Ana Gallira
2021-09-29T14:37:02-07:00Phone:
Email: ana@thecrucible.org
Ana Gallira - Bio
Ana Gallira is an artist and educator currently living in California’s Bay Area. She especially loves teaching both youth and adults how to weld and encourages students to explore their unique reasons for making. Upon moving to California, Ana quickly tried to find community in the local art scene. She was introduced to The Crucible, became involved as a part-time welding instructor, a full-time enthusiast, and has since become the Co-Head of the Welding Department. Ana is also a board member of Local Artists Berkeley, a non-profit organization that facilitates public art exhibitions for Bay Area artists, and an adjunct professor in the Sculpture department at Diablo Valley Community College in Pleasant Hill, CA.
Ana is originally from New York and has received a Masters in Fine Arts in Sculpture from the State University of New York at New Paltz and a Bachelor's degree in Mathematics from SUNY Albany. She has exhibited her artwork at Adelines Lab in Berkeley, CA; Williamsburg Art Historical Center, Brooklyn, NY; Helen Day Art Center, Stowe, VT; Art Barn, Albany, NY; Montclair University, Montclair, NJ; among others. Her street art installations have been spotted in Germany, Canada, and across the United States. Ana's hobbies include manual machining, sewing, bicycling, hiking, metal fabrication, and is always delighted to meet new people.
Michael Adams
2019-03-20T15:51:00-07:00Phone:
Email: michael@makeitfab.work
Michael Adams - Bio
I am a fabricator with a specialization in R&D and prototyping. I have spent the last 13 years building all kinds of things with a focus on motorcycles. I have an extensive background in vehicle fabrications of all kinds and I enjoy teaching others about what I know and love.
Karen Smith
2019-03-13T11:32:21-07:00Phone:
Email: karen@karensmithmetalartist.com
Karen Smith - Bio
I am a metal artist who is Brooklyn-bred and Bay Area based. I'm a college graduate and have held positions as diverse as bookstore clerk, journal editor, university instructor and mindfulness facilitator. As an undergraduate, I majored in English, African American Studies and Women's Studies because I wanted to get a fuller picture of what it means to be black and female in the culture. I have written about women and representation and I continue to follow the trail onto new paths that are both exciting and new.
I came late to metal work but I'm proud to say that I live and work as an artist. My mediums are precious metals; I create wearable art as well as 3 dimensional pieces in sterling, fine silver and 14K and 18K gold.
Currently, I've been afforded an opportunity to apprentice in Dakar, Senegal with a 5th generation master goldsmith. From late December, 2017 until the end of January, 2018, I lived and worked in Dakar studying traditional methods of smithing. I have been asked by this master to return in June, 2018 for a period of 6 months intensive study. I feel honored and humbled to have this access; in Senegal, they have a saying that "women don't wield the hammer". I have been blessed to get this training directly from a master.
And then I get to share it. I joined the faculty here at the Crucible as a jewelry instructor; I'm also ecstatic to incubate my project "We Wield the Hammer" here. WWTH is a project I'm creating to bring the art of metalsmithing to African American girls and women who are underrepresented in the field and often with access, opportunity or capital to invest. Beginning in Spring, 2019, my project begins here at the Crucible and I look forward to expanding it to Dakar, Senegal and beyond in the future.
Because women do, indeed, wield the hammer.
Tracey Nelsen
2020-07-15T16:38:18-07:00Tracey Nelsen - Bio
Hello creative community! I work with metal to make anything from tiny, delicate jewelry to large-scale interactive sculptures. My artistic inspirations revolve around my midwest roots; I feel the elements of the Earth mixed with chemically created processes have a distinct relationship that can be shown through metal arts. My background is in Fine Arts from the University of Minnesota and I have exhibited work in Minnesota, the Bay Area, New York, and at Burning Man with Flaming Lotus Girls in 2016. I have worked professionally in education, the arts, was the Team Build Program Manager here at The Crucible, and am currently an Admissions Director at an EdTech startup based in SF. I love inspiring people to live out their passions, dreams, and creative outlets and I look forward to seeing you in the welding and jewelry departments. Feel free to send me a note at tracey.nelsen@gmail.com!
Megan Robb
2019-09-03T15:00:44-07:00Phone:
Email: megankatrobb@gmail.com
Megan Robb - Bio
My first art class was at the Richmond Art Center where I participated in a kid’s ceramics course. I loved getting to create different pieces, I got to experiment with shape, texture, and glazing. The instructor made sure to take us through the different art exhibits featuring local artists. It was in that gallery space that my curiosity was sparked for how metals, glass, fabrics, acrylics, and found objects can be used together to create a cohesive creation.
I received my Bachelor’s degree in Biology from a little college in Ohio. They have a forest preserve that students use for classes, labs, and observations. It was there that I really started to appreciate the beauty, symmetry, and detail of the botanical world; which is where I draw a lot of my creative energy from today.
Once I graduated and returned home I wanted to continue learning and began taking metal clay classes. I felt free to mold, shape, and express my own style. I earned my level one certification and look forward to being able to teach and learn from others at The Crucible!
Rachel-Anne Palacios
2021-09-28T08:41:07-07:00Phone:
Email:
Rachel-Anne Palacios - Bio
Rachel-Anne Palacios has made a name for herself in the Bay Area art world. A self-taught, multicultural artist, her pieces reflect the respect she has for culture, religion, traditional values, elders, and the cycle of life and death. Palacios grew up amongst Oakland's cultural diversity in a household headed by her mother and grandmother. Her grandmother, Nana Rose, was a mentor, teacher, coach, and friend.
"I hope to continue creating a positive focal point for our community by heightening respect for cultural awareness and our elders," said Palacios. "By providing an alternative learning environment, I believe that we can learn about each other's culture and reconnect with our own. While doing this we can re-establish family values, create unity and come together in harmony."
In her search of healing, Palacios researched a variety of cultural beliefs about death after a good friend was killed in 1992. Dia de los Muertos helped her to find that healing path. And in 2004, 2005 and 2007 Palacios was selected to be a participating artist for the Oakland Museum's annual Dia de los Muertos exhibition.
In addition to her artwork, she has been a panelist for the Oakland Cultural Arts Funding Program in 2003 and 2004 and also provided administrative support for the City of Oakland's Cultural Funding Program during their panel process from 2005-2009. Rachel was an active member of the Dia de los Muertos Committee at the Oakland Museum from 2004-2012 and was a Museum Educator at the Oakland Museum of CA from 2004-2016.
She is now sharing her cultural arts education programming with libraries throughout the Bay Area and is the Co-Chair of the Cultural Arts Committee at Cleveland Elementary in Oakland.
Robb Godshaw
2021-09-01T12:36:01-07:00Phone:
Email:
Robb Godshaw - Bio
Robb Godshaw (they/them) is an activist, artist, and fabricator. Based in the East Bay, they strive to apply social solutions to technical problems yet often default to applying technical solutions to social problems instead. Their work can be seen at www.robb.cc
