Amanda Thompson has been a Visual Art teacher at Western Middle School for the Arts since 2010. She joined LVA’s Children’s Fine Art Classes the same year. She was recently awarded the Baird Excellence Award Outstanding Teacher for Middle School 2023. She served as a Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence Teacher Fellow in 2022 and Classroom Teachers Enacting Positive Solutions fellow in 2020. In collaboration with LVA and PNC Broadway, her classes have participated in 3 separate art installations at Kentucky Center for the Arts for Blue Man Group, Little Mermaid, and Anastasia, the Musical.
arts education
Artists Talk with LVA: November 25, 2022
Squallis Puppeteers celebrates its 25th anniversary and Nora Christensen & Shawn Hennessey talk about that history with us. Tune in to WXOX 97.1 FM/Artxfm.com Thursdays at 10 am to hear Artists Talk with LVA.
Squallis Puppeteers has existed for twenty-five years and has always been dedicated to handmade and homespun. We have been making puppets, performing, and teaching children (and adults) in Louisville, Kentucky since 1997.
In 2003, Squallis Puppeteers Inc. became a nonprofit 501c-3 organization.
Our mission is to use the art of puppetry to free imaginations, create fantastic characters, and tell the stories that are important to our community.
Squallis is recognized as a positive and important part of the Louisville community, telling stories that challenge viewers to think, while reflecting values of citizenship, empathy, and collaboration.
Squallis has two full-time staff, Nora Christensen and Shawn Hennessey, who conduct most of the educational programs and two-person performances.