Guest Artist Program

Rupy Tut (Middle School)

Rupy C. Tut is a painter dissecting historical and contemporary displacement narratives around identity, belonging, and gender. As a descendant of refugees and a first generation immigrant, Rupy’s family narrative of movement, loss, and resilience is foundational to her creative inquiries. Her work engages in strict practice of traditional materials and methodology associated with traditional Indian painting as she continues to add contemporary images and characters to a centuries old visual language. ​Rupy lives in Oakland with her husband, daughter and twin boys. Three of her paintings have been aquired by the deYoung Museum in San Francisco.

Jemal Diamond (Elementary Schools)

Jemal Diamond, a native Californian, maintains his studio in San Jose, CA. He earned an MFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
“My drawing style comes from the grand tradition of doodling. The smooth, gentle roll of a pen across the pulpy texture of paper is meditative and soothing. It’s the marks we make in the margins while our focused minds are elsewhere, I find most interesting. Most of the work is improvisational, with no intended outcome – only hopeful surprises. Over the years several natural visual motifs developed that I return to again and again, “The Goddess,” “The City,” and the “Map to Heaven.” You’ll find these themes at work here, often a mix of two or all three. There are embedded intentional dichotomies to create a playground of visual cues and possible meaning. When I was in art school, I would take my abstract drawings to my peers and ask, “What would you title this?” That simple question activated their imagination and engagement, and when I began posting drawings online with the caption, “Title Me,” imaginative, creative, and inspirational titles poured in. I collect them all and make selections whenever the work is shown.”

Sawyer Rose (Middle School)

Sawyer Rose is a sculpture, installation, and social practice artist. Born and raised in North Carolina and a graduate of Williams College in Massachusetts, she currently lives and works in the San Francisco Bay Area and is a Board member of the Northern California Women’s Caucus for Art.

Throughout her career, Sawyer has used her artwork to shine a spotlight on contemporary social and ecological issues. The Carrying Stones Project addresses women’s work inequity and her metalwork sculptures explore the ways living things adapt to changing environments. Her work has been exhibited widely across the US.

She co-curated the F213 exhibition with the curatorial collective of the Northern California Women’s Caucus for Art. F213 spotlighted powerful artistic expressions of feminist protest with 50 artists paired with 50 writers offering their responses to current injustices.

Sawyer has been a resident artist at MASS MoCA, Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture in San Francisco, Vermont Studio Center, Ragdale Foundation, and The Tyrone Guthrie Centre in Ireland. She has been awarded merit grants from The Creative Capacity Fund, The Awesome Foundation, Vermont Studio Center, and ArtistGrant.org.

Stephanie Metz (Elementary Schools)

Stephanie Metz creates biomorphic abstract sculpture that explores the tension created when opposing qualities coexist. She works primarily in wool and industrial felt to create detailed, complex, and mysterious forms that defy their humble origins.

Stephanie Metz is represented by Jack Fischer Gallery in San Francisco; she lives with her techie husband and two sons in San Jose, where she works from a studio at the Alameda ArtWorks downtown. She has been featured in publications including San Jose’s Content Magazine, Adobe Inspire Magazine, American Craft, and 500 Felt Objects. Her work has been included in the Rijswijk Textile Biennial in the Netherlands as well as Sculptural Felt International and Black Sheep, touring exhibitions that visited Europe and Australia. Her numerous group exhibitions include FiberArt International at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts and the Museum of Quilts and Textiles in San Jose, Formex Stockholm 2008 in Sweden, and Transmission:Experience at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, Singapore. In 2015 Stephanie was honored as an Artist Laureate by Silicon Valley Creates, and she is the recipient of a Belle Foundation for Cultural Development grant as well as two Center for Cultural Innovation grants. She has taught at Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina and Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Tennessee. Stephanie is currently working on a grouping of multiple large-scale touchable felt sculptures that will be exhibited in 2020 in a solo show at the de Saisset Museum in Santa Clara, California.

Jenni Ward (Elementary Schools)

“My mission is to share the beauty I see in the natural world through my art. Inspired by biological forms with a particular focus on structures, I find my time spent connecting to my environment and exploring way above and way below sea level as an integral part of my work. I take inspiration from those places to create abstract interpretations of forms and structures through thoughtfully crafted ceramic sculptures. Using clay as my primary medium, I build in parts and assemble the pieces into ephemeral arrangements in nature. My installations play with the connectivity of the form to its environment and in turn the connectivity of myself to the natural world”.

Miguel Machuca (Middle School)

Miguel is a self-taught Mexican born artist living in San Jose.  He makes both edgy large scale charcoal works (which were just shown in a solo show at the Triton Museum) as well as brightly colored abstract pieces and murals.  He will tell his inspirational story about setting goals to become a professional artist, achieving most of them then suddenly being diagnosed with stage 4 cancer.  He continued to create in the hospital while battling it and is now cancer free.  He works with kids diagnosed with autism at the Evergreen School District and in the past was the co-director of the non-profit organization Heart of Chaos which worked with youth at risk.

Fleur Spolidor (Elementary Schools)

Born and raised in Paris, France, Spolidor earned her MFA from the University of Paris X Nanterre in 2000. Twelve years ago she moved to the U.S. and has been interested in researching and painting the history of the Bay Area. Taking inspiration from the work of Henri Matisse, Gustav Klimt and Frida Kahlo, Spolidor primarily does figurative painting, but also enjoys developing her subject matter through printmaking, encaustic, stained glass and mural. In addition to creating her own art, Spolidor also teaches art classes in French at her studio at the Art Center of Redwood City and San Carlos, located in San Carlos.”.

Stephen Bruce (Middle School)

Born and raised in Sacramento, Stephen Bruce is a talented artist, who has been creating acid paintings on copper for many years.

Patinas on metal can be created by painting with flame, or using hot or cold solutions. Bruce’s method of choice is cold patinas. He sprays, brushes, dips or sponges an acid solution and allows the metal to slowly react. “Previous experience tells me how the colors, patterns and textures will develop and how long it may take to happen. There are some processes that can completed in a day, but most take five to ten days to complete,” Bruce explains. “Other than my father’s lecture, I’m self-taught.”

A member of the San Francisco fine arts organization Red Umbrellas, Bruce also serves on its board of directors, maintains a studio in Sacramento, and frequently travels to Los Angeles and around the country for festivals and installations.

Paula Lucia (Elementary Schools)

Paula is a native of Los Gatos, attended Daves Avenue, Fisher, and Los Gatos High (2009). Graduated with a BFA in Art and Design from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (2013).

After college she began teaching at Marvegos Fine Art School, the Los Gatos studio. Over the past two years she has been teaching and managing their San Mateo location.

Paula lives in San Francisco and is a studio artist at Root Division, a non-profit organization that she is very involved in helping their cause. Currently she has two art practices — creating geometric abstract paintings and unique handmade snapback caps.

Scape Martinez (Middle School)

Scape Martinez Scape Martinez is an accomplished multidisciplinary artist and writer who has been involved in graffiti art since the 1980’s. Since then he has pushed the boundaries of graffiti and street art, bringing this urban style into fine art, public art, and the educational arena.

Scape’s fine art paintings combine elements of graffiti art and abstract expressionism to create large scale, rhythmic, and expressive compositions that transcend mere technique. Scape Martinez is also an advocate for the arts, frequently doing graffiti orientated workshops and lectures for both teenagers and fellow artists and educators interested in understanding graffiti as an art form. Over the years, his passion for art has transcended beyond walls and canvas to include: public art, writing, and art education.

Scape Martinez is an advocate for art education for young adults, especially in the areas of self exploration and creativity. He works with kids of all backgrounds to help them explore their own language through Graffiti Art. He executes workshops and presents speaking engagements to young adults and professionals alike, sharing his unique perspective on graffiti art and creativity. His insightful, and thought-provoking lectures inform, inspire, and are equally uplifting and motivating.

Holly Van Hart (Elementary Schools)

I paint abstract nature paintings that surprise us with unusual colors and textures, and ignite new excitement about a particular slice of nature

I’m absorbed and inspired by the idea of the limitless opportunities we have in our lives. This theme runs through my work.

Silicon Valley, in northern California, is the place I call home. Silicon Valley has a really cool culture of creativity and an ‘anything is possible’ vibe.I was raised in New York City by my artist Mom and police officer Dad, and have always loved art. As a girl I painted and did ceramics, crocheting, and calligraphy. Later, while working in high tech, I pursued painting passionately as a hobby – taking many classes, reading hundreds of books, forming an art critique group, and painting every spare minute.

My work is now widely exhibited, and has won awards such as Grand Prize at the California Statewide Painting Competition, Award of Merit at the California Fine Art Competition, and Best of Houzz service award. It has been featured in the Huffington Post, San Jose Mercury News, Examiner.com, Saratoga News, Santa Clara Weekly, KTYM Los Angeles Live Radio, and Silicon Valley ‘Talk Art’ TV.