Our Team

Myranda oversees the Joy for Seniors program as Director for the project. She laid the initial foundation of the program and has ensured its continued success by securing grant funding, overseeing program planning and logistics, developing the Professional Development Artist Residency training program, and working with local care facilities and community partners to create the greatest impacts for underserved seniors in our community. Myranda is a trained educator with an advanced degree in music from the University of North Texas and more than twenty years of experience developing and leading educational arts and cultural programs for audiences of diverse ages, abilities, and levels of experience. She works closely with staff, volunteers, and artists to ensure program activities are engaging, empowering, and accessible to older adults and individuals with disabilities.

Clare provides arts instruction and leads the development of collaborative arts projects for participants in the Joy for Seniors program. She is a professional full-time artist in the Austin area working in a variety of media, including stained glass, photography, illustration, and mixed media. For many years she taught science at the university level with a PhD in Entomology specializing in Animal Behavior. Her scientific career in academia as well as her lifelong immersion in Western classical music enriches and informs her approach to devising engaging arts activities for audiences of all ages, levels, and abilities. She has extensive experience in the classroom where she uses her creativity, wisdom, and passion for education to develop a deep appreciation for the visual arts and how they intertwine with our daily lives.

Aidé assists with arts classes, activities, and events for the Joy for Seniors program. Originally from Mexico and now based in Austin, she is a talented creative with experience working in 3-D and 2-D visual arts mediums, including ceramics, bee wax sculpture, stitching, illustration, and painting. She has a passion for volunteerism and enjoys working with seniors and older adults.

Renee provides hands-on assistance to artist instructors and participants during Joy for Seniors classes and events. She is a self-taught artist and writer with a passion for social justice and equity. From a very young age she has sought to imagine solutions to the world’s problems through art and creative thought. A native Austinite, Renee is currently pursuing a degree in mixed media and liberatory fiction at Hampshire College in Massachusetts.

Kate Buckner is an artist and maker working primarily in fiber arts, including textiles, sewing, embroidery, and knit and crochet. She has a degree in apparel design from Cornell University and has also had a career as a software developer. Her previous experience leading classes at an arts-centric summer camp showed her the delight that creating can bring to people of all ages. She is looking forward to bringing the power of the arts to her community here in Austin.

Marga is an multi-disciplinary artist originally from Monterrey, Mexico. She began her artistic journey through the mediums of painting, drawing, and black and white photography. Motivated by her curiosity to experiment with different forms of expression, she expanded to other mediums including crochet and video editing. She is particularly passionate about combining art with community, and her current projects concentrate on incorporating themes of social justice and promoting dignity among the communities she works with.

Kirti is a proud Indian American artist, driven by a passion born from her youth when she was inspired by the Indian folk art, rangolis (mandalas), present in her daily life. She still incorporates the intricate patterns from Indian folk art into her current artistic work. A career shift away from the tech world allowed her to follow her heart into making and teaching art. Now she fills her time painting, submitting for exhibitions and competitions, fulfilling commissions, and teaching children. She views it as one of her life’s purposes to bring more awareness to the benefits of art and its therapeutic healing properties, especially needed in these challenging times.