All teachers and consultants on our team are artists or designers with strong educational backgrounds from top universities. Due to their rich experience of artistic education, they have strong networks or resources in the related field. Our students can have opportunities to work with artists, designers and artistic educators in different fields, including fine art (painting, sculpture, printmaking), architecture, fashion design, graphic design, interior design, digital media, photography, illustration, animation, artists’ presentation and so on.
Dr. Jun Gao
Co-founder & Academic Director
Mr. Gao is an associate professor of Art and the Art Education Department at Columbia University, and the head of the department of art for an international school in New York. During this time, he has assumed several related social posts, such as commissioner of review committee for art teachers belonging to the Ministry of Education in New York, and the cooperative teaching artist of the Guggenheim Museum. His interdisciplinary art practices have involved site-specific art with multi-media, experimental photography and video. During the past 12 years, he has continued to conduct trainings about portfolios for students from top art colleges and IVY League Universities, which have introduced a unique feature of American art education.
Diana Hampe
Senior Consultant: Promoting background & Strengthening for AP courses
Ms. Diana Hampe is a lecturer in the Art and Art Education Department of the College of Fine Arts of Boston University, and she has 34 years of artistic education experience in junior schools to universities. She has been voted Massachusetts Outstanding Art Educator by MAEA twice. Ms. Hampe has assumed several posts as an art judge, such as co-chair of the Massachusetts Scholastic Art Awards Advisory Council, the Scholastic Art Awards jurist in New Hampshire, and the Advanced Placement reader for Studio Art portfolios in just the past 6 years.
Chaoyang Yan
Mentor: Further Education and Career Development
Mr. Chao is an associate professor in the Visual Communication Department at Parsons, and CCO of Lion Rock Bands Group. During his 18 years of working in the New York fashion community, he has gotten into various artistic fields, working as a fashion illustrator, CAD artist, web designer, product and multimedia developer. Mr. Chao is focused on developing students’ design philosophy and aesthetic through the combination of digital and traditional fine art disciplines.
Dino Colucci
Senior Consultant: Promoting background & Portfolio preparation
Mr. Colucci is an associate professor at Parsons, and a designer as well. He has maintained long-term relationships with many famous brands, like Valentino, Norman Ambrose, Adidas. Furthermore, he has created a great variety of different artwork, such as print, digital and video. He has an 11-year teaching experience in art related to various contents, graphic design, digital fashion design, inbetweening, 3D cartoon, MG cartoons, etc.
Patricia Morchel
Senior Consultant: Portfolio Preparation
Ms. Patricia Morchel is a graduate of Harvard University, Columbia University, New York University and Rutgers University. She teaches Art and Art Education at Teachers’ College of Columbia University and at Harvard University as well. Therefore, she has a deep cognition of the educational system and art courses in America. Furthermore, she loves gallery education and has rich experience in designing and organizing artistic courses in art galleries in the way of combining art history and practice.
Dr. Bert Benally
Senior Consultant: Portfolio Preparation
Dr. Bert Benally is an artist in sculpture and multi-media with a strong educational background, a Bachelor’s degree in Sculpture from The University of Arizona, an MFA in Sculpture from University of Wisconsin-Madison, a Master’s in Med-education from Washington State University, and a Doctorate in Art Education from Teachers’ College, Columbia University. Benally is not only an outstanding artist, but he is also an artistic educationist with over 20 years’ artistic teaching experience, including universities and K-12 private schools. His works of art related to Native American Culture are collected and displayed by many famous American museums. In 2014, he collaborated with Weiwei Ai, a renowned Chinese artist, for a specified-site art project called ‘Pull of the Moon’, which illustrated the beautiful scenery of a deep area of the desert in southern America.
Dr. Cheri Eileen Ehrlich
Senior Consultant: Portfolio Preparation
Dr. Cheri Eileen Ehrlich holds a B.F.A in painting and a B.A. in Women’s Studies from UMass Amherst, a Master’s in Artistic Education from Tufts University, and a Doctorate in Art and Artistic Education from Columbia University. She’s an associate professor and Art Education Program coordinator of Southern Connecticut State University, and she is also a recurring guest lecturer at both Pratt Institute and Adelphi University. Dr. Cheri has had rich experience in famous artistic programs and associations. For example, she was the head of the Teenagers’ Artistic Education Project of the Brooklyn Museum, and has been invited to present at national conferences, including NAEA, AAM, CAA and so on.
Damien Mitchell
Artist: Promoting background & Career Development Mentor
Damien Mitchell is active in the public artistic field, and has done a great deal of large-scale public artwork for state governments in America. Furthermore, he has also done culture and academic work at the institution of the City of Melbourne, public service sectors and nonprofit organizations across the globe. He also provided artwork for Global Mural Conference, Mi Sangre Foundation, MTV Music Video Awards, doctors without borders, Art Basel Miami, etc. His artwork is spread over art galleries and venues on several continents.
Dr. Dan Ye
Special Consultant: Analyze policies, Guide interviews of studying abroad
Dr. Dan Ye graduated from Case Western Reserve University, and has a doctorate in jurisprudence from The Ohio State University. He’s the founder of America Education Exchange Organization, and also the interviewer of Case Western Reserve University in Washington DC. On top of all this, he was invited by the International Channel of CCTV as a special expert to analyze policies related to international students for American universities.
Jessica Gallager
Senior Mentor: Spoken and Written English，Artist Statement
Jessica Gallager graduated from The Catholic University of America with a major in English and minor in Sociology. She has been teaching English for 10 years, including TOFEL, IELTS and ILEC. Moreover, Ms. Gallager remains active in the artistic field in New York, and has been responsible for organizing several artistic expos. She’s good at heuristic education, and teaches English expression, writing standard and skills for artwork in a careful and humorous way. What is also important is that she knows the specific weaknesses of Chinese students and helps them to perfect their language skills.