Andrew T. Lee: Program Director

Andy’s career began in the the creative departments of New York City ad agencies. Collaborating with writers, art directors, illustrators, photographers and film directors, Andy developed a creative style and process that eventually earned him the title of Creative Director. Additionally, Andy has also worked as an actor with roles on Law & Order SVU, Eleventh Hour, Hyenas, and 70 episodes of General Hospital.

As founder and program director of the South Bay Art Department, Andy oversees curriculum development for painting, drawing, cartooning, photography, sculpture, and fashion illustration. Of primary importance in Andy’s work, both as an artist and arts educator, is process – the spontaneous act of creating art organically.

Terri Burris

Terri paints from focused perspectives of the natural world, filtered and infused with memory and nostalgia. Her palettes emerge directly from her intimate observations of life’s minute details. She is inspired by nature, the character of the weather, faith, music and her family. Terri’s stunning use of color creates subtle layers of imagery, which is unique to each subject. The textured, moody and poetic pieces incorporate crystallized collage fragments to provoke each individuals own thoughts, feelings, memories and imagination.

Terri is a recipient of the Women Painters West, Imagination Award. She has exhibited at SKGallery in Venice, CA; Bergamot Station in Santa Monica, CA; Long Beach Arts in Long Beach, CA; Fred Segal in Santa Monica, CA; Finegood Gallery in Los Angeles, CA; Don O’Melvney Gallery in West Hollywood, CA, University Gallery in Seattle, WA; and Los Angeles County Museum of Art Rental and Sales Gallery, L.A., CA, among others. She studied at El Camino College and Palomar College in Southern California. She has also studied painting under the direction of Ilana Bloch in Culver City, CA. Terri is currently a published artist represented by Third and Wall Art Group in Seattle, WA, prior to that she was represented by Winn Devon Art Group in Richmond, BC, Canada.

Thinh Nguyen

Thinh Nguyen work is a complex contemporary look at a few converging issues investigating the personal, social, cultural, and historical while innovatively engaging the public in the process. He explores formal and conceptual process in different media as a strategy to continue the development of critical exchange and aesthetic innovation. He received a BFA from California State University, Fullerton and an MFA from Claremont Graduate University.

Nguyen has performed at the Museum Of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, San Francisco Museum Of Modern Art, The Pasadena Armory Art Center, and numerous venues while wearing a black or brightly colored hood over his entire head. He exhibited at Track 16, Santa Monica Bergamot Station, UCLA New Wright Gallery, Marymount College Art Gallery, Truman State University Art Gallery, College Art Association Conference Un-Ground Space: “Art In The Public Realm”, and Art in Odd Places: MODEL 2012 performance festival in New York.

Sharry Lai

Sharry Lai is a graduate from Pasadena Art Center. Sharry aims to use her skills to communicate a new perspective on fashion. Instead of seeing fashion just for its superficial standards of beauty, she desires to share the freedom and the power fashion and fashion illustration can provide.

“The art of fashion can inspire, comfort, enable, and assist. She cures her fashion cravings and works through controversial issues of the industry by drawing, freelancing as an illustrator, creating illustrative pitches for clients and retouching photos. Sharry believes that fashion illustration can encourage a way to translate and challenge personal perspectives on beauty and images.

Matt Garofalo

A professional Animator and Illustrator, Matt most recently has worked as a Character Designer and Animator on a pilot and series for Adult Swim on Cartoon network. Additionally, Matt has worked as a Flash Animator, Illustrator, and video editor on multiple Educational Software projects, and as the sole artist on many animated shorts and pilots for web series.

Matt received a Bachelor of Science degree in Media Arts and Animation from The New England Institute of Art, and is eager to share his experience and passion for Storyboarding, Character and Background design and Flash Animation.

More of Matt’s artwork can be viewed on his website at www.mattgarofalo.com

Henderson Blumer

After receiving his BA from UC San Diego, Henderson Blumer now teaches and works as an artist. He has previously produced concerts, booked internationally and nationally acclaimed musicians, curated galleries and developed residency programs abroad. His current project, Computer Photography, is a monthly digital zine and he has created the digital books Back East, Head West, 52 Pickup, and Booked. The zine and all three books can be downloaded at hendersonblumer.blogspot.com.

Henderson has shown in San Diego and Los Angeles, recently being featured on KCET. His art began with a necessity for poetry in early high school but did not forsee developing into an artist. Once in college, his work ranged from performance to painting and mixed everything in between.

Chelsea Sektan

As a photojournalist and reporter for the Easy Reader News, Chelsea focuses on documenting day-to-day life in the South Bay.  She recently worked on a local story documenting the daily lives of traveling circus performers and works full-time as the newspaper’s Hermosa Beach editor.

Chelsea graduated from the University of Missouri’s Photojournalism program and has worked as a portrait photographer and journalist in Australia. She focuses on defining moments and has a passion for storytelling with the lens.

Avesha Michael

Los Angeles based commercial and fine art photographer Avesha Michael specializes in architectural, fashion and portrait photography.  Her work has been published in numerous magazines and publications and shown in galleries both nationally and internationally.

Sharing her knowledge and love for photography and inspiring her students if one of her greatest joys.  It’s really about connecting, having fun and sharing the truth of who you are, one image at a time.

Lisa Young-De Leon

Lisa’s fascination with the history of art began at an early age. Her maternal grandfather, an artist, would tell her clever stories about Picasso and Matisse, Van Gogh and Gauguin, among others, while, simultaneously, teaching her the basics of art studio. Although art was woven into her upbringing, Lisa chose to receive her first BA degree in Early Childhood Education; after which, she became a preschool teacher and taught for five years.

After spending a priceless amount of years traveling the world in self-study—visiting such places as Frida Kahlo’s Blue House in Coyoacan, Mexico; the Acropolis in Athens, Greece; the tomb of King Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Kings, Egypt; the ruins created by Mount Vesuvius in Pompeii, Italy; and Claude Monet’s garden in Giverny, France—Lisa decided to return to school to receive her second BA degree in Art History, specializing in Modern Art, with emphasis on Global Modernisms, i.e. non-Western Modern Art: Modern art from Asia, Latin America, and Africa.

With both her education in and knowledge of child development and art, Lisa has combined the two and for the past eight years has been teaching art to children. She has experience teaching preschool age through high school. Lisa creates age appropriate, fun, and engaging talks on topics in art and facilitates an art studio project that reinforces the discussion.

Lisa also writes art reviews and features for digital magazines Life in LA and Cultural Weekly, covering exhibits in Los Angeles and Hollywood. She also writes art reviews and features specific to the South Bay on her blog thisissouthbay.blogspot.com.

Jessica Pons

Jessica Pons earned her Bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Photography at San Francisco State University. In 2008 she worked as a production assistant for Link TV and in 2010 she worked as a photo reporter for the daily San Francisco Chronicle. She has also worked as a photo guide to teenagers traveling in South East Asia for the Travel Company Rustic Pathways.

For the past 2 years, Pons has been working as a freelance photographer, working on various projects for advertisers, magazines, newspapers, publishes, and individual clients. She has also worked on personal projects, which have landed her international awards and recognitions. Ultimately, Pons hopes that her photos will inspire people to reflect upon themselves and the complexity of human nature.