Learn more about CCA's Young Artist Studio Program's (YASP) instructors by reading their bios below.

YASP Instructor Bios

Tara Beyhm (Animation, San Francisco)

Tara Beyhm is an animator and filmmaker whose films have shown internationally. As an animator she is skilled in computer animation, drawn animation, and is currently working on a stop-motion short. BFA, California Institute of the Arts; MFA, San Francisco State University

Tony Esola (Designing with Metal, Oakland)

Tony Esola is an artist whose interests began in glassblowing and shifted to sculpture with an emphasis on metal. His work investigates the curiosities of childhood through toys made for adults -- pieces that interact with viewers and encourage their participation.

His work has been shown internationally, including at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton, Massachusetts.

BFA, CCA

Scott Hammond (Graphic Design, San Francisco)

Scott Hammond is a graphic designer with his own firm, Scott Hammond Studio, based in San Francisco. The firm designs everything from websites to logos, packaging, signage, and advertisements.

Prior to opening his studio in 2002 he worked at such San Francisco graphic design firms as Luxon Carra and Zimmermann Crowe Design.

BFA, CCA; BA, Vassar College

Ashley Helvey (Sculptural Felting, San Francisco)

Ashley Helvey is a felt artist whose work has been exhibited in galleries nationally and in Europe. Most recently she contributed to the Cooper Hewitt International Design Museum's exhibit Fashioning Felt and worked with the cooperative Le Famn Veret in Verettes, Haiti, to develop a line of felted objects to provide jobs for local woman.

Ashley teaches workshops at institutions, museums, and galleries and continues to collaborate with artists and designers on felted installations and performance pieces.

BA, California State University, San Francisco

Faye Kendall (Sculpture: Found & Made, Oakland)

Faye Kendall is an artist whose work reflects her background in fibers, combining natural materials with sculpture in large-scale works that reference animals and biological and social processes.

She has exhibited in galleries nationally, including Slought Foundation and Freeman’s in Philadelphia. Faye has developed art programs and taught in public and charter schools.

She currently teaches art at Bentley School in Oakland.

BFA Colorado State University; MFA, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts

Ace Lehner (Digital Photography, Oakland)

Ace Lehner is an artist and arts and culture writer who works predominantly in photography, collaboration and performance. Lehner’s studio practice takes a sustained look at interpersonal relationships and the influence of place and time with the ongoing formation and performance of identities.

Lehner has exhibited, lectured and taught throughout the Bay Area, nationally and internationally. In 2009 Lehner was a recipient of the Murphy and Cadogen Fellowship in the Fine Arts. Lehner’s writing has appeared on the Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts’ blog and in the Bay Citizen. BFA in Studio Art with a minor in Social Anthropology, Concordia University in Montréal, Canada; MFA in Fine Arts and an MA in Visual and Critical Studies, CCA

Dan McClain (Graphic Design, Oakland)

Dan McClain is a painter whose work combines abstract forms with "found" imagery from children's books and other publications. His work explores the daydreams of youth and their subversion by modern life. In addition to being a painter, Daniel runs his own graphic design studio. BFA, CCA

Ashley McHugh (Drawing, Oakland)

Ashley McHugh is a painter and photographer, whose work is interested in exploring the tradition of portraiture.  She is inspired by the juxtaposition of contemporary art and traditional visual vocabulary.  Her paintings have been exhibited nationally over the last 15 years. As an educator, her goal is to inspire confidence, risk taking and a sincere love of making art.

 BFA, CCAC; CA Visual Art Teaching Credential, Mills College

Sian Oblak (Painting, Oakland)

Sian Oblak is a painter whose work has been exhibited and collected internationally. She has been teaching drawing and painting at colleges and other institutions in the Bay Area for six years, including CCA.

Local galleries showing her work include the Bedford Gallery in Walnut Creek and Gallery Paule Anglim in San Francisco.

BFA, Saint Martins School of Art, London; MFA, CCAC

Greg Piatt (Printmaking Studio, Oakland)

Greg Piatt is a fine-arts printmaker specializing in lithography, monotype, and relief work. He also utilizes these unique disciplines in his studio/printshop in Pleasant Hill, California.
He has taught as a guest artist and master printer in a variety of schools, including the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Kala Institute in Berkeley. Since 1992 he has been curator of the Summit Gallery, located in Mount Diablo State Park at the top of the mountain. Greg is a Senior Adjunct Professor in the Printmaking department at CCA.

Prescott Reavis (Architecture, Oakland)

Prescott Reavis is a Project Architect for the Architecture Engineering firm Harley Ellis Devereaux in Oakland.
Prescott has spent the majority of his career focusing on the programming, planning, designing, and construction of buildings which enhance the international community in areas of healing, learning, and discovery. He has served as the National organization of Minority Architects (NOMA) University Liaison for the West, Chair of the NOMA Student Design Competition, and Board member of the City of Oakland’s Community Action Partnership.

Accredited in Sustainable Design and certified in Social Economic Environmental Design. BA Architecture with a minor in Education, Howard University

Alex Shapiro (Cartoon Drawing, Oakland)

Alex Shapiro is a New York–based cartoonist and illustrator whose clients have included CBS-TV, the Central Park Conservancy, and numerous publications.

He has taught cartooning in New York and San Francisco public schools, the Queens Museum of Art, and the Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning.

BFA, Pratt Institute

Sofia Sharpe (Drawing, Oakland)

Sofia Sharpe is an artist whose work in installation, drawing, stop motion, and drawn animation focuses on reducing objects to their aesthetic forms and discarding their intended functions. Her work is influenced by education through creative play and the original philosophies of Sesame Street.  
Sofia has taught art in the Bay Area for over seven years. She is a recipient of the Murphy & Cadogan Fellowship for her investigations during her graduate studies. BA, University of California,  Riverside; MFA, Mills College

Mike Sloat (Clay Animation, Oakland)

Mike Sloat is a director of music videos, commercials, and short films. After running his own film production company in San Francisco for six years, he relocated to Los Angeles and worked as a director for Mine, a production company. Mike has since returned to the Bay Area, starting up Roaring Mouse Productions. His animated and live-action work has been screened at film and video festivals around the world. BFA, Academy of Art College, San Francisco

Pam Stalker (Animation and Motion Graphics, Oakland)

Pam Stalker received her undergraduate degree in Advertising Design at The Center for Creative Studies in Detroit and a minor in photography (specializing in filmmaking and animation).

She has an MFA in Film Graphics from CalArts, where she studied animation with former Disney animator Jules Engles. She is a faculty member in CCA's undergraduate Animation Program.

Pam has worked in the animation industry for many years contributing to Warner Brothers comedy One Crazy Summer; Disney's Brandy and Mr. Whiskers cartoon series; Rocko's Modern Life, The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat, and Betty Boop's Hollywood Mystery.

Pam has worked on commercials for ILM, Disney, Klasky Csupo, Film Roman, Wildbrain, and Colosal Pictures. She is currently represented by Acme Filmworks in Los Angeles.

As a freelance animator, illustrator, and designer, Pam has worked for Bay Area companies in traditional media in the following mediums: paint on glass, silhouette-jointed figures, pastels, color pencils, and cutouts as well as various digital programs.

Rommel Taylor (Architecture, San Francisco)

Rommel Taylor is a designer and an artist. His professional design experience has focused on work for nonprofit organizations, public housing, single-family homes, and public work.

In his art he explores the aesthetic, social, and narrative potential of public and private spaces. Rommel is passionate about exposing young persons to architecture, art, and design.

He currently works for the San Francisco Department of Public Works Bureau of Architecture.

BArch, CCA

Anna Vaughan (Painting and Drawing, Oakland)

Anna Vaughan is a nationally exhibited, multimedia artist whose work explores concepts of family, migration, and memory. She has been a juror for exhibition programs at the Oakland Museum of California and has helped organize exhibitions for several nonprofit galleries, including Pro-Arts Gallery, NIAD Art Center, and Cell Space. BFA, Kansas City Art Institute; MFA, Mills College

Lindsey White (Black & White Photography, Oakland)

Lindsey White is an interdisciplinary artist whose work in video, photography, and sculpture explores the simple magic of everyday life.

She has exhibited in San Francisco at Eli Ridgway Gallery, Jack Hanley Gallery, Southern Exposure, Eleanor Harwood Gallery, and New Langton Arts, and in Berlin at the Deadpan Exchange II festival.

She has taught at CCA, the San Francisco Arts Education Project, and Modesto Junior College.

BFA, Pacific Northwest College of Art; MFA, CCA

Rebecca Young (Building with Drawing, Oakland)

Rebecca Young is an artist who has exhibited her work nationally. She has taught middle and high school sculpture courses at the University of Arizona and currently teaches at Canyon Elementary School.

MFA, University of Arizona

Note: Instructors are subject to change.