Our instructors set us apart.
Whether they are industry professionals, practicing artists, or university instructors, they are all experts in their fields. Our instructors work closely with students to understand their individual learning styles and elevate their skills to the next level.
Architecture
M.Arch, University of Toronto
Chee is a Vancouver based educator and architect, currently working at Cutler Architecture. In the past, he worked at many renowned architecture firms around the world and participated in major projects, including Hongkou SOHO with Kengo Kuma, Prince Plaza with OMA and French International School with Henning Larsen.
Architect AIBC
M.Arch, University of Toronto
Hong is an architect based in Vancouver and has worked in Vancouver and Seoul for over 10 years in architectural design. His project experience varies from mid/high rise residential, cultural, recreation, and education. He has been fascinated by how people perceive space and how it forms collective spatial memory. Recently he started to investigate the correlation between human intuition and the machine in the design process, immaterial architecture, and architecture as image.
B.Arch / BFA, Rhode Island School of Design
Lilly Zhang holds dual degrees in Architecture and Fine Arts from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). Prior to joining GAAC, she worked at Arno Matis Architecture (OKU Residential Project) and 3SIX0 Architecture (Brown University NCE Building Project). In addition to experiences in the architectural design sector, she has a background in teaching, program development, and student management.
Architect AIBC
M.Arch, Southern California Institute of Architecture
Alan is a registered architect in British Columbia. Alan’s experience includes working in Coop Himmelblau in Vienna, UNStudio in Shanghai, and Arno Matis Architecture in Vancouver. The recipient of numerous awards, including the Red Dot Award in Germany, the A’ Design Award in Italy, Muse Design Award in New York, he currently is a head of WAY Studio in Vancouver.
M. Arch, MIT
Austin Wade Smith is an architect, design technologist, and researcher based in Brooklyn, New York. After studying biology and receiving an M.Arch at MIT 16', he is currently an adjunct faculty member at the Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture at the Cooper Union and co-founder of the design studio Helloeverything.
M. Arch, MIT
Lucy Siyao Liu is an artist and architectural designer based in New York. She is currently teaches Experimental Foundation Studies at Rhode Island School of Design and The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. In the past she taught in the MIT Art, Culture and Technology Program and the MIT Department of Architecture.
M.Arch, University of Pennsylvania School of Design
Jasmine Gao is an architectural designer at HDR in New York City. Prior to this, she was a designer at AECOM, Roula Architecture Association, and Morlen Sinoway Atelier. She received her Bachelor of Interior Design from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Master of Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania. She is an alumna of Harvard Graduate School of Design’s Design Discovery program and studied abroad at the Architecture Association School of Architecture in London, England.
Portfolio Development | Foundation
Artist
Alison imparts her knowledge of drawing and painting enthusiastically while constantly enlarging her own body of work. As a professional artist and exceptional art instructor. with a rich background in the arts, she brings extensive experience and mastery of various mediums to the classroom. Their talent is matched by a passion for teaching, making art accessible and enjoyable for students of all levels.
BFA, Illustration, Rhode Island School of Design
Ocean Wong is a queer non-binary artist from Hong Kong. They graduated from Rhode Island School of Design with a major in Illustration. Ocean's work focuses on creating characters and stories that raise awareness of under-represented cultures. Having gone through IB Diploma and and portfolio preparation themselves, Ocean understands the expectations of higher education programs.
Multi-media Visual Artist
Tida is a multimedia visual artist who is versatile in both traditional and digital media. She graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Chulalongkorn University major visual painting in 2007 with a gold honor award. Her creative art career has taken her around the world, producing art and design work for clients in Japan, Thailand, US, and Italy. Since moving to Canada, Tida carried on her career as a visual and concept artist and illustrator for various North American and UK video game and media production studios. In 2018 she co-founded her own independent sequential art and game studio and successfully launched her own game to international and critical acclaim.
BFA, Emily Carr University of Art and Design
Hyunkyung is an animation concept artist and illustrator who was born in Korea. She majored in 2D animation from Emily Carr University of Art and Design. Her favorite task is designing characters by directly observing people. She has extensive experience in animation concept art, character design, and digital illustration work, and is always ready to share her experiences with students.
Concept Art | Animation | Illustration
BFA, Emily Carr University of Art and Design
Hyunkyung is an animation concept artist and illustrator who was born in Korea. She majored in 2D animation from Emily Carr University of Art and Design. Her favorite task is designing characters by directly observing people. She has extensive experience in animation concept art, character design, and digital illustration work, and is always ready to share her experiences with students.
BFA, Illustration, Rhode Island School of Design
Ocean Wong is a queer non-binary artist from Hong Kong. They graduated from Rhode Island School of Design with a major in Illustration. Ocean's work focuses on creating characters and stories that raise awareness of under-represented cultures. Having gone through IB Diploma and and portfolio preparation themselves, Ocean understands the expectations of higher education programs.
Design
Architect AIBC
M.Arch, Southern California Institute of Architecture
Alan is a registered architect in British Columbia. Alan’s experience includes working in Coop Himmelblau in Vienna, UNStudio in Shanghai, and Arno Matis Architecture in Vancouver. The recipient of numerous awards, including the Red Dot Award in Germany, the A’ Design Award in Italy, Muse Design Award in New York, he currently is a head of WAY Studio in Vancouver.
MS. ArtCenter College of Design
Chase Airmet is a product designer based out of Austin TX where he has taught design and research basics at the University of Texas at Austin for the iSchool. After completing a MS in Industrial Design from ArtCenter College of Design in 15’ he has focused his work in the healthcare space creating experiences and products to serve patients, physicians, and nurses across the United States for athenahealth, Siemens Healthcare, and now Ascension.
BFA, Industrial Design, Rhode Island School of Design
Austen Li is a Vancouver-based UI/UX designer working at Global Relay. With experience in fast-paced startups, Austen primarily focuses on creating user-friendly interfaces that provide the users with the smoothest experience when interacting with a product.
New York School of Interior Design
Maggie is currently the head of IDA's New York branch and the director of IDA's International Teaching and Research Department. She is committed to studying the theory of artistic thinking and exploring various teaching models, and in traditional arts. She seeks to construct a new perspective on the basis of teaching. Adopt heuristic creative teaching in teaching, emphasizing that the core meaning of the work is greater than the technique itself.
New Media | Film
BFA Film, Simon Fraser University
Sammy is an interdisciplinary artist who is pioneering new ways of integrating new media into performance while keeping the lines blurred between artistic disciplines. As the co-founder and artistic director of Chimerik Collective, he is also a mentor to many emerging artists who are interested in his style of boundary busting art.
Cinematographer, Videographer
Roger Black has been a Cinematographer, Videographer, Soundman, Editor and Photographer in various capacities for over 25 years. He has worked as an Instructor at the College and Corporate level. He also has experience in the TV and Film industry and well as in the Computer field. He is well rounded in both the artistic and technical areas.
Fashion | New York Fashion Week
Professor of Parsons The New School
Global Mentor / Fashion Influencer
Susanna is an entrepreneurial creative director, executive, and educator. She has managed multimillion-dollar brands, developed business strategies, and elevated the level of design teams, driving business outcomes. Her experience in the women's and men's fashion industry has led her to work with many renowned brands, including Christian Dior Paris, Liz Claiborne, and Hickey Freeman. Over the course of 10 years, Susanna designed, funded, and oversaw operations for her eponymous line, which was carried in Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, and over 250 specialty stores. Currently, Susanna is a professor at Parsons School of Design, teaching BFA and MPS courses, and also a professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT).enjoying the challenges of new subjects, mediums and genres.
MFD, Universidad de Buenos Aires
Javier Estebecorena is an award winning Fashion Designer who received international acclaim for his clothing brand HE (Hermanos Estebecorena) that operated globally for over 17 years producing innovative and functional design. Javier has over 20 years in Academia teaching design in Buenos Aires University, VCad and Lassalle Colleges; and Design Thinking Consultancy through in house programs and Executive MBA courses, working with public and private sector clients.
Drawing and Painting (Gr.1-6)
Artist
Yamah Yusufi is an Illustrator and 3D Artist who was born in Vancouver, majoring in 3D Modelling and Animation from Visual College of Art and Design with a love for designing characters. Yamah has extensive experience working with characters in 3D and 2D mediums in a variety of art styles and greatly enjoys working with people of all ages, happy to share the knowledge mastered over the years.
Multi-media Visual Artist
Tida is a multimedia visual artist who is versatile in both traditional and digital media. She graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Chulalongkorn University major visual painting in 2007 with a gold honor award. Her creative art career has taken her around the world, producing art and design work for clients in Japan, Thailand, US, and Italy. Since moving to Canada, Tida carried on her career as a visual and concept artist and illustrator for various North American and UK video game and media production studios. In 2018 she co-founded her own independent sequential art and game studio and successfully launched her own game to international and critical acclaim.
Contemporary Artist
Marzieh A Fakhr, born in 1981, is an Iranian contemporary artist whose work centers on the provocative and sensual aspects of human nature and the physical body. Marzieh shared her expertise in the field of painting as an instructor for more than 10 years. She worked with students on both a group and individual basis, teaching creative design and painting techniques, including coloured pencil, watercolour, oil painting and acrylic.
Contemporary Artist
BFA, Moore College of Art & Design
MFA, OCAD
Nicole Melnicky is a contemporary artist based out of Vancouver, BC. She received her MFA in Interdisciplinary Art, Media, and Design at OCAD University in Toronto, ON. She obtained her BFA from Moore College of Art and Design in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with a major in Fine Art, along with minors in Textile Design, and Art History.
Contemporary Artist
MA, UBC
Mariela Rojas Farias (She/her/hers) has been a Chilean artist teacher and researcher in Vancouver since 2019. She Came to Canada to pursue graduate studies in the Master of Arts in Art Education at the University of British Columbia. She is a mixed media artist who feels comfortable working, especially with ceramics and textiles. She enjoys working with people of all ages, especially with children. She loves meditative walking in the Pacific Spirit Regional Park.
Visual Artist
BFA, McGill University
MFA, UBC
Alejandra Morales is a visual artist from Monterrey, Mexico. She received her BA from McGill University in 2016 and recently completed her MFA in Visual Arts at the University of British Columbia. She works mostly on large scale paintings made with oil and acrylics, which she sees as distorted and baroque other-worlds through which she explores traditional female ideals as well as the social practices of her natal city.