Class Instructors Bio’s

For Beth Kreutz, art offers the chance to change reality. “I just love being creative”, the former high school art teacher and mother of three who moved to Clermont six years ago freely admits. “To me, it’s not fun to just copy things. So instead, I make them abstract. I might start with a photographic image and then push the shapes and distort them and add wild colors – push it into a creative direction, so it doesn’t look like a copy of a photo.”

Beth, who has been into art since she could “hold a pencil,” devotes herself to watercolor painting, drawing, oil painting and computer graphics.

Beth holds a M.S. in Art Education, K – 12 and has 38 years teaching experience in grades pre-K, elementary, middle school, high school and junior college.

I have lived in the central Florida area since 1971. I moved to Clermont in 2001. I attended Valencia Community College, UCF, and received my bachelor’s degree from Warner Southern College (now Warner University) in Lake Wales.

Art has always been a big part of life. My elementary school teachers would tell my parents they thought I would be a future artist. My high school art teacher wanted me to accept a scholarship to the Fort Lauderdale Art Institute but my parents thought I was too young. During college I volunteered at an Orlando elementary school for two and a half years offering the students art lessons. I also was an art teacher substitute teacher for an elementary school in Seminole county. Other areas of my life involving my creative side include: designing a convention program cover and meal ticket booklets for a national sorority with attendance of over 1,000, designed and painted photo props and center pieces for a local non-profit organization for four years, and painted a small mural for a business.

I have taught art classes for all ages from toddlers to later life seniors. I have had small classes and classes of up to 30 students. I have taught in craft stores, private homes, a few non-profit organizations, and at South Lake Art League.

I have always had a passion to share art with everyone – which lead me to my latest endeavor of becoming a certified Zentangle Teacher (CZT). Zentangle is a process that everyone can learn – One Stroke at a Time.

Lindsay Parks Neel is a native Floridian living and working in Clermont, Florida with her family. She earned her bachelors of fine art in photography from Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, GA. Initially developing experience as a commercial photographer, Parks honed her studio skills, and learned the potential of thoughtful images.

Her passion for natural light and candid style is portrayed in her creative photographs. She has fallen in love with making art out of the most important days of her client’s lives. Lindsay’s wide range of stylistic experience allows her to respond accurately and effectively to her clients’ desires.

Her love of travel and documentary photography has inspired a vast portfolio of snapshots and candid images. She has been photographing people, places, and things since she was 15. Lindsay currently owns her own photography business, Lindsay Parks Photography in Clermont.

Basket weaving instructor