Craft & Art Studio & Home in Baxter, Tennessee
Our mission is to nurture creativity through hands-on workshops.
Our nonprofit emerged from a passion for art and the desire to create a welcoming space for artistic expression.
Carol Ventura and her late husband, Andrzej Gutek, built their energy efficient ICF studio and home with the hope that it would someday become a public art center. Carol established the 501(c)3 nonprofit in 2026 so now Carol & Andrzej’s Studio & Home is the Craft & Art Studio & Home.
Meet our Board of Directors
Carol Ventura
President and Treasurer
Carol has an MA in ceramics, an MFA in printmaking, and a PhD in art. She taught ceramics, photography, printmaking, silversmithing, enameling, basketry, crochet, and weaving before becoming the art historian at Tennessee Technological University in 1994. She retired in 2021 as Professor Emerita. https://www.carolventura.com/ .
Shayna Snider
Secretary
Shayna teaches art at Hume-Fogg Academic High School in Nashville. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Art History and a Master’s Degree in Teaching from New York’s School of Visual Art. Achievements include 2017 Tennessee Governor’s School Teacher of the Year, 2022 MNPS Blue Ribbon Teacher distinction, 2023 Claes Nobel Educator of Distinction, 2024 Hume-Fogg High School Teacher of the Year, and being listed as an educator with student artwork in the 2022 Scholastic Art and Writing Awards’ Best of High School Art publication.
Mitch White
Board Member
After studying painting in high school, Mitch pursued a degree in art education at Tennessee Technological University with an emphasis in oil painting under the instruction of Christine Koczwara. He has served as a faculty member in the Fine Arts Department of Cookeville High School for many years, and was a co-proprietor of The Clark House in Livingston, Tennessee. https://www.mitchellwhite.com/