Visual Arts

Connecticut College - BA

Katy Wood Hills, the Upper School visual arts teacher, graduated from Connecticut College with a BA in Art and a concentration in Painting and Drawing. She also studied at Maine College of Art. She was the Museum Educator at the Florence Griswold Museum in Old Lyme, Conn., and she has worked as a full-time artist, selling her oil paintings. Hills has shown her work at several galleries, including The Cooley Gallery in Old Lyme, Conn., and the Vose Galleries of Boston. Hills has taught at CA since 2009. Outside of the art studio, you will find her visiting her home state of Vermont or skiing. Hills also served on the Loveland Basin Ski Patrol for four years.

Albright College - BA
Maryland Institute College of Art - MA

Octavia Betz, before joining CA in fall 2022 as Upper and Middle School digital media instructor, taught elementary and middle school studio and digital art for six years at Aspen Academy in Denver, where she was Visual Arts Chair. Previously, she taught lower school art at the Garrison Forest School in Maryland and at York Country Day School. Betz holds a BA in Art Education from Albright College and an MA in Art and Art Education from Maryland Institute College of Art. She enjoys helping students to find themselves in their work and to cultivate their creative voice. Betz also serves as advisor for students producing CA’s yearbook, Telesis.

New South Wales University, Sydney, Australia - BAEd

Karen Donald came to CA in Fall 2019 from having taught visual arts, digital media, visual design and information, and software technology in New South Wales, Australia. She designed curriculum and taught in an upper school that offers an International Baccalaureate Diploma in the Visual Arts. She holds a Bachelor of Art Education in Fine Arts, and she studied abroad at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. As a high school student, she was honored with the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award, the world’s leading youth achievement award.

Brigham Young University - BA

Alecia Maher came to CA in 2018 with 12 years of experience as a ceramics teacher. Maher has taught in schools in the United States and internationally. While teaching at a private school in Nicaragua, she learned how to harvest and process clay and to use natural materials for surface decoration. Maher earned her BA in Fine Art from Brigham Young University and completed a teacher licensure program at Colorado College. In her spare time, she enjoys hiking, cooking, and making things with clay.

St. Edward's University - BFA

Jorge Antonio Muñoz-Bedore came to CA in Fall 2019 from the Lancaster School in Mexico City, where he was working as a Primary Visual Arts teacher and a Learning Support teacher since 2016. Prior to his work there, he taught at The American School of Pachuca in Pachuca, Hidalgo, Mexico, and the El Buen Samaritano Episcopal Mission in Austin, Texas. Munoz has taught Drawing, Painting, Sculpture, Photography, and Video Production. He is fluent in English and Spanish and has experience as well in French and Italian. He earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from St. Edward’s University in Austin, Texas, and studied abroad in Florence. He holds licensure from the University of Buckingham, certification in International Baccalaureate, and Teaching English as a Foreign Language certification from TEFL International in Chiapas, Mexico. He is a graduate of St. Stephen’s Episcopal School in Austin.

Michigan State University - BFA

Stashia Taylor joined Colorado Academy in 2017 as a Visual Arts Teacher with eight years of experience working in both public and private schools across the country. In addition to her work as an art teacher, Taylor has served with Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado & Avid4 Adventure, bringing together her passion for the arts and the outdoors. She has a background in graphic design and received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio Art from Michigan State University in East Lansing. She earned her K-12 Art Education certification from Metropolitan State University in Denver.