Education

Liz Alonzo

Liz Alonzo received her bachelor’s degree in Art from San Diego State in 1993. After interning in the Education Department at the San Diego Museum of Art in Balboa Park she came to the conclusion that she really enjoyed working with children. In 1995, she received her Teaching Credential from National University. She began working as an elementary school teacher in 1996 and has been there ever since. Liz finds her students’ creativity and energy to be truly inspiring. She really enjoys coming up with projects for her students and her own two children.

Art Education for the ArtReach Program

Jeff Bramschreiber

Jeff Bramschreiber made the decision to focus on art his last two years of high school. After an Honorable Mention in the nationwide “ Draw Me” contest sponsored by Art Instruction Schools, Jeff went on to get both fine art and commercial art degrees, and to study at the Massachusetts College of Art. He now has been painting for nearly thirty years, with numerous awards to his credit and with paintings hanging in private collections throughout the United States. As an instructor he believes anyone can learn drawing and painting and with participative, focused practice can become successful at it He further believes in working right along with his students feeling that this adds a certain measure of credibility to his students. Mr. Bramschreiber is currently a Board Trustee and Pastel Instructor at the Triton Museum of Art, Community Arts Liaison and Assistant Manager for University Art Center of San Jose, Treasurer and Board Trustee for Silicon Valley Open Studios, and Lecturer / Workshop Artist in Egyptian Art for the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum.

Art Educator for ArtStudio Pastels and Exploration in Drawing Classes, TeenStudio

Kimiyo Cordero

Kimiyo Cordero studied spatial and pictorial arts at San Jose State University with an emphasis in photography and ceramic sculpture. She has curated and co-curated shows for Red Ink Studios in San Francisco, where she showed and sold her own work. After working as a display artist Kimiyo found that her true passion was in teaching. Kimiyo has worked teaching and writing curriculum at the San Jose Museum of Art, Camp Gaileo and Arthouse Kids. She has taught in schools all over the Bay Area for the past 7 years. Kimiyo has spent most of her time raising her 2 year old son, who has a passion for painting and the arts as well.

Art Educator for KidStudio Program

Sandra Smith-Dugan

Sandra Smith-Dugan received her bachelor’s of fine art in painting and drawing from San Jose State University and has taken professional workshops in portraiture,figure painting, and plein air landscape painting. She has been painting and showing her work for over 25 years.

Sandra Smith-Dugan paints in oil on canvas and board with an emphasis on the landscape, figure, and animal. Painting en plein air or in the studio, her work is open and expressive and showcases her innate sense of color and composition. Smith-Dugan's style, which clearly has its own unique and evolutionary character, shows the influences of Bay Area Figurative painter Richard Diebenkorn, Joan Brown and Wayne Thiebaud, as well as that of American realist Edward Hopper.

Art Educator for ArtStudio Beginning Oil Painting

Mariana Fay

As a teacher of art for 19 years, Mariana has taught every age from preschool to adult, teaching in the public schools as a resident artist in San Francisco, Sonoma, San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties. She has been an Art Therapy Teacher for adult persons in Rehabilitation from drugs and alcohol, and a teacher and mural maker with newly immigrated Latino Youth. As an artist for the past 23 years, she has exhibited nationally and internationally. Mariana received her degree in Studio Art with an emphasis in Painting and Drawing at Sonoma State University. She studied Visual Understanding in Education (VUE) and Visual teaching Strategies (VTS) at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Brooklyn Museum in New York City. She speaks both English and Spanish. Her objective is to be both an educator and an artist who works within the community in an innovative and engaging manner, exposing her students to the art of world cultures and underrepresented artists, while contributing to the enlightenment and joy of creation. Mariana believes that in teaching art, she can also teach a respect for diversity, social consciousness and communication.

Art Educator for KidStudio, SummerStudio, KidStudio Pre-K, Family Art Day events

Nicola Franklin

Nicola Franklin was born in England and holds a Diploma in General Art and Design, BA degree in Fine Art Textiles and a Postgraduate Certificate in Secondary Education in Art and Design. Nicola has had a rich career as a practicing artist and art educator. Throughout her career her broad range of artistic experiences has equipped her with an impressive knowledge of art history and many diverse artistic skills. With her formal training in secondary art education, Nicola also brings to the Trition an impressive knowledge of her subject and wide experience working with individuals and groups of all ages (preschool to seniors). Her philosophy is to create artistic experiences that allow a high degree of freedom, but retain a focus on teaching core art skills, thereby creating a more engaging and memorable experience for her students.

Art Educator for KidStudio, SummerStudio, KidStudio Pre-K, ArtReach at Westwood School, Family Art Day events, TeenStudio

Jane Hofstetter

Jane Hofstetter has been painting and teaching for more than 25 years. She studied art at the University of California at Berkeley and Los Angeles’ Chouinard Art Institute. Ms. Hofstetter is a member of the National Watercolor Society and Watercolor West. She currently teaches watercolor workshops throughout the United States and Europe.Her work has appeared in Watercolor Magic, American Artist, The Artist Magazine and Collected Best of Watercolor. She is the author of 7 keys to Great Paintings (North Light Books, 2005).

Art Educator for Watercolor Masters' Class

Jaya King

Jaya King is a local artist who has been showing her work nationwide since 2003. Her versatile style ranges from “intense portraiture” that mirrors the moody compositions of sadly expressive figures and the forgotten buildings of America’s past to a more colorful, light-hearted and yes, ridiculous “nature” of painting. Her stories flow easily when the brush meets the canvas and the creatures seem to "speak for themselves". Jaya has been professionally painting for ten years and has conducted demonstrations and workshops throughout the Bay Area. Her work has appeared in Art Week, Juxtapoz magazine and Splash 11: New Directions. She is now represented by Nieto Fine Art in San Francisco and is in the permanent collection at the Triton Museum of Art in Santa Clara.

Art Educator for Acrylic Mixed Media Collage Class

Brenda Luckin-Marx

Brenda received her MFA in painting in 1982 at Mills College, Oakland, CA and a Masters in Education with an emphasis on curriculum development for art programs in elementary grades K-5 in 2002. She has taught art classes from pre-school to community college level at Diablo Valley College for 20 years. Since entering the area of education she has committed herself to the preservation and development of art curriculum in public schools and is working on step-by-step lesson plans and resources for public school teachers who want to enhance students' lives with art in the classroom. In addition to her focus on art education, Brenda Luckin-Marx has enjoyed a successful 30 year career as an exhibiting artist in the US and Europe. Brenda produces large scale sculptural paintings made from unconventional materials, such as, concrete, plastic, and auto lacquer.

Art Educator for KidStudio at Westwood School

Kristin Lindseth-Rivera

Kristin Lindseth-Rivera is a sculptor and printmaker specializing in figurative work. She teaches Drawing, Sculpture and Digital Art at Mission College, as well as Life Drawing at the Triton Museum of Art. She holds a Master’s Degree. Kristin’s bronze sculptures and intaglio prints have been exhibited nationally in solo and group shows, and in invitational and juried exhibitions in museums, art centers and colleges. Lindseth-Rivera says, “Emotions are the subjects of my figurative sculptures, not individuals. The sculptures are about the universal experience of being human, of being both strong and fragile at the same time, of being connected to, and isolated from others. I believe that creative self-expression is an essential aspect of being human, and not just a privilege for a “talented few.”

Art Educator for ArtStudio Life Drawing and Sculpture classes

Preston Metcalf

Preston Metcalf is blessed with the ability to recognize great art, but cursed with the inability to produce it … that is why he is a curator and art historian. He began his career as a Curator of Art at the San Jose Museum of Art. He then moved to the Triton Museum of Art, first as Curator of Education, then as Assistant Director for several years. Preston then went on to become Executive Director of the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art. He has lectured on art and art history throughout the country and abroad. He has had published more than sixty articles and essays on artists and art history. After a brief interlude of teaching and writing, he returned to the Triton Museum, where he now works as Curator of Art. He also teaches Art History at Mission College, San Jose City College, and the Triton Museum of Art.

Art Lecturer for ArtHistory classes

Ray Mendieta

Ray Mendieta is a native of Northern California, and has been a professional artist and art teacher for the past 15 years. He teaches at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco and also teaches drawing and painting at The Pacific Art League in Palo Alto, California. Ray has held one-man shows at The Pacific Art League Gallery, Tahill Galleries, and the Academy of Art Gallery and presently shows at The Lee Youngman Gallery in Calistoga,CA and the Los Gatos Museum Gallery in Los Gatos. Ray Mendieta received his Masters Degree in Fine Art from the Academy of Art University at San Francisco.

Art Educator for ArtStudio Landscape Painting, Plein Air, Head Drawings classes

John Robert Peck

John trained as a professional painter at the Florence Academy of Art in Florence, Italy. He taught figure drawing for the FAA and helped co-author a book on classical sculpture techniques entitled "Drawing in Space: A Manual for Figurative Sculpture." John's work has been shown by galleries in Dublin, Florence, Santa Fe, New York and Charleston. He is currently represented by the W.H. Patterson gallery in London, England.

Art Educator for ArtStudio Portrait and Figure Painting classes

George Rivera

George Rivera, M.A., is an art administrator, curator, educator, juror of art and artist. He has worked in numerous capacities at the Triton Museum of Art since 1965 and is the Executive Director & Senior Curator. He is an Associate Faculty Instructor of Art at Mission College in Santa Clara (1986 to present) where he has taught drawing, design, color, life drawing, museum and gallery studies, airbrush painting and oil, acrylic and watercolor painting. He also teaches at Pacific Art League in Palo Alto, University of California at Berkeley extension program, and DeAnza College. Since 1977, he has organized and/or curated over 350 exhibitions, including local, state, national and international projects, collaborating with small to major museums, galleries and private collections. As a juror of art, Rivera has served as a solo juror or as a member of a panel of jurors for over 375 exhibitions and competitions of local, regional, statewide, national and international art programs, projects, fellowships, artists-in residency programs and juried competitions. Since 1974, his drawings, mixed media and paintings have been presented in over 100 exhibitions at art centers, galleries and museums.

Art Educator for Portrait and Figure Painting workshop

Lydia Rosso

Lydia Rosso has been with the Triton Museum of Art education program for twelve years. She has a Masters in Fine Arts and a passion for the arts. She believes that everyone is artistically talented, creative and expressive. Her mission is to reach as many people in the community to provide them the opportunity to discover their own unique sense of creativity. Her art communities include the Triton Museum, private and public schools, Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, senior centers, nursing homes, public events and art workshops. Lydia has discovered that the majority of the public has been deprived of a quality art experience and when someone discovers the value of the arts for the first time, they either respond with lots of smiles or tears of happiness.

Art Educator for KidStudio, SummerStudio, KidStudio Pre-K, ArtReach at VMC, ArtReach After School, Family Art Day events