Ben Llano Hecht, M.A. Ed.
Ben Llano Hecht is the founder and primary instructor at Seven Directions Institute. He has been teaching children art in a wide range of settings since 1990. He received both his B.A. in Fine Arts, his M.A. in Education, and his California CLAD teaching credential from UC Santa Cruz.
Before founding Seven Directions Institute in 2001, he worked for 5 years as a K-3rd grade teacher. His previous professional experience includes working with special needs children and adults, providing art therapy in Santa Cruz public schools and assistant teaching in art and art history courses at UC Santa Cruz. Ben is bilingual in Spanish and English.
Besides teaching and creating art, Ben loves to rock climb, fly his powered paraglider and spend time with his animals. He is also a novice parrot trainer. Ben is a professional artist working in encaustic painting and sculpture. He shows his work in bay area galleries and participates in the annual Santa Cruz Open Studios Tour. His professional work can be viewed in the Redlines Studio Gallery, adjacent to Seven Directions or online at www.redlinesstudio.com. You can view his resume online as well (in PDF format).
“Teaching art is my favorite thing to do! Each time I interact with a child I have an opportunity to help them have a breakthrough in their creativity that profoundly affects their sense of self-worth and self-expression; it’s a powerful responsibility. Sometimes I am asked why art instruction is so valuable. Creating art formally is a means by which kids can internalize their understanding of the creative process and thereby apply that knowledge to all their endeavors, personally and professionally, throughout their lives. There is no greater joy than helping a child maintain their innate sense of wonder and curiosity.”
Ben Llano Hecht
A video fly-through of Seven Directions Institute, June 2007.
A video overview of some of the animals, June 2007.
Santa Cruz Community TV interviews at Seven Directions, 2004.