Michael Cuadrado Gonzalez is an artist from San Juan, Puerto Rico. He earned a BFA in Drawing from Pratt Institute in 2018 and an MFA in Painting & Printmaking from Yale University in 2024. Most recently, he attended the School of Criticism and Theory at Cornell University. His work has been exhibited nationally and internationally including Harkawik, SPURS Gallery, David Castillo, Yossi Milo, LVL3, Patient Info, North Loop, New Collectors, and Coco Hunday. He has attended residencies at the Ox-Bow School of Art and Artists’ Residency, Wassaic Project, and BOLT at the Chicago Artists Coalition.

Bethany Cordero, OPAL’s most recent Artist In Residence, is an interdisciplinary artist and a graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where she studied sculpture and fiber and material studies. Her work seeks to embody the essence of being while exploring issues of identity, memory, and the impermanence of self. Working with varied textile and fiber materials Bethany investigates with students how memories can be physically woven into meaningful, tactile art forms.

Catalina is an artist and educator from Colombia, South America with a BFA in painting from Universidad de Los Andes in Colombia, Catalina just received her Master’s in Art Education from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her principal medium is painting but she also likes to explore the use of textiles and fabrics.

Julie Sulzen has been painting professionally for over 25 years in Chicago, focusing primarily on urban landscape painting. Julie creates images of people, homes, neighborhoods, and the built environment, in order to bring an understanding of the emotional and aesthetic ties that people have to their surroundings. As a wife, mother, painter, and lifelong Chicago resident, she asks questions about her own gendered and class-status relationships within her community to help tell the particular stories of her experiences through art. Sulzen aims to share her knowledge, offer encouragement, and give guidance to students on their own unique path in the world of art.

Tony Armendariz (b. 1964, Chicago, IL) is an award-winning contemporary realist artist living and painting in Palatine, Illinois. His work focuses on figurative subjects rendered in watercolor. Graduating from the American Academy of Art in Chicago, he studied under renowned watercolor instructor Irving Shapiro.

Jesse Howard has been teaching Beginning and advanced drawing at OPAL for 15 years! Jesse’s artwork has appeared in many galleries nationwide and his career has been covered in many publications. His first major one-person show in 1984 was with Zriny Gallery. He also exhibited with the Chicago Cultural Center, 5+5 In Perspectives In Black Art and has work in both public and private collections.

Jackie is inspired by the environment and the lake where she lives, nature and seasons, and noticing beauty in everyday life. In teaching mixed media classes Jackie revisits and studies different artists and techniques over and over again, which leads to new paths to create artwork. She is also inspired by life drawing sessions and classes she takes.
Jackie graduated with a BA in studio art and history in 1992, and she has done graduate study in painting and art education.