Teaching Artist for Adults Archives

Shannon Abbey Children's, Illustration, Literature, Painting, Teacher/Instructor, Teaching Artist for Adults, Teaching Artist for Youth, Visual Arts ‘The future of most bird species depends on our commitment to preserving them. Are they valuable enough for us to make the effort?’ - Jonathan Franzen Simplicity, the beauty of the every day.

I am an environmental woman artist inspired by the landscape and wildlife of Sonoma and Marin counties, especially the wetlands along the Petaluma River and San Pablo Bay. My work is about this place, the natural world of the North Bay, combining representation with abstraction.

I work in acrylic on wood panels in the studio, or on location around Sonoma and Marin Counties and recently traveling to Glacier National Park in Montana where I was the 2022 artist in residence.

I was born and raised in a small college town in the Pacific Northwest.

My family spent summer vacations camping, fishing, boating and swimming on the lakes and rivers of Washington and Idaho. The love of the outdoors instilled in me by my father, an avid outdoorsman, led to my passion for nature and animal life as my painting’s subject matter. I have an optimistic view of the regenerative power of nature when aware humans intercede.

Valerie Adams Artisan, Design, Functional Art, Glass, Graphic Design, Holidays Shop Local, Other, Other, Teacher/Instructor, Teaching Artist for Adults, Teaching Artist for Youth, Visual Arts

I’m a northern California girl whose been creating all my life. With a 30-year background as a graphic designer my creative vision has centered on laying out printed pieces that provoke thought, convey information, and create a reaction.

With an emphasis on kilnformed glass since 2001, I use many of the same design principles of balance, focus, and harmony. I design and create one-of-a-kind fused glass artwork and lighting, functional and decorative tableware, smile-inducing garden art, and dazzling accessories.

Juicy colors, off-beat arrangements, and clean, aesthetic layouts define my approach. I’m continually thrilled by the magical aspect of transforming individual sharp bits of colored glass into luscious collectibles that reflect your good taste. Each piece is handmade, one at a time, in my Sonoma County studio.

I’ve been honored to participate in Professional Artists in Residency programs at the prestigious Pilchuck School of Glass in Washington state and the Bullseye Glass Company’s Dealer’s Forum, which prepares artists to teach in the field of glass art. I’m an enthusiastic and generous instructor providing classes to small groups, and one-on-one mentoring for those interested in personalized instruction.

Art Of Nature Amanda Rose Hopkins (A. Rose) Arts Administration, Illustration, Mixed, Other, Painting, Performance Art, Sculpture, Teacher/Instructor, Teaching Artist for Adults, Teaching Artist for Youth, Visual Arts

Artist's Statement Amanda Rose Hopkins Art of Nature

Throughout my work I use various mediums to help people fall back in love with nature. My work also explores the complexities of human kind's relationship to the environment. Using the visual language of color I create an emotional feel, which connects directly to the heart and mind. The use of bright sensual colors, occasional subdued hues, and earthy elements brings about a range of feeling tones. The series of sensual flower paintings are meant to wet the palette by exciting the visual senses with their extremely bright hues and complementary colors. The most subtle hues and purest feelings I encounter when in direct contact with nature. The intricate patterns, finely composed colors, and rounded shapes fuel a constant curiosity of the organic. Ecological elements are missing from this current linear realm humans have built from concrete and synthetic materials. Thus my intention is to bring an ecological aesthetic into "built space". My art strives to insert pieces of the earth herself into man-made settings. Recently my love of painting and landscaping has combined into mixed media paintings which use found moss, bark, and seaweed with sensuously colored oil paint, to create an explosion of the senses. These hands use sensual colors with an environmental aesthetic with the intention of exciting the senses to help them focus on the beauty and magic of nature.

Audio Angel Acting, Audio, Composition, Dance, Design, Directing, Film, Film Office, Graphic Design, Improvisation, Instrumental, Literature, Media, Multi-Media, Multimedia, Music, Other, Other, Other, Performance Art, Poetry, Talent, Teacher/Instructor, Teaching Artist for Adults, Teaching Artist for Youth, Theatre, Video, Vocal Music. Chose. Me. Hi CS Community. Happy to be here. Hope you are well in this moment & look forward to meeting you soon. In the meantime, here's a bit about my latest LIVE project. <3 ***

Fronted by the divine Audio Angel, Audio Angel & Her Good Intentions is a playful experiment in performance art. With an incredible live band, 30-year dancehall veteran Audio Angel reinterprets her own original electronic music while shuffling in a mix tape of B-sides and rarities from that cool bestie who had the weirdest but raddest taste. Expect the unexpected, and be ready for a danceable journey through soul, RnB, jazz, indie rock, gospel and more!

Brittany Aquamarine Composition, Instrumental, Music, Other, Performance Art, Teacher/Instructor, Teaching Artist for Adults, Teaching Artist for Youth, Vocal Brittany Aquamarine:

Live Music - Ecstatically Jazzed Ethereality
Music Teacher - Piano, Guitar, and Vocals

Known for creating complex and intricate piano and guitar-based songs since 2004, Brittany’s newest songs, and first-time releases in 2021, were created by arranging and editing a variety of layered electronic instrumental loops.

Brittany has collaborated and performed with many musicians, adding songwriting, instrumentation, lead and background vocals to various projects, performing live with one band, Grenadilla, at SiriusXM Satellite Radio in Washington D.C. the Clearwater Festival and Mountain Jam Festival in New York.

She believes we all can choose to use the pieces we have to instigate necessary creative expression. These expressions are the genesis of her new songs based in electronic loops of bass, drum and piano additions. All of these new songs have gone through many transformations and metamorphosis as we all do. Jienan Yuan, one of the producers for Pieces (Jienan Yuan Remix) was instrumental in making that version of Pieces. Brittany loves to share her passion for music with others. She provides private music lessons and teaches lessons at Music to My Ears in Cotati, CA and Art and Soul School of Creative and Performing Arts in Windsor, CA. Please contact BrittanyAquamarineMusic@gmail.com about music interests and booking requests.

Matthew Baker Design, Graphic Design, Illustration, Multimedia, Photography, Printmaking, Production, Teacher/Instructor, Teaching Artist for Adults, Teaching Artist for Youth, Visual Arts I am a commercial artist specialized in promotional marketing. My clients have included Disney, Marvel, Nickelodeon, Mattel, and many other name brands. After 17 years in the industry, I have decided to give back to our community and have been teaching Graphics in both public and private schools in Sonoma County for the past six years. The Graphics classes are specialized in that they are streamlined to printing on Apparel. Students design their own brands and print new clothes.

Jenn Ban Teacher/Instructor, Teaching Artist for Adults, Teaching Artist for Youth, Visual Arts

Jenn Ban (she/they) is a Queer Filipinx-American multidisciplinary visual artist, certified Reiki Master, youth teaching artist, community organizer, and cultural practitioner.

Jenns work includes natural and upcycled textiles, painting, printmaking, murals, film and installations. They also offer Sacred Skin Adornments (Reiki infused tattoos), Reiki Sessions, host community circles, and teach workshops. They intersect art and healing through intention, meditation, and movement, focusing on themes of authentic connection, soul-transcendence, and individual and collective healing.

As an artist and cultural practitioner, their work has been featured across the United States and internationally in numerous articles, galleries, exhibits and museums in the Philippines and Europe. They are recognized for on-going contributions to a number of community-based organizations. Jenn is a Teaching Artist with Raizes Collective, co-organizer of Warriors Grace Austronesian Gatherings, co-founder of Commune Artist, a Resident Artist at Balay Kreative Studios and at Fibershed Learning Center and a recipient of the 2022 San Francisco Arts Commission Individual Artist Grant.

Cw Bayer Composition, Instrumental, Music, Teacher/Instructor, Teaching Artist for Adults, Vocal CW Bayer plays ragtime honky tonk songs and tunes, singing and playing instrumentally, on guitar and harmonic. He plays originals and standards. He's played a long time. CW is available to share/teach this style. Visit cwbayer.blue

Kirsten Bjøre Guerrero Multi-Media, Teacher/Instructor, Teaching Artist for Adults, Teaching Artist for Youth, Visual Arts Kirsten Bjøre Guerrero (she/her) is an artist and educator who places the highest importance on supporting social and emotional connections through making. She loves developing new techniques and creating functional art objects. She is an advocate for issues of art education, mental health, neurodiversity, LGBTQ+ community, and creative entrepreneurship. She has worked in a wide array of media and accepts commissions on a limited basis. Please visit cabracreative.com to learn more. As a founder of the art collective, WonderStump, Kirsten finds joy and collaboration in all aspects of the arts. WonderStump encourages visual artists, performance artists, musicians, writers, production artists, and creatives of all types to come together to create magical things! Kirsten is also a member of the Arts Alive collective, working collaboratively to elevate the vibrant arts scene in downtown Petaluma. Kirsten currently serves as the Head of Engagement and Programming at Life On Earth Art. Her work involves forming community partnerships and developing curricula for combined methodologies of healing, artmaking, and activism-- to further the mission to unite, create, and heal through art. Please contact Kirsten to learn more about Life on Earth Art and how you might become involved. Kirsten was born and raised in Southcentral Alaska, spent 15 years teaching in public schools in San Antonio, Texas, and now lives in Sebastopol, California with her partner and their two amazing children.

Mari Capon Acting, Artisan, Arts Administration, Ballet, Ballroom, Children's, Choreography, Dance, Directing, Fiber Art, Fiction, Folk Art, Hip-Hop & Funk, Illustration, Improvisation, Improvisation, Latin, Literature, Media, Modern, Muralist, Music, Non-Fiction, Other, Other, Other, Painting, Performance Art, Poetry, Printmaking, Puppetry, Sculpture, Storytelling, Teacher/Instructor, Teaching Artist for Adults, Teaching Artist for Youth, Theatre, Video, Visual Arts, Vocal Mari has been professionally involved in the arts world for over twenty years. As a child, she was a creative dancer at Virginia Tanner's Children Dance Theater, and she oil painted and sang in choirs. As a teen she acted, and was a make-up artist, poet, essayist, and ballroom dancer, and in young adulthood, she was a tango dancer and professional performing artist as an Art Model for artists working for Disney, EA, and countless Universities, Ateliers, Institutes, and Studios, and especially enjoyed set, costume, and lighting designs for painters and illustrators. Upon realizing that she most enjoyed coaching artists through their process, she began teaching, first creating art curriculum for a K-12 after-school program while becoming bilingual in Peru, before returning to the U.S. to become a certified cognitive movement, creative dance, and preschool music instructor. She began providing, teaching, and consulting for bilingual preschools and Summer Camps, tutoring, and coaching gymnastics, and continued to teach the arts and sports. She also taught inclusive sex education and spiritual development for children at interfaith, non-denominational churches, and facilitated somatic processing, while attending weekly classes in various forms. As an undergrad, Mari authored an Interdisciplinary Arts Curriculum Program for Pre-K through 12th Grade and became credentialed. She will research, publish, and offer her program while continuing to teach Interdisciplinary Arts.

Ron Carter Architecture, Artisan, Audio, Ceramics, Children's, Creative Sonoma Grantee, Design, Directing, Fashion Design, Fiction, Film, Functional Art, Furniture, Graphic Design, Illustration, Instrumental, Interior Design, Jewelry, Literature, Media, Mixed, Muralist, Music, Other, Other, Other, Painting, Photography, Poetry, Sculpture, Teacher/Instructor, Teaching Artist for Adults, Teaching Artist for Youth, Theatre, Video, Visual Arts, Woodworking

My Path... Divergent visions gave rise to my creative present. A present refreshed by art as life and livelihood.

Experiences like the ‘Tubbs Fire’ that hit Santa Rosa serve to strengthen the ‘artist within me’. It foements subjective creative moments that utilize my past, present - and my future as focal lenses. Spontaneously, I chose The San Francisco Art Institute over The Rhode Island School of Design and the School of the Art Institute at Chicago for my formal Art education. I received my BFA in Interdisciplinary Art and Public Art. I’ve studied stone sculpture for 10 years with Master Sculpture-Ante’ Marinovic, one of Croatia’s premier stone sculptors and is considered a Croatian national treasure. I explore the collaboration between artist, media and tool in such a fashion as to give rise to multiple layers of compressed info within each piece I create no matter if it is a purely visual work or an interactive space or environmental art form. For me, art screams out into all aspects of my life. As an artist in western society, dogma and bravado go hand in hand with economic choice. Art is my life. If it’s not nailed down or permanently affixed, it’s in trouble of becoming art resource material. Well, upon further review, even that won’t deter me from considering an objects use in an art piece.

Catherine Cruz Multi-Media, Teacher/Instructor, Teaching Artist for Adults, Teaching Artist for Youth Artist Statement Catherine B Cruz is a French-American abstract artist who works with mixed media, multi-layered collage, and reclaimed materials. Informed by more than twenty-five years of experience in the design world, Catherine takes inspiration from a unique perspective, which spans architecture, interior design, and sustainability. Her art work is informed by textures and patterns created by the passing of time and the effects of the natural elements on the built environment. A walk in any city like New York, Paris or Barcelona, is always a source of inspiration. In the process of observing the contrast between new and old architecture, the textures of walls, the torn posters, and the typography on the storefronts, she creates her own visual vocabulary that she utilizes in her mixed media work. She is also attracted to textures found in the rural environment such as old wooden fences, painted barns, and rusted metal that she photographs, analyzes and abstracts. She is not interested in replicating them but instead she lets them inform her art. As a predominantly self-taught artist, she has developed her style by exploring materials and techniques. Her abstract vocabulary is based on intuitive mark making, lines and forms, as well as the exploration of visual and tactile textures and a good understanding of color. Her process involves layering materials on wood panels or canvas such as her own painted papers, vintage papers, paint, graphite, and oil pastels. The layers are often sanded to reveal patterns and details. Artist Biography Catherine was born in Mantes-la-Jolie, France, not too far from Claude Monet’s home and gardens. She grew up in several places including Versailles and the Cote d’Azur, attending high school in Cannes. While a teenager, she was an exchange student near Nashville, Tennessee, and later on she moved to the US on her own to attend college. She received a Bachelor of Science in Interior Design (Cum Laude) from Florida State University in 1993 and had a successful career as residential and commercial interior designer, followed by a second career and the creation of her own business, C2 Green Solutions, as a LEED-accredited green building consultant working with international architectural firms in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, New York, and Houston. Always an avid learner, she has studied art history, color theory, painting, classical figure drawing, perspective, printing, and pottery in both France and the US. Her passion is to encourage others to unleash their creativity, experiment with materials, and connect with their imagination. In 2018 she created Be You Art Studio and launched her creative workshops for children and adults. She shares her time between Sebastopol, California, and Valence, France, with her husband and her son.

Johny Dechemin Acting, Composition, Crew, Dance, Design, Directing, Fashion Design, Film Office, Folk Art, Functional Art, Hip-Hop & Funk, Illustration, Instrumental, Mixed, Multimedia, Music, Other, Other, Other, Other, Painting, Performance Art, Photography, Printmaking, Professional Performance, Sculpture, Storytelling, Talent, Teacher/Instructor, Teaching Artist for Adults, Teaching Artist for Youth, Theatre, Visual Arts, Vocal DJ JOHNY MIX, has a natural charisma, a passion for music, and the ability to connect with people. A top-notch DJ who’s connect with listeners through engaging talk content and social interaction. He plays musical recordings on radio shows, nightclubs, corporates, private and public events. He works for radio stations, presenting programs, talk shows, and chart shows. He ensures musical recordings and advertisements are played on time and also interact with listeners through social media. As a DJ, he is responsible for engaging with listeners, queueing up playlists, presenting commercials, performing interviews, taking music requests, and generating interest in the show. He is a MC at public events and perform meet and greets.

Kate Foley-Beining Improvisation, Instrumental, Mixed, Music, Painting, Printmaking, Teacher/Instructor, Teaching Artist for Adults, Teaching Artist for Youth, Theatre, Visual Arts, Vocal I am a musician, artist, and professor of German Language and Literature. Music: I am a singer, performing the works of Joni Mitchell, backed by a jazz trio. I have developed music enrichment programs for elementary schools in Healdsburg and Geyserville where I have taught vocal music for over 10 years. Working with children in music is its own reward and I am aware of the rare good fortune I have to also be paid to do it. I am a classically-trained pianist, currently pursuing challenging selections from the repertoire of Schubert, Chopin, Liszt, and Bach. Art: Sight-size realism is the method I use in painting my oil still lives. I would call my work domestic realism since my favorite subject matter is my 1940s era chrome coffeepot in which my domestic surroundings are reflected around me as I paint. Decay, in the form of rusted objects and old leather books, is set against the sharp convex images reflected in the chrome globe, offering a visual irony that I find endlessly intriguing. I have shown and sold my pieces in juried shows. Language and Literature: I am an adjunct professor of German with an emphasis on women writers in German literary history. My doctoral research, using a feminist literary perspective, was published in my book The Body and Eucharistic Devotion in Catharina Regina von Greiffenberg's Meditations. Teaching German brings me joy and of course my college students are constantly engaged in music, art, and theater as they become speakers of German

Ernesto Garay Literature, Poetry, Teacher/Instructor, Teaching Artist for Adults, Teaching Artist for Youth Ernesto Garay is a poet, performer, teacher, and social justice activist. Ernesto is a bilingual teaching artist, offering residencies to students in grade 4-12. Mr. Garay holds two Masters Degrees: one in Comparative Literature and the other in Ethnic Studies. He is a poet in Residence at Creative Sonoma, California Poets in the Schools, and Azures Acres, teaching poetry as a form of healing to children, teens and adults living with intersectional vulnerability in schools and organizations in Sonoma County. Currently Mr. Garay is finishing his book of poetry: Reverberating Voices. It speaks about the experience of immigration, racism, healing the spirit, displacement and love while living in San Francisco, California, Mexico, Nicaragua and El Salvador during Central American Civil Wars of the 1970s and 1980s. His poetry has been published in the DI-VȇrRSέ-City Anthology of the Austin International Poetry Festival, Pterodáctilo, La Revista, The Ethnic Studies Journal and Desde el Epicentro. Mr. Garay has also performed and read his poetry in the Bay Area for venues such as MAPP (Mission Arts and Performance Project), Mama’s Art Café, and the University of California at Santa Cruz. He’s also read his poetry in North Bay venues like the Salon for the Arts, the Arlene Francis Center, the De Turk Round Barn, the Finely Center, the Sonoma County Museum, and in Southern California, at the Pitzer College at Claremont University. He is passionate about justice and advocating for the Latino immigrant community. Immensely creative and accomplished, he inspires us and moves among us with unfailing humility, generosity and grace.

Nicole Rose Gelormino Arts Administration, Illustration, Mixed, Other, Painting, Printmaking, Sculpture, Teacher/Instructor, Teaching Artist for Adults, Teaching Artist for Youth, Visual Arts Nicole Rose Gelormino is a teaching artist and painter. A SF Bay Area native, Gelormino has maintained a studio practice alongside her career in teaching art and leading professional development in arts education for over a decade. In her studio practice, Gelormino is committed to the continued exploration of the nuances of personal memory, the body and internalized cultural paradigms. She employs the paint and painting methods in the process of reflection and discovery within the pscyho-visceral landscape. Gelormino holds a Single Subject Teaching Credential in Visual Art and recently served on the advisory panel to the California Department of Credentialing. She worked for a few years on the Teachers Advisory Group to the SF Museum of Modern Art, writing curriculum for their collection and special exhibitions. She has also worked in arts administration in schools and other non-profit and public agencies. Some additional settings she has taught in include: professional development for teachers in schools and museums, youth and families before and after school and at special events, summer arts programs run by the city of San Francisco. At Gateway High School, Gelormino also served as the Arts Department Coordinator and Teaching Coach for other teaching artists.

Linda Goodman Painting, Printmaking, Teacher/Instructor, Teaching Artist for Adults, Teaching Artist for Youth, Visual Arts A painter, printmaker and educator, Linda remembers how good she felt as an 8-year-old artist wearing the lanyard keychain she made on her favorite ladybug-buttons dress. The impish girl grew up to be an award-winning artist, earning an M.F.A. in Printmaking, at Mills College and a B.A. in Fine Art from Stanford. Her prints and paintings are in numerous museum and private collections. Ms. Goodman shares her passion for making art with her students, encouraging expressive freedom and fearlessness while honing perceptive and hands-on skills. She has been a studio art teacher for over 20 years in the U.S. and abroad. She worked with physically and mentally challenged students at Creative Growth and East Bay Recovery art centers through the Oakland Unified School District, and with clients with disabilities at a Chalk Hill Artist Residency in Healdsburg. Linda also worked as Vespa-riding cafe photographer in Florence, editor, graphic designer, and publisher of books on alternative energy.

Kelly Gray Creative Sonoma Grantee, Fiction, Literature, Non-Fiction, Other, Poetry, Teacher/Instructor, Teaching Artist for Adults, Teaching Artist for Youth Kelly Gray (she/her/hers) lives in Northern California on unceded Coast Miwok and Kashaya Pomo land. She writes about what she knows or is trying to know; parenting, eco-grief, mental health, dead things, monsters, prophetic animals, relationships to self and others, and rural life. She comes from a background in union organizing, birth work and reproductive justice, & is a certified UC California Naturalist and trained raptor handler, all of which informs her writing. Gray is the author of Instructions for an Animal Body (MoonTide Press, 2021), Tiger Paw, Tiger Paw, Knife, Knife (Quarter Press, 2022) and the audio chapbook My Fingers are Whales and Other Stories of Cetology (Moon Child Press, 2021). She is the recipient of the 2022 Neutrino Short-Short Prize from Passages North and has been a finalist for Best of the Net, nominated for Pushcart Prizes and Best Short Fiction. Her writing appears or is forthcoming in Northwest Review, Passages North, Menacing Hedge, Newfound, Pithead Chapel, Atticus Review, trampset, Literary Mama, and other incredible journals & anthologies. Currently, she is the Outreach & Assistant Editor at Bracken Magazine.

TerriAnne Gutierrez Choreography, Composition, Dance, Instrumental, Music, Other, Performance Art, Professional Performance, Teacher/Instructor, Teaching Artist for Adults, Teaching Artist for Youth Artist and community activist TerriAnne Gutierrez established Sirens Studio in 2001 We create, produce, present, and teach; *multicultural dance *theater *music Engaging a diverse group of Sonoma County and Bay Area artists, audiences, and students. Many racially mixed, and culturally specific ensembles consider Sirens Studio & Theater their artistic home, creating a thriving inter-generational community. Sirens is a non-profit 501©3 organization and over the past 15 years our programs and numerous activities have contributed to community development, stability and access to creative art making. Presenting, co-presenting, scholarship, work exchange, apprentice, sponsorship and more are all here to serve the large dance, music and theater communities in Sonoma County and the San Francisco Bay Area.

Jenny Harp Artisan, Mixed, Printmaking, Teacher/Instructor, Teaching Artist for Adults, Visual Arts, Woodworking I am an artist and educator living and working in Sonoma County. I have been a professor of studio arts at Sonoma State University for 8 years teaching drawing, fundamentals, and printmaking. I also teach workshops within the community. My creative work includes many different mediums and explores color, texture, limitations, and mark-making.

Sarah Hylton Artisan, Creative Sonoma Grantee, Improvisation, Mixed, Other, Painting, Sculpture, Teaching Artist for Adults, Teaching Artist for Youth Expressive Artist and Arts Facilitator specializing in a whole person-centered approach for creating art. An avid painter, dancer and ceramic sculptor; often found dancing while painting. Sarah’s paintings have been featured in galleries, juried exhibits and are in private collections. She is currently represented by Lori Austin Gallery in Sebastopol, CA. She began receiving awards as a child for her original artwork though has always resonated with the outsider and naïve artist. She is a self-taught artist and process oriented. After raising her artistically talented son, as an only parent, she is whole heartedly devoting herself to her own creative process and arts based restorative community projects. She is a 2020 Creative Sonoma Pop Up Art Grant recipient. Her current projects include the Hexagons Of Dignity Tapestry and the Art Tent. The community mural installation on the Art Tent is postponed due to Shelter In Place.

Jennifer Joyce Artisan, Ceramics, Functional Art, Instrumental, Jewelry, Music, Other, Other, Sculpture, Teacher/Instructor, Teaching Artist for Adults, Teaching Artist for Youth, Visual Arts, Vocal

Jennifer Joyce, a native of Southern California, embarked on a life of creating functional and sculptural ceramics in 1995.

Joyce is a sculptor and ceramist whose body of work is both thoughtful and whimsical. She brings a unique background in dance, music, archaeology and photography to her art. As a past modern dancer and working archaeologist, Jennifer weaves lightness and whimsy, movement, dance and music into her pieces.

Jennifer opened her own ceramics school in Santa Monica, California in 1995 for 18 years and established another location in San Clemente in 2013. In her San Clemente studio she continued her ceramics school and also founded the Artists Studios of San Clemente, an artist studio collective that is still thriving.

Since moving to Sonoma County, Jennifer has opened her private studio to teaching ceramics and sculpture, has taught numerous classes and workshops at the Sonoma Community Center, teaches for the Mentor Program and has taught part-time at the Sonoma Academy in Santa Rosa. Her emphasis is on hand building, wheel throwing and figurative sculpture.

Tyehimba Kokayi Creative Sonoma Grantee, Dance, Folk Art, Other, Teacher/Instructor, Teaching Artist for Adults, Teaching Artist for Youth At 15 in Oakland, I began taking formal dance classes, and by the age of 18 began my dance career while teaching gymnastics at a dance studio in Alameda, Ca. My formal training expanded to include Jazz, Tap, Ballet, Modern and Dunham, while concurrently performing with the Oakland Children’s Chorus and The Oakland Youth Chorus. I later moved to Sacramento and began studying theater under the late great Dr Thomas Michael Gates, mentored in dance with James Wheatley of Celebration Arts and Pepper Von of Step 1 Dance Academy, choreographed with the Black Repertory Dance Troupe of UC Davis and began training in West African Dance with Linda Faye Johnson, Zak and Niaomi Diouf, the late greats Alasane Kane and Abdoulia Diakite by joining "CEEDO” (Chedo) West African Drum and Dance Troupe in 1986. I learned the Djembe and mastered it while completing ten years of rigorous training and founded Lions Den Entertainment, which was incorporate in 2002. Exactly 20 years later, in 2022, I established The Lions Den Education Institute, to further educate about West African culture and I also teach ZUMBA to encourage some form of movement. I received a Neighborhood Arts Program grant in 2006, began and served as President of The West African Drum and Drum Club at CSUS, from March 2007 until March 2008, hold a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Ethnic Studies, minor in Dance, a Master of Arts Degree in Education. For 2023, I am a grant recipient and part owner of a new movement studio Cotati Moves.

Jacqueline Mallegni Artisan, Design, Fiber Art, Graphic Design, Mixed, Sculpture, Teacher/Instructor, Teaching Artist for Adults, Visual Arts I create mixed media sculpture with rattan, handmade paper, cast flax and silk fiber, sometimes embellished with mono-prints infused with indigo, sumi ink and handmade plant based inks and stains. Making and the art of transformation from tangible to intangible returning to a tangible form is very alluring for me. I am interested in working with materials that translate my appreciation for mother-nature's installations formed by water, wind, light and dark. Patterns in nature, textures and seasonal changes inform my sculptures that reveal primitive and refined qualities. Aside from nature's inspiration, I’m also interested in the concept of the ethereal journey, motherhood, vacancy, loss, renewal and how emotional responses can evoke beauty. I began making Asian style paper with kozo fiber in 1987. My journey with paper and sculpture has been varied from light fixtures to stone carving to ethereal mixed media sculpture. The thread of my creative process always begins with paper. I’m excited about creating the Chrysalis series that feels like a merging of many techniques developed over the years bringing many voices together that I refer to as contemplative sculpture.

Farrah McAdam Choreography, Creative Sonoma Grantee, Dance, Hip-Hop & Funk, Improvisation, Modern, Professional Performance, Teacher/Instructor, Teaching Artist for Adults, Teaching Artist for Youth Calling on her 20+ years of widespread movement experiences and gatherings, Farrah McAdam is a dance educator, choreographer, facilitator, and artist in the Bay Area who is invested in equitable, collaborative environments where history and critical thinking are investigated just as much as physical embodiments. Farrah has performed with CALI&CO, Liz Lerman, Kristen Daley, Cookie Harrist, Jenna Valez, Abigail Mytych, Take 5/Good Fortune, multiple works at American College Dance Association’s West Region’s Gala Concerts, and the ACDA’s National Concert at the Kennedy Center. She currently teaches through Sonoma State University and the Luther Burbank Center and has been a guest educator and choreographer around the West Region- including Arizona State University, Scottsdale Community College, UC Irvine, Modesto Community College, San Jose State, Fresno State University, Marin School of the Arts, Prescott Circus Theatre, Sonoma State University, and ODC in San Francisco. Farrah holds a B.A. in both Psychology and Dance and is currently pursuing certification through Rennie Harris University’s inaugural cohort as a C1 Candidate.

CREATIVES