Nan Young
Executive Director

Nan Young has been teaching art and communications for over 20 years. She started out as a small theater director, followed by 10 years as an English teacher/drama director. She established Art Trek, a hands on visual and performing arts program that brings quality sequential art lessons into elementary schools. 

Nan currently chairs the 2010 Hands on Activities for the Thousand Oaks Arts Festival at the Civic Arts Center.  As a frequent keynote or inspirational speaker, her voice of optimism and artful guidance has reached thousands of parents and art teachers, as well as general classroom teachers.

Nan and her staff currently train 400 Art Trek docents and facilitate teacher extension workshops throughout Ventura County. The docents reach nearly 12,000 students at least twice per month. 

An artist herself, she knows that appreciating, having a literate knowledge of, and creating art all add immeasurable depth to our lives.
  

Gerri Chopin Wendel
Associate Director

Gerri’s background is in Industrial/Organizational Psychology and the study of how to motivate and encourage cooperative management in the work force. She has always enjoyed the study of people and exploring what motivates them.

Gerri started teaching Art Trek in her own children’s classrooms as a volunteer docent in Thousand Oaks.  In 1998 she began working with Art Trek. She co-facilitates teacher workshops, trains volunteer docents and teaches as an Art Specialist in Art Trek’s site instruction schools. She thoroughly enjoys teaching and working with both children and adults and is thrilled to see their joy when art is introduced into their lives. Gerri specializes in mosaic tiling. She is a frequent lecturer in local high schools and book clubs on the life of Kate Chopin (paternal Great-Grandmother) and author of The Awakening.
  

Lorelle Patterson

Although Lorelle was a theater major at Northwestern University, she also took many art classes while studying there. While working as a professional actress, she spent MANY hours at the Pottery Studio indulging her “clay addiction.” She gave up both acting and clay when she had her two sons and became a full time Mom. Needing a less-messy-stay-at-home creative outlet, she took up quilting. This is Lorelle’s seventh year teaching with Art Trek, and her quilting space is now covered with painting supplies.
   

Nanelle Voss

Growing up in L.A., the mecca of the entertainment industry and having a Mom who was a cartoonist for Hanna Barbara, how could she not get involved in the arts? Nanelle graduated from a Catholic High School in the Valley and from the Interior Design Institute in Newport Beach and immediately jumped into the design world. She worked for a relatively large model home design firm called Creative Design Consultants for many years. Nanelle became a Docent for Art Trek in Palos Verdes! She jumped at the chance not only to teach art but also to give back to the community! Nanelle currently teaches in 6 downtown Los Angeles schools.
  

Sherry Doyle 

Like so many of our staff members, Sherry got involved with Art Trek as a volunteer docent in her children’s classrooms. Sherry has been on staff at Art Trek for 10 years, following her many volunteer years in the Ojai schools. An active environmentalist, an outdoor educator and enthusiast, an open-space advocate and a watercolorist in her own right, Sherry brings organizational talent, teaching excellence and arts devotion to our program.  
 

Andy Ashcroft 

Andy has been a professional game designer since the mid-90's; making games for the PC, Playstation, Nintendo DS, Wii, Dreamcast and iPhone.  He earned a BFA in Graphic Design from UCLA, takes care of an iguana named Tiberius Drackus, is married to a beautiful and funny wife named Jackie Kashian, and has a load of friends that he enjoys playing games with.  Andy just recently won "Best Use of Narrative" for a game called "The Time Traveler's Knife" that he ran at the Come Out and Play (2010) festival of experimental games.