2008 Featured Madonnari

Native Marin artist and teacher Tia Starr Warner has been street painting for 14 years. She is known for “breaking out of the square” with her complex designs. As a Visual Arts teacher at San Rafael High School, Tia has mentored many student street painting teams. She holds a B.A. in painting from the San Francisco Art Institute and a teaching credential from Sonoma State. Tia’s 2008 painting will portray herself as a child with her grandmother and mentor, long-tenured Redwood High School art teacher Jerry Steers. The image evokes the bond shared by Tia and Jerry as artists, educators and world travelers.

Tia has become a master teacher of visual art instructors in Marin County by having mentored seven student teachers and previously teaching the, “Teach in Content Area of Art” course for Dominican University. Tia and her students have created the 20’x30’ multicultural mural on Fourth Street in San Rafael, painted a Golden Gate Transit Bus for the passing of the Olympic torch, as well as traveled to the San Diego Street Painting Festival. Her students have been featured at the Youth in Arts’ Italian Street Painting Festival on four different years.

Tia has also been a strong participant at the Youth in Arts' Italian Street Painting Festival since its inception (for the last 14 years), designing her street pieces for the Northern California Film Institute. She is known for her complexity of design, illustrating film in numerous ways as well as breaking out of the square. Tia Starr’s work is diverse in media, exploring culture and beauty.

 

This year, Tia is basing her street painting on a photograph of her as a child, in which she paints watercolor with her grandmother, Jerry Steers. Jerry, a visual arts teacher at Redwood High School for 25 years, was Tia’s inspiration and travel mentor as well as a supporter of her artistic path. The image portrays the freedom and creativity that Tia was encouraged to explore as well as the bond they shared as artists, educators and world travelers. The design includes natural elements in the background and an iconic image of Mother Mary, which symbolizes the strength of generations, humanity, spirituality, femininity, and family.  

Two Masters Join the Featured Artist

Genna Panzerella

Genna Panzarella is a Mill Valley-based artist with a passion for horses, travel, and of course, art. As a mentor artist at Youth in Arts, Genna teaches an after school chalk painting class at Lynwood Elementary School in Novato. The class will culminate in a street painting at the Italian Street Painting Festival. Although Genna initially avoided charcoal and pastels because they’re “too messy,” she got over it. Since the Festival’s first year, she’s been eagerly smearing the chalk over rough pavement. She draws on sidewalks from China to the Netherlands and has been a featured artist in Santa Barbara, Phoenix, Denver and now, San Rafael. Her work has appeared in magazines including Equine Images, Equine Vision Magazine, and People. Genna’s sidewalk art has won multiple awards, including a series of prizes in the prestigious Grazie di Curtatone, near Mantua, Italy. She has worked her way to the top, the Maestro level, and won the top prize in that category in 2002.  She designs her works by making a “collaged image.” Starting with a masterpiece, which could be Caravaggio painting, a statue by Bernini, or a photograph by Man Ray, she inserts images of special meaning to her, often including a horse. Last year her piece, “Man’s Search Through the Centuries for Ms. Right,” depicted a man with binoculars searching a crowd of famous paintings, including the Mona Lisa and the Girl with the Pearl Earring. The painting was dedicated to Sue Carlemagno, the show manager for 14 years and the Genna’s inspiration to start.

Sara Mordecai

A proud native of San Jose, Sara Mordecai has been creating paintings and murals for over 16 years. She received an MFA from Academy of Art College in San Francisco and later taught illustration in their undergraduate and graduate departments. Now she focuses on creating icons and illustrations seen by millions online as the design manager of illustration for Yahoo! Inc. and takes on freelance projects through her business, Three Moons Studio. “For as long as I can remember, I have seen things differently,” says Sara. She observes what she calls “a stylization of reality” -- the shapes that make the fullness of a figure, the rhythm of form in people and in nature.  Many of her paintings come to her in dreams, and she sees them clearly in her mind before she begins to sketch or paint in vibrant hues. Sara’s paintings have graced products for companies such as Orange Coast Magazine, San Jose Mercury News, Contra Costa Times, Natural Wonders, Piatti Restaurants, Bell Sports, USA Weekly and board games for University Games.  Her studio work has also included larger pieces for Starbucks, Kaiser Permanente Hospitals and their clinics, as well as private commissions. Creating chalk murals for 11 years, Sara travels throughout the summer to participate in street painting festivals in cities such as Santa Barbara, Mission Viejo, San Diego, Tahoe, San Jose and San Rafael. She competed in the original international street mural event near Mantova, Italy and won a medal in the Simpleci category.

STUDENT FEATURE ARTISTS

Tia Warner’s Advanced Placement Art students and graduates from San Rafael High School will once again participate as our Student Featured Artist team.

Andy Bostain is the first freshman to be featured in the Festival for San Rafael High. He has done individual squares for ten years.

Justine Brown enjoys portraiture in a variety of mediums, especially chalk pastel and paint. She will enter AP Art next year as a junior.

Momo Cha is a San Rafael High graduate and has completed her studies at College of Marin. She is transferring to San Jose State to study Graphic Design and Animation.

Mickey Davis was part of last year's featured team and painted her own square the previous two years. Next fall she will attend U.C. Berkeley.

Maddy Garfolo has participated in the Festival for four years. She will attend Academy of Art University next year, majoring in illustration.

Kimberly Killion was a featured student artist at the 2007 Festival. This fall, she will attend UCLA.

Elizabeth Mathews, a senior, is a first time street painter, but a long-time Festival volunteer. She plans to attend
U.C. Davis and major in studio art and graphic design.

Sindy Smart has painted a student square for the past two years. She is planning on pursuing a career in art after high school.

Trung Tran, a junior who will study AP Art next year, was a featured artist last year and completed a student square the year before.