SMAC Board Members
Each board member brings a wealth of expertise and diverse backgrounds, contributing their knowledge and skills to drive our mission forward. The members of our board have a strong commitment to quality and a passion for the goals of our organization. We are appreciative of their invaluable contributions and unwavering dedication to our success.
Tenille Blair-Neff
President, Programing Chair
Tenille is a creative arts therapist, psychoanalyst, and professional counselor in private practice in Branson. She is also a working visual artist with a concentration in mixed media, sculpture and stop-motion animation, who has participated in over 50 national and international exhibits. Tenille also served on the editorial staff of The Psychoanalytic Review, was editor of Free Association Newsletter, and has presented workshops on art therapy and phototherapy for NYAPRS, Federation of Employment and Guidance Services graduate student internship development program, Branson Arts Council, Synergy Recovery Center, and National Alliance for the Mentally Ill Southwest Missouri. She has published articles in State of the Ozarks online magazine, Ceramic Arts and Perception, and Free Associations. Tenille is a 2009 BRIO (Bronx Recognizes its Own) artist grant winner, a 2014 NAMI Southwest Missouri Distinguished Service Award winner, and a 2014 Rockbottom Studio’s film festival grand prize and people’s choice award winner.
Lynnette Horn
Secretary, Communications Chair
Lynnette Horn has been a working artist for the last 19 years. She has been on the SMAC board for four years. Her commission portraits and animal portraits can be found in homes across the country. She started her career in art as a decorative artist, expanded into teaching and became a DecoArt Helping Artist. Prior to her art career she worked in the corporate world, as well as freelance writing. Many of her writings were published in literary magazines. As a steady contributor to Progressive Woman Magazine, she became a contributing editor providing in-depth interviews of women entrepreneurs in the St. Louis area. As a writer she was a member of the Wentzville Arts Council and participated in speaking word events. When her interests turned to art, she found a way to combine both passions writing magazine articles about art and editing other artists' books, such as the e-book “Elements and Principles of Art,” a comprehensive look at the building blocks of fine art for Art Apprentice Online. She continues to write the SMAC newsletter and press releases. Her solo exhibit, “We are Ozarks,” was an exploration of the Ozark culture through mainly portraiture, written word and audio clips.
Lacey Finchum
Board Member At-Large, Teacher
Lacey Finchum is an artist, muralist, author and teacher whose works often explore humans, nature, and the environment through trompe l’oeil and surreal styles. She has a strong desire to help people connect with themselves, each other, and nature and to inspire others to follow their dreams. Lacey began painting as a small child but left that path to pursue other interests. In college she studied outdoor recreation, environmental studies, and psychology before returning to the artist’s path and using those earlier studies to influence her work. Lacey has spent her emerging years learning from and working with numerous other artists including trompe l’oeil muralist John Pugh. She is currently on the Board of Directors for The Southern Missouri Arts Connection and is their Programming Committee Chairperson. Her works have been shown in several galleries and live in public and private collections across the US.
Mary Evelyn Tucker
Board Member At-Large, Gallery Chair
Mary Evelyn Tucker has been a full-time artist since 2015. Over the last eight years working on commissions for clients, she has painted hundreds of pet portraits. She loves capturing the unique qualities of each individual pet. She has illustrated four children's books and is working on a fifth book now. She teaches watercolor classes on the online learning platform, Skillshare.
Christine Riutzel
Vice President, Art Center Coordinator, Public Art Chair
Christine has lived in the Ozarks for over 20 years. Since 2016 she has had several fine art exhibitions and established a full-time career in the arts, with murals being her main source of work. She serves on the board for Parks and Recreation in Hollister. She creates in a studio located at SMAC with her main focus of using SMAC as a way to create public art and connect with others who have gone through religious trauma . Her goal is to continue to use public art as a way to inspire the young underprivileged artists in an area where the visual arts are easily overlooked.
Anthony Hunter
Treasurer, Cosplay Facilitator
Born in Canton, Ohio Anthony grew up watching cartoons and reading comic books religiously. He moved to Tempe Arizona for a few years and earned a bachelor's degree in animation and met his wife. The two got married in the desert, then moved to Hollister Mo to raise a family. In Hollister Anthony built a family, a cartoonist career and developed skills as an Accounting Associate.
Jennifer Smythe
Board Member At-Large, Social Media Coordinator, Teacher
Jennifer Smythe is an experienced art instructor, having taught children and adults for several years. Her teaching style is to guide her students through the process, step-by-step, a style that she has honed through years of leading painting parties. She is passionate about using art to heal hearts and believes anyone has the talent to create something wonderful. Her own art reflects her interest in nature, especially flowers. She also works with textures and mixed media, incorporating found objects into her pieces. “I paint what I feel, not what I see,” Jennifer explained, “leaving my work open to the viewers’ interpretation.”
Julie Zetina
Board Member At-Large, Teacher
Julie has spent the majority of her life teaching art to children, teens and adults. She has spent years representing art educators and artists by serving on numerous boards and organizations that promote the arts in Missouri. She has earned several teaching awards including Missouri Art Educator of the year awarded by her peers. Now retired after serving 33 years in public schools, she continues to facilitate workshops and classes in a variety of mediums at the SMAC center. In between classes, Julie runs N2Arts studio where ceramics, mosaics, jewelry and fiber arts of various kinds are created. She sells & displays her work around the Ozarks in a variety of shops & boutiques. Her passion is to reuse and repurpose items that are thought of as broken or junk… stuff headed to the trash are given new life. Her work is functional, unique & different.. meant to be used in daily life so the owner can interact with her pieces.