Guru Digital Arts College Faculty

Owen Brierley - Executive Director

Owen took on the role of Executive Director in 2008. He has been enthusiastically developing the school's programs and faculty. He is honoured to have so many talented and dedicated professionals share their knowledge and skills with the students at Guru.  

Owen Brierley has been a full-time Digital Media Producer based in Edmonton, Alberta for the past 15 years. Owen's recent experience includes: co-creating Keys2Drive as part of GystWorks, co-creating an Alternative Reality Game for the tween audience called the Central Institute for Exploration with Hotrocket Studios; game design and project leadership of a Serious Game for service rig workers called Simulynx for Terris-Hill Productions; and serving as theMultimedia Development Coordinator for Alberta Learning's LearnAlberta.ca project, a repository of digital learning objects for the K-12 sector.

Owen's roles typically have involved leadership, creative facilitation, strategy, forecasting, analysis and design, and user experience design. Owen is an active speaker and champion of the digital media industry in Alberta.

Core Instructors

Lee Nielsen (www.humanate.com)

Lee is a core instructor in both the Digital Illustration and Sequential Art program as well as the Digital Media Production program. He brings the rigor and discipline needed to help our students develop the necessary skills to survive in the creative professional industries. Lee's range of experience coupled with an innate understanding of teaching makes him a powerful mentor.

Lee Nielsen is an interdisciplinary artist from Calgary. In 2008 he received a Bachelor of Fine Art degree from the Alberta College of Art and Design. He has exhibited locally and nationally and has work in private collections in Canada and the United States. In addition to painting and drawing he is the sole proprietor of Humanate Enterprises, a business that deals with art, illustration, design and related projects. Other art practices involve experiments with photographs and sound/musical compositions.

Josh Holinaty (www.holinaty.com)

Josh joined Guru in the summer of 2012 to augment the burgeoning Digital Illustration & Sequential Art program. Josh is a graduate of ACAD and a working editorial illustrator for a variety of publications including Wired, Globe & Mail, and Transworld Snowboarding. Josh previously worked at the Art Gallery of Alberta in their Marketing Department. As an illustrator he is known for his irreverent worldview that celebrates the silly, gross, drippy, grungey, dirty and, of course, the clean. 

Jeremy Pudlowski (www.jeremydan.com)

Jeremy joined Guru in the spring of 2012 to take up the charge on the Digitial Design (aka Digital Media Production) program. He eagerly brought his previous experiences having worked on a variety of design projects. He is actively involved in his band "Death by Robot" and was nominated recently for an EMA for the music video he created for his song "No Need for Alarm". 

Lyubava Fartushenko (www.lyubava.com)

Having studied at the Bauhaus in Germany as well as completing her Master degree in Design at the University of Alberta, Lyubava is without a doubt a design enthusiast. She has recently joined the Guru faculty as a member of the design team and brings a disciplined and hands on approach to design theory. It is with her foundation classes that our students build their skills in typography, layout, and interface design as they move between the physical and virtual worlds.

Peter Fiala (imdb profile)

Peter joined Guru to apply his formidable experience to develop our 3D Animation program. His experience with all forms of software, plus his previous experience in revamping the 3D Animation program for the University of Indiana makes him an authoritative resource for many forms of 3D.

Scott Langevin (LinkedIn profile)

Scott is championing the Video Game Design (formerly Interaction Design & Game Level Development) program at Guru. Scott has more than a decade of experience working on titles such as "Dragon Age", "Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic", and "Neverwinter Nights". Scott brings a steady hand to the helm of the game design program and students working with Scott will find themselves developing skills that are valued by the game design industry.

Heiko Ryll (www.heikoryll.com)

Born a creative soul, Heiko Ryll is a 12 year veteran of digital media production and education. Heiko has augmented scope of teaching topics by becoming a nationally certified snowboard instructor. Underneath his numerous tattoos Heiko is a passionate learner who is continuously cultivating his understanding of what makes great educational experiences. Heiko seeks to make every learning opportunity a memorable event that connects with his students.

Special Guest Instructors & Mentors
 

Christine Lesiak - Creative Process Guest Instructor

Christine Lesiak is a physicist turned performer, and co-founder of the Edmonton-based theatre company Small Matters Productions (www.smallmatters.ca). She has extensive training in modern clown, and writes and performs physical comedy shorts and full-length shows for adult audiences. Christine is passionate about using improvisation, physical impulse work, and personal mythology exploration to unearth the hidden idea and discover one's personal creative process.