Who We Are
Mission Statement
The Firefly Environmental Arts Project is intended as a unique initiative in our tri-state corner (CT, NY, MA) to nurture student creativity, stewardship, and community through collaboration with professional artists, educators, and environmentalists.
Vision Statement
We envision this collaborative effort as a means of celebrating the extraordinary natural beauty of our region by encouraging artistic expression as well as constructive student dialogue and action toward the ongoing issues of sustainability and climate change.
“As poet Amanda Gorman so aptly put it: ‘For there is always light if only we’re brave enough to see it. If only we’re brave enough to be it.’ Firefly Environmental Arts Project wants to encourage students to “be the light” as they confront the issues of our environment.”
Firefly Project Director
Event Coordinator
Deb Schlee received her Bachelor’s Degree in Art History from Harvard. She formerly organized and co-led art trips abroad for high school students. She is passionate about environmental and sustainability issues and is a member of the Kent Sustainability Team. She is an avid photographer whose photos have been featured in several publications. Her photography focuses on the beauty of nature and rural living.
Advisory Board Members
Michelle Borsavage
Michelle joins the Firefly Environmental Arts Program as the Dean of STEM at South Kent School. She holds a BS in Secondary Education and Chemistry from the University of Vermont and an MA in Teacher Leadership from Mount Holyoke College. Her passion for education centers around building community, sparking curiosity, and helping students become environmentally conscious citizens. When not in the classroom, she enjoys tending to her vegetable and flower gardens and spending time outdoors, whether it's hiking or reading.
John Brett
Administrator at the Art Garage, Housatonic Valley Regional High School; Chairman of the Sharon Audubon Advisory Board; Board of Selectman, Sharon, CT; Hospice volunteer for SVNA/ Foothills, Advisory Board member of the Little Guild in Cornwall.
An internationally renowned sculptor, potter, and muralist, her works have been exhibited worldwide and are featured in public and private collections. Her monumental bronzes debuted in a nine-month exhibition on Broadway, NYC, from 2017 to 2018.
Laurie Doss
Laurie has been with Marvelwood School since 1987. She is Chair of the Science Department and a co-advisor for the school’s Envirothon team. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biology and a M.S. Sp.Ed in Special Education. Laurie is on the Board of Directors for the Kent Land Trust and the Purple Martin Conservation Association. She has also been the recipient of numerous conservation educator and volunteer awards during her tenure.
Tim Good
Owner, The Good Gallery Kent; Owner, The Good Portfolio; Expert in Art and Brand Licensing
E. Barrie Kavasch
Kavasch, an author, herbalist, ethnobotanist, mycologist, and food historian of Cherokee, Creek, and Powhatan descent, has been featured in The New York Times and Martha Stewart Living. She has lectured at the NY Botanical Garden, Yale Peabody Museum, and more.
David Moran
David has taught Agricultural Education for nearly 30 years and is the Agriscience and Technology Department Chair at Housatonic Valley. The program staff includes Sara Jack, Rene Boardman, Danielle Melino and Sheri Lloyd instructing in animal and plant science, engineering and environmental science, and a farm to table curriculum. In addition, students have Supervised Agricultural Experience Programs beyond the classroom and have the opportunity to develop their potential for premiere leadership, personal growth and career success through the National FFA Program. Students compete in many career and leadership development events at the state and national levels in events such as public speaking, sales, communication and a full scope of content area related teams and individual events. Other opportunities include the Electrathon and Envirothon expanding our school's engagement to the North American level.
Carl Raab
Carl is a former science educator and is currently an educational consultant in the New York City public schools. He is an author who currently lives in both NYC and Kent. An accomplished swimmer, Carl enjoys open water swimming. He is an avid gardener who opens up his beautiful gardens in Kent for viewing to area Garden Clubs.
Leigh Schmitt
Leigh, a teacher and administrator at Millbrook School, directs Stewardship and Sustainability, teaches science, and leads community service. Formerly at The Island School in the Bahamas, he researched sustainable agriculture and authored Wild Bahamas, focusing on outdoor education.
Peter Steiner, a former German professor at Dickinson College, has been a New Yorker cartoonist for 45 years. He has exhibited paintings locally and in New York and Washington, DC, and is the author of nine novels, begun later in life.
James "Jim" West, a Kent, Connecticut native, has been writing since 1998. A graduate of Stephen's College, he has published two books: Swift The River House, a collection of poetry and aphorisms, and Dream Time and Where Katy Lives, two children's stories.
Pam White is an expressionist painter, drawer of weird things and places, a poet and short story writer who rescues everything she can find and is passionate about movement and all things on this earth.
In Kent, CT she lives with many furry Beings and is always looking.
Named a new Green Pioneer by Time Magazine in 2009, since then, Priscilla Woolworth launched her first online eco friendly general store and a bi-monthly Newsletter about everything positive going on in the environment, and authored a book LOLA Lots of Love Always about how to live a sustainable lifestyle and make healthy choices that are good for you and the planet.
In 2017, upon moving to the Hudson Valley, she started building River’s Edge Farm, a climate resilient, carbon neutral, zero waste mini farm, where she practices regenerative agriculture on a small scale, growing her own food and medicine and sharing with the community.