2018 OC Fair & Event Center Visual Arts Judges Bios

OC Fair Visual Arts program researches to acquire qualified and diverse

industry individuals to participate as judges. Listed are biographies of the

judges for the following divisions:

Fine Art ................................................. 1

Young Adult Fine Art .......................... 3

Photography ......................................... 4

Young Adult Photography .................. 9

Woodworking..................................... 10

Plein Air .............................................. 11

Photo Shootout ........................................12

2018 Visual Arts Judges 1

Fine Art Judges:

Trinh Mai trinhmai.com

Trinh Mai is an interdisciplinary, California-based artist who received her education at San Jose State University and UCLA. She exhibits nationally with works taking residency in public and private collections internationally. In addition to exhibiting her work with well-respected institutions such as the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center and the Naples Museum of Art, her passion for intermixing arts and collaboration has inspired her community involvement. She has served as Master Teaching Artist for the Bowers Museum, Course Developer for the Pacific Symphony, and Curator at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts. Trinh has also worked with the UC Irvine’s Vietnamese American Oral History Project as Artist-in-Residence to bring a visual arts language to help tell the stories of Vietnamese America.

Currently, Trinh is a member of the Artist Advisory Board for The Artist Odyssey, a global arts network who supports arts education, and an advisor for the Visual Art Program within the Diasporic Vietnamese Artist Network. Having also served as Artist-in-Residence for Grand Central Art Center in partnership with Community Engagement, she has developed self-exploratory visual arts workshops to help bring art into underrepresented communities. Recognizing the role of art to educate and heal, Trinh has exhibited in support of numerous humanitarian groups, including the Friends of Hue Foundation Children’s Shelter in Vietnam and the Angkor Hospital for Children in Cambodia. Seeking hope within humanity’s struggle in war and hardship, she has partnered with Oceanside Museum of Art, MiraCosta College, and Bowers Museum in developing socially engaging projects with survivors of war. Her passion for intermixing arts and collaboration has inspired her diverse roles in the community, including her involvement as art educator, advisor, project director, curator, and resident artist for visual art and social practice for various cultural and arts organizations.

2018 Visual Arts Judges 2

Fine Art Judges:

Carlos Beltran carlosbeltranart.com

Carlos was born in Mexico City, and attended Universidad de Guadalajara where he studied visual arts. He lives and works in the greater Los Angeles area.

He has exhibited with such galleries as:Hospicio Cabañas (Gdl, Mx.) and Exconvento Del Carmen (Gdl,Mx.), Eilan Gallery (Long Beach,CA), Trevor and Nevets (Long Beach, CA.), Laguna Gallery of ContemporaryArt (Laguna Beach, CA), Millard Sheets Art Center (Pomona, CA), Downtown Art Center (L.A., CA.)Los Angeles Art Association (L.A., CA)The Brand Art Center (Glendale, CA), and the Contemporary Art Center (Las Vegas, NV.)City Of Brea Art Gallery (Brea, CA)Torrance Art Museum (Torrance, CA)The Bowers Museum (Santa Ana, CA)

Amy V. GrimmIndependent Curator, Professor of Art History & Museum Studies, Irvine Valley College

Amy V. Grimm has degrees in both Art History and Psychology and has lectured extensively on contemporary art and issues of identity. Combining her research interests with compassion and humor, Grimm combines her academic training to address complex and often challenging issues in identity. Grimm received her B.A. in Psychology from the State University of New York in New Paltz, New York and later received a Graduate Certificate in Museum Management and a M.A. in Art History from the University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina. Grimm’s M.A. Thesis, is titled, Andy Warhol: An Inquiry into Self Identity and Portraiture. Grimm’s area of specialization includes Modern and Contemporary European and American Art.

2018 Visual Arts Judges 3

Evalynn AuEvalynn J. Alu was born and raised in Los Angeles. She received her degree in art at California State University, Fullerton in 1982.

Evalynn’s artwork has been exhibited in numerous solo, curated and juried exhibitions. She has won competitions at both local and international levels. She was Artist of the Year twice for OAA and is now honored as a Hall of Fame lifetime member. She was awarded Best of Show in 2016 at the Museo Gallery in Anaheim. She is the Education Director for the Orange County Center for Contemporary Art where she has had solo exhibitions. Evalynn is also an Art Commissioner for the John Wayne Airport where she is involved with selecting the art diplayed on their premises. She teaches TK through eighth grade art at Oakridge Private School where she was honored with The OC Top 25 Teacher award in 2015, and she also teaches all ages at OCCCA’s Art for All program. She has taught at the Corbin Center in Santa Ana as well as privately.

Young Adult Fine Art Judges:

Keli MarchbankTaught art grades 7-12 at Costa Mesa MS/HS for 16 years. Participated in several group and solo art shows, illustrator for children’s books, facilitated student driven district art showcase & mural projects. Lives in Costa Mesa with her two daughters: Hayden & Kayci and husband Harley Marchbank.

2018 Visual Arts Judges 4

Photography Judges:

Diane CockerillA third-generation Angeleno, Diane Cockerill studied Fine Art at UCLA and has shown work in several local and national galleries as well as in Boston, South Korea and Hungary. When photographing the sprawling neighborhoods of Los Angeles, there is very little that doesn’t pique her imagination: street scenes, street art and street curbs, all photographed with a keen eye and unique perspective.

Diane worked for over 30 years in the advertising industry but is now fully immersed in photographing her native Los Angeles.

Jeff Alu jeffalu.com

Jeff Alu is a former exhibitions director at the orange County Center for Contemporary Art (OCCCA) in Santa Ana, CA. During his time there he curated 5 photographic exhibitions, including two dedicated exclusively to cell phone photography, as well as numerous other exhibitions.

Prior to his life as a photographer, Jeff worked for a number of years at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory hunting for asteroids and comets. This work involved using the 18” Schmidt Telescope at Palomar Observatory, and numerous hours were spent in the darkroom processing the films shot with that telescope. Once processed, pairs of films were then scanned by eye using a stereomicroscope.

Alu has been published in Black and White Magazine, Lenswork Extended, Adori Noir, Shots, as well as online at the Art Photo Index and the aCurator blog. A book of his images, “Jeff Alu:Surrealities” is published through Zero+ Publishing. He has also been a guest speaker for the Apple Store in Santa Monica, the Walt Disney Imagineering Photography Group, as well as the Marks Art Center in Palm Desert, CA.

2018 Visual Arts Judges 5

Kevin Staniec kevinstaniec.com

Kevin Staniec is an arts advocate, author, publisher, and the founder of 1888, a regional catalyst for the preservation, presentation, and promotion of cultural heritage and literary arts. He has published over 80 books, his exhibitions viewed by more than a half-million people, and his work featured in numerous global media outlets.

Kevin is the recipient of the Arts Leader Award presented by Arts Orange County and recognized as one of Orange County’s most influential and innovative entrepreneurs in Modern Luxury Magazine, OC Weekly, and the Orange County Register in 2015 and 2017.

Photography Judges:

Federico Medina instagram.com/stoopdown/

I consider myself a POP artist working in various medias from illustration, short films, and performance art with my main focus in the past two years being the art of photography.

Being a native of Santa Ana, I have been an active participant in the flourishing art community in Santa Ana, working with property owners in Downtown Santa Ana to develop Pop-up art shows, a year long social documentary of Santa Ana presented at Bowers Museum and OCCCA.

With my current focus being the art of photography, I feel it is my responsibility to photograph life in its purest and rawest form. That means putting myself in situations that most people would not be comfortable in. It allows me capture certain aspects of our Santa Ana life that most people do not get to see in person. Aside from Street Photography, I also develop studio in creating characters/ scenes based either figures both famous and infamous.

My goal in to keep progressing as an artist/ photographer and to help influence the younger generation of Santa Ana artists to have confidence in their ambitions and talents.

2018 Visual Arts Judges 6

Photography Judges:

Robin Temaiana Repp saatchiart.com/robinrepp

M.A. Candidate, University of California, Berkeley, 1975 B.A., University of California, Berkeley, 1970

Robin Repp’s work has been included in the newly released book, “Signs of Resistance”, by Bonnie Siegler and “4973:Berkeley Protest Posters”, by Barry Miles. Her work has been included in exhibitions in the Laguna Art Museum, the Oakland Art Museum, the Berkeley Art Museum, Museum of Art & History, Lancaster, The Shapero Modern, London, The Victoria & Albert Museum, London, Griffin Museum of Photography, MA, and various galleries such as the LA Artcore Gallery, Huntington Beach Art Center, Rochester Contemporary Art Gallery, N.Y.C, The Studios Inc. Gallery, Kansas City, The Irvine Fine Arts Center, The Brea Gallery, CSUF Gallery, Long Beach Arts, Worth Ryder Gallery Berkeley, VAALA, and the Orange County Center for Contemporary Art.

Rick Valasek PicRick.com

Current President of PPOC (Professional Photographers of Orange County). Owner of PicRick Photography, a photographic agency based in San Juan Capistrano, specializing in commercial, and portrait work.

Past President (and current member) of South County Photo Club, Mission Viejo, CA - active member, educator/instructor in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. Member of PPC (Professional Photographers of California) and PPA (Professional Photographers of America)

Have participated and received several “Merit Awards” in Portrait, Documentary, and Open Catagories in Photography throughout the West Coast.

2018 Visual Arts Judges 7

Photography Judges:

Kim Harkins kimharkins.photoshelter.com

I have a passion for teaching and photography. I remain active as a photographer, photographic lecturer, and portfolio reviewer. I am currently a professor of photography at Irvine Valley College, California. A past Director of Media Arts-Ai-Orange County where I managed photography, filmmaking, animation, visual effects & motion graphics, visual game programming, and game art & design, and a retired Dean of Business Science and Director of Photography at Gwinnett Technical College in Atlanta, Georgia. I have lectured at the National Gallery of Art, Beijing, China, Shandong University of Art & Design, Jinan, Beijing Film Academy and was a visiting artist professor at the Nanjing Institute of Visual Art, Nanjing, China.

Matt Frantz mattfrantz.com

Matt Frantz is a professor of visual communications at Laguna College of Art and Design. He has instructed a variety of courses in design, drawing and illustration, photography, photo-editing, and video at multiple colleges in Orange County and San Diego. His personal work is focused on portraits and narrative imagery, often combining photography with drawing and painting. Commercial client projects include covers for advertisements, books, CDs, DVDs, posters, and videos.

2018 Visual Arts Judges 8

Photography Judges:

Kassel kasselphotography.com

Born in Kassel, Germany, Kassel was named after the city in which he was born. Moving to southern California by the age of two, his father, a gifted photographer, and his mother, a creative artist, encouraged him from an early age to explore his love of the arts. Kassel was lucky to have found the pleasure of photography by the age of eight. Kassel grew up in southern California where he explored various aspects of the fine arts and incorporated them into his growing passion for photography.

Specializing in weddings, creative portraiture, and live events, Kassel has had the pleasure of shooting for clients all over North America including: Arizona, Georgia, Florida, Washington, Oregon, Minnesota, Texas, Mexico, Southern Africa, Belize and Canada. From the West coast -to- the East coast.

Over the years he has had numerous works published in books, magazines, videos, CD covers, short films, and newspapers including The Los Angeles Times and Orange County Register, and receiving an award from the International Library of Photography.

Shooting with many years of experience as a creative, personable, professional photographer, Kassel is capable of capturing formal portraiture, but loves to keep his clients looking “un-posed”, relaxed, and in the moment, in any situation. Kassel prides himself in blessing his clients with “pictures worth more than a thousand words”.

2018 Visual Arts Judges 9

Tiffany Ma tiffanyma.myportfolio.com

Tiffany Ma received her MFA in Photography from California State University, Fullerton. She teaches Printmaking, Photography, and Mixed Media at Orange County School of the Arts. She is also the Visual Arts Director for the California School of the Arts - San Ga-briel Valley. Besides her role as an educator, she is also a working fine artist, who currently creates her work in Santa Ana, California.

Kirby Piazza Artist, teacher and art advocate, Kirby Piazza, has been working in and around the Newport-Mesa area for over 20 years. Having lived and worked as well in Europe, Mexicao and Central America, he has been exploring landscapes through multimedia approaches as a way to communicate memory, time & space as an essential function of the human experience.

Young Adult Photography Judges:

2018 Visual Arts Judges 10

Woodworking Judges:

Mónica Esparza monicasguitars.com

Mónica Esparza began building her first flamenco guitar in 2000 and went to the source for training, working in Spain with Maestro Jose Romanillos in his intensive master classes for several years.

Mónica creates the warmth and beauty only seen in old world Span-ish guitars by crafting an eloquently designed body of top quality woods with intricate decorative accents. A French polish imparts a final delicate finish and enhances tonal response.

She also builds ukuleles, and teaches ukulele making workshops in her shop. She also does a variety of instrument repair work.

Fred Rose fredrosestudio.com

Fred Rose received his BFA in ceramics from California State Uni-versity, Long Beach- 1992 and his MFA in sculpture from California State University, Fullerton- 2001. He taught Woodworking at Califor-nia State University, Long Beach for 7 years. He is currently a self-em-ployed artist living in Costa Mesa.

Fred Rose is interested in how the spectrum of traditions in wood from utilitarian woodworking, wood sculpture, and folk art can act as a visual poetry about the nature of the physical world or the quirks of being human.

Most of his wood is collected from locally found logs from the urban forests of Long Beach and Costa Mesa. He mills logs into a combi-nation of lumber, carving and turning blanks, or specimens of wood oddities.

He often combines found natural organic forms with his own man-made objects. He collects evidence of how we deal with living trees by pruning them or how trees as living things respond to adversity as a source of poetic and conceptual inquiry.

He has a growing fondness for things he calls wood anomalies.

2018 Visual Arts Judges 11

Kathleen Williams kathleenfineart.com

Kathleen Williams is a professional artist. She paints primarily in oil, both in plein air and in the studio in a representational, impressionistic style.

Kathleen’s landscapes always begin in plein air. Plein air pieces are done on site in natural light. Some plein air pieces are finished works of art in and of themselves, while others may serve primarily as references for larger, more finished studio pieces. In addition to landscapes, Kathleen also does still lifes, figurative work, and portraiture.

Kathleen’s work has been in many exhibits and artshows throughout Southern California, and she has been both an exhibitor and demonstrator for a number of years at the Orange County Fair. Kathleen is is a member of the California Art Club, Oil Painters of America, Laguna Plein Air Painters Association, and the Southern California Plein Air Painters Association.

Plein Air Judge:

2018 Visual Arts Judges 12

Arthur Ramirez thephototrainer.com

Art Ramirez has been a photographer and a trainer of photographic concepts for over forty years.

His experience as a photojournalist, wedding photographer, and printer allows him to view photography from a unique angle. Art loves to show people how to get the most from their digital cameras and PhotoShop.

Photo Shootout Judge: