About Us

Suzanne Schmidt

Suzanne C. Schmidt is a parent, professor, substitute teacher and overall creative person. She learned how to sew from her mom, who learned from her own mother. Over the past twenty years, she has taught machine and hand sewing to students, family and friends from age 2 to adult in after-school programs; elementary, middle school and college classrooms; and in drop-in sewing and ESL workshops. She teaches at Saint Mary’s College of California in the program of Justice, Community & Leadership and has worked with the Social Justice Sewing Academy. Suzanne researches and writes about craft narratives in fiction and elsewhere. When she teaches sewing, she does so as a pathway to sustainability, self-expression, community-building and feminist praxis.

Julian DeMark

Nathan Ring

Nathan is a potter with a special interest in the Northern California coastline, kayak fishing, and history. His pottery is inspired by his curiosity of the natural world, past pottery traditions, and his deep appreciation for the understated beauty of Japanese tea ware. While pursuing his love of form and function, Nathan has simultaneously explored traditional Japanese glazes, with a focus on Oribe and Shino. He has worked with different atmospheric firings and desires to make building and operating wood and soda kilns a focus of his future work. Nathan studied at Cosummes River College with Yoshio Taylor and finished his BFA in Ceramics at the California College of the Arts.

You can contact Nathan at artstudio@berkeley.edu.

Hue Yang

Hue was born in Taiwan and has lived in America for most of her adult life. Since she was young she has had a love for color and form. She came to California in 1996 to pursue her education in art, eventually focusing on ceramics and pottery. Hue enjoys the artistic social connections gained through teaching as well as maintaining her own artistic practice.

Rebecca Rippon

Rebecca Rippon is a San Francisco based artist working in printmaking, taking its unique capabilities as an invitation to experiment. She received her M.F.A. from San Francisco Art Institute and was awarded the Murphy Cadogan Contemporary Art Award. Rebecca takes inspiration from nature in city spaces in her work, and finds plenty by frequently cycling the Bay Area’s fantastic bike paths.

Narges Poursadeqi

Narges Poursadeqi is a conceptual artist based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her work investigates culture, memory, and narrative, and how they’re tied together. Poursadeqi’s practice is driven by politics, culture, and religion. Her works come to life through archived photos, videos, and texts, and the process of finding the appropriate vessel to re-narrate their stories.

Her work has been shown at SOMAArt cultural center, Salesforce tower, Hubbell Street Galleries, Worth Ryder Gallery, Mimesis Gallery, Belmont Village gallery, Mesa Art Gallery, Kala Art gallery, etc. She is one of the current Artist Residence Awardees at Kala art institute and simultaneously working on her new project at Alumnx Residency, California College of the Arts.

Xochitlquetzal Davila

Xochitlquetzal (cho-chi-ket-zaal), they/them pronouns, is an educator and behavioral health care provider who finds beauty, through the capture of light and shadow on film, in both expected and unexpected places. Inspired by and trained in journalism photography with low manipulation aesthetics, they capture the moment as it is, leaving the interpretation to the viewer. Like many photographers of the pre-digital era they also worked as an event, on site photoshoots, and headshot-photographer.  Currently Xochitlquetzal uses the practice of photography to cultivate a space of intention and centering in a world that is so often geared to depersonalization.

You can contact Xochitlquetzal  at artstudio@berkeley.edu.

Marianna Matthews

Bay Area native, Marianna Matthews, came to jewelry making rather late in life. A serial crafter, she is finding that jewelry-making continues to interest her. Part of the reason for that is the endless possibilities & the wide variety of design options. There is always something new to learn. She also loves experimenting with different combinations of colors, components, and techniques and passing along these ideas to interested learners. Marianna benefited from good instruction, and she believes that getting a solid foundation in the basics lets you “take it and run with it.” The sky’s the limit.

Larissa Mellor

Larissa Mellor works within drawing in the expanded sense creating drawings, installations, videos, and objects. She received her BFA from Maine College of Art and MFA from The Ohio State University. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally including Ortega y Gasset Projects, Marshall University, Moscow Museum of Modern Art and Maine Center for Contemporary Art. Among other awards, she was a 2010 Fulbright Fellow to Germany in Painting and Printmaking. She has taught art, design and interdisciplinary courses at The Ohio State University and Columbus College of Art and Design and presented on interdisciplinary art education at Foundations in Art: Theory and Education.

You can contact Larissa at artstudio@berkeley.edu.

Vida Vazquez

Vida Vazquez is an artist, designer and entrepreneur based in Oakland. Her design and fiber art practices explore themes of femininity, spirituality and joy.   Color is often the starting point in her process from which each work takes on a life of its’ own. Spontaneity is a core aspect of Vida’s creative process and her intent is to share joy through wearable art. The use of second hand and salvaged materials has become a central aspect of her design work.  In addition to being an alternative to the environmentally destructive impact of the fashion industry, working within limitations of what materials are already available leads to innovations in her creativity. Vida has shown her work at Omi Gallery, Urban University in Oakland, Adobe Art Center in Castro Valley, and Galeria de la Raza in San Francisco, as well as several commercial businesses around the Bay Area. She has been a featured vendor and West Coast Craft and Outside Lands music festival, and has stocked her handmade wares at several Bay Area boutiques.

You can contact Vida at artstudio@berkeley.edu.

Kristin Kyono

Kristin Grahn Kyono is an Oakland artist who specializes in combining painting with printmaking. Using her own photographs as a springboard, she meditates on the beauty of urban neighborhoods, whether it be the juxtaposition of engineered and natural forms, or the poetic collision of sign verbiage and architecture. Her work has been featured by Saatchi Online’s “Art We Love This Week” and American Art Collector, and exhibited in galleries in the San Francisco Bay Area and New York City. She produces large-scale commissions for businesses and hotels from San Francisco and Houston to London and Dubai. Kyono earned an M.F.A. from Academy of Art University in San Francisco and a B.A. in both Studio Art and Sociology from Whitman College.

You can contact Kristin at artstudio@berkeley.edu.

Yasmeen Abedifard

Yasmeen Abedifard (b. 1996) is an Iranian-American, queer artist born in the San Francisco Bay Area and is currently based in Oakland, CA, USA. She holds an MFA from Cornell University, where she received the Charles Baskerville Painting Award. Her work is centered around storytelling mediums, including comics, illustrations, and animation. She is currently teaching in the Comics BFA program at The California College of the Arts (CCA). Her work has been featured in various spaces, such as the SF Art Book Fair, 2727 California, Rubenstein Arts Center, Jack Hanley Gallery, and Soft Screen, and has received various accolades, including the Ignatz Award for Outstanding Minicomic for Death Bloom in 2023. She has taught comic workshops at Kala Art Institute, Sequential Artists Workshop, and Black Mountain Institute. She has created several published comics, such as Anar (pub. Silver Sprocket, upcoming), Death Bloom (pub. Lucky Pocket), and Burnt (pub. Wiggle Bird Mailing Club). She is also part of a comics collective called D.R.Y. with her peers, Daniel Zhou and Raul Higuera, aimed at fostering community and highlighting the Bay Area comics scene.

Alan Tarbell

Alan Tarbell has an MFA from the Instituto Allende in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, where he spent four years as a bilingual professor. His mixed media paintings and installations stem from a deep connection to the natural environment and our vital human relationships. Alan has exhibited in galleries throughout Mexico and California. World travels and concurrent work as a travel guidebook author and illustrator for Lonely Planet Publications, publishing titles on: México (2006), Hawaii, the Big Island (2005), Indonesia (2003), and Ecuador (2001), have further inspired his work. Alan has taught with the Berkeley Art Studio for several years as well as at the Richmond Art Center and the Sharon Art Studio.

You can contact Alan at artstudio@berkeley.edu.

Cesar Cueva

Cesar Cueva is an artist, animator and creative professional. He has studied Art and American Ethnic Studies at the University of Washington and Animation at Animation Mentor. He has worked in video games and television, but most of his experience comes from the museum field, starting with Seattle’s Wing Luke Museum, then with the Exploratorium, and most recently at the Oakland Museum of California. You can contact Cesar at artstudio@berkeley.edu.

Joffrey Baylon

Jop Baylon is a freelance photographer based in San Jose, California. His work revolves mostly on his family capturing the beautiful, the bold, the playful and sometimes the gritty part of life. He goes mostly on assignments shoots and in the process document various projects along the way. He likes to tell stories by showing it in a different light or recreate new realities and surreal images.

You can reach Joffrey at artstudio@berkeley.edu.

Instructor

Kate Godfrey

Kate Godfrey is a fine art embroiderer specializing in portrait and social commentary. She has taught workshops for Social Justice Sewing Academy at St. Mary’s College and Girls’ Garage in which students focused on the power of stitch to elevate the personal to the powerful. Kate lives and stitches in the Lake Merritt community of Oakland.

Instructor

Steve Javiel

Steve Javiel is an abstract contemporary flower artist based out of Oakland, CA. Steve’s creations breathe life into the essence of flowers through a prism of abstraction. Steve believes painting has a remarkable ability to convey emotions and transform negative feelings into something beautiful and uplifting. Steve’s paintings have been a form of expressing his emotions. Converting negative emotions into positive is a process he cherishes. The way Steve uses colors, shapes and abstract writing to represent hope and growth through the form of abstract flowers is a powerful way to communicate positivity and optimism. Steve Javiel really believes his art has the unique capacity to touch people’s hearts and souls, his intentions are to inspire the community and bring hope through his paintings. The ability of Steve’s artwork to elicit a smile or uplift someone’s spirits will create a meaningful and lasting connection. Steve firmly believes that colors possess an inherent power to illuminate our spirits and ignite optimism. His website is stevejaviel.com.

Ceramics Technician

Christina Sanchez

After taking a ceramics class 16 years ago Christina knew it was her passion. She graduated with an BA in Art with a focus in Ceramics from UC Berkeley in 2011. She interned at the Berkeley Art Studio and now is a technician and teaches there as well. She grew up in the Bay Area and is excited to work at the studio and with the community.

Mary Campbell

Mary Campbell received her MFA from California College of the Arts and her BFA in Printmaking from the University of Oregon.  Her work was featured in SF Camerawork’s FORECAST exhibition in Spring of 2023. She has exhibited at Bass & Reiner, Voss Gallery, Incline Gallery, Borderline Art Collective, Littman Gallery, and NAHP Paper Triennial Exhibition, among others. Her work has been featured by Bay Area’s collective On/Offsite, and Deanna Evans’ Curated Studio Visit program in New York. Mary has attended residencies at Kala Art Institute, Wassaic Project Residency, Stelo Papermaking Residency, Open Windows, and Vermont Studio Center.

Lead Ceramics Specialist

Ken Becker

Ken Becker is a potter living in Berkeley, California. He currently teaches wheel throwing at the Walnut Creek Center for Community Arts and has worked in contemporary art museums since 1997. He has a Masters in Curatorial Practice from California College of the Arts and a BA from Bennington College. In his spare time he makes quilts and fixes bicycles.

Ceramics Specialist

Gianna Benetti

Gianna Benetti is an artist and potter currently living and working in Berkeley Ca.  She received her BFA in Studio Art with a ceramic emphasis from California State University, Chico in 2018.  Before studying at CSU Chico she was a student at Diablo Valley College where she found her passion for the ceramic medium.  Today she is a Manager at Brushstrokes Studio and works as an Artist Assistant for Mary Law.  She produces her work out of a humble little studio in Northwest Berkeley.

www.giannabenetti.com

Lead Visual Arts Specialist

Danny Neece

Danny Neece has been around the illustration art world for the past decade. Danny graduated with a BFA in Illustration from the California College of the Arts. Danny is originally from Monterey, CA where where much of the inspiration for his imagery comes from. He has freelanced for Shambhala Sun magazine, Hyphen Magazine, Intel Developers Forum, 14 Hills Literary Journal, Trader Joe’s, Buddha Dharma: Practitioners Quarterly, and Saint Mary’s College. Danny has been teaching illustration, drawing, and painting classes with the Berkeley Art Studio for several years.

You can contact Danny at artstudio@berkeley.edu.

Jessica Dalva

Jessica Dalva is a sculptor, painter, and maker of many things both massive and miniature. She has a BFA in illustration, and specializes in both three-dimensional figurative sculpture as well as drawing. Her sculptures and paintings have been exhibited by art galleries across the US and abroad, and she’s created work for stop motion animation films, television shows, theme parks, theater, and comic book covers.  Her website is jessicadalva.com

Peiting C. Li

Ryan Medeiros

Ryan Medeiros is a versatile designer, artist, and educator based in the San Francisco Bay Area with over 25 years of experience in digital design. Starting his career in the mid-1990s with pioneering work on one of the first music websites, IUMA, he has consistently been at the forefront of design, specializing in digital design, UX/UI, and motion graphics. Alongside his design work, Ryan has been an educator at the Academy of Art University for over two decades, teaching UX and Motion Graphics and serving as the Executive Director of the School of Interaction & UI/UX Design from 2014 to 2019.

Since 2020, Ryan has focused on Fine Art, creating multimedia panels and prints that blend techniques like drawing, watercolor, spray paint, and screen printing, inspired by the visual styles of the late 1970s and 80s. His foundational education in Art History, Color Theory, Painting, Printmaking, and Photography from the University of Santa Cruz has been instrumental in his artistic development. As a screen printing instructor at Berkeley ArtStudio, he emphasizes detail, safety, and creativity, aiming to instill these values in his students.

Website: ryanmedeiros.com

Kelcey Christen

Kelcey Christen is an artist and ceramicist that lives in Berkeley, CA. She is currently studying Art Practice at UC Berkeley, experimenting with a variety of mediums including painting, sculpture, ceramics, printmaking, and graphics. She is currently working with themes of family, memory and space in her art practice and loves to mix mediums. In her spare time she loves playing and writing music, biking around the bay and spending time outdoors.

Maya Djiji

Nancy Williams

Nancy Williams has been sewing for longer than she cares to say – clothing for the kids and grands; a few wedding dresses, some tailoring.  She began piecing quilts about 45 years ago, mostly quilting them on her domestic machine until a longarm quilting machine became too difficult to resist.  Since then, she has been honing her art and skills on quilting personal quilts, donation quilts – including those for Social Justice Sewing Academy, Operation Dignity, quilts for hospitals and for organizations that assist with those aging out of the foster care system – and for those whose quilts she is honored to be trusted with.  She has taught garment and quilt making to students through quilt guilds, makerspaces and sewing studios – both on-line and in person.