Artists | CreativeSonoma.org

Lisa Damico And Gena Richman Printmaking, Teacher/Instructor, Teaching Artist for Youth, Visual Arts Lisa Damico* and Gena Richman**, are excited to offer you professional development integrating Social Emotional Learning and the Arts. We offer a staff development "special" condensed workshop or an expanded two session workshop either via Zoom or in person. Either will provide you with lessons you can do with your students the following day. The Arts and SEL pair perfectly together helping students gain and/or maintain a sense of well being in the classroom. The Arts provide students a way to learn, know and communicate aspects of themselves and others. Our PD is a make and take that will walk you through lessons to use at the beginning of the year which can be repeated as check-ins throughout the year. We recommend this workshop for early to upper elementary. Professional development fees on a sliding scale. Contact us for more information. Gena Richman genarichman@att.net and/or Lisa Damico ldamicoart@gmail.com *Lisa received her BA in Child Development, a Minor in Fine Arts and went on to receive a K-12 teaching credential with a supplemental credential in Art. She provided professional development to California teachers and presented in state and national conferences through her association with the California Literature Project, integrating Visual and Performing Arts into teaching and assessing in Language Arts. Lisa retired after 32 years in the classroom and has now become a happy gardener and shamelessly spoils her Labrador Retriever. **Gena received her B.S. in Arts, followed by a K-12 teaching credential from SSU. She provided professional development to teachers on how to integrate the Arts into Mathematics during many sessions at the California Mathematics Conference at Asilomar. Gena retired after 20 years in the classroom and works out 5 days a week in order to keep up with her young grandson! Thank you for checking out Creative Sonoma! Look for grants and other workshops on their site!

Philip Thomas George Design, Graphic Design, Illustration, Painting, Visual Arts I am moved by life around me, daily, in almost any place. Watching a young boy climb a tree or an elderly woman slowly cross the street with her patient dog — either scenario has the power to pull feelings out of me. My goal as an artist is to recreate what moves me, in the way that I see it or imagine it, in order to stir up the same emotions in my viewers and make a connection through something shared visually. Sonoma county provides a plethora of opportunities for observing people, animals, and nature which all aid in inspiring me to take action and create. My background is in UI design, but last year I took the leap into what I feel is my true calling and passion — creating artwork. If you'd like to work with me or hire me, please feel free to contact me.

Scott Gibson Media, Photography, Teacher/Instructor, Video, Visual Arts Landscape/Nature/Wildlife. Ground-based and aerial/drone. Stills and Motion. Assignments, Commissions, Prints, Licensing, Photo Products. Award-winning photographer Scott Gibson creates the images for Gibson Outdoor Photography from his picturesque base in Northern California's Wine Country. From there, he travels the region, the western United States, and the world to capture images to educate, entertain, and inspire viewers. A serious hobby photographer for decades, Scott has spent recent years carefully refining his craft. His artistic eye helps him see and feel what others miss and his deep technical training helps him capture and share these experiences in his photographs. Scott's search for the next great image often provides opportunity for adventure. He is particularly proud of the acclaim for his images from an ascent of 14,505 foot Mount Whitney in California's Sierra Nevada mountains – camera in hand the entire 22 miles. Willing to go 'all in' to get the shot, Scott camped for days in the Oregon wilderness to capture the August 2017 total solar eclipse. His FAA Part 107 Remote Pilot certificate supports capturing fresh aerial points of view. His award-winning images are featured in private collections, winery publications, popular photo products, and stock photo services.

Alan Hall Composition, Instrumental, Mixed, Music, Painting, Photography, Printmaking, Teacher/Instructor, Visual Arts

Alan Hall

Musician, Composer, Drummer, Mixed-Media Artist, Band Leader of "Ratatet"

I started my life as a professional drummer at 13 years, a visual artist 20 years later, now I'm also an active composer and band leader of my own neo-jazz sextet, Ratatet.

In addition to being an active performer and artist, I teach drum lessons, workshops and ensembles at schools and Jazz camps throughout the Bay Area. My teaching is based at California Jazz Conservatory in Berkeley and Cal State East Bay in Hayward.

My art work is in several private collections on East and West coasts and can be viewed at my art website: www.amiguelart.com

My compositions can be heard at www.ratatet.com and www.jazzdrumming.com.

Music and Visual Art are two different modes of expressions for me. Both seem to function as positive feedback loops for me, and I hope, others. I'm striving to integrrate the two art forms in both a personal and social context.

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.

Ash Hay Film, Media, Other, Painting, Printmaking, Sculpture, Visual Arts My art is diaristic and centered in the body; how it communicates with the earth, itself, and bodies around it. In my work, I explore ideas of gender expression, body acceptance, and radical softness. Fatness, my own and others’, comes up often as I am continually confronted with how fat bodies are treated and how they navigate this world. My use of large soft sculpture, techniques of paper layering in my paintings and works on paper, and a color palette rooted in the color pink, all support my overarching theme of softness as power. I am influenced heavily by the works of Loise Bourgeois and Kiki Smith as well as the lineage of fiber artists and crafters in my own family.

Michelle Hirsch Creative Sonoma Grantee, Mixed, Visual Arts Mixed Media Artist: I experiment with found material in my mixed media works. My recent collages and installations have incorporated materials such as syringes, bandages, masks, tree wound sealer, flagging tape, Venetian plaster and charred trees from the wildfires. There is always strong research component behind my work. I immerse myself in the environment for site specific projects. I work intuitively and projects will morph depending on material constraints and the direction of my research. As an immigrant, I am interested in the falsehood of the Other. The recurring themes in my body of work are related to identity and healing.

Lindsay Hunter Artisan, Design, Fashion Design, Fiber Art, Functional Art, Furniture, Media, Mixed, Multi-Media, Other, Other, Other, Sculpture, Teacher/Instructor, Video, Visual Arts LINDSAY HUNTER Santa Rosa, CA nutbarstudios@gmail.com SKILLS AND QUALIFICATIONS • Successfully promotes own business, stays in budget and executes projects on time. • Develop and implement K-9 enrichment programming: classroom, after-school, homeschool, county library, and summer camp; kid's area manager for large public events. • Demonstrated instructional and classroom management experience providing interesting and thought-provoking lessons supporting a personal mission of excellence. Provides a caring, safe and supportive environment for student learning. • Workshop presenter at reMAKE Education. • Network with businesses and community leaders and recruit volunteers for events. • Warm effective communication with both children and adults from diverse backgrounds, in person and written. • 10 years consumer product design and development, mostly for leading fashion manufacturers: Levi’s and Esprit, from initial concept through preproduction. • Initiated and created product concepts, materials development, textile patterns, garment styling and presentation materials. • Managed development of logo and graphics, hired artists, directed art concepts and approved final artwork for production. • Traveled throughout Asia and US working with sample and production manufacturers ensuring excellent products. • Researched market trends, analyzed competitor’s products for style, fabric, fit. • Conducted focus group research and marketing studies to identify target consumer. • Presented findings and product line concepts to Executive Management in order to advise and influence them on fashion trend direction and product design selections. • Nominated for Outstanding Faculty award at FIDM. Twice recognized for initiative, leadership and team building at Levi Strauss. EMPLOYMENT HISTORY 09/04-present Nutbar Studios Owner • Rincon Valley Education Foundation After-school Enrichment Program Provider • Whited Elementary Digital Storytelling Instructor • Rincon Valley Unified homeschool and Instructor Lego Robotics Trainer • Sonoma County Library Enrichment Program Provider • Sonoma State Excel Kids Summer Program Provider • Workshop Presenter at reMAKE Education • Levi's (Leipheimer) Granfondo Kid's Area Manager • The Great Handcar Regatta Kid's Area Manager • Gaia Online Merchandise Developer 01/13-06/15 Paraeducator Rincon Valley Unified 08/12-06/13 Science Facilitator, Noon Duty Rincon Valley Unified 03/03-08/04 College Instructor Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising, SF 02/02-02/03 Administrative Assistant Feldenkrais Resources, Berkeley 04/01-11/01 Office Manager VoiceWare Systems, San Francisco 06/99-12/00 Student UC Berkeley Extension, Berkeley & San Francisco 09/94-03/99 Apparel Designer Levi Strauss & Co., San Francisco EDUCATION Bachelor of Arts in Industrial Arts – Emphasis in Product Design and Fashion San Francisco State University Project Management Certificate University of California Berkeley Extension PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT • SCOE Teaching and Learning Institute 2015 • Lego Learning Symposium at SCOE 2015 • SRJC Basic PC Repair and Maintenance Workshop 2014 • RVUSD Technology Summit 2013 • SCOE iPad Symposium 2013 • California Association for the Gifted Symposium 2013 AFFILIATIONS • Northbay Maker Educators • 180 Studios Community Maker Space

Gerald Huth Holidays Shop Local, Mixed, Painting, Sculpture, Visual Arts I have been living and working in Sonoma County for 31 years, after moving from New York City.I have had exhibitions in France, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, as well as a great many throughout the United States. I am an original member of the Sonoma County ArtTrails open studio tour, as well as a founding member of the Art at the Source studio tour, when I was on the Board of Directors of the Sebastopol Center for the Arts. My studio and gallery are in Forestville, and are open year round by appointment, as well as during ArtTrails. I am also involved in teaching art, and conduct a monthly collage workshop in my studio. I volunteer teaching art in Sonoma County schools, and have spent the past seven winters volunteering as an art teacher with foundations in Cambodia and India.

Sue Kearney Graphic Design, Mixed, Other, Painting

They say it’s good to have an artist statement. Here goes:

My work is all variations on a theme, and the theme is flow. Flow and restraint. I’m better at the first than the second. Finding my way to creating the art I envision (and have rarely achieved) is what keeps me coming back to the art table, again and again.

#fluidity #flow #fluidartbysuekearney #abstractartbysuekearney #collage #chainpull #greetingcards #frameable #handmade #madewithlove #followme #fluidart #fluidartist #acrylicpour #paintpour #pourpainting #fluidacrylics #abstractart #originalart #giftidea #creative #instagramart #simplifyyourlife #simplicitea #collage #acrylicskins #leadfollow #makeamark #makeyourmark

Barbara Kelley Mixed, Painting, Printmaking, Visual Arts Barbara Kelley is a Printmaker and Painter. Originally from Alaska, she now resides in The Sea Ranch and Santa Rosa, CA. Her Santa Rosa studio is open year round by appointment. Barbara completed college, combining courses from the California State University and the University of California Berkeley, followed by three additional years of college art courses specializing in printmaking and painting. She also studied at the Kala Art Institute, Rocky Vine Press, Evans Encaustics, and Brinker Ink. Her works, recently selected to join the Pat Clark International Art Collection at the Ellsworth Foundation in Iowa Falls, joins a collection, which includes works by Man Ray, Japanese artist Kojiro Akagi, and Danish artist Leif Peterson. Her work is also in public collections of the Brooklyn Art Library, Kaiser Permanente, U.S. Department of State, Art in Embassies Program, Visual Artists’ Registry. Private collections of her works reside in Australia, Canada, Europe, and throughout the United States. Barbara’s works are exhibited widely, most recently at Spindrift Gallery, Icehouse Gallery, Marin Museum of Contemporary Art, the Art Museum of Los Gatos, Quercia Gallery, Haldan Art Gallery, The Dolphin Gallery, and the W. Keith and Janet Kellogg Art Gallery.

Mirka Knaster Artisan, Fiber Art, Mixed, Visual Arts Natural environments, East Asian aesthetics, the places I've lived and traveled, 20th-century abstract art, and my meditation practice are the most important influences and inspirations for my art. Growing up cross-culturally, I am drawn to learn and appreciate how people around the world create with a wide range of materials--plants, clay, wood, stone, metal, glass, hides--and equipment, especially their own hands. After many years as a writer and editor using words to convey ideas and emotions to others, I began to also communicate with fibers because it's exhilarating to engage with color, texture, line, shape and space, pattern and design. I approach the creative process as an open-ended improvisation. Works emerge intuitively, even serendipitously, as I feel my way into each piece, choosing this color or that textile, dyeing cloth with indigo or rust, incorporating paper, metal or wood, adding another layer for transparency, working up texture, stitching another mark or brushing on paint or ink. Along the way, I embrace and celebrate the surprises.

Nao Kobayashi Artisan, Design, Fashion Design, Fiber Art, Folk Art, Performance Art, Puppetry, Technical, Theatre Nao Kobayashi designs and creates puppets and costume for theater, TV and film, museums, institutes, and entertainment. Originally from Japan and recently in northern California, she holds a MFA in Costume Design and Technology in Theatre, TV and Film from San Diego State University, a BA in Technical Theater from Sonoma State University. Over the past decade she has worked on various projects with dance, theater productions, fashion and entertainment companies, as well as artworks with independent artists, dancers, musicians and performers in Japan and artists from other countries. She currently works as a fabricator at Images in Motion a TV puppet company in Sonoma. In puppetry, she utilizes skills of sketch, sculpture, fabric modification and fabrication, and martial art and dance as movement and body understanding. She often works in creative teams with interdisciplinary characteristics, by expanding ideas to cross borders, as well as deepening and refining details.

Leslie M. Levy Acting, Artisan, Audio, Composition, Crew, Directing, Fiction, Film, Film Office, Folk Art, Improvisation, Literature, Media, Mixed, Multi-Media, Multimedia, Music, Non-Fiction, Other, Photography, Poetry, Production, Storytelling, Talent, Technical, Theatre, Video, Visual Arts, Vocal I am a developing multifaceted creative based in Sonoma County, offering a breadth of knowledge and growing experience. Currently a senior at Sonoma State University in Communication and Media, I am looking for collaborative and mentorship opportunities within Sonoma County primarily and the Bay Area at large. A writer to the bone, I have experience with video work of all kinds (mostly camera, lighting, and directing/producing, some with editing) as well as some audio experience (ever-expanding because it is my second passion next to writing). I believe I have a lot to offer in a wide range of areas and love helping creative juices flow like watersheds into a project.

Tawnya Lively Mixed, Visual Arts I make mixed media art & designs focused on pattern, texture and color using collage and mosaic materials. I have a B.A. degree in both Art History and Painting with a minor in Art Management from Sonoma State University. For ten years, I worked as a project manager in game design - coordinating artists, sound designers and software engineers. In the aftermath of the October 2017 fires, I founded Firestorm Mosaics in which I create new heirlooms for those who lost homes using the broken pieces of porcelain and ceramic that were recovered from the ashes of their properties. I also coordinate other mosaic artists to help with the project in addition to hosting workshops for those who would like to make their own projects.

Karen Lockert Artisan, Ceramics, Fiction, Literature, Mixed, Other, Painting, Sculpture, Visual Arts Karen Lockert was always the kid who daydreamed her way through school, seeing beauty in what most other people thought was quite ordinary, if not downright ugly. Her career was launched only after leaving her position as a high school art teacher in Los Angeles, when she began to understand that she had been repeatedly “re-birthing” and “re-homing” herself through her art work. She is probably best known for her evocative, mixed-media compositions of the vintage, vernacular architecture of West Sonoma County, where she now lives. Her work has been exhibited at many galleries in the Russian River area, including Occidental Center for the Arts, Russian River Art Gallery, Cooprider Gallery, Graton Gallery, Lawson Gallery, and the Sebastopol Center for the Arts. In addition, she was a regular participant in Art @ the Source, West Sonoma County’s Open Studio tour for several years. As a spiritual, meditative artist at heart, it has been said that “her newest work gorgeously draws people into a deeper understanding of themselves and the world around them”.

Gayle Manfre Mixed, Other, Painting, Teacher/Instructor, Visual Arts Gayle Manfre is a teaching artist, painter and art advocate. She one of the founders of Art Escape Sonoma, Sonoma Treasure Artist of 2010 and was awarded The Youth Mural Award from Precita Eyes Muralist in San Francisco. Gayle has been a teaching artist in Sonoma Valley since the 80s. She retired in 2017 and has been happily paintings since then Gayle is a member of the Arts Guild of Sonoma. My paintings are joyful and colorful and range from a wide variety of subjects. I am inspired by my travels and living in beautiful Sonoma.

Christopher Mckee Artisan, Ceramics, Functional Art, Furniture, Illustration, Mixed, Other, Painting, Photography, Printmaking, Sculpture, Teacher/Instructor, Visual Arts, Woodworking more to come

TumbleWeed Expressions Meryl Juniper Artisan, Ceramics, Holidays Shop Local, Mixed, Muralist, Painting, Printmaking, Sculpture, Visual Arts While following the seasons within her Expressive Arts Inspirations, Meryl intertwines over 4 decades of Multimedia Arts Educational Experiences and Community Arts Activism. Meryl ignites and delicately encourages artistic expression and a sense of humility and humanity, while inspiring hands-on, process based learning, along with a curriculum integrated focus. In this we weave a healthy approach, revealing and enlivening the naturally creative self. Simultaneously, Meryl thrives within her close to 5 decades of experience engaging a life within: Multimedia Visual Arts and the Performative realms of Nature Based and Street Performance Ritual, Improvisational Movement, Dance Theater, Improvisational Vocal Play, Song Writing, Movement Infused Personal Storytelling and Somatic Movement Practices. Moreover, Meryl commits, inspires and dedicates her artistic being to Community Arts Production, Process and Presentation. Lastly, Meryl’s instinctive devotion to the natural world and the offerings of Eco Somatic Engagement, allows her to share the wisdom gleaned and harvested from all her experiences living close and being inspired by the earth, while continuously extending a steadfast faithfulness to the practices of Expressive Arts, Natural Medicine Making, Farming, Holistic Nutrition and Parenting, while moving within a Heart Centered Living Folks Arts Tradition.

Taryn Moller Nicoll Arts Administration, Illustration, Mixed, Painting, Printmaking, Teacher/Instructor, Teaching Artist for Adults, Visual Arts

Taryn Möller Nicoll (MFA'17, Louisiana State University) is a visual artist and instructor with ten years of experience in art education, curatorial practice and public program development.

In her studio practice, Taryn explores the intersection of fine art, medical science and the human body. She seeks refreshed investigations into notions of the good and the beautiful and, for her, that entry point is the human body; that ‘envelope’ rendering us equal: equally fragile, equally resilient. Her works have been exhibited at venues such as Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Johns Hopkins Welch Medical Library, the New Orleans Pharmacy Museum, and the Shaw Center for the Arts in Baton Rouge.

Taryn has taught foundations, studio art and art history courses at Nova Southeastern University and Louisiana State University. Additionally, she has delivered artist lectures at academic institutions such as Johns Hopkins University, Maryland; the University of Dresden, Germany, and the University of Pretoria, South Africa.

Prior to relocating to the North Bay in 2022, Taryn was the Chief Curator for the City of Pembroke Pines in Florida. In this role, she directed exhibitions, cultural events and art education initiatives at Pembroke Pines' cultural institutions, including the Frank C. Ortis Art Gallery, Studio 18 Art Complex and the Charles F. Dodge City Center.

Kalia Mussetter Artisan, Children's, Fiber Art, Literature, Mixed, Non-Fiction, Other, Other, Painting, Performance Art, Poetry, Teacher/Instructor, Theatre, Visual Arts

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.

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).

Jessica Yoshiko Rasmussen Arts Administration, Mixed, Visual Arts I'm an interdisciplinary artist. My work ranges from assemblage to interactive installation art, from conceptual work to jewelry making. My perennial interest in discarded materials often drives me to incorporate objects that have a history and which carry meaning into my work both symbolically and energetically. I run a small art business, Va Va Vortex - a monthly art subscription service. I mail subscribers one work of art each month, usually accompanied by a mini-art history lesson that relates to the piece. Monthly installments are also posted on instagram: @VaVaVortex

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