BAY AREA ART STARS 2018 SOLD OUT!
Connect with Art Stars from the Bay Area arts scene at NCWCA's first annual “Bay Area Art Stars Women’s Networking Event." Emerging women in the arts are invited to join us for a professional meet-up with established gallerists, curators, professors, and representatives from major arts organizations.
ALERT! EVENT TIME HAS CHANGED DUE TO VENUE ISSUES. NEW TIME IS SEPT 22 FROM 6-8:30 PM
OUR 2018 ART STARS
Bonnie Levinson - Curator, Federal Hall Memorial New York City
Joen Madonna - Executive Director, ArtSpan
Dasha Matsuura - Director, Spoke Art SF
Jann Nunn - Professor Emeritus, Sonoma State University
Kate Patterson - SF Arts Commission
Jayna Swartzman-Brosky - Program Director, Mills College Art Museum
Gaia Toscano - Curator, SFMOMA Artists Gallery
Suzanne Whitney-Smedt - Owner, Whitney Modern
Small groups of participants will move around to each table in a "speed-networking" format. You'll learn how each of our Art Stars achieved their successes and will have a chance to ask them questions that will help you in your future career.
“Bay Area Art Stars Women’s Networking Event" will be hosted on Saturday, September 22nd from 6:00 – 8:30 p.m. at the “Infinity Club Lounge” located between 301 and 331 Main Street in San Francisco.
The registration fee is $10 for current students or artists 25 or younger, $20 for NCWCA members in good standing and $25 general admission. Tickets are available now through Eventbrite. Seating is limited, so please register now to reserve your spot. Advance registration is required.
Hosted by The Northern California Women’s Caucus for Art (NCWCA), a networking organization for women in the arts. We offer a broad range of events and programs: member forums, exhibitions, art-making, art activism and community.
ALERT! EVENT TIME HAS CHANGED DUE TO VENUE ISSUES. NEW TIME IS SEPT 22 FROM 6-8:30 PM
OUR 2018 ART STARS
Bonnie Levinson - Curator, Federal Hall Memorial New York City
Joen Madonna - Executive Director, ArtSpan
Dasha Matsuura - Director, Spoke Art SF
Jann Nunn - Professor Emeritus, Sonoma State University
Kate Patterson - SF Arts Commission
Jayna Swartzman-Brosky - Program Director, Mills College Art Museum
Gaia Toscano - Curator, SFMOMA Artists Gallery
Suzanne Whitney-Smedt - Owner, Whitney Modern
Small groups of participants will move around to each table in a "speed-networking" format. You'll learn how each of our Art Stars achieved their successes and will have a chance to ask them questions that will help you in your future career.
“Bay Area Art Stars Women’s Networking Event" will be hosted on Saturday, September 22nd from 6:00 – 8:30 p.m. at the “Infinity Club Lounge” located between 301 and 331 Main Street in San Francisco.
The registration fee is $10 for current students or artists 25 or younger, $20 for NCWCA members in good standing and $25 general admission. Tickets are available now through Eventbrite. Seating is limited, so please register now to reserve your spot. Advance registration is required.
Hosted by The Northern California Women’s Caucus for Art (NCWCA), a networking organization for women in the arts. We offer a broad range of events and programs: member forums, exhibitions, art-making, art activism and community.
2018 ART STARS BIOGRAPHIES
Bonnie Levinson
Levinson’s career spans four decades working in the arts, as arts administrator, painter and photographer. She served as Deputy Director at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in charge of External Affairs, Vice President for Development for the New York Public Library, Associate Director of The Hudson River Museum and Assistant Curator for Education at the Delaware Art Museum. Over the last years her firm BLAM! (Bonnie Levinson Arts Management) has worked with cultural institutions creating public arts programming, artist residencies and consulting in development, marketing, and strategic planning. She is currently Curator for the Visual Arts for the National Parks of New York Harbor Conservancy at Federal Hall Memorial in New York City, developing exhibition and arts inspired public art programming engaging contemporary artists in interpreting themes relating to democracy. In addition is the Curator for the Arts program at Making Waves Academy, a charter school in Richmond California developing an artist in residency program resulting in permanent artwork for the new campus. She received her BA cum laude from Kenyon College and her Masters of Arts in Teaching Museum Education at George Washington University. She was President of the Northern California Chapter of ArtTable, a founding board member of the Oxbow School, on the Executive Committee of the San Francisco Art Institute, the Gund Gallery of Kenyon College, and The Artemis Foundation.
Joen Madonna
Joen joined ArtSpan staff in 2014 as the Interim Executive Director and has served on the Board since 2013. In addition to regularly attending SF Open Studios as a patron since 1994, Joen has been affiliated with ArtSpan as an artist participant herself in 2003, and as a host of her husband, Paul Madonna's SF Open Studio event since 2004. With over 10 years experience as a Business Manager and Creative Agent, Joen is adept at project management, targeting and closing sales, public relations, and relationship management. She advises professional artists and other creatives on increasing audience exposure, creating business systems, applying for grants, and event coordination. She brokers licensing agreements and contract negotiations with corporations, organizations, and government institutions. Joen graduated from UC Berkeley with an honors degree in Cultural Geography, where she learned to blend her love for urban evolution and human culture with travel, and the exploration of emerging art. Beyond regularly participating in San Francisco's lively art scene, Joen visits museums, galleries, and alternative art spaces globally to help inform her best art business practices locally.
Dasha Matsuura
Dasha Matsuura has been part of the Bay Area arts community for over ten years working with galleries, non-profits and individual artists. She is currently the Director at Spoke Art San Francisco mounting monthly exhibitions, traveling shows and participating in art fairs. Contributing to the arts community whenever possible, she served as Vice President of the Board of Directors for Oakland Art Murmur, worked extensively with Visual Aid, and continues to participate in arts-related projects throughout the Bay Area year round. Prior to her time as Director at Spoke Art, Matsuura worked as a corporate and private art consultant on projects ranging from individual collections to large scale public installations. She has also curated independent projects in San Francisco and Oakland.
Jann Nunn
akland-based artist Jann Nunn has exhibited, lectured and held residencies internationally and throughout the United States since 1987. Her work has been shown in London, Seoul, Düsseldorf, Mexico City, New York, and throughout the US and Bay Area. Nunn’s work is in the collections of di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art (Napa, CA), Common Ground’s New Milestone Project (London), Tout Quarry Sculpture Park (Portland, England), Stadt-Sparkasse Düsseldorf, Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf, and numerous private collections. Residencies include Atelier Höherweg Düsseldorf, Villa Montalvo, Prema Arts Centre in Gloucestershire England, Chesil Gallery in Portland England, and the Headlands Center for the Arts as an Affiliate Artist from 1993-96. Best known for her sculptures, Nunn has created several large-scale outdoor works in public places including Burning Man 2001; Portland Clifftop Sculpture Park in the UK; SKYART Festival in Anchorage, Alaska; a 107-foot long sculpture for the Sonoma Community Center in Sonoma, CA; and a multi-genocidal memorial sculpture on the campus of Sonoma State University in Rohnert Park, CA. Nunn is currently exhibiting a new body of outdoor sculptures at the Luther Burbank Center for the Arts in Santa Rosa, CA (September 2018-September 2020.) Included in these works is Commune, a stainless steel outdoor sculpture that miraculously survived the firestorm that ravaged much of Sonoma County in 2017. It stands as a testament to resiliency in the face of unfathomable disaster. Jann Nunn studied art at University of Alaska Anchorage, Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine, San Francisco Art Institute and is Professor Emeritus of Sculpture at Sonoma State University.
Kate Patterson
Kate Patterson received her BA in Art History from Smith College in 2000. Kate’s career in communications began at a French cosmetic company in New York City where she enjoyed unlimited access to high-end skin and hair treatments and the freedom to drink wine at lunch. From 2003 to 2005, she was the Marketing & Sales Manager at Acoustiguide Inc., a leading interpretive audio and multimedia tour company based in NYC. From 2005-2008, Kate was the Manager of Public Relations & Marketing at the Contemporary Jewish Museum where she helped publicize the opening of its new Daniel Liebeskind-designed facility in the Yerba Buena cultural district. Kate joined the San Francisco Arts Commission in 2008. As Director of Communications for the Agency, she oversees all external communications and marketing as well as external affairs. During her tenure, she has been involved with a number of high-profile civic projects including the world premiere of a 15-ton sculpture by renowned contemporary artist Zhang Huan, the opening of two new terminals at San Francisco International Airport, and, more recently, the new Salesforce Transit Center.
Jayna Swartzman-Brosky
Jayna Swartzman-Brosky is the Program Director at Mills College Art Department. She conducts the Art+Process+Ideas artist-in-residence program and oversees the museum’s public facing activities including artist programs, publications, and museum events. For over a decade, Jayna has served Bay Area arts and cultural through various roles in the commercial and nonprofit creative sectors. Prior to Mills, Jayna was the Program Director at the Center of Cultural Innovation where she managed grant-making activities and professional development programs for artists and arts professionals in California. She is also a curator, writer, consultant and contributor to Art 21 magazine.
Gaia Toscano
With a passion for education, culture, languages and people, Gaia Toscano advises art collectors and designers at the SFMOMA Artists Gallery, an arm of SFMOMA that is dedicated to the support of a thriving local arts community. Gaia expertly guides clients in their art searches, her warmth and knowledge communicating the value of art and its power to educate and elevate the mind and souls of everyone. During her 5 years at SFMOMA Artists Gallery she has developed relationships with hundreds of artists and collectors by placing the best of local art in homes and offices throughout the region.
Suzanne Whitney-Smedt
Suzanne Whitney-Smedt is the Owner and Director of Whitney Modern Contemporary Fine Art Gallery. She is past Vice President of the Whitney Foundation, which helps fund and supplement those educational, health and housing projects that bring about positive changes in peoples’ lives. Whitney Modern Contemporary Fine Art Gallery is committed to engaging the community through the creative experience by showcasing thought provoking, collectible works of art from internationally recognized, mid-career and emerging contemporary fine artists. Whitney Modern offers an unparalleled upstairs exhibition space, qualified art consultation and staging services for established and new collectors, and professional promotion of fine art by presenting energetic exhibition schedules that introduce the Silicon Valley to the forefront of the contemporary art scene. With the Santa Cruz Mountains as a backdrop, Los Gatos is a charming, historic community for art, wine, and shopping located in Silicon Valley.
Levinson’s career spans four decades working in the arts, as arts administrator, painter and photographer. She served as Deputy Director at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in charge of External Affairs, Vice President for Development for the New York Public Library, Associate Director of The Hudson River Museum and Assistant Curator for Education at the Delaware Art Museum. Over the last years her firm BLAM! (Bonnie Levinson Arts Management) has worked with cultural institutions creating public arts programming, artist residencies and consulting in development, marketing, and strategic planning. She is currently Curator for the Visual Arts for the National Parks of New York Harbor Conservancy at Federal Hall Memorial in New York City, developing exhibition and arts inspired public art programming engaging contemporary artists in interpreting themes relating to democracy. In addition is the Curator for the Arts program at Making Waves Academy, a charter school in Richmond California developing an artist in residency program resulting in permanent artwork for the new campus. She received her BA cum laude from Kenyon College and her Masters of Arts in Teaching Museum Education at George Washington University. She was President of the Northern California Chapter of ArtTable, a founding board member of the Oxbow School, on the Executive Committee of the San Francisco Art Institute, the Gund Gallery of Kenyon College, and The Artemis Foundation.
Joen Madonna
Joen joined ArtSpan staff in 2014 as the Interim Executive Director and has served on the Board since 2013. In addition to regularly attending SF Open Studios as a patron since 1994, Joen has been affiliated with ArtSpan as an artist participant herself in 2003, and as a host of her husband, Paul Madonna's SF Open Studio event since 2004. With over 10 years experience as a Business Manager and Creative Agent, Joen is adept at project management, targeting and closing sales, public relations, and relationship management. She advises professional artists and other creatives on increasing audience exposure, creating business systems, applying for grants, and event coordination. She brokers licensing agreements and contract negotiations with corporations, organizations, and government institutions. Joen graduated from UC Berkeley with an honors degree in Cultural Geography, where she learned to blend her love for urban evolution and human culture with travel, and the exploration of emerging art. Beyond regularly participating in San Francisco's lively art scene, Joen visits museums, galleries, and alternative art spaces globally to help inform her best art business practices locally.
Dasha Matsuura
Dasha Matsuura has been part of the Bay Area arts community for over ten years working with galleries, non-profits and individual artists. She is currently the Director at Spoke Art San Francisco mounting monthly exhibitions, traveling shows and participating in art fairs. Contributing to the arts community whenever possible, she served as Vice President of the Board of Directors for Oakland Art Murmur, worked extensively with Visual Aid, and continues to participate in arts-related projects throughout the Bay Area year round. Prior to her time as Director at Spoke Art, Matsuura worked as a corporate and private art consultant on projects ranging from individual collections to large scale public installations. She has also curated independent projects in San Francisco and Oakland.
Jann Nunn
akland-based artist Jann Nunn has exhibited, lectured and held residencies internationally and throughout the United States since 1987. Her work has been shown in London, Seoul, Düsseldorf, Mexico City, New York, and throughout the US and Bay Area. Nunn’s work is in the collections of di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art (Napa, CA), Common Ground’s New Milestone Project (London), Tout Quarry Sculpture Park (Portland, England), Stadt-Sparkasse Düsseldorf, Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf, and numerous private collections. Residencies include Atelier Höherweg Düsseldorf, Villa Montalvo, Prema Arts Centre in Gloucestershire England, Chesil Gallery in Portland England, and the Headlands Center for the Arts as an Affiliate Artist from 1993-96. Best known for her sculptures, Nunn has created several large-scale outdoor works in public places including Burning Man 2001; Portland Clifftop Sculpture Park in the UK; SKYART Festival in Anchorage, Alaska; a 107-foot long sculpture for the Sonoma Community Center in Sonoma, CA; and a multi-genocidal memorial sculpture on the campus of Sonoma State University in Rohnert Park, CA. Nunn is currently exhibiting a new body of outdoor sculptures at the Luther Burbank Center for the Arts in Santa Rosa, CA (September 2018-September 2020.) Included in these works is Commune, a stainless steel outdoor sculpture that miraculously survived the firestorm that ravaged much of Sonoma County in 2017. It stands as a testament to resiliency in the face of unfathomable disaster. Jann Nunn studied art at University of Alaska Anchorage, Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine, San Francisco Art Institute and is Professor Emeritus of Sculpture at Sonoma State University.
Kate Patterson
Kate Patterson received her BA in Art History from Smith College in 2000. Kate’s career in communications began at a French cosmetic company in New York City where she enjoyed unlimited access to high-end skin and hair treatments and the freedom to drink wine at lunch. From 2003 to 2005, she was the Marketing & Sales Manager at Acoustiguide Inc., a leading interpretive audio and multimedia tour company based in NYC. From 2005-2008, Kate was the Manager of Public Relations & Marketing at the Contemporary Jewish Museum where she helped publicize the opening of its new Daniel Liebeskind-designed facility in the Yerba Buena cultural district. Kate joined the San Francisco Arts Commission in 2008. As Director of Communications for the Agency, she oversees all external communications and marketing as well as external affairs. During her tenure, she has been involved with a number of high-profile civic projects including the world premiere of a 15-ton sculpture by renowned contemporary artist Zhang Huan, the opening of two new terminals at San Francisco International Airport, and, more recently, the new Salesforce Transit Center.
Jayna Swartzman-Brosky
Jayna Swartzman-Brosky is the Program Director at Mills College Art Department. She conducts the Art+Process+Ideas artist-in-residence program and oversees the museum’s public facing activities including artist programs, publications, and museum events. For over a decade, Jayna has served Bay Area arts and cultural through various roles in the commercial and nonprofit creative sectors. Prior to Mills, Jayna was the Program Director at the Center of Cultural Innovation where she managed grant-making activities and professional development programs for artists and arts professionals in California. She is also a curator, writer, consultant and contributor to Art 21 magazine.
Gaia Toscano
With a passion for education, culture, languages and people, Gaia Toscano advises art collectors and designers at the SFMOMA Artists Gallery, an arm of SFMOMA that is dedicated to the support of a thriving local arts community. Gaia expertly guides clients in their art searches, her warmth and knowledge communicating the value of art and its power to educate and elevate the mind and souls of everyone. During her 5 years at SFMOMA Artists Gallery she has developed relationships with hundreds of artists and collectors by placing the best of local art in homes and offices throughout the region.
Suzanne Whitney-Smedt
Suzanne Whitney-Smedt is the Owner and Director of Whitney Modern Contemporary Fine Art Gallery. She is past Vice President of the Whitney Foundation, which helps fund and supplement those educational, health and housing projects that bring about positive changes in peoples’ lives. Whitney Modern Contemporary Fine Art Gallery is committed to engaging the community through the creative experience by showcasing thought provoking, collectible works of art from internationally recognized, mid-career and emerging contemporary fine artists. Whitney Modern offers an unparalleled upstairs exhibition space, qualified art consultation and staging services for established and new collectors, and professional promotion of fine art by presenting energetic exhibition schedules that introduce the Silicon Valley to the forefront of the contemporary art scene. With the Santa Cruz Mountains as a backdrop, Los Gatos is a charming, historic community for art, wine, and shopping located in Silicon Valley.
