Visual Arts
Asual Aswad
Asual is a printmaker, photographer and fabric designer originally from Washington D.C. Asual has a degree in Photography and Printing Technology. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree with a focus on Glass and Textiles from California College of Arts and Crafts. Asual encourages students to explore their visual world, discovering the role of art in their life as they learn to perceive beauty, change their environment, and appreciate the art of diverse cultures.
Programs Offered: Printmaking, Maskmaking, Digital Photography, Digital Storytelling, Sculpture
Katy Bernheim
Katy is a figure painter working in oils who has exhibited her work throughout Northern California. She has worn many other hats, working as a park ranger, sign painter and floral designer. Katy holds a Bachelor of Arts in Religion and Art from Duke University. Katy believes art reflects our stories and mirrors how we see the world. With emphasis on process, Katy guides students to see and feel those cultures from the stories told by their crafts.
Programs Offered: Drawing, Painting, Printmaking, Mixed Media, Portraiture, Maskmaking, Collage and Assemblage, World Folk Art
Evan Bissell
Evan is proficient in many mediums but specializes in painting and drawing as public art. Evan graduated from Wesleyan University in 2005 with a BA in Ethnic Studies and Painting and is a long time participant of Youth in Arts’ Italian Street Painting Festival. Evan has facilitated projects throughout the Bay Area, focusing on community building and individually inspired art-making.
Programs Offered: Collage & Assemblage, Drawing, Mural Design & Creation, Painting, Italian Street Painting
Rebecca Burgess
Rebecca is a professional textile artist and educator. She infuses restoration ecology into the art making process, using local natural resources to create art projects that build an awareness of place. Focusing on the ancient arts of natural dying, weaving, papermaking, and natural building, she can scale her projects for children as young as three years of age to other artists and teachers. Rebecca’s work weaves together science, math, and social science curricula, and creates bridges for children to move out of the classroom and onto their school sites.
Programs Offered: Ecological Arts
Sophie Cooper
Sophie’s undergraduate studies were interrupted in 1999 when she joined her brother as a volunteer for a small organization in Kosovo called Balkan Sunflowers. Arriving only three months after Kosovo’s one million refugees returned to their destroyed homes, she began organizing cultural activities with the community’s youth. In 2001, together with a network of artists from Kosovo, she participated in the formation of the Crossing Bridges Collective to organize an annual trans-Balkan music and arts festival. Inspired to document these vibrant cultural events, Sophie began working as a video artist and then went on to refine her skills at the Film Academy of Prague, Czech Republic (FAMU). She then received a dynamic degree at the University of California at Berkeley combining both visual arts and critical social theory. Sophie’s work as an artist has developed hand-in-hand with her work as a community organizer. She has found that her favorite form of activism is that of visually celebrating the beauty of nature and the beauty of culture.
Programs Offered: New Media, Videography, Photography, Digital Storytelling
Ascha Kells Drake
Ascha is a painter and printmaker recently arrived in the Bay Area form New York City. Her students learn to listen to other artists, explore various careers in art, and also develop their own styles as artists. Ascha believes that role as a teaching artist is to support the growth of each student’s individual art making process, encouraging students to become sensitive observers of the world around them. Through the artist’s process, students will gain insight, become confident with different methods of brainstorming and problem solving, and they will recognize the value of day dreaming. A teacher has the tools to ignite imagination, and the power to open the eyes of others.
Programs Offered: Printmaking, Collage & Assemblage, Drawing, Painting, Sculpture
Roni Hoffman Duncan
Roni has brought children and the elderly of Marin County the gift of art for many years. Roni loves to show students how they can transform everyday found objects into beautiful works of art and provides a nurturing environment where students can make decisions, try new things and overcome their fears.
Programs Offered: Collage & Assemblage, Sculpture, Drawing, Painting, Paper Exploration
Mark Edwards
Mark has been teaching art in the Bay Area from kindergarten to college level for more than 15 years. Mark attended the Academy of Arts in San Francisco and is the illustrator of three children’s books. Mark finds that teaching cartooning through fun games engages students in learning new art skills, providing the building blocks for more advanced projects.
Programs Offered: Drawing, Painting, Illustration, Cartooning
Christine Elder
Since 1986, Christine has designed and taught children’s classes, incorporating mastery of art skills with an understanding and appreciation for the natural world. Christine believes that art and science can be gateways to each other, as one discipline can entice students to become fascinated with the other. With her background as both a field biologist and environmental educator, Christine specializes in integrating science and art curricula together.
Programs Offered: Scientific Illustration, Illuminated Manuscripts
Nadine Gay
Nadine is a French born professional painter, sculptor and ceramist. Her work has been shown extensively in France and the United States. She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Pratt Institute in New York and has taught art to adults and children for more than 15 years in various community programs. She believes in nurturing the individual's creative expression alongside the mastery of technique.
Programs Offered: Ceramics, Glass Tile Mural, Collage & Assemblage, Mixed Media, Mural Design & Creation, Paper Exploration, Sculpture
*Elle parle le FrancaisZoe Harris
Zoe has been an educator for more than 30 years at various public and private schools in the Bay Area. While working as a resource teacher in the San Francisco School District’s Child Development Program, she coordinated the creation of a hands-on multicultural museum and also worked for the Museum of International Folk Art and the Laboratory of Anthropology in New Mexico.
Programs Offered: World Folk Art, Maskmaking
*Se Habla Español
Julia James
Julia has been an Exhibited artist and Art teacher for over 20 years. She has a BA in jewelry and design from London and is a credentialed teacher. Julia encourages students to use their imagination and to find their creative voice, using a variety of media. Julia teaches students basic art skills through lessons aligned with the California art content standards. Julia loves to share the knowledge of art and the creative spirit, believing that art is a wonderful process, which opens the door to many types of learning.
Programs Offered: Bookmaking, Drawing, Painting, Paper Exploration, Portraiture, Printmaking, Mixed Media
Lisa Jones
Lisa received her BFA fro the Academy of Art College in San Francisco and has been a professional illustrator and fine art painter for 20 years. In 1998, she began to participate in chalk art festivals. Best known for her architectural pieces and reproductions of early Renaissance still life paintings, Lisa has created street paintings in several locations in California including San Rafael, as well as Provo Utah and the renowned Grazie da Cortatone, Italy. A lifetime student of the masters, Lisa founded Materworks Children's Art Studio in 1996 to encourage children and their parents to explore the universal experience of communicating ideas through visual media.
Programs Offered: Bookmaking, Drawing, Painting, Paper Exploration, Portraiture, Printmaking, Mixed Media
June Li
June Li received her BA in studio art from Sonoma State University, and a BA in applied art from South China Teaching University where she was professionally trained in the traditional technique of Chinese Brush Painting. June has participated in the YIA Italian Street Painting Festival for many years. June believes in presenting children with exciting lessons that actively engage them to reach their potential talents using creative expression and high-quality tools.
Programs Offered: Chinese Brush Painting
Tajali Littman
Tajali has been an exhibiting and teaching artist for more than 20 years. She has over 15 years of teaching in the classroom setting, and has taught and led environmental education programs for both adults and children. She is currently furthering her education with a degree in expressive art therapy and believes that art serves as an exciting venue of personal expression.
Programs Offered: Bookmaking, Ceramics, Collage & Assemblage, Drawing, Mixed Media, Paper Exploration, Painting, Sculpture, Weaving
Amanda Lockwood
Amanda Lockwood has a BFA in painting from California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, CA. She has been working in her studio, showing her art in many different venues, and teaching art in the Bay area for twelve years. In recent years Amanda’s paintings have become more and more eclectic in terms of their materials: using layers of collage and Xerox transfer , adding on sculptural elements, even experimenting with the surface one can paint on. Environmental consciousness is a large issue in Amanda’s work, as many of her pieces use nature and our relationship with it as a recurring theme, and she often uses recycled construction materials such as plywood scraps, windows and doors, cabinet doors and drawer faces as beginning surfaces and incorporates other recycled materials into them, with paint being the final layer.
Programs Offered: Drawing, Painting, Sculpture, Environmental Sculpture
Laurie Marshall
Laurie Marshall has been making portable murals for the last 25 years. She engages young people to make bold visual statements reaching outside the classroom to bring the fresh vision of youth to a challenged world. The content of the murals ranges from academic subjects (math, science, health, social studies, literature) to the steps of conflict resolution. She has used the power of story, visualization and painting to foster team building and unity with NASA, the Department of Interior, the Army Corps of Engineers, hospices, hospitals, prisons, and foster homes. As a certified art teacher, she recently spent three years as a multiple subject elementary teacher at a Waldorf-methods charter school. Her oil portraits and nature-based/spiritual paintings are in public and private collections around the world. She studied at the Art Students' League in New York City and moved to California four years ago from her native Pittsburgh, Pa.
Programs Offered: Portable Murals, Drawing, Sculpture, Painting, Portraiture
Marty Meade
Marty is a long time instructor of glass art and watercolor at the College of Marin and was honored as the 2006 Teacher of the Year! She is the first recipient of the Youth in Arts' Pamela Levine Arts Education Leadership Award. She is certified in Art Therapy and has worked with young people in recovery from substance abuse since 1987. Marty offers students a unique opportunity to create fine art through painting and collage as well as small fused glass pieces. Students are encouraged to express their emotions through their artwork and in most cases, cannot wait to show their glass artwork off to family and friends. Marty is bilingual, with Spanish as her second language.
Programs Offered: Collage & Assemblage, Glass Art, Painting
*Se Habla EspañolGenna Panzarella
Genna is a master at a variety of art-forms including jewelry, lampworking glass beads, stained glass, photography, bronze sculpture, painting, portraiture, and wearable art. Genna has been a Featured Artist at the Youth in Arts Italian Street Painting Festival and her street paintings have been awarded highest honors both nationally and internationally. In 2002, Genna earned the highest title of Maestro in the international street painting competition Grazie di Curtatone in Italy, earning international recognition.
Programs Offered: Italian Street Painting
Suzy Poling
Suzy is a new media artist who works with photography, collage, fiber arts, performance and music. She has worked with youth programs in school and after school since 2000. She has put together 10 different zines and magazines with youth work, and coordinated major multi-media performances. Her concepts and concerns are based on the environment, individuality, community, integration, reusable materials and inter-connectedness. Suzy uses digital photography to introduce students to the concepts of design, composition, pattern and texture.
Programs Offered: Digital Photopraghy, Digital Storytelling, New Media
Kate Rees
Kate is an Artist and Art Therapist originally from London. She has a BA Honors in Art for Community and Psychology and also holds an MA in Art Psychotherapy from Goldsmiths College, London. Kate has spent a number of years providing art therapy and facilitating art workshops. She is particularly interested in the importance of encouraging development through play and creativity. As an artist Kate creates images combining photography, painting, drawing and collage. Much of the multimedia imagery she creates has a dream like quality, invoking light and fragility. She has also worked on public art projects at Charing Cross Hospital, Goldsmiths College and within schools in London. She enjoys working with the following media: painting & drawing, sculpture & ceramics, printmaking, photography, murals and crafts.
Programs Offered: Bookmaking, Drawing, Painting, Paper Exploration, Portraiture, Printmaking, Portraiture, Mixed Media
Kiki Rostad
Kiki designs a wide variety of multi-media projects for even the youngest artists. She brings joy and whimsy into all of her classes, and fosters a true love of the creative process in all of her students.
Programs Offered: Bookmaking, Drawing, Painting, Paper Exploration, Portraiture, Printmaking, Portraiture, Mixed Media, Papier Mache Puppets with Fabric Bodies, Magical Animals in Clay.
Victoria Saxe
Victoria believes that her students should learn to use all sides of their brain(s). In her classes, she guides them to see and observe their subjects as they are, instead of how they “think” they are. She believes that all children can master basic drawing skills and she can provide the inspiration and experience to lead them there. Victoria is a professional artist and biological illustrator. She has produced hundreds of drawings for entomologists and botanists over the last 12 years. She was trained at The National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonial Institution, in digital drawing. Prior to that, she enjoyed a 15-year career in interior design and architecture.
Programs Offered: Scientific Illustration
Harry Simpson
Harry Simpson is a practicing painter as well as being a long-time artist of YIA's Italian Street Painting Festival. He has a BA in Art History from UC Berkeley, as well as teaching credentials from Dominican University. Harry has more than 14 years of experience teaching art to children in the Bay Area. Harry uses art to develop children's creative writing skills, and knowledge of ancient cultures. Harry believes in guiding students to their vision, rather than imposing one on them.Programs Offered: Cartooning, Drawing, Painting, Arts Integration
Ginny Wilson
Ginny has worked for VSA arts in Nevada and California, where she taught both children and adults to express themselves through watercolor and pastel. Ginny holds a degree in illustration from the Fashion Institute of Technology in NYC and studied Watercolors at the Art Students League and the Woodstock School of Art in New York. As a two-time survivor of cancer, Ginny believes in making the most of this precious life by enthusiastically sharing her love for the arts with students desirous of discovering their own creative talents.
