Meet the Team

STAFF

Maija Kellner-Rode | Co-Founder Creative Director

  • Maija (she/her) is a process-driven painter, illustrator, and designer whose work explores healing, transformation, and self-compassion, often inspired by her deep connection to the natural world. Maija fiercely believes creativity has the power to heal and transform individual lives and communities. She believes cultivating space for young people to feel seen, heard and cared for is vital to the well-being of our collective futures.

    Based in Bend, Oregon, she is the owner and designer of Maija Rebecca Hand Drawn and has exhibited widely in solo and group shows across Bend, Los Angeles, and Hawaii. She was a 2023 Patricia Clark Artist in Resident at Scalehouse Gallery. She holds a BA in Sociology and Art from Western Oregon University and completed the Expressive Arts and Somatic Therapy Teacher Training at Tamalpa Institute. Since 2011, Maija has been creatively mentoring underserved youth within the Salem School District, at Grande Ronde Reservation, at P:ear Mentor, in Portland and was an art therapy intern at 100th Monkey Studio. Most recently, Maija has assisted at Pilot Butte Middle School with the Caldera Arts Program in Bend, Oregon and offers 1 on 1 teen mentoring. 

    As Co-Founder at The Open Arts Center, Maija fosters a deeply compassionate, process-driven approach to learning, creating spaces where participants feel seen, supported, and empowered to explore their own creative voice. She is excited to combine her love of working with teens and adults through intergenerational exchange and programming.

Claire Brislin | Co-Founder Teen Programs Director

  • Claire (she/her) is a writer, educator, performer and dancer who believes in the transformative power of passion-driven learning. She has been an educator since 2007, teaching high school and middle school English, humanities, creative writing and drama in schools across the country and the globe including, Colorado, Singapore, Alaska, Chile, Arizona, and Oregon (most recently at Cascades Academy and REALMS Middle School in Bend). She has also worked as a coach in various sports, as well as a dorm parent, a camp counselor, and mentor and volunteer at 826 Boston.

    She now teaches creative writing classes and mentors and tutors youth through her business For the JOY of Learning, often working directly with local schools and organizations such as the Deschutes Public Library, Bend Parks and Recreation, and the High Desert Museum.

    Claire Brislin has a Bachelor of Arts in English from Haverford College, a Master’s in Literature from Middlebury’s Bread Loaf School of English and an MFA in Writing for Children from Simmons University. Throughout her teaching career she has attended a range of professional development training in areas such as curriculum development, experiential learning, differentiated teaching and learning, diversity and inclusion, drug and alcohol safety, CPR and First Aid, and emergency response.

THE BOARD

Katie Dunbar | Board Secretary

  • Katie Dunbar is an artist, educator, and small business owner based in Central Oregon. She holds an MFA in Visual Studies from Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA), where she focused on critical art theory and studio practice. She earned her BFA from UC Santa Cruz with a minor in Education, including experiential teaching work in local public high schools.

    Katie’s practice explores themes of joy, sustainability, and vibrant depictions of life on earth through custom artwork, murals, and community collaborations. She has developed and led arts programming in both private and nonprofit settings, and her experience spans roles as a summer camp arts director, undergraduate admissions counselor, and university instructor. Currently, she teaches studio art courses at Oregon State University, Cascades, and co-owns Terranaut Beer, a local brewery where she serves as lead graphic artist and gallery curator.

    Katie is passionate about cultivating inclusive, engaging spaces for artistic growth and community. For several years, she has regularly engaged in an illustrative group called Doomshine, where conversations of environmentalism merge with heavy-metal and snowboarding cultures. Currently, she is the board Secretary at The Open Arts Center, and will be collaboratively developing the adult education classrooms, studio programs, exhibitions, and residencies with a focus on creative dialogue and community impact. 

Erin Stone | Board Treasurer

  • Erin Stone (she/her) is a nonprofit founder, arts administrator, and public arts programmer with over 20 years of experience leading transformative cultural initiatives that empower artists and strengthen communities. Born and raised in the San Fernando Valley and now based in Central Oregon, Erin has dedicated her career to building equitable arts ecosystems that bridge access, representation, and opportunity.

    As the Co-Founder and Executive Director of 11:11 Projects, Erin has produced hundreds of exhibitions, public art programs, and youth initiatives that have redefined how communities in Los Angeles’s San Fernando Valley engage with art and with each other. She has created platforms that center local voices, foster collaboration across disciplines, and activate underrecognized neighborhoods as cultural hubs.

    Erin began her professional journey as an educator supporting at-risk teens in special education before earning her degree in photography and visual communications. She later completed the Executive Program in Arts & Culture Strategy at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Policy & Practice. Her curatorial and community-based work—driven by a passion for culture, storytelling, and collective empowerment—has been featured in The New Yorker, Artillery Magazine, Hyperallergic, the LA Times, and highlighted by Spectrum News and NPR.

    A recognized leader in community building and artist advocacy, Erin has received numerous civic and national awards for her impact in expanding equitable access to the arts. She proudly serves on the Board of Directors for the Los Angeles Diversity Film Festival and The Open Arts Center in Bend, Oregon, continuing her commitment to advancing inclusion and representation across creative industries.

    Outside her professional work, Erin is a photographer, volunteer with Big Brothers Big Sisters, plant enthusiast, and along with her pit bull mix, Ash, she is an avid wanderer and traveler. 

Meghan Robins Teeter | Board President

  • Meghan Robins Teeter (she/her) is a freelance writer and editor with more than 10 years of experience in marketing, content management, and fundraising. Meghan studied English and philosophy at the University of Oregon and earned her Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the University of Nevada, Reno at Lake Tahoe.

    She recently completed her first novel about logging in Lake Tahoe (California/Nevada) in the 1860s, which explores the impacts colonial industrialization has had on the environment and Wa·šiw (Washoe) People who live here.

    She believes everyone has a story to tell and that writing is a skill that can be learned, enjoyed, but never mastered. She lives in Bend, Oregon, with her husband and daughter. When not writing or reading she can be found baking, drinking tea, and exploring the mountains (sometimes all at the same time!). You can read more of her work at meghanrobins.com and follow her on Substack at Odd Fodder/substack.com. 

Alicia Viani | Board Vice President

  • Alicia Viani (she/they), is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and somatic/body psychotherapist, professional musician, and floral artist. She spent her childhood in Indonesia and Japan before her family settled in Ashland, Oregon. Alicia was musically trained in classical oboe performance at Interlochen Arts Academy and Butler University, and did undergraduate ethnomusicology research during her two semesters abroad in Ghana, West Africa and Mongolia. Alicia believes the most powerful art emerges from honest and deep relationships with ourselves and others, across differences of culture and ideology.

    Alicia’s clinical therapy practice is guided by liberation, anti-racist, and decolonization frameworks. She specializes in supporting gender expansive (trans, non-binary, ENBY, cis, etc.) and BIPOC clients, and is committed to affirm all cultures, incomes, gender identity, sexual orientations, and relationship/family make-ups (i.e. blended, foster, adoptive, multi-racial, non-monogamous, monogamous, etc). Alicia has guest lectured at colleges and universities in the U.S. and internationally. She has been a therapist and advocate in public schools, intensive community and home-based services, and community mental health agencies. Alicia has a private practice in Bend.

    Post-grad (MSW, Portland State University 2009) experience includes a Fulbright Grant to conduct research on mental wellness and sexuality in Finland, which culminated in the book (translated to Finnish), “Yhtäkkiä oivalsin, mistä seksissä on kyse!: nuorten naisten kokemuksia seksuaalisesta kasvusta ja nautinnosta (“Awakenings!: young women's experiences of sexual growth and pleasure), [Väestöliitto, Väestöntutkimuslaitos 2013].” Her writing residency in Northern Finland lit a passion for structured artistic communities. She aims to increase residency opportunities in central Oregon for diverse artists with a social and environmental justice lens to help our community grow empathy and interconnectednesscelebrating cultural differences via the medium of art.  

    Alicia recorded a self-titled, critically acclaimed debut album in Nashville in 2019. Singles charted in the Folk Alliance International “Folk Chart” in February 2020 in all three categories: top Album (#4), top Songs (#7, #11, and #21), and top Artist (#7) based on 13,600 plays from 491 playlists submitted by 125 Folk DJs around the world. Alicia is the singer-songwriter and lead for the Alicia Viani Band based in Bend, with Pete Kartsounes, Mark Karwan, and Scott Oliphant.

    Love After Love Flowers is Alicia’s newest creative project. In her backyard flower farm, Alicia grows and dries the majority of the flowers and plants used in her unique creations. She also practices ethical harvesting. Her work has been commissioned by local businesses and restaurants in central Oregon and beyond, and she values being part of the local artist community at Maker’s Markets. 

    When not doing the above, Alicia is usually connecting with her wonderful community, walking her dog in the desert or woods, or skiing fast. 

Landis Coutzoukis | Advisory Board

  • Landis Coutzoukis is an executive coach and organizational leadership expert with deep experience empowering engineering teams to work with clarity, autonomy, and impact. With over 15 years leading teams and initiatives at Google and DoorDash, she has led large-scale efforts that strengthen systems, processes, and culture across fast-growing organizations.

    Alongside her work in technology, Landis is deeply committed to the arts as a catalyst for creativity, belonging, and human connection. A multidisciplinary creative and lifelong musician, she is currently at work on her first album. As an advisory board member, she brings strategic insight, operational excellence, and a passion for fostering vibrant creative communities to support OAC’s mission and long-term growth.

Hannah Terrell | Advisory Board

  • Hannah discovered early on that she was passionate about improving workplaces for the people who spent their lives there. From her first job as a gymnastics coach to helping manage a paint your own pottery store, Hannah did what she could to improve processes and bring joy and efficiency to each space. Her skill and passion for that work led her to a career in HR and company culture, where she now has ten years of progressive experience. While Hannah is energized by creating people-focused systems and processes, her proudest moments have been in coaching conversations guiding leaders and team members through challenging moments. 

    Hannah’s people-focused career has been influenced by lifelong health challenges that led her to studying yoga and movement. She has a BS in Exercise Science and multiple certifications in leadership and yoga/fitness; she most recently completed a trauma-informed yoga teacher course. Hannah believes the principles of yoga and healthy breathing and movement can be applied in any environment, and will often lead teams in a breathing exercise before jumping into a discussion on strategy.


    Creating art and building community have been cornerstones throughout Hannah’s life through wonderful and difficult times. Before moving to Oregon in 2018, she co-built a community of adult acrobats and at one point had 50+ people gathering on a weekly basis. When she moved to Bend, she joined the Bend Young Professionals (now Bend Emerging Talent) led by the Bend Chamber, and eventually served as co-chair of the advisory council for the group. She has been a poet since she knew how to write, and she now shares her work on her Substack publication called This Loud House and her Instagram @iamhannahpaige. She is grateful for the opportunity to serve the OAC, and would be delighted to see you at one of the community poetry nights.

Bola Gbadebo | Advisory Board

Bill LePore | Board Member

  • William LePore (b. New Jersey) is a painter and printmaker living and working in the Pacific Northwest for over four decades. His work has been exhibited nationally and internationally in galleries, museums and art centers including the Northwest Biennial, Tacoma Art Museum, WA, Prints USA, Springfield Art Museum, MO, Oregon Biennial, Portland Art Museum, Sacramento Center for the Arts, CA, Palm Desert Museum, CA, Peninsula Fine Arts Center, VA, Oregon Arts Commission, Governor’s Exhibition, capital building, Salem, Coos Art Museum, OR, Hyundai Art Gallery, Seoul, South Korea. University of Ulsan, South Korea. William retired from Portland State University as a Professor of Art and the Director of the School of Art and Design. Numerous academic awards include being a Fulbright recipient. His work has been reviewed in various publications including Art in America.

Jake Kenobi | Ex Officio

  • Jake Kenobi (he/him) is a local Bend artist working under the moniker Spring Break Jake. With a career that’s evolved from graphic design to illustration to mural painting to fine art, Jake has a lifelong passion for all forms of art and creativity as well as a dedication to advocating for mental health issues in his practice. Having experienced struggles with mental illness himself, Jake can attest to the immensely positive impacts of creative endeavors on wellbeing and the joy of building community through art.

    In the Central Oregon area, Jake has lead multiple youth art workshops in collaboration with the High Desert Museum. Other speaking engagements include a panel discussion on the impact of art on health & well-being at the Reno Tahoe International Art Show, an artist talk at The Purple Door Gallery in Portland with his actual therapist, and an in-depth interview on the Seen Art podcast.

    When not drawing or painting, Jake can be found with his wife Kait, son Casper, and dog Boom all over town, from hiking in Shevlin Park to having delicious tea at the Pantry to reading every single fire truck book at the library. You can learn more at springbreakjake.com or @springbreak.jake on Instagram.

  • Bola Gbadebo is a filmmaker, storyteller, and founder of BolaFilms, a media production company that creates human-centered, story-driven promotional videos, connecting businesses with their audiences. Based in Central Oregon, Bola blends journalism and cinematic storytelling to build trust and prompt action.

    She moved to Bend in 2021 as a local news reporter and eventually became the morning news anchor for NewsChannel21, where she honed her ability to turn complex stories into clear, engaging narratives. Today, she brings that same rigor and creativity to documentaries such as Your Invisible Neighbor, which premiered during Bend’s Welcoming Week, a project born from collaboration between organizations and communities to foster understanding and empathy.

    Fueled by curiosity, compassion, and creativity, Bola has been telling stories since childhood, from short stories and spoken word pieces to investigative news reports and now promotional videos and documentary films. She studied Sociology and Business Marketing at the University of California–Riverside, deepening her understanding of social dynamics to better communicate diverse life experiences.

    Outside filmmaking, Bola has written thousands of haiku, aiming to create one every day. She also remains deeply engaged in her community, moderating interviews and panels that intersect storytelling with social impact.