Teri Roche Drobnick Children's, Literature, Non-Fiction About

Teri's writing initially began with children's picture books. Her debut book MOVING DAY will be published by Margaret Ferguson Books at Holiday House in 2025. Her background as a Clinical Social Worker influences Teri's subjects and storylines. Her picture book manuscripts vary from immigration, dementia and loss, LGBTQ topics to lighter sing aloud concept and rhyming books.

Teri's memoir HOLDING ON, WHILE LETTING GO: Reconnecting to my Father with Alzheimer’s Through his Best Friend of Eighty Years, is currently out on submission. It is a love story to her father who recently died of Alzheimer’s.

Other publications: Hobie Dog and Teri Drobnick, What Women CREATE, (Winter 2021) Triumph Over Lyme Disease, Best Self, (2019), https://bestselfmedia.com/triumph-over-lyme-disease/ Reclaimed Joy Through Rag Dolls, Where Women CREATE (Winter 2018) Super Gutsy Girl, Art Doll Quarterly (Fall 2017)

Captain Green and Lady Morning Dove, Stuffed Magazine (Spring 2015)

Julie Rawding Presents: The Upcyclers USA, 21 Eco Folks That Made It (2014)

Bodacious Bunny, Stuffed Magazine (Winter 2013)

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Abraham Schroeder Children's, Design, Graphic Design, Literature, Mixed, Photography, Sculpture, Visual Arts I am an artist, designer, and author living in Petaluma. My art includes digital, mixed media, and sculpture, electronics, metal, clay, collage. I also do freelance graphic and web design. My children's picture books are The Gentleman Bat (http://www.TheGentlemanBat.com) and Too Many Tables (http://www.TooManyTables.com). Before moving to CA, I worked for 7 years in the Asian Art Department at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. During that time I managed a massive 5-year project to catalog, digitize, and rehouse the MFA's spectacular collection of 50,000+ Japanese prints. An 1880’s woodblock print of bats by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi in the MFA collection was the seed of inspiration for The Gentleman Bat. Read more about the hidden art historical references and book production process at http://www.TheGentlemanBat.com. My second book, Too Many Tables, features fun, colorful illustrations and a comically entertaining story, with a subtle message of generosity and community woven throughout. I do school, library, bookstore, and children's museum visits with large and small audiences. Depending on age and interest, I adjust the presentation to the group, often including interactive drawing activities, amazing bat facts and science, and introductions to Japanese woodblock prints. As an artist who worked closely with the illustrators of my books, I am always happy discuss the book making and illustration process, as well as writing, rhyming, and editing, and I do Skype/FaceTime for schools and groups around the country.

Joanell Serra Fiction, Literature Joanell Serra MFT lives and writes in Sonoma, California. An award winning writer, she is a playwright, novelist, non-fiction and short story writer. Her first novel, The Vines We Planted, will be out in Spring 2018 with Wido publishing. Her writing and news can be found at http://joanellserraauthor.com.

Dylan Smith Ballet, Choreography, Dance, Illustration, Literature, Modern, Non-Fiction, Other, Other, Poetry, Professional Performance, Teacher/Instructor, Visual Arts Dylan Smith is a Bay Area dancer, choreographer, instructor and visual artist. He holds a BA in Dance from Marymount Manhattan College and is on staff at Broadway Dance Center in New York City. Mr. Smith has performed and choreographed with Transcendence Theatre Company in Sonoma, California the past few years earning him Broadway World San Francisco's Best Choreography Award for 2015. Other performing credits include the Japan and North American Tours of 42nd Street, JUBILEE! at Bally's Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas and Principal Dancer on Holland America Line. As a choreographer and instructor his experience ranges from the Alvin Ailey Children's Program, Santa Rosa Junior College and Sonoma State University just to name a few. In addition to the performing arts, Dylan has rediscovered his joy and passion for visual art, creating new works based on childhood pieces. He has had three, well attended, successful exhibitions here in California and plans to keep moving forward with developing a brand entitled "Hair Pop Out Mania". He is available for private dance and theatre instruction, group classes, choreography as well as visual art commissions.        

Sara Spaulding Phillips Literature, Other, Visual Arts Sarita also known as Sara Spaulding Phillips, has used her visionary and creative skills to create Sonoma County Writing Practice, Women's Mysteries Journeys.   She now leads FolkArt Fridays, seasonal Grandmother Lodges, and occasional Pop-Up art Events, and consults individually around Dreams and Art, Spiritual Crisis and Life's challenges. Her ancestry is Welsh-English-French(Brittany) She is the descendant of Celtic Heritage and is well-versed in Celtic/pagan Folklore, as well as a practicing Buddhist and a great believer in the spirit of All. Sara Spaulding Phillips says, "Spiritual journey is a Divine gift in the cold and scary times, and helps me love myself in the down times."

Elisa Stancil Architecture, Design, Interior Design, Literature, Non-Fiction, Painting, Visual Arts Elisa began her creative career remodeling Craftsman homes in Sacramento and for the past thirty-five years her company, Stancil Studios, has provided decorative painting, gilding, and patterning for buildings throughout America and in Europe. Her son James now owns the business and Elisa focuses on writing, architectural color and pattern design and volunteer work. Her first book, Jack London State Historic Park, is sold on Amazon and in bookstores as well as at both museums at the park. All proceeds benefit the park. Her new memoir, This or Something Better, is available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble and Bookshop. Her recently published essays can be seen on her website, www.elisastancillevine.com. Elisa enjoys outdoor life on Sonoma Mountain with her husband, Chuck Levine, and together they work to support Sonoma County through mentoring and volunteering. 

Susan Starbird Literature, Non-Fiction, Other, Teacher/Instructor artist bio to come

Elizabeth Stark Literature, Media, Teacher/Instructor Elizabeth Stark co-directs and teaches at BookWritingWorld.com and SonomaCountyWritersCamp.com, co-hosts Story Makers Podcast (StoryMakersShow.com), is author of the novel Shy Girl (FSG, Seal Press), and co-director and co-writer of several several films, including FtF: Female to Femme, a creative documentary and Little Mutinies, a short (both distributed by Frameline). She earned an M.F.A. from Columbia University in Creative Writing and has taught at the Pratt Institute, UCSC, St. Mary’s, where she was the visiting distinguished writer, and elsewhere. She is currently producing a feature film called Lost in the Middle, and finishing a novel.

Clarice Stasz Fiction, Literature, Non-Fiction Clarice Stasz has published over forty years, from social commentary to biographies. A retired professor of history, Clarice is a leading scholar of Jack London, with appearances in documentaries for HBO and PBS. She was noted by Book-of-the-Month Club for The Vanderbilt Women, and has received several awards for her Jack London studies. Starting her writing career as an editor, Clarice is committed to crisp and straightforward narratives to introduce average readers to history. A lifelong reader of mysteries, Slanderley is her first venture into the genre, and she is now on her third book in the series! Living close to Jack London State Historic Park, she discovered the author and his times close to her fascination with the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. This led her to the use of biography as a means to convey American history. Her ongoing research was supported in part by the Rockefeller Archives and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Through these writings run the themes of gender, race, and power relations. She wrote the first textbooks incorporating discussion of the male as well as female social roles, this at a time when concentration on women alone prevailed. Stasz is a lifelong musician, active as a singer, percussionist, flutist, and song writer. For relaxation she hikes and is a bird watcher. Her volunteer work contributes to arts groups and services to women in need.

Ellen Sussman Fiction, Literature Ellen Sussman is the New York Times bestselling author of four novels, A Wedding in Provence, The Paradise Guest House, French Lessons, and On a Night Like This. She is the editor of two critically acclaimed anthologies, Bad Girls: 26 Writers Misbehave and Dirty Words: A Literary Encyclopedia of Sex. She teaches through Stanford Continuing Studies and in private classes and she is the co-founder and co-director of Sonoma County Writers Camp. www.ellensussman.com

Colleen Teitgen Literature, Poetry, Recovery Fund Grantee, Visual Arts My work, both in words and paint, becomes the voice I cannot speak. Here is where I find the courage to look inside myself. My past comes alive. My future, a vivid dream. I search for the answers between the lines and layers. Fear, humor, desire, pain, observation, and stories that escape into another realm. A cycle of life and death.

Dawn Thomas Artisan, Audio, Ceramics, Dance, Design, Fiction, Film, Folk Art, Functional Art, Graphic Design, Illustration, Literature, Media, Mixed, Other, Other, Other, Other, Other, Other, Painting, Photography, Printmaking, Sculpture, Visual Arts Dawn A. Thomas 707.245.4735 cloudsdriftingby@gmail.com   Objective: To help build a vital Sonoma County Arts community as an experienced artist, and a teacher who provides a competitive and comprehensive Arts/Maker education for my students.   Education and Credentials: Single Subject Art Credential - Sonoma State University - NCLB  1/2007 CLAD Multiple Subject Teaching Credential - Sonoma State University  5/2004 Medialink Web Design/Technology Certificate - Bay Area Video Coalition  6/2000 5th-year Graduate Certificate in Art, U.C. at Santa Cruz    6/1990 Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Art, U.C. at Santa Cruz    6/1989   Kinetic Artist Event Awards: SFMOMA's soapbox derby, Best Pun trophy, 2022 Best Theme Cart Design, the Cotatitarod, Cotati, 2019 1st Place Engineering for Team Pineapple, Kinetic Grand Championship, Eureka, CA 2018 Grand Champion for Team Pineapple, Obtainium Cup, Vallejo, 2019 1st place speed for the Pineapple Handcar, Willits Kinetic Carnivale, Willits, 2015 Best Engineering for the Whittaker Paddlewheel, Rivertown Revival, Petaluma, 2014 2nd Place for Red Couch Pedal-powered railcar, Wunderkammer Handcar Races, Santa Rosa, CA 2013   Teaching Experience: Santa Rosa City Schools, 2006 - current Art/Maker/Teen Living/Digital Media, Santa Rosa Middle School, 2007-2022 Students explore the foundations of Art and Making, and develop a personal portfolio. Teen living/culinary involves cooking, career exploration, interior design, sewing, and communication and conflict resolution skills. Digital Media explores digital storytelling and culminates in movies, webpages and other digital fulfillment. From 2007-2015 we produced a weekly cable news broadcast for the school.   Art 1, Montgomery High School,  2014-2015 Our beginning Art curriculum asks students to develop their drawing skills, and to utilize the Elements of Art and Principles of Design. Exercises lead to projects which offer student-selected content, but hold students accountable to develop technical skills.   Art / Project Make Teacher, Hilliard Comstock Middle School, 2007-2013 In 2013, we launched our district’s first middle school Project MAKE! elective, which is an award-winning (2014 Jack London Award) interdisciplinary, exploratory STE(A)M class (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math.)   Art Teacher, Piner High School, 2007-2008 Art Teacher, Summer School, Montgomery site, 2007 Art Teacher, Elsie Allen High School, 2006-2007   Educational Awards: Jack London Award for Educational Innovation (Project Make!) 2014   Other Experience: A practicing Artist, I have shown with Art Trails, and at various Sonoma County venues. I have been an exhibitor at Maker Faires for 4 years.  

Patti Trimble Literature, Mixed, Multi-Media, Other, Painting, Performance Art, Poetry, Theatre, Visual Arts I'm a Marin native, and have been a painter and poet most of my life, exhibiting paintings in galleries and museums and performing lyric poems in theaters, festivals, and other venues, often with music, sometimes with projected images. My work has always touched on wild places and environmental issues, and these days my focus is entirely on climate change and the anthropocene. I think by writing and painting, as wholistically as possible. In my poems, there has always been a freedom to bring themes and styles together. I have been painting a long time, and now I just want to think better about the world and our place in it. In the studio these days sticking to a single prescribed style feels way too limiting. I want wholistic images to appear, images that tell me something new: from gestural abstraction, to realism, science diagrams, words, intuitive and imaginative surprises, appropriation, automatism, surrealism. Poetry and painting are professions, and I have also worked as a National Park Naturalist; as studio assistant to first-generation abstract expressionists (for ten years in New York); as a science and literature writer; and as creative writing and visual art professor.

Luann Udell Artisan, Fiber Art, Jewelry, Literature, Mixed, Non-Fiction, Other, Other, Printmaking, Sculpture, Teacher/Instructor, Visual Arts, Woodworking Ancient Stories Retold in Modern Artifacts Luann Udell is a double-juried of the prestigious League of New Hampshire Craftsmen in stitchery and non-metal jewelry.  She handcrafts wall hangings, assemblages, sculptures, and jewelry inspired by prehistoric, tribal, and world art.  She tells stories about ancient cultures through art, using a colorful and distinctive combination of fiber, polymer and mixed media.  Running horses, fossil fish, bears, birds, bulls, otters and shaman figures are common elements in her work.  By exploring our connection to those artists of the distant past, she illuminates her thoughts on what it means to be human in our modern times. “I believe we all have a place and a purpose in this world.  I found mine through my art.  And through my art, I encourage others to find inspiration to make their own place in the world. So much of our ancient human history sheds light on how we can make better choices today.” Luann’s interest in world art began while studying art history in college at the University of Michigan.  “I particularly enjoyed seeing exhibits about ancient artifacts—pottery shards, bone tools, textile fragments too tattered and worn to indentify.  Tenderly mounted under temples of glass, carefully labeled for display, they seem to speak in whispers of a time forgotten, of a people lost to us in antiquity.”  When she focused her energy on becoming an artist, her first—and current--source of inspiration was the very same prehistoric cave paintings she’d studied in college so many years before. Luann’s work has appeared in national juried craft exhibitions and publications.  Her work has been carried by fine art and craft galleries across the country. She teaches professional development skills for artists and craftspeople.  She is also a published writer, with a book, ebooks, published articles, and two regular columns in craft magazines to her credit. In addition to her own blog about a life making art, she now writes a regular column for Fine Art Views, an online art marketing magazine. After living in New Hampshire for 27 years, she moved to Santa Rosa, California in 2014, because, she says, you’re never too old to make a major reboot in your life.

Nicholas Valdez Fiction, Literature, Non-Fiction, Teacher/Instructor I write and edit for those who need help finding their way through words. As an editor, I specialize in developmental editing, helping writers create, organize, and improve their work. Whether I'm writing or editing, I infuse my work with the awe I feel when I consider the structure, the complexity, and the beauty of the English language. I hold a Ph.D. in English from UC Riverside, where I studied film and visual culture, American literature, and rhetorical theory.

Charles Versaggi Literature, Non-Fiction, Photography, Visual Arts Like an insatiable moth, I've been a light chaser for many years. I love photography for its science, craft, art, and power to expand our vision. But most of all as a tool that enables us to see and share novel perspectives, informing stories that evoke feelings of awe, empathy, and community with the world around us. Charles Versaggi is a native San Franciscan of Italian heritage, who now lives in Petaluma. Earning a doctorate in marine biology, he learned to appreciate the wonders of nature both under and above the water — often with camera in tow. A mass-media science fellowship writing for the Milwaukee Journal paved the way to science writing, life science communications, and photojournalism. He has participated in juried group photo exhibitions and has published numerous articles and photoessays. He is currently working on North Beach Light (© 2018), a collection of photoessays that reflect on his early years of living in North Beach when it was the City’s “Italianita” and the center of Beat lifestyle, topless bars, and jazz clubs, leading to flower power and the Summer of Love.

Arthur Waligora Illustration, Literature, Painting, Poetry, Visual Arts

Hi there!

  I moved to the Bay area from LA working as a Digital Art Director for a major enthusiast publishing company. Since relocating I have been eager to start working with paint and other mediums to express myself. Very grateful to have been invited by Petaluma Arts Center to speak at one of their Idea Lounge events.  

Amy A. Whitcomb Artisan, Fiction, Functional Art, Holidays Shop Local, Literature, Non-Fiction, Other, Other, Poetry I create fine art, functional art, and opportunities for myself and others to observe, reflect, discover, and build community through the written word. Please consider supporting my paper and book arts by purchasing blank journals for yourself and your loved ones. Each journal is unique -- made from repurposed, locally sourced materials -- to encourage reflection and creative expression. Please visit www.amyawhitcomb.com/artist to learn more about me.

Lindsay Whiting Literature I’m a Book Coach who helps self-publishers plan, prepare, publish, and promote nonfiction books. My decades-long career in print and publishing gives me a complete understanding of how to build a high-quality book from manuscript development to design to print to marketing — and the practical, hands-on experience to educate, guide, and coach others who are new to it. I want my clients to feel that they have someone who understands what they are going through, someone to give them sound advice, and someone to support them when they need it most. You are not alone…

Cynthia Whitman Acting, Audio, Film, Film Office, Folk Art, Improvisation, Literature, Media, Music, Other, Puppetry, Talent, Theatre, Video, Vocal I’m a professional, union voice actor based in Sonoma, with 14 years of professional stage & screen experience. I am available for voiceover work in: - Commercials - Videos - Audio Books - Animation - Podcasts - Corporate Narration - E-learning - Apps - Video Games - Audio tours - Singing - Etc. I have a professional home recording studio with… - Microphone - Røde NT1 - Interface - Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 - DAW - TwistedWave - Computer - MacBook Pro - Headphones - Sony MDR-7506 Or, I am happy to record at any Bay Area recording studio of your choice. I am also a professional high soprano singer, vocal range G3-F6, with experience in musical theatre, light opera, & choral singing. And I am available to work as an on-camera actor for commercials, lifestyle-modeling, or scripted narrative films. I am a member of both acting unions, SAG-AFTRA and AEA.

Nicole R. Zimmerman Creative Sonoma Grantee, Fiction, Literature, Non-Fiction, Poetry, Teacher/Instructor, Teaching Artist for Adults, Teaching Artist for Youth

NICOLE R. ZIMMERMAN is a recipient of the 2019 Discovered Award for Emerging Literary Artists Grant, made possible, in part, with funds from Creative Sonoma and the National Endowment for the Arts.

She holds an MFA in Writing from the University of San Francisco, which nominated her essay to the AWP Intro Journals Project. Her literary work is published in Creative Nonfiction, The Best Women’s Travel Writing, Los Angeles Times, The Rumpus, Hypertext Review, Sonora Review, The Dewdrop, About Place Journal, Halfway Down the Stairs, Toho, Cagibi, Ruminate, Noyo River Review, Birdland Journal, Origins, and South Loop Review, which nominated her work for a Pushcart Prize.

Nicole has freelanced as a reporter for Petaluma Patch, as a Towns correspondent for The Press Democrat, and as a copywriter for Viator/TripAdvisor. She is an alumna of Lit Camp, a juried writers conference. She designed curriculum and taught in K-5 at Sonoma Country Day School and led creative writing workshops in after-school programs in Petaluma.

Born in Brazil and raised (mostly) in Northern California, Nicole lives with her wife in Penngrove where she hosts Shut Up & Write!™ sessions and facilitates creative writing workshops (see Writing From Memory or Imagination on the creative calendar). She is an AWA affiliate, certified to lead workshops in the Amherst Writers & Artists (AWA) method.