Our Team - Art Faculty

Annie Roth is a painter and illustrator at heart, but is happy to explore a variety of mediums.  Her work varies from large scale paintings on wood panels, to small illustrations for greeting cards and wedding stationary.  Annie is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati's Design, Art, Architecture, and Planing program with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.  She has participated in both local and national art shows, and has a coloring book featured in the permanent collection of the Chattanooga Public Library's zine library. 

Annie has been involved in various Cincinnati based art organizations including membership in Broadhope Art Collective, interning at Homemeadow Song Farm, and consigning art through Robot Inside and Rock, Paper, Scissors, and instructing painting parties at Painting with a Twist.  She has also participated in local craft fairs such as Luminocity, Crafty Supermarket, and Craft Menagerie.

Greg Newberry is a professional storyteller, writer, director and producer. He is a member of the Writers Guild of America and alumni of the Sundance Institute Producers Conference. Greg has optioned four screenplays to Hollywood producers.

His first screenplay attracted the interest of Tom Cruise. His second screenplay was optioned by Oscar and Emmy-winning producer Mark Johnson (Diner, Good Morning Vietnam, Rain Man, Bugsy, Donny Brasco, The Notebook, Narnia, Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul). His third screenplay was optioned by the Samuel Goldwyn Company. His fourth screenplay was the last script Jack Lemmon was attached to star in before his death. His fifth screenplay was called “the most ambitious script I’ve ever read,” by producer Mark Johnson. His latest screenplay, Guerilla Marketing, is being shopped by former Executive Producers at Paramount and Warner Brothers.

Greg wrote, directed and produced two award-winning short films, Beemer Baby and Homefree, which played at prestigious international film festivals. Homefree garnered the Best Actor award at the Dublin Film Festival in Ireland. Independent film guru John Pierson, author of the book Spike, Mike, Slackers, & Dykes: A Guided Tour Across a Decade of American Independent Cinema, named Beemer Baby one of the top 20 short films of the year. Both Homefree and Beemer Baby were screened by the Cincinnati Film Society at the Cincinnati Art Museum in an exclusive presentation of Greg's work.

Greg produced and directed his first stage play, Riding Shotgun, at Northern Kentucky University’s Corbett Theater to outstanding reviews in 2010. In 2012 and 2018, he wrote and performed spoken-word stories onstage at Cincinnati’s True Theater. He produced and directed another of his stage plays, Who is Amos Otis? at Cincinnati Memorial Hall in 2019. It was voted “Favorite Local Theater Production” in Movers & Makers magazine and considered for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama in 2020. He produced and directed it as an independent film in 2020. It received outstanding reviews, a 4.3 out of 5-star rating on Amazon Prime and won Best of Show and the Humanitarian Award at IndieFEST. It is distributed by Gravitas Ventures on Amazon Prime, iTunes, Tubi, Google Play and other streaming platforms.

In addition to movie screenplays and theatrical plays, Greg has enjoyed success in a wide range of writing disciplines that include branding, advertising copy, commercials, lyrics, poems, musicals, speeches, news releases, op-eds, brochures, themed entertainment productions, marketing plans, business plans, web sites and jingles.

Greg is also a producer, commercial director and creative director with over 30 years of advertising experience. He has written, produced and directed over 80 commercials and long-form film productions and won over 35 Addy, Telly and other advertising awards for his work.

In 2012, Greg spearheaded a Writing Workshop for Veterans sponsored by the Writers Guild of America and the National Endowment for the Arts to help veterans learn to write and discover their voice. The workshop was held quarterly at The Ohio State University for five years. He also conducts a Storytelling Workshop for corporations and non-profits. His latest workshop generated four award-winning short films by student filmmakers making their first film.

Greg is an adjunct professor of screenwriting at Cincinnati Stage College. He owns Squeaky Toy Advertising, a creative and branding firm as well as Squeaky Toy Films, a film and commercial production company.

Kerri Bram, a veteran artist and art educator, is the owner of Tea Stained Studio, a stained glass studio located in the Clifton/University Heights area of Cincinnati, Ohio. After spending 17 years teaching in the traditional classroom, decided it was time to start focusing on producing on her own. Kerri specializes in the design, construction and repair of architectural stained glass windows.

As an artist, she uses natural elements as the media for her work (glass, metal, rocks, wood and fibers) to alter both one’s perspective and relationship with their environment. Whether it be through her sculptures or her windows, I hope to stimulate a sense of place in the environment.

And, at the end of the day, Kerri loves the sound of breaking glass.

Krista Helton has over 17 years of sewing experience. In 2007, she started a quilting business from her home, and built a positive reputation in Tampa with her quilting. She has made and donated ribbon quilts to various hospitals throughout the state of Florida.

Krista is a graduate of The School of Advertising Art, and worked as a graphic designer for 10 years prior to getting into sewing and quilting. She has been conducting kids sewing lessons since 2019. 

Lainey Schwaner is a multidisciplinary artist originally from Cleveland, Ohio. She has lived and worked in Cincinnati since 2017. She graduated with her Bachelor of Fine Arts at the College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP) at the University of Cincinnati in the spring of 2022. Her current art practice focuses on printmaking and performance art. Her work aims to create a visual representation of memory, and is influenced by the things she sees, feels, and experiences. Interaction with the world around her is vital to making her work, as it is reflective of her life and experiences. 

Schwaner’s work has been featured in shows, including at PIQUE gallery’s 24-hour Perform-A-Thon at  the close of This Time Tomorrow, Basketshop Gallery’s Transmission 21: Circut Bending Event, and Sacramento Fine Arts Center’s National Juried Printmaking Exhibition: Aspiring Artists Debut. Schwaner’s involvement in arts organizations includes working as a Gallery Assistant at The Carnegie in Covington, Kentucky. She also runs an online art gallery, Alternative Gallery Space, and is working on forming an artist collective with like minded artists local to Cincinnati.