Paint Love Artist Cohort
Professional Development Program
A transformative, year-long professional development program tailored for artists ready to deepen their creative practice, expand their impact, and grow as leaders in trauma-informed arts education. Through immersive training, collaborative learning, and real-world application, cohort members explore how to create meaningful, healing-centered experiences for youth. This program is ideal for artists who are passionate about using their craft to foster connection, resilience, and joy in school and nonprofit settings.
NEW in 2026: Cohort members will earn a professional certificate in trauma-informed arts education upon completion of the program.
Applications for our next cohort Are due by October 31, 2025
Questions about the program? Please email michelle@paintlove.org
Program Overview
The Paint Love Artist Cohort is a professional development program - a field-building effort, launched in 2022, that provides a unique opportunity for artists interested in incorporating a trauma-informed model in their roles as creatives, teachers, and leaders in our community. During their 12-month journey, cohort members are trained in Paint Love’s trauma-informed model, learn new skills, and receive expert guidance from Atlanta professionals on effectively engaging and creating deeper, more meaningful experiences for young people. Starting with our 2026 cohort, the program includes a professional certificate in trauma-informed arts education earned upon completion of the program.
Graduates of the program have taken on roles at Atlanta-area cultural institutions, become classroom teachers, and pursued other arts-related careers.
Meet our 2025 artist cohort members
Catalina Bellizzi-Itiola
Catalina Bellizzi-Itiola is a fine artist and designer whose work explores spiritual and mental states through shape, texture, and human form. Influenced by her experience with bipolar disorder and the mental healthcare system, her art blends synesthetic abstraction with emotional depth. A graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, she taught visual art in Chicago Public Schools before shifting to large-scale paintings, mixed media, and album design. As a first-generation Colombian-Argentine American, Catalina draws on cultural complexity to express themes of disembodiment, liberation, and transcendence.
Vanna Black
Vanna Black is an Atlanta-based illustrator, painter, and muralist with a BFA in Graphic Design from Georgia State University. Her vibrant, motion-filled work draws inspiration from African motif patterns and Japanese landscape illustrations, blending cultural influences with expressive design. Vanna uses composition, color, and scale to spark internal reflection and encourage empathy, envisioning a world where people nurture one another and live in harmony with nature. She has created art for LivingWalls, the City of Atlanta, Hermès, Canada Goose, and more, and currently volunteers with CreativeMornings ATL’s social media team.
Madison Nunes
Madison Nunes is an artist, independent curator, and administrator where they serve as the Programs Manager for The Bakery Atlanta, an arts non-profit. They are a graduate of The School of Visual Arts where they received their BFA in photography and video, exhibiting their work in New York and Georgia. Working primarily in photography, Nunes often focuses on cultivated intimacy within alternative family structures and the medium’s ability to be a democratized, anthropological lens. Within their work, there is a collaborative approach to story telling and a meditation on the power dynamics inherent to photography.
Sarah Roberts
Sarah Roberts is a surface hand embroidery artist and educator based in East Atlanta Village. With over a decade of experience, she blends storytelling and skill-building through needle and thread. Mostly self-taught, she refined her technique at the San Francisco School of Needlework & Design. Sarah holds a BA in History from Agnes Scott College and has a background in teaching and school administration. She’s an active member of the Embroiderers’ Guild of America and the International Organization of Lace, Inc.
Sierra Wynn
Sierra Wynn is a 22-year-old Atlanta-based filmmaker and photographer whose passion for storytelling emerged during the pandemic. Originally pursuing law enforcement, she shifted focus to art while studying Multimedia Film and Production at Georgia Southern University. Sierra’s work—spanning documentary film, music videos, and photography—centers real-life accounts and current events, offering emotional depth and social reflection. Her art serves as a personal outlet and a tool to inspire others to express themselves through creativity. With a growing interest in documentary filmmaking, Sierra aims to educate and connect people through honest, visually compelling narratives.
Check out past Cohort artists + mentors
The Paint Love Artist Cohort Program is supported in part by Georgia Council for the Arts through the appropriations of the Georgia General Assembly. Georgia Council for the Arts also receives support from its partner agency – the National Endowment for the Arts. This program is also made possible thanks to generous private donors and family foundations.