I have always enjoyed working with children. While in high school I worked at summer camp, and in college I put myself through school by again working summer camps and teaching preschool. I graduated from UNLV with a degree in Accounting, and ran my own business while staying at home with my children. When my kids grew into elementary school age, I went back to UNLV and studied art and architecture for "fun." It was at this time that my daughter Sarah began to show a strong interest in art, and shortly after, the art school was born. "Art for Kids," as it was known originally, was located first in my home and then at the studio located at Charleston & Valley View. After seven years, the studio became mine only and was renamed "Art Starts Here." I closed that studio in 2003, and eventually took my art program to The Shade Tree, to benefit homeless children. During the last year I began to see more and more former "Art Starts Here" clients who again wanted to send their children to classes and summer camp. So I am back, with Sarah as my partner, but now conveniently located in the Summerlin area. My work is to play, and when asked what my favorite medium is my response is always "children."

Sarah Levy:

I am a Las Vegas native who has always had an artistic personality. I excelled in my art classes in school, and began taking private art lessons at the age of 8 with local art teachers. Though I studied as many forms of art in school that I could such as musical theater, dance, etc., I always had a strong talent and love for visual arts and crafts. I spent most of my school years attending The Meadows School, including graduation; however, I spent my freshman year of high School attending the Las Vegas Academy downtown as an art major. I have taken art classes at both USC and UNLV, however I received my Degree from UNLV in Hotel Administration in 2005. In 1993 my mother Debbie and her business partner opened "Art for Kids," and we began running Summer Art Camp and after school classes from our house. I began assistant teaching at age 11 and by age 13 was fully teaching my own groups. We eventually relocated the studio to a space on Valley View and Charleston where I continued to teach art to children ages 3 to 12, and finished high school during that time as well. In 2000 my mother took over the studio by herself, and consequently I became her partner and helped her run "Art Starts Here." The studio closed in 2003, at which point I finished college and began working in the spa industry here in town. However, when Debbie said she was ready to re-open "Art Starts Here" I was more than ready to join her, realizing that teaching art and working with children is where my true passion lies.

Mary Grego-Smith:

I've been living in Las Vegas since 1978 so I consider myself "almost" a native Nevadan. Born and raised in Chicago I was always interested in art. That was probably because my mother was an artist and encouraged me to develop my talent. She loved to paint landscapes of the surrounding countryside and taught painting classes. In grade school I was always the one the teadher called on to draw maps for the class and make the bulletin boards pretty. When it came time for college I decided to major in Art Education. I studied at Illinois State University for three years and finished up my last year at Northern Illinois State University with a B.A. in Art Educaiton. I did my student teaching at a Skokie Vallely Junior High. Then I spent four years teaching Art Appreciation, Drawing, Advanced Drawing, Painting and Scupture at the high school level. Budget cuts at the time eliminated most jobs for art teachers so I went to work at an advertising agency designing ads, logos, and doing product illustrations. When my husband, daughter and I moved to Las Vegas, my first job here was designing slot machines - how appropriate! Since then I've worked for several local ad agencies and had my own design business. When Debbie said she had an opening for a teacher at her studio, I jumped at the chance to get back to teaching. I enjoy sharing my love of art and artists with our students and in my spare time (?) I like painting with acrylics and drawing.