Rebecca Barbee is the Marketing and Operations Manager at the Palo Alto Art Center and oversees facility management, social media and online communications, special events and the visitor services and special event work teams. A native of Palo Alto, Rebecca has worked at the Art Center for 17 years in a variety of capacities including Class Registrar, Program Assistant and Operations Manager. She received her B.A. in art history from Scripps College and is a Certified Massage Therapist. A lifelong advocate for the artist in everyone, Rebecca pursues her own artistic endeavors on the stage.
As an art technician Ed Clapp hangs paintings, moves sculpture, paints walls, moves lights, makes mounts and does everything to make the art looking experience an enjoyable one. He has worked in various galleries around the Bay Area working with curators to display art and with a number of artists to create art. His Bachelor's of Fine Art is from at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA and his MFA studies were at San Jose State University. He has studied sculpture and work in wood, cement and steel.
Selene Foster is the Exhibitions Coordinator and works in collaboration with the Exhibitions Team, overseeing objects in transit and on exhibition, as well as supporting the presentation of artist-in-residence program installations. Selene has worked as an exhibitions and events coordinator, curator, designer, and artist in the Bay Area for the past 10 years, working closely with artists at several arts and arts-education non-profits, including Root Division, the Museum of Broken Relationships, and BAASICS. Selene received a B.A. from Bard College in New York, and an M.F.A in Studio Art from Mills College in Oakland, CA. Selene believes art is an integral, and often necessary, form of communication; she is committed to creating opportunities for artists and scientists to share their personal voyages, and discoveries, with diverse audiences.
Kathleen Gordon is an art instructor for the Palo Alto Art Center’s Children’s Fine Art program, where she teaches hand-building techniques to parents and kids and wheel throwing techniques to teens ages 11-18. Kathleen began to share her love for clay with parents and kids alike as a teacher at the Palo Alto Junior Museum and Zoo fourteen years ago, before which she worked as a tenured special education teacher in New Jersey, was on the board of the San Francisco Silver Clay Guild, and was active as the president of her kids’ Montessori School and a Girl Scout troop leader. She received her BA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and achieved a degree in special education from the Southern Connecticut University. To Kathleen, art provides time to focus, and is is a wonderful way to slow down and integrate the beauty and intrigue of her regular life with her complex and original thoughts.
Lora Groves is currently an installation crew technician for the Palo Alto Art Center, who works with a terrific team to make possible the world-class exhibitions that take place within the auspices of the Art Center gallery space as well as in various Art Center sponsored public venues. Beginning in 1995 Lora has worn many hats at the Palo Alto Art Center, including teaching adult studio classes and workshops as well as serving as mentor for the Carrie Abramovitz high school scholarship program. Lora holds both MFA and BFA degrees from the San Francisco Art Institute, and has pursued extensive study in physical therapy, and poetry, which fuel her ongoing yogic, Sanskrit and eastern philosophy studies as well as the ever continual study of painting. Lora’s fascination with art manifests in involvement in it’s natural sources and resources—hiking, reading of all kinds, meditation, drumming, and tending garden, family, rescue dogs and studio.
Karen Kienzle is Director of the Palo Alto Art Center and oversees the vision, budget, marketing efforts, and staffing of this vital community organization.Karen brings more than 15 years of exhibition, education, and arts management experience to the Art Center, having worked previously as the Assistant Director for Exhibitions, Education, and Community Outreach at the de Saisset Museum at Santa Clara University, and Assistant Curator at the San Jose Museum of Art. She received her B.A. in the history of art from UC Berkeley and her M.A. in museum studies from San Francisco State University and she is a graduate of the Getty Museum Leadership Institute at Claremont Graduate University. Karen is passionate about supporting the inner artist in everyone and frequently appreciates the work of other artists by visiting museums and galleries in her travels around the country and world.
Suzanne Ramirez is a Program Assistant, providing support to many Art Center programs, including facility rental, studio classes for children and adults, Project LOOK! school tours, and front office operations. Suzanne has a varied background, having worked as a winery chemist, contact lens R & D technician, and as a volunteer for numerous nonprofit organizations. She received her B.A. in biological sciences (emphasis in molecular biology, minor in chemistry) from San Jose State University. Suzanne loves observing people of all ages discover and express their creative side, and expresses her own creativity with quilt-making and blue-ribbon baking.
Sharon Reich is an art instructor for the Palo Alto Art Center’s Children’s Fine Art program where she teaches painting, printmaking, sculpture, and mixed media classes to kids ages 2-11. Sharon has enjoyed more than twenty years of Art Education experience with many age groups using mediums such as ceramics, painting, printmaking, crafts, sculpture and drawing...with a sense of exploration and encouragement! She graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a BFA/Art Education Certification, Preschool through Adult, and holds a current California Teaching Credential. Sharon’s travel and exposure to multi-cultural art expands her creative horizons as she designs innovative curriculum and prototypes with energy and passion.
Paulina Shapona is an art instructor for the Palo Alto Art Center’s Children’s Fine Art program, where she teaches drawing, painting, pastels, cartooning, fashion design and puppet performance workshops to children ages 5-11. Paulina, who also teaches for the Pacific Art League, PALY Adult Education, and the Community School of Music and Art, sells and shows her artwork internationally, ran her own Fine Arts School, and is a social worker for Community Action Commission, has taught at the Palo Alto Art Center for 14 years. She graduated from the Western Business School and received her Masters in Painting, Drawing, Sculpture, and Archival Restoration after studying at the SF Academy of Art, the Arts and Crafts School in Oakland, and apprenticing for five years with Ugo Graziotti, the Master of the Renaissance School of Italy. Paulina’s philosophy as an educator and artist is to inspire personal creative growth in all her students, broaden their perception of the world around them, and to help them recognize the beauty of their own existence.
Keith Southernis the Lead Preparator for the Palo Alto Art Center supervising the installation team and organizes the preparation of the exhibits. Keith has worked at various galleries and museums in the bay area and currently he is a preparator at the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art and History San Jose. He holds an M.F.A. in photography from San Jose State University. Keith is a dedicated photographer and exhibits his work through out the bay area and online.
Jenny Weiis the Program Coordinator for Cultural Kaleidoscope and supports teachers and teaching-artists as they work with elementary classrooms in the Palo Alto and Ravenswood school districts. Jenny comes to the Art Center from her work as a museum educator with several years and several positions at the Smithsonian Institution (most recently, the National Museum of American History) and one year teaching elementary students as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant in Yilan, Taiwan. She received both her B.A. in art history and Masters in the Art of Teaching in museum education from the George Washington University, in Washington, DC. Jenny enjoys using art as a form of expression and a tool for exploring the world around us, and especially loves taking photographs of the wilderness and wild animals she encounters while traveling.
