About Art Seed Studio
Art Seed Studio is a collaborative initiative between Angela Mikula and her husband Brian O'Leary. The Studio creates and sells original works of art and provides educational experiences to children between ages 6 and 12.
About Angela
​Angie Mikula is a Penn State Alumni with a Master’s Degree in Education from the College of New Jersey. Recent exhibitions of her artwork in local galleries include both sculptures and paintings. Angie has brought her passion for art education to every age group from pre-school to high school. The majority of Angie’s teaching has taken place in Hunterdon County, New Jersey. As an advocate for global connections, she led the art program for several years at the American Community School of Athens, Greece attaining certification as an International Baccalaureate teacher. In 2018, she received the Fulbright Distinguished Award in Teaching which granted her a six-month fellowship at the University of London’s Institute of Education. While working with educators in the United Kingdom, Angie developed resources including a children’s book entitled Crocodile and the Mindful Magpie for teachers to use in addressing the unprecedented number of students struggling with anxiety and depression. Upon her return to Delaware Township School in Sergeantsville N.J., she joined her colleagues in establishing a Mindfulness practice for the school community and a Mindfulness garden. Angie was awarded the New Jersey Governor’s Teacher of the Year Award in 2019 and the Hunterdon County Teacher of the Year in 2020. She currently resides in Lambertville with her husband and son.
About Brian
Brian O'Leary, is a landscape painter and resident of Lambertville, New Jersey. He co-directs Art Seed Studio with his wife, and art educator, Angela Mikula.
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He graduated from Mason Gross School of Art, receiving a BA in Visual Arts and Art History in 1992 and has pursued painting avidly for the past three decades.​His true passion is painting en plein aire, capturing quickly changing light in challenging conditions, using gestural brush work to capture motion and intensity in the scene. He works primarily in oil creating landscapes and seascapes, but also pursues experimental art in encaustic and other media. Brian spends much of his time outdoors, and weaves in birdwatching, surfing, and hiking into his plein aire adventures. His goal is to travel and paint along with these pursuits.
In addition to painting, Brian is a volunteer and consultant within the non-profit space. Currently he works with international humanitarian charities to support fundraising efforts through developing compelling messaging and branding.
Brian has held positions with the Rutgers University Foundation as a Director of Communications. Brian also served as Vice President for Development at the New
Jersey Audubon Society, where he oversaw all fundraising activities for the state’s largest conservation organization. Earlier in his career, Brian served as Executive Director of ARTWORKS in Trenton, and held art handling positions at The Barnes Foundation.