as well as fiddle and mandolin. When he's not playing music, Bill works in human services and teaches writing at Fulton-Montgomery Community College. He lives in Johnstown with his wife and children.
Todd Bailey
Todd is an Upstate New York native and father of three residing in Broadalbin, NY. Todd offers consulting, marketing, photography and video services. His studio is located in Amsterdam, NY. Giving back to the community is a very important part of his mission. Todd is a board member of the Mohawk Valley Lunch Club charity in Utica, NY and has been a featured keynote speaker at seminars and classes around the state on a variety of marketing related topics. The marriage of art & technology have been the inspiration behind his business and contributions to the community. As an instructor at the Nigra Arts Center and Transitions, his goal is to empower people to elevate their creativity with thoughtful content, hands-on work and engaging conversations.
Linda Biggers
Linda is a self-taught artist and loves working with mosaic. She has been creating mixed media and eggshell mosaics since 1999. Linda shows and sells her work at art shows and galleries in upstate New York - including here at the Paul Nigra Center for Creative Arts. To see more of Linda’s work, CLICK HERE and HERE.
Karen Bischoffberger
Karen is a self-taught artisan baker. She started Sugar Pearl Home Baked Goods after being encouraged by her family and friends to share her passion for baking. She prides herself on using only the finest all natural ingredients while taking traditional time honored recipes and putting her own spin on them. She brings pies to a new level that is sought after by pie lovers. You can find Karen’s home baked goods at the Mohawk Harvest Cooperative Market, Bowmans Market, Galway Meadows Farm 2 Market as well as C& R Restaurant. Karen also welcomes personal orders: sugarpearl12@hotmail.com.
K. J.F. Cooper
Karen is inspired by the New York State landscape and the coastal areas of Maine and Massachusetts. Having been devoted to the arts most of her life, she was a performing member of the Schenectady Civic Ballet Company in her youth and has been a watercolorist with the Oakroom Artists group for more than 25 years. Watercolor has a freedom of movement that she relates to her past dance experience. The arabesques of the tree branches and the natural forms of the landscape allow her to “feel” the strokes before the brush hits the paper.
Dori Daknis
Dori Daknis is a well-known yoga instructor who has been teaching for several years in Fulton and Montgomery Counties. She welcomes you to join her at the Paul Nigra Center for Creative Arts on a path to a happier and more harmonious life through yoga. Dori is certified in:
Seven Spiritual Laws of Yoga
Perfect Health/Certified Ayurveda Consultant
Primordial Sound Meditation
Master Educator for Chopra Center
1,000 hour certified Yoga Teacher
Stacey Delaney, Ph.D.
Stacey is a career educator, and is retired from public education but continues to help in this arena when her expertise is needed. She is an adjunct college instructor teaching courses in teacher preparation and American Sign Language (ASL). Stacey also has a passion for sewing (quilting, embroidery, making garments and home décor projects). She also enjoys photographing nature. Stacey’s goal in teaching ASL is to help others learn ASL and aspects of Deaf Culture. Stacey is a member of member of the American Sewing Guild (ASG), Albany, NY Chapter. As part of the Guild, she is the Education Chair and the Co- Leader of the newly formed Fonda Neighborhood Group. Her goal in sewing, as articulated by the ASG, is “advancing sewing as an art and life skill.” When the weather is nice, Stacey enjoys being outdoors gardening or playing golf. Stacey resides in Fonda with her beloved husband Dave and enjoys spending time with him and their family, including their rescued fur child LayLa.
Andrew Dench
Andrew Dench, a native of New Zealand, is thrilled to be in the USA helping busy people learn how to prepare delicious dishes quickly with his Suppers in a Snap series. Andrew joined the Royal New Zealand Navy in January 2004 as an "ordinary chef," but his cooking career over the following ten years was anything but ordinary. He has done everything from manning a hot dog stand on the back of a patrol boat for police divers to cooking for heads of state and governor generals at fancy banquets. He even served with the Australian Army when they needed military chefs during the 2006 East Timorese crisis. In the last year of his naval career he had the privilege to teach at the New Zealand Defence Catering School, where he taught future soldiers and sailors how to cook eggs in any weather. Andrew traveled all over Southeast Asia during his nine years in the navy before meeting his wife. The couple eventually moved to New York in 2013, where Andrew worked briefly at a Lake George restaurant. Now he is happy to be at the Paul Nigra Center for Creative Arts, where he has returned to his true passion: teaching others how to cook great food!
Erin Eckler
Erin is a local artist and owner of EQWilbert. Apart from selling various handmade items in several small businesses throughout the Capital Region, she also facilitates workshops on a large variety of subjects. She fell in love with teaching during her Songwriting Workshop through BOCES Arts and Enrichment. That experience reinforced he belief that everyone, if given encouragement and support, is an artist. Erin is a process teacher which means her focus is on providing instruction and fostering a safe creative environment which will allow participants to explore the materials in their own unique way. In her spare time, she enjoys spending time at her home in Gloversville, NY with her husband and 3 cats. For more information about EQWilbert, including a full list of events and workshops, go to EQWilbert.com
Roberta Esposito
Roberta has been passionate about the performing arts since childhood. She has sung, acted and directed her way across the USA and Europe in over 150 shows, cabarets, musicals, revues, films and television shows. As the founding artistic director at the Glove Theatre, Roberta was the catalyst for making its resurrection happen in 1997. She has been the artistic director of Saratoga Children’s Theatre, a director and company director of Theatre Workshop of Nantucket, and an assistant to the producer and company manager of Nantucket Dreamland Theatre. Roberta has created and taught theatre workshop classes for children and young adults within the autism spectrum, including programs such as Arts for All Dream Theatre, Theatre Discovery Camp, and Autism Speaks Walks. In the community, Roberta serves as a drama club advisor and director at local high schools. She has also been a director for Foothills Family Productions since 2007, and they recently completed a production of “Mary Poppins” with a cast of more than 100 children.
Melanie Fay
Melanie loves art, or really artistic expression in any form, not just for the art that is made, but for the creativity in each and every one one of us which makes art possible. She is the founder of Standard Toykraft, a theater, print shop, puppet shop and art studio space dedicated to providing affordable art space to artists. She studied at The Art Institute of Chicago and graduated with a BFA from the Cooper Union School of Art with a focus in painting and printmaking.
Flame
To the ear, Flame sounds like any other band. The reality, though, is that each of the 11 members of this cover band from Gloversville, New York, has a disability. Flame was born at a 2003 talent show put on by Lexington, an agency that supports people with developmental disabilities. Today, they are known and celebrated worldwide for their music and inspirational message. A segment about Flame aired on Good Morning America in 2009 and People magazine ran a story about them in October 2010. They have performed at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the House of Blues in Cleveland, Ohio; New York’s Apollo Theater; Harvard Law School; the Parthenon in Athens, Greece; the 2009 Special Olympics; and the funeral of Eunice Kennedy Shriver. Flame performs more than 70 times per year, touring the greater Northeast area and beyond in a custom bus. In 11 years of work, they have produced five studio albums and their repertoire includes original tracks as well as more than 100 classic rock, pop, country and blues songs.
Lois Gulotta and Dawn Crankshaw
Lois Gulotta has been cooking for as far back as she can remember...and she taught her daughter Dawn Crankshaw everything she knows. Dawn was raised in her mother's Italian kitchen in Fulton County - and is well-known for supplying several area restaurants with her delicious cheesecakes. This mother-daughter team is now cooking up a storm in in the kitchen of the Paul Nigra Center. Both ladies cannot wait to share their sensational secrets with you!
Wally Hart
Wally has more than 20 years of catering and food service experience. Over the years, he has created countless delicious meals and planned many extraordinary events. From weddings to corporate luncheons, he has prepared a wide range of food and desserts for a wide range of clients. Wally is well known for creating intimate dinners for 6-8 guests based on themes that match the guests, the season or the setting. These dinners have been highly sought after at local charity events and have helped to significantly increase fundraising goals. Wally will be sharing secrets and practical cooking tips about menu selections and the all-important presentation of the finished product.
Maura Hibbitts
Maura Hibbitts taught science from grade 6 to college in local schools for many years. She always found ways to blend art with science in her lessons, jumping joyously from the left side of her brain to the right. Her love of art started when she was a kid sitting under a tree in her backyard drawing, but now her muse inspires her to work in mixed media and steampunk style. She loves to play with color and use her imagination when creating art and is often inspired by books she has read, the natural world and places she has visited. Maura works on the design teams of several companies and other artists, including Simon Says Stamp, DecoArt and Nathalie Kalbach. Just for fun, she also co-hosts a monthly Steampunk challenge. Most of Maura’s current work is online and can be found at Maura’s Musings, twocraftingsisters.blogspot.com.
Alexandra Higgins
Alexandra earned her B.A. from Plattsburgh in 1990, went on to SUNY Albany to earn credits toward a Doctor of Arts and about five years ago went back to Sage College in Albany to earn an associate degree in Interior Design. She is a full-time interior designer, sculptor and oil painter. She has had numerous art gallery showings in upstate New York and is working currently toward opening an art gallery in the Adirondack Region for local and regional artists.
Sue Kaupelis
Sue Kaupelis has been country line and partner dancing for more than 20 years. She took her first lesson in 1992 and began teaching dance in the Fulton/Montgomery County area almost two years later. Over the years, Sue has expanded her teaching to senior citizens and developmentally disabled adults. She has been invited to teach at the Saratoga Dance Flurry, the New England Dance Festival in Boston and on several cruises. Sue reaches out to the community with her demo group, who perform for numerous nursing homes, fairs and festivals. She was born and raised in Amsterdam, NY, and is a graduate of Fulton-Montgomery Community College and SUNY Albany, where she received her BS and MBA degrees in marketing and management information systems. Sue is currently the president of the Country Western Dance Instructor’s Forum.
Diana Marshall
Diana Marshall is a self-proclaimed “foodie.” Her love for cooking started as a teenager and has continued to this day. Her idea of relaxing is going into her kitchen and cooking a new recipe. Diana loves to travel and each new place she goes gives her fuel for new dishes to cook for her family. Her older son has inherited the “foodie” gene. Her daughter is an adventurous cook, always trying new recipes. Her youngest son is only 17 and already enjoys cooking for himself. Obviously, the heart of their home is the kitchen. Diana and her husband own the Gloversville Sewing Center in Gloversville and Saratoga.
Heather Mattioni
Heather is a Holistic Lifestyle & Spiritual Mentor, Intuitive, Reiki Master, Minister and Creative. She expresses all of her passions, and motivates and guides others to live a balanced life. She believes in living through inner spirit, both intuitively and abundantly. As the founder of C.A.R.E. Holistic Center, Rev. HM aspires to create a world that is sustainable and peaceful. She hopes to inspire several people in living their best lives as their best selves; where wellness meets well-being.
Christina Ponzi
Christina is a Certified Reiki Master, Intuitive Guide, instructor, teacher and aroma therapist. She specializes in working with children, teens and animals. Her biggest passion is helping others experience deep healing, empowerment and inner peace. She works for the Liberty Partnerships Program in Amsterdam middle school as a Parent and Student Engagement Coordinator. She works cooperatively with students, families and educators to provide resources and guidance to aid in student success. Her educational background consists of a Bachelor of Science from Elmira College in education. In 2006, She moved to Greece where she taught English for 6 years. She has two amazing children (Evi and Niko) who are actively involved with sports, drama and 4H. She raises chickens, turkeys, pigs and Rottweilers in her spare time and is currently working on her Wildlife Rehabilitation Certification.
Nita Preddice
Nita Preddice has worked in food service for more than 50 years, serving at hospitals and managing nutrition programs for children and the elderly. She has owned a bakery café featuring all scratch baking and fresh offerings and worked for two culinary institute chefs, catering for local dignitaries and providing food and dessert for governor’s dinners. Now Nita works at Lexington, contributing to catering, helping with Meals for Seniors and teaching the young women in the S.T.E.P. program how to cook. She is passionate about cooking and teaching and looks forward to sharing her talents at the Paul Nigra Center for Creative Arts.
Maureen Ryan
Maureen Ryan is a New York State Licensed Massage Therapist, and has been a massage practitioner since 2003. Maureen firmly believes in the body's ability to heal itself and utilizes her expertise to assist clients in this process. With a focus on stress relief and pain management, she utilizes Swedish massage along with a variety of other modalities to create an individualized experience for clients. A graduate of both The Center for Natural Wellness School of Massage Therapy and the University at Albany, Maureen has maintained private practices in both New York and Vermont and teaches college level courses in the areas of sociology, psychology, and wellness.
Sandy Salada
As an Art Education major in college, some of Sandy’s favorite courses were basket weaving, loom weaving and Fibers and Fabrics. She has 20 years of experience in the art of basket weaving and presents workshops for teens and adults. Sandy has presented at the View Art Center, Old Forge; the Arkell Museum, Canajoharie; Pinecones and Dragon Studio, Inlet; the Shaker Heritage Society, Albany and Hancock Shaker Village, MA. She teaches weekly Continuing Education classes in Guilderland and Albany as well as workshops in her home studio in Latham, NY. Sandy is a member of the North Carolina Basketmakers Association, the Northeast Basketmakers Guild and the Shaker Heritage Society. View her designs and reproductions of cultural or historic baskets at www.sandysfiberarts.com.
Gretchen Salvione
Gretchen is a dance instructor with 20 years of experience in choreography, dance and competition. She owns and operates The Dance Company on Route 30 in Perth. A resident of Broadalbin, Gretchen welcomes the opportunity to pass along her love of dance to students at the Nigra Arts Center.
Beth Spraggs
Being a true Gemini, Gloversville Artist Beth Spraggs says she likes the idea of dabbling in many different artistic mediums. She loves working with things that are dimensional and rich with texture, whether it be glass art or fabric sculpture. She feels that the more texture and diversity, the more interesting the piece. She is happy to be sharing her talents with artists at the Nigra Arts Center.