Brooklyn Design Lab would not be what it is without our instructors. All our teachers are professionals in their field and are working artists. Please read more about them below, and visit their websites to see them in action! AMY YANG : classes for 18m-4's, Product Design, T-Shirt Design, Hat Cap and Beanie Design, Robots+Aliens, Summer Lab

Amy has a BFA from NYU, Tisch School of the Arts. Her photography has been exhibited throughout New York City and internationally. Amy spent a few years in the web world, and served as Creative Director of Screaming Media where she worked with Jay Chiat (he had great shoes). Amy is also the Amy in Lily+Amy, LLC, the clothing company she created with her mom. Lily+Amy outfits babies, kids, and grown-ups.

Teaching has always been a passion for Amy. She has worked in the Studio in a School's Early Childhood Program, as well as Medical Center Nursery School (an early childhood school affiliated with and supported by Columbia University) and Brooklyn Free Space preschool. Currently, she is entering her eighth year at Parsons School of Design, Pre-College Academy.

And, if you think you might have seen Amy feeding the sea lions and training the pigs at the Central Park Zoo a few years ago, you'd be right!

Amy lives in Park Slope with her husband and two children, Luna (5) and Mars (1.5).

www.lilyandamy.com NINA FRENKEL : Cartooning+Illustration, Robots+Aliens

Nina is an illustrator and animator based in Park Slope, Brooklyn. She studied drawing and painting for a BA from Carleton College (MN) and continued her education at The School of Visual Concepts (Seattle) and The School of Visual Arts (New York).

She began illustrating in 1996 for Slate Magazine and works for educational, commercial, editorial, and publishing clients. Nina's Hungarian ancestors, the Kners have been very influential on her work as a commercial artist.

Nina has been teaching Animation Design in the Pre-College Academy at Parsons School of Design, New York, since 2006, and has taught Illustration at Pratt Institute's Manhattan Campus.

www.ninafrenkel.com TOM EATON : Comic Book Heroes, Classic Animation Machines

Tom Eaton draws and writes comics and animation in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. He's worked on animated television series for Cartoon Network, PBS, the Disney Channel, and Nickelodeon.

His animated short film "Don't Smash" is a crowd-pleaser with kids, winning the Audience Award in Brooklyn's 2008 kidsfilmfest, as well as the Gold Award in Preschool at the 2008 Chinh India Kids Film Festival. He's also animated music videos for Details.com, Sufjan Stevens, and the Danielson Famile.

Tom also teaches Animation at Queens College and Kingsborough Community College, and has taught After Effects at Cooper Union.

www.goodeaton.com MOLLIE DASH : Eco Jewelry Design

Mollie is a Brooklyn-based jewelry designer who loves to repurpose old pieces and fashion them into contemporary designs. She is an avid collector, finding her parts at flea markets, yard sales and thrift stores. She sells her work on molliedash.com and at Brooklyn boutiques Sodafine and Old Hollywood.

Mollie received a BFA in Painting and Printmaking from Virginia Commonwealth University. She has also studied metalsmithing and is a self-taught graphic and web designer. Her jewelry making turned from hobby to profession while working at Ritual Adornments in Santa Monica, California. While honing her skills providing design and construction help to customers, she became a teacher there as well. Mollie has taught classes in wire wrapping and stringing and knotting, and developed her own classes in mixed media construction and hand made clasps.

www.molliedash.com ROSE NESTLER : Mini Lab

Rose is a Brooklyn based mixed-media artist who finds her inspiration in forgotten found objects and the unnoticed, discreet details of urban life. She holds a BA from Mount Holyoke College in Fine Art and Art History. This year, Rose was awarded a studio residency at the Supporting Women Artists Project (SWAP) and has exhibited work at galleries in New York and Chicago. Her past residencies include Byrdcliffe Artists Colony, NY Studio Gallery ARTcamp, Harold Arts, and Vermont Studio Center.

Working as a teaching artist for the past 2 years, Rose now teaches after-school and in-school residency programs through The Joan Mitchell Foundation, Wingspan Arts and Brooklyn Arts Council.

www.rosenestler.com JANE ARCHER : Things That Go Go Go!

Jane Archer began illustrating during childhood summer visits to her mother's hometown in the hills of southern Italy. Immersed in the culture and language for months at a time, she found herself infinitely inspired by the amazing creative energy of the country. She spent blissful days filling quaderni (Italian school notebooks) with cutting-edge fashions and teen comic tales of love and travel.

Jane grew and sketched onward, honing her craft at the University of Mary Washington in VA, the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, and in her various book design and art department roles at Random House and Simon and Schuster.

Today Jane is an Art Director and Illustrator based out of Brooklyn, NY. She is the creator and designer of a signature stationery line for Clarkson Potter/Random House called p.s. bella by jane archer-a gift product collection sold all over the world. The p.s bella line includes gift packaging, journals, and interactive note cards featuring Jane's custom surface patterns and illustrations. Jane has illustrated numerous magazines and books, including the popular BAP Handbook, and she created and animated the teen characters on www.gurlthang.com. Jane's recent book design projects include the book interiors for Freakin' Fabulous by Clinton Kelly (host of The Learning Channel's successful show What Not to Wear), Katie Lee's cookbooks The Comfort Table and The Comfort Table: Recipes for Everyday Occasions, and Crafternoon by Maura Madden (a project that inspired Jane to host craft parties of her own, to great success!) http://www.designrelated.com/psbella

Jane also has many years of experience working with and creating art with children. In her role as Director of Bellevue Events for the Inkwell Foundation (www.inkwellfoundation.org) Jane designs and leads monthly drawing workshops for patients in Bellevue's child psychiatric unit. She is also currently at work on illustrating and designing an empowering and uplifting cd for children (www.myspace.com/jumpingthroughhoops) created by Park Slope child-psychiatrist and violinist, Dr. Kari Groff-Denis.

www.psbella.com