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Our staff consists of enthusiastic, talented practicing artists, with collective backgrounds in art education, early childhood education, transformative arts, museums studies, and community outreach. All have prior experience in teaching, and are reflective practioners of their craft. Many are bilingual.

** Click on each staff member's name that has a link (indicated in underlined blue) to expand their full bio.

PROGRAMS

Molly Campbell, Programs and Operations Manager
Close Molly Campbell, Programs and Operations Manager
Molly joined SFCAC in January 2007. She holds a BFA in painting from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, and has been a San Francisco resident since 2004.  She is a practicing mixed-media artist with a teaching background in such Bay Area youth programs as The Marsh Youth Theater, Aim High Academy, and the Exploratorium. She also volunteers as co-chair of the the Art Center's Annual Benefit Art Auction, an annual fundraiser that raises money for SFCAC's programs and scholarships. In addition to working at the Art Center, she maintains a studio practice at Art Explosion Studios in the Mission district, and teaches independently at various schools and community centers throughout San Francisco. www.mollyhcampbell.com

TEACHERS

Gail Tarantino, Lead Teacher
Close Gail Tarantino, Lead Teacher
Gail Tarantino holds a B.A. from the University of Massachusetts, Boston and has been engaging children in the creative process at SFCAC since 1989. Gail is a painter and video artist whose work has been shown at the SFMOMA Artists Gallery, Linc Art, and other venues. Her work is also included in a number of Bay Area private collections. “Being an active participant in witnessing the creative spark that children emit is an experience that I treasure. After a decade of supporting children's creative ideas, I continue to be smitten with their poignancy of language, the visual impact of children's representations and the associations they make while looking at each others project work. Each child's aesthetic choices are so particular to their own unique way of absorbing the world around them. Being an observer of the multiple possibilities for invention that children utilize is an endlessly enriching time spent in the studio” Thanks to the generosity of an art center supporter, Gail traveled to Italy to attend Reggio Emilia study tours in 2001 and 2003. Thanks to the support of the SFCAC Board and SFCAC parents, Gail was able to particpate in a conference hosted by the North American Reggio Emilia Alliance in 2006.

Erik Parra, Lead Teacher
Close Erik Parra, Lead Teacher
Erik Richard Parra was born and raised in Texas. He attended The University of Texas at Austin where he studied painting with Peter Saul and Michael Ray Charles. After graduation he moved to San Francisco, where he taught at the San Francisco Children’s Art Center. One year later he was accepted into the graduate painting department of the University of Wisconsin—Madison on a fellowship. Upon completion of his MFA he moved to Brooklyn, NY where he maintained a studio, taught art and exhibited his artwork. Erik has been actively engaged with his studio practice about as long as he has been teaching, for over nine years. In his relatively young career he has exhibited in numerous places, including New York, Chicago, and Brazil. He has also lectured, garnered residencies and awards. Currently he is back in San Francisco to open Fivepoints Arthouse which is an artist run alternative exhibition space.

Kaari Diefenbacher, Lead Teacher
Close Kaari Diefenbacher, Lead Teacher
Kaari has taught art to San Francisco children for many years in various venues throughout the city. She is currently teaching art to children aged 18 months through 12 years old through Children’s Art Center, Drawbridge, Raphael House, and Recess Urban Recreation. She previously worked for two years running art groups in multiple San Francisco elementary schools. She is passionate about bringing art to the lives of children, and is devoting her life to doing so. She is a working artist and student, with a Masters in Transformative Arts at JFK University.

ASSISTANT TEACHERS and ART PARTY TEACHERS Close Kaari Diefenbacher, Lead Teacher
Kaari has taught art to San Francisco children for many years in various venues throughout the city. She is currently teaching art to children aged 18 months through 12 years old through Children’s Art Center, Drawbridge, Raphael House, and Recess Urban Recreation. She previously worked for two years running art groups in multiple San Francisco elementary schools. She is passionate about bringing art to the lives of children, and is devoting her life to doing so. She is a working artist and student, currently getting her Masters in Transformative Arts at JFK University.

Theresa Holland, Assistant Teacher
Close Theresa Holland,Assistant Teacher
Theresa Holland graduated with a B.F.A. from the Maryland Institute, College of Art in Baltimore. Her areas of study included interdisciplinary fine art subjects as well as elementary art education. From there she moved to the Washington D.C. area, where she was an active member in several art communities. She has exhibited work with the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop and the Torpedo Factory Art League, has been commissioned for private installations, and has several private collectors on the East coast. Since moving to San Francisco in 2007 she has continued in her own artistic quests and has been teaching art to young children. She believes that freedom to make creative decisions as a child is what helps people make other decisions later in life.

Sarah Farmer, Assistant Teacher
Close Sarah Farmer, Assistant Teacher
Sarah began her art career as a student of the Art Center. She received her B.F.A in Illustration from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2009. Her work has been displayed in several shows in Rhode Island and San Francisco, including the Art Center's Annual Benefit Art Auction. Sarah is currently focusing on painting and enjoying the opportunity to be involved with the Art Center as a teacher.

Teresa Partridge, Birthday Party Teacher
Close Teresa Partridger, Birthday Party Teacher
Mrs. Partridge received her BFA in visual art in 2009 and a Masters in Art Education in 2010 from Tufts University in affiliation with the School of the Museum Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts. As a visual artist she works in screen-printing and other print media, where she manipulates old family photographs to become new memories. She has also dabbled in installation art, where she explored her fascination of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. As an Art teacher, she has taught a toy-making summer class at the Museum Fine Arts, Boston and at Brookline high school while a student teacher taught drawing I and Jewelry/metals I & II.

Alli Patch, Assistant Teacher

Laura Simon, Assistant Teacher, Birthday Party Teacher

Asenet Martinez, Birthday Party Teacher

Rocio Russo, Birthday Party Teacher

Marli Jones, Birthday Party Teacher

Ali Keane, Birthday Party Teacher