Ale’ah Bashir-Boaqee
2022-02-02T17:07:42-08:00Phone: (510) 444-0919
Email: info@thecrucible.org
Phone: (510) 444-0919
Email: info@thecrucible.org
Ale'ah Bashir-Boaqee found out about The Crucible at an all-girls welding workshop, and soon enough, was taking two classes each week of Summer Camp, every summer she could. After taking fifteen classes on scholarship, she joined the Fuego Youth Leadership Program, and says the scholarship opportunities given to West Oakland kids is crucial.
“People are more proactive in their lives when they know they have somewhere to go,” she says. “I’ve noticed now, as some of the Fuego interns are growing up and having more hardships in their life, they know they always have an opportunity here at The Crucible,” she says. “The people here are definitely a family and will always help those who came through the program.”
Phone: (510) 444-0919
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In high school, Adrian Rodriguez’s English teacher recognized he had talent and passion for art, and encouraged Adrian to check out The Crucible.
“I was like, the book?” he laughs. Adrian ended up taking seventeen classes on scholarship, and also participated in the Fuego Youth Leadership Program and the Pre-Apprentice Program. When he was too old for the Youth Programs, Adrian says Chris Niemer, our Blacksmithing Department Head, took him under his wing, “that’s when I really fell in love with Blacksmithing,” he says.
He never thought he would be an instructor, but it makes him proud to help his students start figuring out the secrets of manipulating and sculpting metal, just like he once had to. “It’s just awesome to have that sense that people are looking up to you now,” he says.
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Email: lsfraserglass@sbcglobal.net
Lancelot S. Fraser grew up in the small mountain community of Idyllwild, California. At an young age he learned the craft of pottery and decided that he wanted to be an artist. Lance began working with glass at Palomar College and received his BFA form California College of the Arts. He has attended the Pilchuck Glass School, Penland School of Crafts, Eugene Glass School, Appalachian Center for Crafts, and taught at Ox-Bow School of Art. Lancelot is currently working as the Glass Studio Manager at California College of the Arts and Glass Faculty at The Crucible.
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Email: tansybrx@gmail.com
Tansy Brooks migrated to San Francisco some years ago to attend San Francisco Art Institute, and has spent the ensuing years trying to put her BFA in Sculpture to good use. She took a bit of a detour through the software industry, doing UI and Graphic Design, but the Crucible attracted her back to sculptural art and she joined the Glass Flameworking department in 2005. She also enjoys working in metal, leather, fiber, and assorted other materials, creating sculptures as well as costume and performance pieces for bellydance, snake and fire dancing.
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Email: trailers4all@gmail.com
I concentrate on making art that investigates waste, scientific theories, and subversive humor. I produce sculptures made from "junk", illustrations, and other oddities while actively flouting artistic conventions and expectations. My subjects of choice include American political absurdities, godforsaken wordplay, Western excess, perverse social constructs, visual repetition and cute animals. Examination of these varied subjects helps me attempt to make better sense of my own world, and invigorate important discussions within my community. I actively work to avoid incorporating stylistic choices of artists who inspire me, though invariably my work does echo thematic fragments from contemporaries such as Robert Crumb, Arthur Ganson, Lizzee Solomon, M.C. Escher and others. My artistic style is playful, utilitarian, ambiguous, geometric, experimental, and confrontational. Expecting to leave this planet understanding it even less than when I found it, my work tends to forego any semblance of high mindedness, and focus instead on what minutiae might resonate most with other critically sentient beings who are along for this tumultuous, laughable ride.
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Email: heatherkatz63@gmail.com
Beauty comes in many forms. The roundness of a marble, a phrase of music, subtle colors, and an elegance in process are some of the things that fuel me.
Fascinated by shiny objects since childhood, Heather is an Oakland-based glass flameworker who is also a classically-trained violinist.
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Email: finecraftsservices@att.net
I always feel suspended between opposites. I’m drawn to classical forms, but I also want humor. I want the rigors of formalism and the spontaneity of expressionism. This tension informs what I feel is my best work.
I discovered glassblowing as I was finishing an academic program in critical theory and found the issues that concerned me, the rational vs the irrational, logical consistency vs aesthetic elegance, could be addressed in an actual physical way. What began as a lark became a way of thinking about the physical world and led to my commitment to a craft ethic.
I was the chair of the San Francisco Art Commission's Craft Advisory Board for 30 years and am presently an exhibit fabricator for the Exploratorium and Academy of Science.
Phone: (510) 444-0919
Email: alejandro.perez@aya.yale.edu
"I've been working with electronics for the last 10 years. I studied electrical engineering
in college, where my biggest takeaway was developing an engineering mindset.
I switched gears after college and became a fulltime musician, while still, channeling
my interests in electronics and engineering through tinkering with any and all of the
electronics involved with the electric guitar. I eventually became ""the guy"" in my
musical community that would fix guitars or diagnose amplifiers, and had the seemingly
obvious epiphany that I should build amps for a living - my initials are A.M.P. after all.
But music came to a halt after I decided I wanted to go back to school for engineering,
which was also shelved after I got a job as a data analyst. I quickly realized I hated
analysis, which was too subjective, and started to groom myself as a software engineer.
I currently work as a remote software engineer, which fulfills all of my interests as a
problem solver and an artist (code has a guise of being beautiful).
All of this time, however, electronics was still on my mind. I truly believe that our
closest way of interacting with the physical and quantum world is through manipulating
electricity, and I wanted to feel that again. This brought me to The Crucible. Through
looking for workspaces to resume my tinkering, I found this magical place with an
overwhelming sense of community that also offered education in lots of cool fields that
got people's hands and minds working. I came on as a faculty member in early 2016 and
currently serve as co-department head (we're a small department). In my short time here,
I've gotten back into the engineering mindset that I've wanted so badly, and ultimately
hope to produce tools and art alongside the rest of the awesome talent here at The Crucible."
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Email: lindsayjpartridge@gmail.com
Lindsay is a queer artist from Chicago who got their start at the Crucible by taking the Beginning Woodworking class in the fall of 2013 and then worked as an intern in the wood shop for a few years in exchange for shop access and guidance by more experienced wood workers. They make functional art primarily working with reclaimed wood and are beginning to explore working with metal, as well.
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Email: m.camille.macrae@gmail.com
Camille is a long time Bay Area resident, her work revolves around solving problems, a feline companion named Rex, and humor. Her entry into the world of making things started at a young age with enthusiasm for learning by doing and dirty hands.
When at the Crucible she spends the majority of her time bouncing between MIG, TIG and Bike areas working on freak bikes, pedal powered ice cream makers, and sheet metal sculptures. Wearing her prescription safety glasses with pride, she likes to be a role model for safe shop practices.
Camille is also passionate about digital fabrication. When not at the Crucible she plays with the lasers and CNC router at Ace Monster Toys, a local maker space.
Her last large creation was a Santa Sleigh for GIFTY 2016, her next project is working with sheet metal to create a shelf for her plant collection."