Artists | CreativeSonoma.org

Judy Pagnusat Artisan, Glass, Jewelry, Teacher/Instructor I am an artist who has always loved making jewelry. I make jewelry out of every medium I have ever worked in, be it crochet, paper, glass or metal. In recent years my favored materials have been glass and metal clay. My new passion is metal fabrication, enameling and up-cycled jewelry made from vintage flatware. I am available to teach fused glass, metal clay or metal fabrication at your location or my studio in Cotati, CA. My work is featured and for sale at "The Artisans Co-op Gallery" in Bodega, CA

Michael Palace Artisan, Woodworking My art is an homage to our connection with nature. I make alters to the natural world. It is a way to acknowledge our life and the planet into which we are inextricably woven. We tend to view ourselves as separate, so we don't hold the earth as something loved, something sacred to us. My art is so that we have a place to honor our lives and that which connects us to the awe all around us. My art uses recognizable forms and icons, like the tree. Trees are a symbol of life, an emissary of nature, and a material of construction. I create using trees that have been killed and cast aside as firewood and landfill. I believe that there is always more than one point of view on any given object, and that those views may be both opposing and correct. This is the basis of the concept of a paradox. I see my art this way: the wood is medium and messenger, a victim and a champion, alive and dead. When a piece has been created, the wood has also been transformed from “garbage” to art. The judgment of what is valuable has been altered. The trees body has become a shrine and is integrated back into life as a reality and a symbol

Skylaer Palacios Acting, Audio, Ballet, Choreography, Composition, Creative Sonoma Grantee, Dance, Film, Improvisation, Improvisation, Instrumental, Latin, Media, Modern, Music, Other, Performance Art, Professional Performance, Teacher/Instructor, Teaching Artist for Adults, Teaching Artist for Youth, Technical, Theatre, Video, Vocal Sky is a performing artist who has created a successful career as a singer, dancer, and actress. She was raised in Healdsburg and graduated from Sonoma State with her B.A. in Liberal Studies and Performing Arts. She has worked extensively in the commercial and film industries. For the duration of the ACE fellowship, she will be focusing on releasing new music and creating a community oriented music video that features dancing, youth, and the talent of other local artists.

Bridget Palmer Acting, Arts Administration, Children's, Creative Sonoma Grantee, Dance, Directing, Fiction, Improvisation, Literature, Other, Teacher/Instructor, Teaching Artist for Adults, Teaching Artist for Youth, Theatre Bridget has directed theater projects with youths ages 4 -14 for over 20 years through her programs Santa Rosa Children’s Theater, Show Biz Kidz, A Theater For Children, and her role as a Drama Specialist in Sonoma County schools. She guest directs at a variety of locations and also works for the Luther Burbank Center as a Teaching Artist. Her Residencies include Story Ninjas, Math Dance, Empowering the Inner Hero, Mastery Through Movement, and Eco-System in a Box. Bridget enjoys “play”ing with hundreds of children each year and loves the excitement of performance projects which culminate within 6-10 sessions. She studied Theater Directing at UC Berkeley and completed the LBC’s Kennedy Center Teaching Artist professional training, as well as several other Arts Integration professional development trainings related to Drama, Movement, and Storytelling. Bridget helps children become high performers through acting-based activities. Bridget also loves writing scripts and producing comedy improv. She founded and ran the 6th Street Improv adult troupe from 2008-2013 in Santa Rosa at the 6th Street Playhouse. In 2018, she wrote her first play for children: "Alex & The Magic Staff", with an anti-bullying theme. She is currently looking for a producer for her screenplay, Amazing Grace. Miss Bridget's latest passion is saving Nature. In 2023, she is launching https://wesavetheworld.org, the story sharing platform kids can use to become eco-heroes.

Brooks Palmer Acting, Children's, Composition, Directing, Fiction, Film Office, Folk Art, Illustration, Improvisation, Instrumental, Literature, Media, Music, Non-Fiction, Painting, Performance Art, Puppetry, Storytelling, Talent, Teacher/Instructor, Teaching Artist for Adults, Theatre, Video, Visual Arts, Vocal I'm a creative artist who loves to work in many fields. I write short humorous stories. I paint surrealistic art. I perform quirky improvisational songs and short stories on stage. I draw funny words-of-wisdom cartoons. I write books of surreal fantasy humor. I perform my As You Are show for eager audiences. I don't question my creativity. When it shows up, which is often, I put it on paper, or record it, or perform it. I love to put what I do out into the world, whether it's on stage, or online, or published as a book, or on a gallery wall. I love to uplift people with my creations. I hope my art makes people feel good about being alive, and inspires them to be creative in their own way.

Eileen Parent Mixed, Other, Painting, Printmaking, Teacher/Instructor, Visual Arts Eileen Parent is an abstract printmaker living in Sonoma County, C.A. She was born in upstate New York and grew up surrounded by nature. Her artwork is influenced by her surroundings and her curiosity to explore the organic shapes and patterns she finds in nature and urban environments. She uses line and mark making to create a response to these patterns. She is interested in time, repetition, intuition, and the documentation of our physical presence. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in painting and drawing from UC Berkeley. While experimenting with different artistic mediums she was drawn to the process of printmaking. She fell in love with printmaking’s traditional techniques and historical background and went on to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts in printmaking from Sonoma State University. She has exhibited her work in Sonoma County and the greater San Francisco Bay area. She received her Master of Fine Arts degree from the California College of the Arts and is currently a lecturer in Art Studio at Sonoma State University.

John Partridge Acting, Composition, Directing, Music, Theatre I have been a composer and performer all my life. I graduated from UC Santa Cruz with an AB in composition and conducting. I have worked in many forms including chamber music, opera, musical theater, church music and ragtime. I am currently the Director of Music Ministries at the First Presbyterian Church of Napa and Music Director of the Sonoma Hometown Band.

Roy Parvin Fiction, Literature, Non-Fiction Roy Parvin is the award-winning author of two books of fiction, The Loneliest Road in America and In the Snow Forest. He has recently completed a memoir entitled My Year of Sleeping Dangerously and is also the author (under the nom de namaste of Yoga Matt) of Yoga for the Inflexible Male, forthcoming this fall from Ten Speed Press, a division of Penguin Random House. His work has been selected for inclusion in the Best American Short Stories series, has been nominated many times for the Pushcart Prize, and has been widely anthologized. He has also been awarded a National Endowment for the Arts grant, a Bread Loaf Fellowship, the Katherine Anne Porter Prize in fiction, and a Ucross fellowship. Roy is an accomplished teacher, having taught in the MFA program at San Francisco State University and at numerous workshops around the country.

Kayatta Patton Composition, Music, Other, Vocal My name is Kayatta Patton. My stage name is Kayatta and I have a ton of other names that are too many list. I am an educator, poet, song writer and lyricist. I grew up on the west side of Oakland with my mother and sister. My first exposure to music was at the expense of my grandmother Nana. She'd play Bobby Blue Bland while the kids played in the yard and the adults played spades and smoked cigarettes. I remember those days like yesterday and though Bobby Blue Bland was amazing I had a thing for rap and r and b. It spoke my love language. Maybe it was the beat or the way words were stitched over the beats. I'm not sure exactly what the connect was but it shaped and became the sounds track of my life I first got my feet wet trying out for the band in the 3rd grade. Back then schools actually had programs where we could take the instruments home. I chose the trumpet. That was the mustard seed that would fueled her artistic inspiration. Over the years I worked diligently and challenged myself musically and artistically. In doing so I was able to hone in on the craft and become comfortable in my skin. The lyrical execution is profound and passionate with heaps of soul and raw emotion. Rooted in hip-hop and spoken word, raspy authenticity, and a knack for engaging the audience. My work ethic she has enabled me to evolve from just being an MC to an all around artist. It is simply honey in the form of words.

Ron Pawlowski Other, Performance Art, Theatre Ron SonomaMagic is a magician, prestidigitator, and sleight-of-hand artist based out of Northern California. He performs stage magic, close-up magic, and street magic at festivals and events EVERYWHERE!

Satri Pencak Artisan Satri Pencak has an M.A. in Art History and is an independent curator, writer, speaker, and consultant. As an Independent Curator Satri has recently organized several notable exhibitions, including Cast Forged & Welded: MetalWorks, Petaluma Arts Center; Symbiosis: Art & Science Intersect, Santa Rosa Junior College; Form & Finish: Sculptures by Michael Cooper & John de Marchi, Petaluma Arts Center; and Bob Nugent: Dialogues with Nature, Art Works Downtown, San Rafael. She writes art reviews and art commentary for two websites, www.satripencak.com, and www.sonomacounty.com. Previously, Satri served as Director of Exhibitions at Sebastopol Center for the Arts from 2000 to 2011. Satri travels throughout the Bay Area, and beyond, visiting museums, galleries, and artist’s studios gathering ideas and information for exhibitions she organizes or writes about.

Carlos Henrique Pereira Creative Sonoma Grantee, Music Award-winning composer, acoustic guitarist and pianist rooted in Brazilian music with a refined style and a flavor all his own.

Margo Perin Literature, Teacher/Instructor, Teaching Artist for Adults, Teaching Artist for Youth Margo Perin is the Sonoma County Area Coordinator for California Poets in the Schools and has taught poetry and creative writing for more than thirty-five years. A nominee for the Pushcart Prize, Margo’s teaching methodology has been featured internationally, including O, the Oprah Magazine, The Press Democrat, The San Francisco Chronicle Sunday Magazine, Mexico’s El Petit Journal, Holland’s Psycologie. Her book publications include The Opposite of Hollywood; Only the Dead Can Kill: Stories from Jail; and How I Learned to Cook & Other Writings on Complex Mother-Daughter Relationshpips, as well as co-founder of Whoa Nelly Press, whose mission is to publish unheard, marginalized voices. Margo teaches poetry and creative writing in schools, after-school programs, juvenile hall, alternative schools, children’s homes, through Poetry Out Loud, libraries, community centers, art centers, hospitals, jails and prisons. Since the October 2017 Sonoma County fires, Margo has taught writing workshops to children and adults to help them heal from the trauma of the fires, as featured in The Press Democrat. Having grown up in five countries and two continents with a father on the run from the law, Margo has a deep understanding of issues faced by at risk children, youth and adults and the exigencies of living as an outsider to mainstream culture. As a writer, her direct, hands-on development of writing techniques to help foster a strong sense of identity, self-empowerment and healing from trauma informs her teaching methodology. Her experience as a cancer survivor has also given her a special understanding of the particular and often invisible needs of students with health issues. She is passionate about providing the opportunity for commonly unheard or marginalized perspectives and stories to be expressed and appreciated.

Brenda Phillips Sculpture, Visual Arts ReBirth Living Sculpture pulls together passed on decorative art pieces and plants — typically succulents — to create upcycled living sculptures for homes, establishments, and gardens. Imagine everything from a small, multi-colored glass arrangement with succulents to 4 feet tall fountains made of stacked ceramic pieces to a 9-foot tall art sculpture with a central spinning ornate frame to take selfies in — perfect for a winery or city sculpture garden — to welded, galvanized metal pots on rods to grow tomatoes inside to a tranquil and harmonious succulent composition on drift wood hung with dangling windchimes to hanging light fixtures overflowing with plants. Each of our pieces utilizes repurposed items combined in new ways along with plants. The resulting sculptures are unexpected living creations that change with time and conditions. Each is unique, designed by hand, often multi-purpose, and harmonious. Some inspire joy, others whimsy, and others are peaceful. The vast range of styles, colors, materials, and shapes dare to challenge the viewer to find that one piece that speaks to them most.

Maxwell Pierce Music, Recovery Fund Grantee Maxwell Pierce is a professional session/gigging bassist from Los Angeles with 17 years experience and a graduate of Musicians Institute.

Karen Pierce Gonzalez Artisan, Fiber Art, Fiction, Literature, Mixed, Non-Fiction, Other, Poetry I have been writing since I discovered paper and pen. My love of words led me to write fiction, non-fiction, and poetry which appears in many publications including Big Blend Magazine, Lagom Journal, Postcard Poems and Prose, Potato Soup Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, Tiny Thimble Magazine, Twist in Time, Voice of Eve and other publications. My work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and has received several state and local awards. I have facilitated creative writing workshops in the San Francisco Bay Area (Napa Community College, Santa Rosa Junior College Extension, local community centers, etc.). I am also a mixed-media artist. I work intuitively with tree bark, chalk/oil pastels, fibers, fabrics and, when lucky, salmon leather. I am also folklorist and am publisher of FolkHeart Press which has produced Write Your Own Family Folktales, Love Potions, Lotions, and Lore, Spanish Cuisine: One Region at a Time, and more. Literary Projects includes development of Mystery Writers in the Mausoleum, and memberships include California Association of Storytellers, North Bay Poetics, Santa Rosa Art Center, Sonoma County Folk Society, and Western Folklore Society.

Karen Pierce Gonzalez Fiction, Folk Art, Media, Mixed, Multi-Media, Other, Other, Other, Photography, Poetry, Sculpture, Video, Visual Arts

My literary credits include 4 published poetry collections: Coyote in the Basket of My Ribs (Kelsay Books), True North and Sightings From a Star Wheel (Origami Poems Project), Down River with Li Po (Black Cat Poetry Press. Numerous stories, essays, and poems in several anthologies, podcasts, and publications including Eat the Storms III, Four Feathers Press, Golden Walkman Magazine, IceFloe Press, Nightingale and Sparrow, San Francisco Magazine, Supernatural Park, Tiny Thimble Magazine, Twist in Time, Voice of Eve.

Several plays have been staged through Fringe of Marin Short Play Festivals (2022, 2023).

I am also a former journalist (San Francisco Chronicle, Marin Independent Journal, etc.) and folklore columnist. I have written family folktale e-guides and publish quarterly 'Get Ekphrastic with Folk Art' blogs . I also create the hybrid folklore/art video series "as the story goes' and have also facilitated a range of creative writing and folktale writing workshops in the San Francisco Bay Area.

As a visual artist, I work intuitively with found and recycled element. More than 30 images have appeared in literary arts journals, including 3 cover images (Chestnut Review, Feral Journal of Poetry and Art, Nightingale and Sparrow). My art has been exhibited at Santa Rosa Arts Center, Sebastopol Center for the Arts, Truckenbrod Gallery (Oregon), and Virtual Art in the Park (Petaluma).

Cindy Potter Design, Graphic Design Cindy has been freelancing as a graphic designer in the Bay Area for 17 years. Her clients return often, impressed with her commitment to budget, schedule and creative solutions.   Cindy comes from an environmental consulting background, working as a Project Coordinator and Graphic Designer on various environmental reports and public outreach collateral for projects such as the Bay Bridge East Span Replacement, Hamilton Air Force Base Rehabilitation, and various national railroad mergers.   Since striking out on her own in 2000, Cindy has worked with SFPUC, Caltrans, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, Creative Sonoma (she designed the logo!), Sonoma County Water Agency, and other federal and local entities. Cindy’s current and most recent work largely supports infrastructure, water, and environmental projects within the Bay Area. Please visit my portfolio site to view my work.

Julia Pozsgai Artisan, Fiber Art, Jewelry, Mixed, Painting, Visual Arts I have autism and express myself in shapes and colors. Through art I am able to connect to the world. Art is a core part of who I am. I create acrylic paintings, fiber arts, and precious metal clay jewelry. Art for sale includes: paintings, prints, greeting cards, metal sculptures, jewelry, and purses made from upholstery samples. This year I have created some new art products which include Eco-friendly Utensil Packets sewn with hand-dyed fabrics and multi-metal jewelry. I also make Fiber Arts Wabi-Sabi dolls (perfectly imperfect) and wishing ukulele pillows. Over the last 7 years, I have grown my own company called “Pansy Creations”. I present my work at multiple venues throughout Sonoma County including the Arts Guild of Sonoma and Fine Line Art Supplies in Sonoma, MadeLocal Marketplace, Museums of Sonoma County Gift Shop, and Rileystreet Art Supply in Santa Rosa, Hopscotch Gifts and Gallery in Healdsburg, Sebastopol Center for the Arts in Sebastopol, Stones Throw in Cotati, and the Petaluma Art Center in Petaluma. In addition I sell my work directly and online. I also do commissioned paintings or prints for customers. I have been juried into multiple Call-to-Artists shows. Most recent shows include: the Arts Guild “The Place I Live”, the Art Ambassador’s “Love is a Rebellious Bird” exhibit at Mantra Winery in Novato, Arts Guild of Sonoma’s National Juried Competition entitled “Alchemy” in which two of my art works were chosen, and Sonoma Community Center’s “Valley of Talent” show. Over the past several years I have been accepted into Holiday shows including: the Sonoma Community Center’s Holiday Art and Craft Sale in which I was one of the top selling artists for the weekend, and the Healdsburg Center for the Arts Holiday Gift Gallery. My Trashion Fashion “Geyser Gown” tied for third place in 2018, and my “Planetarium” gown won the “Out of this World” award in 2019 at the Sonoma Community Center’s annual event. I was invited to model and display the gowns this year at the Daily Acts Climate Concert/SOMO event center, Rohnert Park, CA and at the Petaluma Village Network talk about Recycling. I do a one-woman show every year. This year was called “Nature’s Magic takes Wing” held in August of 2019 at the Petaluma Arts Center. I did record sales in just 3 weeks with a $1000 painting selling before we had barely opened the show. I presented a two month Geyser show at Old Faithful of California in Calistoga in 2018. I have participated in many first Thursday ArtWalks in the town of Sonoma over the last two years exhibiting at Sotheby’s on the Plaza of Sonoma, Jeff Cohn Cellars for a two month exhibit, a one night presentation at the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art, and this year at HomeBridge Mortgage. These opportunities to meet more of my community and new fans has been great. I love to participate every year at the Wine County Nature and Optics Festival and also at the G3 Marketplace in Sonoma. I annually have painted a wooden wine box award which is given to an award- winning filmmaker at the Sonoma International Film Festival. I have a new series of paintings in the works, new ways to create with fabric, a new Trashion Fashion design (temporarily on hold) and am busily sewing masks. I have lots of enthusiasm and energy to create! I hope to inspire others. If you are thinking about creating, I would say…“How about now?!”

PRXZM Composition, Music Nick and Emma began PRXZM in 2013. They started creating music together in their dorms, and the electronic music scene took notice. Their signature sound is comprised of Nick's soaring, melodic synth progressions and Emma's pure, honest lyrical musings. Daniel Urquhart brings another level of genius to the project on guitar. Beautifully refreshing and ripe with emotion, PRXZM never fails to draw listeners in and keep them there. Now, 5 years and a few big tours in, the band has grown a loyal fan base. They are heading out again this summer on a US tour, as fresh as ever, looking forward to sharing their new EP “High Desert” with the world.

Puffinhorn Composition, Instrumental, Music, Vocal Puffinhorn is a duo of Mike Campbell - (guitar,trumpet, ukelele,vocals) and John Paul Norris - (acoustic & electric bass, bass uke, vocals). We perform a mix of original & classic folk-rock, blues & jazz. The amount of each of these genres will vary depending upon venue & event. We are also available as a trio with drums for dance parties. Our venue specialties include restaurants, coffee house, private dinner parties festivals & wine events. We are self contained with our own sound & lighting systems and can provide music and sound levels appropriate for any occasion. .

CREATIVES