CREATIVES

Alex Ross Artisan, Design, Graphic Design, Illustration, Mixed, Other, Other, Painting, Visual Arts I was born with a passion to be creative. Drawing, painting with a variety of mediums just makes me feel alive. I've been a graphic designer for a big chunk of my working life. Advertising, publication design, illustration; pet portraits, (lots of cats, humorous & realistic) still life, floral, landscape, product design, some photography and collage. I've found that experimenting with all these different forms of creating art is not only challenging to me, but extremely satisfying. Due to several surgeries and broken wrist on my left hand (being left handed) has left me with the opportunity to express myself in new ways. It's been a slow & painful road, although being an artist is just who I am. So I'm on a new path of adventure. My website is www.alexrossdesigns.net.  I have original artwork and prints for sale.  Also I have 2 shops on www.Zazzle.com/aleecatcreations & www.Zazzle.com/alexrossdesigns. My artwork is on a variety of products. Please visit these stores to view my work & purchase some products. It gives me great pleasure to put a smile on people's faces when they enjoy my art. It is absolutely nourishing & healing to my soul. Thank you for your interest. Alex

Mary Lee Rybar Mixed, Painting, Printmaking, Sculpture, Visual Arts Biography Mary Lee Rybar is a painter, printmaker and lifelong artist of creating things in many different mediums. Sparked with an appreciation of all things handcrafted and unique, her work ranges from abstract and representational, working in many disciplines.   She attended Kent State University and the American School of Paris as well  workshops, fellowships and residency experiences. She is a recipient of a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant and a fellowship at the Vermont Studio Center.  Her work has been featured in museums and exhibits as well as Williams-Sonoma, Gump’s of San Francisco, Hall's of Kansas City and H Frank on the Historic Sonoma Plaza.   After spending many years in the travel industry, she is now grounded and devoted to making art from her studios in Sonoma, California.   Artist Statement My concern as an artist has been in the observation of line, light, color and movement in the routines of daily life and then to translate that moment into a visual statement.  Daily common iconography holds enduring interest for my inspiration.   By elevating the ordinary, heralding the common place, I attempt to explore and chronicle the extraordinary beauty within the routine boundaries of life.  My art practice is rooted in doing the work and allowing it to lead me.    

ANna RybaT Mixed, Painting, Visual Arts Studied aRt in Vienna, Austria after high school (1971 - 1974). I learned about Secessionism, Dada, Jugendstil, Abstract Expressionism and Impressionism in music, aRt and German/Austrian literature at Modeschule Hetzendorf  and Linzer Akademie fur Kunst.  I studied with Austrian artist Josef Schützenhöfer.  After returning to USA, I earned B.S. degree (SUNY -Regents) while on active duty U.S. Navy (1976-2000) and M.A. ed, (Geo. Washington U.).  After leaving the service I earned second undergraduate degree (B.F.A., Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA) using G.I. Bill benefits. By using color and textures, shadows to represent things other than things I took a “leap of faith” to loosen from the discipline and rigors of military conformity. My "Fields of Color", body of work includes 2D and sculpted 3D paintings using mixed media.    

Takao Saito Other, Sculpture Takao Saito is an abstract artist specialized in large-scale metal sculptures for outdoor display.  He has devoted years of study to create unique art forms that incorporate a three-dimensional structure with a wide variety of media including metal, wood, ceramics, canvas, and oil paints.

Brooklyn, New York

After receiving an M.F.A. from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), Takao moved to New York to focus on developing his innovative style and techniques. He had numerous exhibitions in the U.S. and worldwide, and his work was featured in several world-renowned publications. An art critic once described Takao's artwork as “a powerful sense of the physical experience of man’s encounter with nature”.

Bodega Bay, California

In 2015, Takao and his wife visited Bodega Bay, California, for the first time and were captivated by the beauty of its nature and wildlife. A couple of months later, they departed from their residence in New York of over 40 years and moved to Bodega Bay, which inspired and conceived Takao's latest work "The Bodega Bay Series". While dedicating his life to exploring and conveying his sentiments for nature through his artwork, he and his wife continue being active members of the community in Sonoma County.

Andy Sewell Audio, Crew, Equipment, Film Office, General Services, Media, Multi-Media, Multimedia, Production Andy Sewell is a Petaluma based audio producer. He provides education and production services to podcasters, media agencies, radio and public art. He is most interested in using rich audio to tell compelling stories.

Mamoru Shimokochi Painting, Visual Arts Mamoru Shimokochi is an accomplished fine art painter and his paintings have been exhibited in galleries and juried shows. His work hangs in corporate and private collections. Artist statement:  Simple elements – line, form, space and bold color – this is the visual language that fascinates me. I strive to create depth and balance, simplifying elements down to the minimal. It’s as much about what you don’t see as what you do. My background: Many years as a brand identity designer, helps me focus and distill the elements that make up my vision. I choose a strong and simple visual expression that combines bold form and color to create a sense of dynamism and tension that captures the eye. Painting Shows:   Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Biennial Juried Exhibition, Los Angeles, CA National Orange Juried Show, San Bernardino, CA - Honorable Mention Mt. San Antonio Gallery, Mt. San Antonio College, CA - Purchase Award Downey Museum of Art Show, Juried Show MM Shinno Gallery, Los Angeles, Group Show Sidney Rothman Gallery, New Jersey Los Angeles Art Association, Group Show Sebastopol Center for the Arts, Juried shows, Sebastopol, CA Chroma Gallery, Santa Rosa, CA The de Young Open Exhibition, San Francisco, October 2020    

Cathleen Swanson Ceramics, Dance, Folk Art, Improvisation, Media, Mixed, Painting, Photography, Recovery Fund Grantee, Sculpture, Teacher/Instructor, Video, Visual Arts I am not limited to one medium nor style. My art is an exploration, an adventure and a spiritual journey.  I love to share art-making with others. The Spirit Houses are made by hand from clay.

Carol Tacconi Design, Graphic Design, Painting, Visual Arts I am a painter in various mediums including Acrylic on Canvas and Watercolor on Arches and have now been focusing my work using Oil and Cold Wax on Cradle board with an abstract theme inspired by nature. With many years as a working artist and designer around the Bay Area, I relocated to the eclectic and arts driven Sonoma County. I received a BFA from California College of the Arts and was privileged to continue expanding my creativity at the Stanford d.School. Most recently, I was honored to join Windsor’s Public Art Advisory Commission and look forward to collaborating with my colleagues in supporting arts in the community.

Colin Talcroft Mixed, Photography, Printmaking, Visual Arts About the Artist I am self-taught and active in a range of media, including drawing, painting, printmaking, collage, and photography. I got interested in photography at the age of eight and began drawing at an earlier age. Figure drawing has been a life-long interest, and the nude has figured prominently in my photographic work as well. In the realm of abstract art, I have worked extensively as a printmaker and more recently in collage. My printmaking has included traditional methods such as etching and woodblock printing, but many of my prints use methods of my own—for example, printing from corrugated board and from found objects such as twine, bubble plastic, and paper cutouts. My collage work is abstract and painterly, using monotypes I make myself and, less commonly, found paper artifacts. Since around 2014, collage has been my main artistic pursuit.

Keyaira Terry Artisan, Design, Fiber Art, Functional Art, Interior Design, Mixed, Other, Other, Teacher/Instructor, Visual Arts Keyaira Terry is an artist with a bold spirit and an old soul. Born and raised in Ukiah, a small farm town in Northern California, Keyaira had a childhood that was deeply connected to the soil and earth, learning to use everything around her as a tool or resource. Keyaira spent her formative years with her grandmother sewing, tending to the land they lived on, and caring for an array of farm animals. Trading goods and commodities among their close-knit farm community was commonplace and shaped Keyaira’s perspective on sustainability and the true meaning of “locally sourced”. Keyaira recalls utilizing all the resources available to her and minimizing waste as being a paramount part of her existence, “if we didn’t have it we made it, if something broke we fixed it”. These collective experiences helped cultivate Keyaira as an artist and inspire her present-day work and ethos — A homespun nostalgia with a modern sensibility, rooted by a love for natural, sustainable and ethically sourced materials. Keyaira currently resides in Santa Rosa, California with her husband, Weston, and their two English bulldogs, Lola and Olive. She splits her time between running her own business as a designer and maker, weaving instructor, and creating commissioned pieces. She has collaborated with companies such as Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants, Studio 11 Designs, Bustle Events and has been featured by Sonoma Magazine, Apartment Therapy and Etsy.

Kathleen Thompson Mixed, Painting Using fluid acrylic, I work these color-field gestural abstractions to a sense of resolution. In my explorations and attention to the present, meanings occur as actions arise through the process. What is revealed, through gesture and alteration, becomes a metaphor for the passage of time, shifting internal states, changing perspective, retrieval and integration.  The paintings are evidence of a journey... material and engagement the carrier of meaning. 

Kathleen Truax Illustration, Painting, Visual Arts How many times did I choose a career path? The first time: My major. Art was my preference, but disliking the attitude of the art department I abandoned it for psychology. It turned out the professors were behaviorists, and that didn't suit me either. I settled on history, a good place to start when you are only 18! But art wasn't forgotten. I married at 21 and while my children were young I took 10 years of studio art classes, enough to constitute a minor, if anyone was counting. The second time: An advanced degree: Again I looked at an art degree. Still no. Psychology won and this time it was a better fit. I became a licensed Marriage & Family Therapist and practiced for 29 years. Possibly the all of this was necessary to mature as an artist. The third time? 5 years ago when I retired. I was itching to paint more than ever before! Now I have the time--and perhaps not the worry about starvation! I have not settled on a style nor narrowed my subjects of interest. Portraiture, Figure & Landscape still predominate in my work. Since retirement I have embraced abstraction and surrealism as well. Because of my background as a therapist, both are far more interesting to me than they might have been earlier. I have a lifetime storehouse of sights, ideas and feelings: shapes, colors, lines, concepts, symbols, images, dreams, & fears that may emerge on a canvas— sometimes surprising me--when I play with paint and then develop whatever shows up, almost unbidden. While it is true that we don't get to return to an early choice and re-do it, I feel as if I have had the opportunity to do the next best thing--return to an early love, painting, and go at it with even greater enthusiasm than before!

Jill Valavanis Artisan, Fiber Art, Jewelry, Sculpture, Teacher/Instructor, Teaching Artist for Adults, Teaching Artist for Youth, Visual Arts I am a teaching artist. With an MFA in Integrated Three-Dimensional Media, I use a variety of materials to create sculptural and functional objects. Fiber is my favorite medium. Currently, I am using my sewing machine to create freehand abstract embroidered pieces. For over 20 years I have enjoyed teaching art to both children and adults, from toddlers to seniors, in schools, colleges, community centers, museums, art centers, gardens, and private homes. I believe that anyone has the capacity to be creative, and that making art is good for one's mental and physical health.

Carole Watanabe Mixed, Painting, Sculpture, Visual Arts Watanabe's past (leading to this romantic present), includes establishing the first nationally recognized Gallery for the Fiber Arts in San Francisco; founding the Apprentice Alliance (a non-profit organization dedicated to placing apprentices with masters in all fields of endeavor); and a life-long commitment to creating supportive communities that nourish the wild art spirit in all of us. Her tapestries, sculptural handmade paper works and paintings hang in private collections, hotels, banks, hospitals and corporate offices across the country. Currently, she is living and teaching the concept of "life as an art form" during the winters at her art school in Sebastopol, CA known as Art Heaven, and summers in the French fauvist village of Collioure where she paints and sells her work in her own gallery L'Art Vivant. Carole resides in Sebastopol, California on Ragle Road at Chez la Vie, a retirement compound created with her husband, Jazz Musician, Don Watanabe.

Barbie Watts Artisan, Creative Sonoma Grantee, Functional Art, Illustration, Mixed, Multi-Media, Other, Other, Painting, Photography, Printmaking, Sculpture, Teacher/Instructor, Teaching Artist for Youth, Visual Arts Living through some iconoclastic times, I feel like the truth seeker and the magician, asking viewers to see what I see in my drawings, paintings, sculpture, video’s and writing about it all.  I grew up in a family of exceptional people.   Trained in painting and ballet from a young age, I would move on to different mediums and styles of art for the the rest of my life. I would pour myself into every style, medium and philosophy I could afford. Having to find alternative sources for the necessities of, say, painting, I scoured alleys and dumpsters at businesses, looking for and finding paper for drawing or mat board, wood for stretching canvas, sometimes the canvas.  I also found canvas and more, not at the art store, but discount fabric stores or hardware store.  I still reuse today, making paper mache containers, boxes and pencil cups, using plastic clamshells, soup cans, as molds.  Old aluminum foil makes great armatures for my smaller pieces, the mermaid candlestick holders or boxes and such. Water is my current interest and being able to make air to water collectors in a way it would catch the public s attention. I think there power in having some control over those things that are normally out of our control, like the drought in California.  Water from Air collectors on’t depend on anyone or any company, to work. They can be made from the simplest materials. WHY aren’t there more?

Andrea Wedell Painting, Visual Arts Andrea Wedell is the daughter and grand-daughter of artists and architects. Growing up, she was surrounded by strong willed artists, and grew to hold beauty as the guiding force in her own life. When her grandfather, Alexander Stoller sold half of his land in the Berkshire mountains to cast one of his largest marble sculptures in bronze, it was acquired by the American Embassy in Paris. Andrea attended the opening ceremony, and shortly after, captivated by the magnitude of culture available in Europe, uprooted from her native California and moved to Paris. The France adventure spanned 27 years before she moved back to her much-loved California in 2013. Andrea has a bachelor of Arts from UCLA, and while in Paris, she studied under acclaimed Beaux Art teachers Michele Massiou and Jacqueline Guillermain for over 10 years. She began exhibiting regularly at the Grand Marche d’Art Contemporain in Paris, before becoming a permanent artist with Galerie BE Espace also in Paris for 10 years. Her work has been published by Les Editions Arcadia in France. In California, she was a featured artist at Toadfish Contemporary Gallery in Sausalito and is featured currently at Desta Gallery in San Anselmo. She has been making art for two decades, and teaching for one. Her second profession as a certified life coach further enhances her art education practice. andreawedell.com

Niki Wildflower Artisan, Creative Sonoma Grantee, Design, Fashion Design, Fiber Art, Graphic Design, Illustration, Mixed, Other, Painting, Sculpture, Teacher/Instructor, Teaching Artist for Youth, Visual Arts Niki Wildflower is a nomadic Artist who currently resides in Petaluma California. She has been influenced by muralists, agitprop art, graffiti and 90’s riot grrrl bands with a focus on women’s rights. Motivated by body-positive activism and our culture’s idea of beauty standards, she chooses to depict female figures as monumental and sacred because of society's poor representation of women. She hopes to capture the strength of softness and the beauty of large women who are unapologetically themselves. As a graduate of Central Connecticut State University her background has been a mixture of easel paintings, life drawings, and murals that specifically concentrate on figurative work. Her figures show closed female forms juxtaposed open and confident power stances, representative of the inner battle women face each day as well as the destruction of female egos. Confident figures challenge today’s beauty norms by portraying large dominant women gazing back at the viewer - a concept of looking and being looked at. Her murals and paintings are the culmination of her art education and experience and are the framework of Niki Wildflower’s dexterity. Her subjects include 2nd and 3rd wave feminist icons, models from multiple social media platforms, and people from everyday life. The struggle to incorporate text and street art aesthetics is unified by her experimentation with spray paint and stickered lettering. Working on a large scale provides a mural-like ambiance that exempli

Sandy Young Glass, Graphic Design, Illustration, Media, Mixed, Multi-Media, Painting, Photography, Printmaking, Video, Visual Arts AWARDS 2018 Honorable Mention, Memory & Perception, Nat’l Juried Show, Marin MOCA 2017 Third Place, Altered Book & Book Arts Exhibition, Marin Museum of Contemporary Art 2017 Third Place, Hidden, Marin Museum of Contemporary Art 2013 Best of Show, ABZ Etcetera, Sebastopol Center for the Arts 2012 Sacramento Fine Arts Center Award 2012 Merit Award, California Fine Art, California State Fair 1998 First Place, New Media Art, Sausalito Art Festival 1998 Merit Award, California Works, California State Fair 1998 Second Place, Art & Science Collaborations, Inc. (ASCI) 1998 Honorable Mention, Digital Print Exhibition, California Museum of Art 1998 Merit Award, L’eau Exhibition, San Francisco Women Artists Gallery 1997 First Place, New Media Art, Sausalito Art Festival 1996 Top 10 Award (from almost 1500 entries), Fractal Design Art Expo 1996 Second Place, New Media Art, Sausalito Art Festival 1996 Merit Award, Winds of Change Exhibition, San Francisco Women Artists Gallery 1995 Merit Award, Small Format Exhibition, San Francisco Women Artists Gallery SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2019 Sandy Young– “BEING” Solo Exhibition, Alley Gallery, Sonoma, CA 2018 Sandy Young– “Dimensions” Solo Exhibition, Parkpoint Club, Sonoma, CA 2016 Sandy Young– “And the Show Goes On” Solo Exhibition, SYX Gallery, Sonoma, CA 2015 Sandy Young– “About Time Solo Exhibition”, SYX Gallery, Sonoma, CA 2015 Sandy Young– “Perceptions of Time” Solo Exhibition, Sandra Lee Gallery, San Francisco, CA 2012 Sandy Young –Featured Artist, Arts Guild of Sonoma, Sonoma, CA 2006 Sandy Young –Featured Artist, M. Gabriel Fine Art, Sonoma, CA 2003 Art by Sandy Young, Klein’s, San Francisco, CA 1999 Sandy Young –Prints, Saffron, Glen Ellen, CA 1999 Sandy Young –New Work, Arts Guild of Sonoma, Sonoma, CA 1998 Sandy Young –Featured Artist, Arts Guild of Sonoma, Sonoma, CA 1996 Expressions, San Mateo County Library Art Gallery, San Mateo, CA 1996 Carte Postale, LaDiDa Ltd. Gallery, Half Moon Bay, CA 1995 Another Time & Place, LaDiDa Ltd. Gallery, Half Moon Bay, CA 1995 Dimensions, San Mateo County Library Art Gallery, San Mateo, CA 1994 Sandy Young, Beckton Dickinson Corporate Art Gallery , San Jose, CA 1994 Paint Pixels & Prints, LaDiDa Ltd. Gallery, Half Moon Bay, CA GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2019 Black, White and a Hint of Color, Nat’l Juried Show, Sebastopol Center for the Arts, Sebastopol, CA 2018 Memory & Perception, Nat’l Juried Show, Marin Museum of Contemporary Art, Novato, CA 2017 Sausalito Art Festival, Sausalito, CA 2017 The Art of the Book, Seager Gray Gallery, Mill Valley, CA 2017 Art Market San Francisco, Represented by Seager Gray Gallery, San Francisco, CA 2017 Altered Book & Book Arts, Marin Museum of Contemporary Art, Novato, CA 2017 Hidden, Marin Museum of Contemporary Art, Novato, CA 2016 Palm Springs Art Fair, Represented by Sandra Lee Gallery, Palm Springs, CA 2015 Group Show, Sandra Lee Gallery, San Francisco, CA 2015 Sausalito Art Festival, Sausalito, CA 2015 Art Silicon Valley, Represented by Sandra Lee Gallery, San Mateo, CA 2015 LA Art Show, Represented by Sandra Lee Gallery, Los Angeles, CA 2015 Celebration of Fine Art, Scottsdale, AZ 2014 Group Show, Sandra Lee Gallery, San Francisco, CA 2014 Silicon Valley Contemporary, Represented by Sandra Lee Gallery, San Jose, CA 2014 Sausalito Art Festival, Sausalito, CA 2014 Celebration of Fine Art, Scottsdale, AZ 2013 December Invitational Show, Arts Guild of Sonoma, Sonoma, CA 2013 Group Show, Eminent Design Gallery, Sonoma, CA 2013 ABZ Etcetera, Sebastopol Center fr the Arts, Sebastopol, CA 2013 Celebration of Fine Art, Scottsdale, AZ 2012 California Fine Art, Sacramento, CA 2012 Group Show, Arts Guild of Sonoma, Sonoma, CA 2011 Group Show, Arts Guild of Sonoma, Sonoma, CA 2005 Sandy Young and Cheryl Burnett –Two Person Exhibition, The Simmons Gallery, San Francisco, CA 2004 Group Show, Eleonore Austerer Gallery, San Francisco, CA 2003 Group Show, Eleonore Austerer Gallery, San Francisco, CA 2003 Group Show, Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, CA 2002 Group Show, Eleonore Austerer Gallery, San Francisco, CA 2002 Space Between Thoughts, Bucci’s & Heritage Square, Emeryville, CA 1999 Light Sensitive II, Traveling Exhibition, Sponsored by Mesa Arts Center, Mesa, AZ 1999 Sausalito Art Festival, Sausalito, CA 1998 ASCI Award Winners Exhibit of Digital Art –Three Person Traveling Exhibition Brook Center of Design at Cooper Union, New York, NY Technology Gallery at the New York Hall of Science, New York, NY 1998 Multiple Images –Two Person Exhibition, Stanford Art Spaces, Stanford, CA 1998 Light Sensitive, Mesa Arts Center, Mesa, AZ 1998 Altered Visions –Two Person Exhibition, Alta California Gallery, Sonoma, CA 1998 California Works, California State Fair, Sacramento, CA 1998 Print Exhibition, California Museum of Art, Santa Rosa, CA 1998 L’eau, San Francisco Women Artists Gallery, San Francisco, CA 1998 Sausalito Art Festival, Sausalito, CA 1997 Fractal Design Art Expo Top 10 Award Winners International Traveling Exhibition 1997 Sausalito Art Festival, Sausalito, CA 1996 Winds of Change –New Media, San Francisco Women Artists Gallery, San Francisco, CA 1996 Local Color, Gallery 27, Glen Ellen, CA 1996 Sausalito Art Festival, Sausalito, CA 1995 8th National Computer Art Invitational, Eastern Washington University 1995 Small Format Work, San Francisco Women Artists Gallery, San Francisco, CA 1994 Convergence: Art Merging with Technology, Cultural Arts Council of Sonoma County, CA LITERATURE 2017 The Art of the Book, 12th Annual Exhibition, Seager Gray Gallery, 2017 2003 Writing with Images: Toward a Semiotics of the Web, George L. Dillon, University of Washington, 2003 2002 Photoshop 7 Magic, Grossman & London, New Riders Publishing, 2002 2000 Pixel Perfect, Edited by Kathleen Ziegler and Nick Greco, Harper Collins Internat’l, 2000 Also published worlwide by Nippon Shuppan Hanbai, 2000 1998 WIRED News, “It’s Digital, But is it Art?”, Judy DeMocker, September 1998 1997 Painter 5 F/X, London, Grossman & Evans, Ventana Communications Group, 1997 1997 PRINT Magazine 1997 Art & Design Annual, 1997 1997 Design Graphics Magazine, Australia, Issue #21,1997 1997 MAC Art & Design Quarterly Magazine, Sweden, Vol. 5, Edition 19, 1997 1997 A Review by Jonathan Bock: The 45th Annual Sausalito Art Festival, 1997 RELATED EXPERIENCE 2015 Juror, Sausalito Art Festival Entries 1998-2005 Photo-Illustrator. Clients include: TIME Magazine, Simon & Schuster, Bantam Books, Random House… 1998 Juror, Sausalito Art Festival Entries EDUCATION Printmaking Courses, University of California at Berkeley Extension, Berkeley, CA One year Full Fellowship, Stanford University: Product Design, Stanford, CA B.S. “Materials, Techniques & Form”, Mass. Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA Artists & Technology Series, MIT Center for Advanced Visual Studies, Cambridge, MA

Kay Young Artisan, Glass Kay Young loves to play with color and textures. She is currently creating functional glass dinnerware for the retail and the wholesale marketplace as well as making one-of-a-kind mixed media collage pieces on glass. Her use of layered papers, paint, and gold leaf offer a depth not normally seen in mixed media. She holds a BFA in Textiles from The California College of Arts and Crafts and a Certificate in Client Services and Business from Santa Rosa Junior College. Her work has appeared in publications including Sunset, Better Homes and Gardens, Traditional Homes, Crafts Report, Cheers magazines, Horchow, Boston Museum of Art Store , and Femail Creations catalogs, and has appeared on HGTV's Thats' Clever tv series. Her work is collected by many celebrities including Sandra Bullock, John Travolta and The Clintons. She was invited to create a glass holiday ornament for the Clinton White House as well as for Victoria Magazine which hung in the Women's Art Museum in Washington, DC. Her hand painted, functional dinnerware has been purchased by over 300 galleries and museum stores since the early 90's. Kay Lives in Santa Rosa, CA and is the owner of Hopscotch Gifts & Gallery inside the Fulton Crossing artisan Center. Her shop was one of three finalists in the 2022 Best of Sonoma County Gift Shop category by the Press Democrat's Reader's Poll. She is a mentor to other artists who want to learn more about the business of art and is starting a formal workshop on that subject in 2023.

Hillary Younglove Painting, Visual Arts After experimenting with a variety of traditional media such as oil painting, photography and film, Hillary Younglove turned to mixed-media to explore modern aesthetics that incorporate techniques and narrative elements based on the human figure. In the last two decades, Hillary has been studying and experimenting with techniques used by the ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans (encaustic, mosaic, fresco). Through these explorations, ancient techniques are anchoring modern sensibilities into a body of work where layering, texture and color dominate. The tactile nature of the artwork relies on a physical, labor intensive effort that helps to materialize the emotions through a natural and organic process. Mirroring her own work, Hillary time travels a lot, in a world where esoteric research and guided study feature prominently. She is the founder of Trompin’ Manikins, a puppet making laboratory.

Ron Zak Mixed, Photography, Visual Arts Ron Zak is a photographer, teacher and traveler based in Sonoma who works to reveal moments of irony and interconnectedness in his images of diverse cultures and environments. Born in Pittsburgh, PA, Zak served in Vietnam from 1965-67. He then left the Steel City to attend college in San Francisco. He earned a Masters in Art from SF State University in 1976 and presented his first solo exhibition titled “The Human Condition” at SFAI’s Walter and McBean Gallery. In 1979, Zak moved to Sonoma and started doing photography for newspapers and magazines. He went on to start Zak Photographics, which specialized in advertising, book illustration, fashion and portraiture work. He is well known for his photo ad campaign used for decades by Gundlach Bundschu Winery. His teaching career began in 1979 at Napa Valley College where he mentored many students who became professional and established photographers. From 2005-2017, he lead the photography department at Solano Community College and for the past thirty years Zak has coordinated travel courses for photographers to such locations as China, India, Cuba, Indonesia, Burma, Argentina, Paris, New York, and Vietnam. The travel study program was inspired by his own experience as a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Belgrade in the former Yugoslavia (1989). Ron Zak has exhibited frequently throughout Northern California and Pittsburgh and has work in many private collections, at di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art, Napa Valley Museum, and the Skopje Museum of Contemporary Art in Macedonia.

Féven Zewdi Illustration, Painting, Visual Arts

Hello! 👋🏾my name is Féven (pronounced Fay-vin) I am a passionate multidisciplinary painter and muralist.

I’m committed to elevating my skills as an artist through innovative storytelling that inspires and impact people to action. I’m currently working on my next exhibition called “Black Punch”, a portrait series inspired by the celebratory variety and beauty of the African diaspora+.