CREATIVES

Michael Acker Media, Mixed, Other, Other, Photography, Visual Arts RESUME Michael Acker ackermichael6@gmail.com www.mca-studios.com www.springsmuseum.org P.O. Box 1959, Boyes Hot Springs, CA 95416 541 357 2532   Biography                                            Born in New York City, raised in California and Oregon. Resides Sonoma County California.     Grants/Awards: 2021 Working Artist Purchase Award 2019 Bay Area Masters, Peninsula Museum of Art, Third Place 2d 2019 Gallery Route One Annual Juried Show, M. Louise Stanley juror Award of Merit 2014 Palo Alto Art Center Residency, finalist 2013 Creative Capital-On Our Radar 2012 Left Coast Annual Juror’s Exhibition Award, Sanchez Art Center, Pacifica, CA. Michael Schwager, Juror 2011 Creative Capital, advanced to second round 2010 Pollok-Krasner Foundation grant 1992 California Works, Award of Merit 1994 SECA award semifinalist 1990 Pollock-Krasner Foundation grant   Commissions/Competitions:. 2013 Aptos Blue public art, finalist, Watsonville, CA. 2010 “Water(ing) Logic(ally), Site-specific Garden Installation, Sonoma Community Center, Sonoma, CA. 2001 Fountain, Creekside Court, Berkeley, CA. 2000 Fountain, Bayer Corp, Berkeley, CA.   Solo Shows: January 2020 Sonoma Library October 2019 FOG Gallery, San Francisco 2018 Resident Artist Show, Sonoma Community Center 2016Alley Gallery, Sonoma, CA. 2013 Sanchez Art Center, Pacifica, CA. 2012 Sonoma community Center offices   Group Shows (selected) 2022 Gallery Route One Juried –Jack Fischer juror 2022 Marin Society of Artists, Artists Visions 2022 Jen Tough, juror 2021-Three Artist Show, FOG Gallery, San Francisco 2021 Slice, Pence Gallery, Davis CA.  Faith J. McKinnie juror. 2021 Gallery Route One Annual Juried Show, curated by Donna Seager 2020 Fragments, Arch Gallery, San Francisco, curated by Jen Tough 2020 Rough Around the Edges, online, curated by Jen Tough 2019 Bay Area Masters, Peninsula Museum of Art, Award 2019 Gallery Route One Annual Juried Show, M. Louise Stanley juror Award of Merit 2018 Ingenuity, sculpture/craft Marin Society of Artists 2017 Celebrate, Sonoma Arts Guild 2016 Left Coast Annual, Sanchez Art Center, Pacifica, CA. 2015 Left Coast Annual, Sanchez Art Center, Pacifica, CA. 2013 IMBY Sonoma County Museum, Santa Rosa 2012 Petaluma Arts Center, Digital Mixed Media Joe Doyle, curator 2012 Left Coast Annual, Sanchez Art Center, Pacifica, CA. Michael Shwager juror. Juror’s Award 2012 Made In California, Brea Gallery, Brea, CA. Rebecca Morse, juror 2011 Arts On Fire XV, Sanchez Art Center, Pacifica, CA. 2011 Works on/of Paper, Pacific Art League, Palo Alto 2011 Gallery Route One Juried Show 2010 Mapworks, Sebastopol  Center for the Arts, Sebastopol, CA. 2009 Sonoma Valley Museum of Art Biennale Frances McCormack, Juror   Publications Sonoma’s Fading Images of Highway 12, Boom- A Journal of California. August, 2017 https://boomcalifornia.com/2017/08/16/sonomas-fading-images-of-hwy-12/ By: Marion Greene, Boyes Springs Businesswoman. Journal of the Sonoma County Historical Society. 2021 Number 2 By: The Springs, Resort Towns of Sonoma Valley. Arcadia books, 2017.   Collections: King County Washington Portable Collection Simon Blattner Kaiser Permanente   Special Projects: 2021-Sonoma Plaza History Project, 9 panel commission 2019 Juror, Sonoma Valley Museum of Art “Re-photography” 2018 Artist in Residence, Sonoma Community Center Fiber Arts Program 2017 Publication of Photo History of the Resorts of Sonoma Valley. Arcadia Publishing 2015 The Springs Museum of History, Art and Community-in progress 2010 Mural for the Sonoma Valley Grange     Education: MFA, Sculpture, San Francisco State University   Online: @michaelacker6 www.mca-studios.com www.springsmuseum.org www.valleyofthemoonmainstemproject.org/    

Peter Alan Mixed, Recovery Fund Grantee, Visual Arts Peter Alan, visual/conceptual mixed media artist was born and raised in Southern California, completing his under-grad at Sonoma State University in Studio Fine Art, History and Psychology.  Then he lived in Italy to experience the concepts of art history, while receiving a mentorship from a local native Roman painter (name, non-disclosure agreement).   Since then Alan has held a number of painting studios making art for galleries, non-gallery venues and private collectors mostly in Southern and Northern California. Principles and elements of painting, drawing, printmaking and sculpture all come together into one application.  Mostly on paper or on plywood panel, a wide-range of content goes through a vigorous and rigorous process.  With oil paint, plaster, charcoal and collage, Alan develops richly dynamic surfaces using additive and deductive "marks" – an image, a scrape, a slash of paint, etc.  Tinkering with anything art-makeable at reach, his concepts range from layered portraits, figures, dresses, fingerprints, Americana icons, walls with journal-entry-like stencil and text.  Overall, Alan's style falls inside Traditional and a Contemporary Art.   With figurative academia and unconventionality of the avant-garde experimentation Alan brings forth boldness, sensitivity and playfulness with a dark spin. 2018-2020, Alan created artwork from the remnant ash and debris collected from his Glen Ellen home/painting studio lost in 2017 Nuns Wildfire.  As a revisit to the Jasper John's "flag" motif, the American and also the California flag depict a kind Symbolism of his content of loss, but now transformed into his most dynamic creative process.  The ash, strips of charred wood and other remnant “found objects" integrated with collaged ink-jet images printed on emergency assistance organizations' handouts as well as pages from his journal/sketchbook, Alan offered up inspiration and healing for his community stricken with the aftermath of one of the worse National wildfire on record.

Jane Ingram Allen Fiber Art, Mixed, Other, Painting, Printmaking, Sculpture Jane Ingram Allen, originally from Alabama, lived in Taiwan from 2004-2012 and moved back to the USA in August 2012, settling in Santa Rosa, CA. She continues her career as an international artist using sustainable materials and collaborative processes to raise public awareness about environmental issues.  In January 2004 she first went to Taiwan as a Fulbright Scholar to do her hand papermaking art with Taiwan’s natural materials. She received a second Fulbright grant with sponsorship by Taiwan’s National Endowment for Culture and Art, and completed her “Made in Taiwan” project in July 2005. After the Fulbright grants, Jane worked as an independent artist with many organizations in Taiwan and other countries and initiated several environmental sculpture projects in Taiwan. Jane is also a former university art professor and experienced curator and arts writer. She has received awards for artist in residencies in the USA, Philippines, Japan, Nepal, Brazil, China, Tanzania, Taiwan, Turkey and Indonesia.  She completed site specific sculpture installation projects with handmade paper and seeds in 2020 and 2021 in Sacramento, CA, Cloverdale, Oregon and Steckborn, Switzerland, and had exhibitions of her work in Australia, Japan, Switzerland, and the USA.

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.

Patty Bailey Artisan, Other, Woodworking I am inspired by nature and love reusing and repurposing.  I work mainly in salvaged wood and found wood and paper. I do paper collage, paper mosaics, indoor and outdoor home décor, wood signs and whatever strikes my fancy.  Common themes are trees, water, birds, fish, mountains and anything nature inspired.

Susan Bercu Mixed, Visual Arts I am a visual storyteller creating three-dimensional assemblages that use recycled materials. My themes include our existential threats: science denial, global warming, assaults on our US Democracy and basic human rights. “Cast-Offs” Streamers is my current endeavor funded with an artist grant from Creative Sonoma’s ArtSurround. The intention is to create awareness around energy consumption and over-consumerism where our cast-offs are sent to the landfill. Everyone in the community is invited to collect and donate their plastic and metal waste for their new artistic lives in a collaborative hands-on creative project. The streamers are hung from the trees in Helen Putnam Plaza, Petaluma. “Art With Conscience” is my art website: https://www.susanbercu.art/.  My need as an artist to create order out of chaos is tested in these hyper-chaotic times. The narrative leads me through a range of media where I rotate between 2-D and 3-D artworks. I paint and draw. I construct assemblages using recycled materials. I am compelled to sound the alarm about the universal threats and disasters...to implore members of our global community to act with conscience. My childhood fascination with President Abraham Lincoln culminates in "Strange Fates of Lincoln: A Portable Museum". https://www.lincolnstrangefates.com/ These bizarre but true events surrounding Lincoln and his family are chronicled in tabletop exhibits that I built from cardboard and illustrated with my drawings and paintings.

Deb Breton Painting, Visual Arts Deb Breton is an abstract expressionist artist working in Sonoma County, California. She creates vibrant paintings using acrylics, oils, and collage. Her abstract artworks evoke the viewer's imagination, while her portrait work celebrates the human spirit. Painting intuitively, she allows the artwork to flow from her subconscious mind onto the canvas. "Every gestural mark, brushstroke, and drop of paint is an expression of emotion. And it's this energy in these paintings that I share with you." I'm an avid fruit and vegetable gardener, animal lover, birder, cancer survivor and meditation enthusiast. Notable clients include Warner Bros Studios, Dali Museum and Nestle

Monica Bryant Illustration, Mixed, Painting, Photography, Visual Arts Monica Bryant is a mixed-media artist. She was born in Kansas, received her BA in Art from the University of Hawaii and her MFA from UC Berkeley. In 2004 she was awarded a fellowship at Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, New York. Bryant is a credentialed Art Teacher who chaired the Art Department at Ursuline High School in Santa Rosa, CA for nine years. After Ursuline closed in 2011, Bryant instructed drawing and color theory at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM) in San Francisco. She also became the art teacher at Brush Creek Montessori School in Santa Rosa until June 2014. Bryant is a Sonoma County Art Trails Artist and her work has been exhibited nationally and in Singapore. Influenced by her international travel experiences, including the three years she lived in Singapore, Bryant created distinctive remixed photographs of South East Asia in the 60’s. The photographic mixed-media works were exhibited in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Caffe Museo, October 2005. Bryant’s past work includes a large rebar and fiberglass apron, papier-mâché objects and paintings and drawings. In a newspaper article years ago, Khysie Horn said “Bryant is a conceptual artist who invites reflection and introspection”. In 2002 Bryant was the lead artist for the mural on the Press Democrat Building entitled The 50 Who Shaped Sonoma County in the 20th Century. https://www.monikaiart.studio/

Allegra Burke Artisan, Fiber Art, Jewelry, Mixed, Multi-Media, Printmaking, Recovery Fund Grantee, Sculpture, Teacher/Instructor, Visual Arts, Woodworking A self employed working artist since 2003, I am also an instructor, problem solver and creative. I work in a variety of mediums: Sculpture, Collage, Printmaking, Fiber art, Kanoko Shibori, Shifu, Book making, Boro, Tapestry, Assemblage, Encaustic, Felting, International mail art, Marbling, Block printing, and Mono printing. I have taught at the SRJC, Riley St, and by request to various art groups.  

Cade Burkhammer Artisan, Audio, Ceramics, Design, Fiction, Functional Art, Graphic Design, Illustration, Instrumental, Interior Design, Literature, Media, Mixed, Multi-Media, Music, Other, Other, Other, Painting, Photography, Printmaking, Sculpture, Teacher/Instructor, Video, Visual Arts Cade Burkhammer, born April 21st 1973, has been painting and exhibiting paintings and playing music since he was 13 years old around the country. Painting styles include surreal oils, abstract acrylic and latex, experimental and controlled mixed media, watercolor illustration, original Photoshop photography, ceramics, bronze sculpture, writing, landscape design, gardening, science, healing arts, bardic meditation, drumming, piano, DJ... Cade is the creator of 'The Wise Fool Tarot', a self-published independent manifesto that took 15 years of research, meditation, painting, writing and raising funds for printing and distributing. This year will be Cade's second tarot release collaborating with another author. His third oracle deck is in the making. Cade is the creator of 'Wrecords', a series of recordings and sound collages in the vain of Vicki Bennett and Philip Jeck, which is the musical accompaniment for the video series 'Recycled Memories.' A multi-media event featuring video and sound collage of noisy vintage meditation of the forgotten past and dreamy future combined with live drums, piano and sometimes female vocals.

Reena Burton Illustration, Mixed, Painting, Visual Arts Born and raised in beautiful Sonoma County, CA. I studied Fine Art in college, and fell in love with youth work and community arts. I worked for many years in non-profits and schools teaching art and community building skills to children and youth. I also have a deep connection to spirituality. I studied theology at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, and worked for a time in youth ministry, teaching young people skills to access their creative and spiritual voice. I am constantly searching for new ways to express my art, and my works range from painting, drawing, mixed media, and collage. My pieces call from my life experiences, world events, and social issues. Most commonly featured themes are relationships, spirituality, intersectional feminism, self-love, green witchcraft, body image, gender norms, sexuality, and social justice. I am an amateur seamstress, a green witch, and love painting small (and occasionally big) faces. I love to run, swim, snuggle with my family, practice yoga, play in the dirt, walk barefoot, and take long baths. Things like crystals and flowers make me really, really happy. Rom-coms and British mysteries are my sweet spot. Also am a bit of a nudist. When an opportunity presents itself, I can transform into a mermaid fairly quickly. I live in Graton, California with my family: partner Zeb, son Emmett, and (very) large kitty Charlie.

Patti Buttitta Artisan, Design, Functional Art, Graphic Design, Illustration, Mixed, Other, Other, Other, Painting, Photography, Printmaking, Sculpture, Visual Arts Patti Buttitta, artist and graphic designer— Patti draws on her background and experience as an artist, illustrator, writer and printmaker. She enjoys the challenge of complicated projects, but relishes the simple and immediate. She is known for innovative graphic design ideas, including logos, brand packaging, catalogs, books, publications, newsletters, direct-mail marketing campaigns and websites. She has achieved stunning results within limited budgets. Clearly communicating and concisely articulating concepts, she works with clients, colleagues, vendors, suppliers and other professionals to bring creative concepts to life. Her illustrations have complemented her many design solutions for wine labels, food packaging, marketing materials and brochures. Patti has turned her attention to website design, applying the same sense for clear communication and satisfying visual organization.

Teresa Camozzi Mixed, Painting, Photography, Sculpture, Visual Arts Bio : TeresaCamozzi Multimedia California artist Teresa Camozzi, born in Rabat, Morocco, immigrated to the United States when five years old. Her artwork evokes the complexity of the Islamic, while her immigration shades her political view.  Studying in San Francisco's Academy of Art, her mentor was Ernst Posey. Known internationally for large-scale permanent public artworks, she combines representational and abstract images via conventional art methods (photography, drawing) and computer technology. One example is a seven-story installation near Shanghai, China; another is at Miami International Airport. She earned the National 2009 Americans for the Arts Award for public work in Plano, Texas. She is currently engaged in creating and exhibiting her documentary series about the 2020 Pandemic. Healdsburg CA Februrary 2021

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.

Carol Carey Mixed, Visual Arts

Carol (C.J.) Carey was born in Key West, Florida and raised primarily in Texas.  She attended the University of Oklahoma where she received her B.A. degree in History. She studied law at the University of Tulsa, earning her J.D. degree in 2002.  She is currently a first grade teacher as well as a license attorney in Oklahoma. Art has always been a factor in her life as several of her siblings are artists.  When she was a teenager, her dream was to be a fashion designer so she spent hours drawing clothing designs.

Ms. Carey is self-taught and began working in decoupage before picking up a book on mixed-media. She started experimenting with various mediums until she developed a style that is uniquely her own. Her work is usually a reflection of the Steampunk phenomena and incorporates those ideas into interesting settings. She uses modeling paste for texture as well as paper, acrylic paint, ink, and stains. She always finishes her work with a layer of mica dry pigment so that the work seems to glow under light. She is currently working on a "MacBeth" piece for a Sacramento Fine Arts Center exhibition.

She has exhibited at the Sacramento Arts Festival, the Petaluma Art Center, and High Hand Gallery in Loomis, CA.  She will be back at the Sacramento Arts Festival in October 2020.

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.

Marsha Connell Other, Painting, Teacher/Instructor, Visual Arts MARSHA CONNELL was nurtured in her love for art, nature, and learning by her grandfather, Samuel Riss, watercolor painter and Renaissance farmer in Upstate New York. She expresses this legacy in her passion for the environment, and through painting en plein air. Marsha Connell’s paintings are a dance in color. She combines observation—mirroring the natural world—with improvisation—giving voice to the spirit of place. Watching, listening, hiking, dancing, trusting intuition and gesture, infuses her painterly representation with an energetic and abstract sensibility. She is a graduate of Skidmore College with a B. S. in Fine Arts and San Francisco State University with a Masters in Sculpture. Marsha has been on the art faculty of Santa Rosa Junior College for many years and is a visiting artist at Sonoma State University. She has received grants from the Pepperwood Foundation and the California Arts Council and has been a Fellow of the California Arts Project. Marsha is Chair of the Steering Committee for Sonoma County Art Trails Open Studios, a program of Sebastopol Center for the Arts. Her Santa Rosa studio, #24 on the 2017 Art Trails map, will be open to the public from 10-5 on October 14, 15, 21, and 22, and by appointment the rest of the year. A Collector's Guide to 141 artists' studios is available online at http://www.sonomacountyarttrails.org or by calling 707-829-4797. She also chairs the year round Art Trails Gallery at Corricks, 637 4th Street, in Downtown Santa Rosa, where she regularly exhibits her paintings. Marsha has presented art workshops and lectures in diverse locales, from California to Alaska, New Mexico, Oregon, New York, Mexico and France. She has participated in numerous exhibitions regionally and internationally, and her work is in many private, healthcare, and public collections. She loves to collaborate with scientists, teaching drawing to master naturalist students, and with other artists and teachers, expanding the parameters of the arts and the joys of creative process for students of every age and in many disciplines.  

Jason Cool Acting, Architecture, Artisan, Arts Administration, Ballroom, Ceramics, Children's, Choreography, Composition, Crew, Dance, Design, Directing, Equipment, Fashion Design, Fiber Art, Fiction, Film Office, Folk Art, Functional Art, Furniture, General Services, Glass, Hip-Hop & Funk, Illustration, Improvisation, Improvisation, Instrumental, Interior Design, Jewelry, Literature, Media, Mixed, Modern, Multi-Media, Music, Non-Fiction, Other, Other, Other, Other, Other, Other, Other, Other, Other, Painting, Performance Art, Photography, Poetry, Production, Professional Performance, Puppetry, Sculpture, Storytelling, Talent, Teacher/Instructor, Theatre, Visual Arts, Vocal, Woodworking

Jason Cool/Henson

1. Raised by musical and artistic tallent. from my grandfather Walter cool.writing and composing set designs on and off Broadway as well as music teacher. He tought me many things about music ,set design ,and writing stories making songs.mom colleen cool was a d.j for many years growing up .her morning talk show won an addy award. experience of the evolution of radio stations format from vinal,reel to reel,8 track,cassette,cd,to digital.learned lots about the insider secrets and politics , selling air time ,being a paid musical artist.and much more.on my dad's side .the "story family." his grandmother had 21 kids .4 sets of twins ,all natural birth!all musicians playing together ofton..on ed sullvon show and groucho marks.this popular family band and I would practice at grandma's regularly. As a kid growing up. i would try many instruments pianos ,drums,accordion ,banjo ,mandolin etc. I have been in theater,loved the arts, music ,writer. open to everything since i was a young  kid.arts and music are my life!if i dont know how to do something,i  will be honest!i ask,try and will do all things of interest with love !and any collaboration with heart.I Compromise to learn others perspectives because im always learning. preforming on and off stage.jamming with the public.sharing what i know. Learning what others are willing or able to teach.I  loved all the music,art,storys,I have been a part of, or experienced 1999 to current over 15 countries I visited. World Share

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.

Ruth Donovan Design, Functional Art, Graphic Design, Holidays Shop Local, Illustration, Mixed, Multi-Media, Other, Painting, Performance Art, Sculpture, Teacher/Instructor, Visual Arts I am a local artist and cofounder of The Beluga and Bee Studio located in Santa Rosa's Railroad Square District. For the last decade I have been heavily involved in Sonoma county's art community. I have dedicated my time and studio space to host group art shows for other up and coming local talent. This is important to me because I was taken under the wing of a retired photographer, Ron Emanuel, when I first moved to Sonoma county. I feel inspired to pay it forward to other aspiring artists.  Community and active support are key to a healthy art community.

Simmon Factor Mixed, Painting, Teacher/Instructor, Visual Arts

Poetic narrative art in mixed media, featuring surreal and playful juxtapositions, patterns-painted and collaged, strong forms and colors.

Art studies and degree at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and Northeastern Illinois University. Successful career in graphic arts and design. In 1993, he started Village Art Supply in Santa Rosa, California, a rich resource to the Sonoma County artist community and thousands of students, artists, and crafters.

After selling Village Art in 2012, Simmon continues to create, exhibit and teach at Chroma Gallery which he and Robin Factor founded in 2014. Most of these works are available for sale or as Giclee prints.

Kerstin Fletcher Children's, Illustration, Instrumental, Literature, Mixed, Music, Other, Painting, Photography, Recovery Fund Grantee, Teacher/Instructor, Visual Arts I LOVE drawing and painting with all mediums. From pencil to watercolor, acrylic, or oil, I thrive on capturing light and life. Always looking for new challenges and beauty to capture, I can be found outside at sunrise painting in “plein air” or combining illustrations for a new story for my children. My faith fuels me to seek to paint light and life. I want to truly see, and communicate what I see to others. Raised in a bilingual household with strong ties to Europe, I am mostly self-taught.  My life has brought me to delight in traveling, be an avid reader, mother of four, pastor's wife, violist, gardener, and extremely motivated to squeeze every moment out of every day.

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

Margo Gallagher Other, Visual Arts I am a life-long creative, artist, and part owner of Vibe Gallery in downtown Petaluma. My latest artistic endeavor, KaleidaStars, involves taking photos, printing them out, and cutting them up into hundreds of pieces and putting them back together again to ultimately create a personally designed large scale kaleidoscope. My focus is photographing street art, flowers, memorial pieces, or anything that moves me. I love bright colors! Most of my work is commission based, but I also have prints and cards at the gallery.  

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.