Our Instructors

We have 30+ years of experience

Olya Losina
FOUNDER – Prima Materia Art Institute
As an artist, mentor, teacher, and parent, PMAI founder, Olya Losina molded her career perfectly to develop this organization. As an artist, she has a Masters degree in Fine Art from Moscow University.She comes from a family of professional artists and scientists, the background that helped her create a teaching method based on cognitive science that accelerates learning. She is the creator of the Portfolio curriculum, she also trains teachers, teaches classes and does one-on-one private portfolio mentoring.

Nikusha Beatty
ART TEACHER – Prima Materia Art Institute
Nikusha Beatty is a certified art teacher at Prima Materia. She teaches introductory workshops, beginner classes, and advanced courses. Drawing Made Easy is the entry-level class where most new students take their first steps in art. Nikusha takes absolute beginners to the level of proficiency in the Essential Drawing Course for Beginners. Her teaching style is so engaging that students often return to take the Essential Drawing Course again. She introduces them to techniques of art-making in the “deep-dive method”, which is a part of Prima Materia Deep Learning curriculum. Nikusha is able to accomplish that through live demonstrations. She helps novice students to transition to the advanced level. As students become more experienced, they can attend her drawing courses and painting courses that introduce students to conceptual art, Art History, and the styles and painting methods of notable artists.

Nikusha received her teaching credentials at Prima Materia Teacher Training. She gained her initial experience in the Prima Materia Portfolio Program, went on to complete the Postgraduate Mastery Program, and then decided that she wanted to teach. Now, in her 4 years of teaching experience, she has helped hundreds of individuals understand the fundamentals of drawing, painting, and Color Theory, in order to become confident independent artists.

Outside the studio, Nikusha conducts painting workshops at elementary schools as a guest teacher and teaches gifted teens, adults, and young people with special needs in one-on-one private lessons. As a professional artist, Nikusha sells her work through social media, and creates art on commission. View Nikusha’s Art