B Byrne Astrella
2025-02-28T09:15:00-08:00Department(s):
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B Byrne Astrella - Bio
B is an entrepreneur and product leader, most recently leading the teams focused on Creative Tools at Twitter. He founded Clef, an Oakland cybersecurity startup that hosted weekly community dinners in Jack London Square for many years and received a 2016 East Bay Innovation Award as well as the 2016 Oakland Chamber "Tech Oakland" Award. Throughout the pandemic, B has worked on 3D modeling and printing art pieces to be cast in bronze, skills he learned in the Digital Fabrication and Foundry class he took at the Crucible in 2019!
Karyn Flynn
2021-01-20T18:11:05-08:00Department(s):
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Karyn Flynn - Bio
Karen Flynn joins our board after recently stepping down as CEO of the Bay Area Discovery Museum, a position she’d held since 2011. Prior to becoming CEO, Flynn was a Trustee for the Bay Area Discovery Museum for five years, serving as Chair of the Board of Trustees and Chair of the Development Committee. Flynn has also served on the boards of community organizations including The Financial Women’s Association, Heyday Books, AND the Mountain Play Association.
Paige Plander
2022-04-11T13:19:46-07:00Paige Plander - Bio
I have a background in electronics, computer science, design, and teaching technical classes. After making a couple mobile applications in college, I started priming myself for a career path in software, but found screen-only interfaces too limited, and jobs in that field too market-focused. Once I got a job as a teaching assistant in the design department at my college, I got access to the departmental makerspace, which opened up a lot of opportunities to me. I had always been interested in electronic musical instruments, but the idea of repairing or making my own didn't cross my mind until I started spending time there. Having mentors available and access to tools helped make the projects I had in mind approachable, and led me to take electronic and design classes I now look back on as my favorites. I finished college having built a few instruments and guitar pedals, but more importantly, having found a subject I was excited to be a student of for the rest of my life. After graduating, I refined my skills working as a hardware/firmware engineer at an electronic musical instrument company, where I gained a better understanding of sensor circuits, and the design of precise electronic systems. I have become interested and begun working with residential electric power distribution, photovoltaics in particular, and I spend a lot of time thinking about what a world running on 100% renewable energy would look like, and how to get there.
http://paigeplan.github.io/
Jeremy Sugerman
2022-07-05T13:32:50-07:00Department(s):
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Jeremy Sugerman - Bio
Jeremy Sugerman is an Oakland-based attorney who has represented a number of working artists and non-profit organizations. He has held a variety of leadership roles, including as a board member of the BlackRock Arts Foundation, and as past President of the Board of Directors of the San Francisco Senior Center. He is also a current board member of the American Safe Climbing Association.
Nikitha Yelchuru
2019-07-18T17:34:54-07:00Phone:
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Nikitha Yelchuru - Bio
Nikitha Yelchuru is San Jose-based artist who crafts jewelry and sculptural objects through a unique technique called quilling—rolling, shaping, and gluing strips of paper into decorative designs. Each of her works begins as an observational sketch, inspired by her everyday life and the natural world. Using these sketches as a jumping off point, she quills paper objects by making intuitive associations and finding formal parallels. Her delicate hand-made pieces bear witness to her commitment to excellent craftsmanship.
Yelchuru fell in love with the ancient art of quilling in 2012. She began by designing jewelry solely for herself. However, her friends and family were quick to notice her talent, and she started receiving commissions for custom-made pieces. When she realized the magnitude of the demand for her work, she decided to quill earrings, necklaces, wall-art and sculptural objects full time. Since 2016, the artist has crafted custom-made pieces on commissions under the name Paper Sweetly.
Yelchuru’s background in engineering, coupled with her artistic sensibility, give her a keen eye for the geometer of nature. She notices the underlining structure of everything from the chambered nautilus shell to the articulated shape of a hummingbirds outstretched wings. She uses the character, shape, and color she sees to articulate the poetic meaning in everyday life and translate positive energy into spontaneously constructed forms. She continually hones her skills and creates new designs inspired by the world around her.
Kyle Swenson
2019-07-05T12:42:47-07:00Phone:
Email: kswenn@gmail.com
Kyle Swenson - Bio
As a mechanical engineer by trade and study, I have always been amazed by mechanical systems and electrical circuits. By fixing pretty much anything I have broken through trial and error, formal education, and professional application, I have learned a lot about kinetics and electronics. From an artistic perspective, I like art cars and other moving displays of art, LED art displays, and structures that emit fire.
