Board of Directors
The Redwood Art Association is governed by a Board of Directors responsible for management of the affairs of the organization, coordinating activities and making decisions about how the organization can best serve the membership and the community. It is a working board and members donate their time, skills and energy to present successful events and worthwhile activities. All decisions are made in accordance with our member approved bylaws.
The Board meets at 11:00AM on the third Tuesday of each month at the RAA Gallery or via Zoom. If you would like to communicate with the Board or a Board Member, you may send an email to info@redwoodart.us and your message will be forwarded.
If you wish to be a Director, please complete this form and email to president@redwoodart.net.
The Officers and Directors for 2023 are:
Sara Kimber, President
Former large scale project manager, recognized for her leadership, community building and team development. Enjoying supporting our member community while pursuing new learning and growth in a life filed with art. BFA in Sculpture from HSU, bcurrently working on an MFA in Ceramics. Primarily a figurative ceramic sculptor using clay and bronze enhanced with wood and found objects..
Nancy Flemming, Vice President
Former Eureka Mayor, Exec. Dir., Sequoia Humane Society, local artist and avid supporter of the Arts. She served on the boards of Humboldt Arts Council, Redwood Arts Association, Representative Art League, and currently North Coast Dance. She has studied with Michael Hayes, Jim McVicker, Randy Sexton, Terry Miura, and Stock Schleuter in California workshops, and with Julian Merrow-Smith in Provence. Her paintings are in private collections in across the United States and Humboldt County. She has been featured in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, Humboldt Beacon, The Journal, and the Times Standard.
Natascha Pearson, Secretary
Natascha Pearson is a multi-media fantasy surrealist artist. She has a small business, Humboldt County Lifestyle blog and Etsy store called Little Lost Forest. She draws inspiration from mythology, nature, and paganism.
Catherine Dean, Treasurer
I started learning to paint when I got a paint-by-numbers set for Christmas and then my dad made an easel for me. I took a few art classes in college. Then life and husbands and kids got in the way. I came to Humboldt to study biology at Humboldt State. Then I bought a store called Strictly for the Birds which I operated for 12 years. I retired and wanted to start painting again. I joined some other ladies painting at Plum Blossom Studio with Thao Le Khac. My husband passed away and I joined Redwood Art Association and started volunteering. I love the people and the organization.
Erica Brooks
Local artist specializing in oil painting. BFA from West Chester University, secondary art education teaching credential from HSU, a MFA in painting and an MA in Illustration from the Academy of Art San Francisco. Former RAA president.
Sean Grimes
Sean was raised in Humboldt County. Driven by an urge to create and a love of counterculture Sean pursued a path to the artist trade of tattooing. Sean’s career as a tattooist offered him an outlet that fulfilled his creative needs for decades. After a twenty-year break Sean returned to school at Cal-Poly Humboldt where he is scheduled to earn a Bachelor of Fine Art. Sean’s work uses eclecticism in order to combine his knowledge of tattoo imagery with skill of creating highly rendered, representational paintings. The juxtaposition of a classical painting style merged with
folk or pop art images defines most of Sean’s recent artistic direction.
Lindsay Lacewell Kessner
Prior to teaching at College of the Redwoods, Kessner worked for ten years at The Armory Center for the Arts and other institutions in the Los Angeles area, where she developed and led programs to engage young students in art-making as a way of exploring nature, strengthening community, fostering academic extension, and exploring identity and personal agency.
Claudia Lima
A full time painter in Humboldt County. Her work concentrates on an impressionistic style of the subject matter of logging and agriculture in Humboldt County.
Jeff McCallay
Street and travel photographer living in Eureka. Private pilot with degree in Airport Management. Retired from the FAA as air traffic controller in 2005. Part-time ATC instructor at the Aeronautical Center in OKC.
Lynn Niekrasz
Retired from a 29-year career salon business. After eight years of studio and plein air study including workshops with Jim McVicker, she joined RAA and continues to learn from many of Humboldt’s gifted artists.
John Blakely
Retired educator, teacher, school administrator and Humboldt County native. A former Sales Manager for Humboldt Creamery Association, Distribution and Shipping Superintendent for the Pacific Lumber Company, and Gallery Manager for Atlee & Atlee Fine Arts. He was educated at the University of Pennsylvania and Humboldt State University. A long-time supporter of the arts in Humboldt County, he is currently focused on fund raising and youth art development.
Berit Potter, Ph.D.
Berit is Assistant Professor of Art History and Museum Studies at Cal Poly Humboldt, where she oversees the Museum and Gallery Practices Certificate. Before moving to Humboldt, she held a fellowship at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and taught at California College of the Arts, Mills College, San Francisco Art Institute and University of San Francisco. She received a M.A. in Museum Studies and Ph.D. in Art History from New York University.
James F. Woglom
An artist/educator and Associate Professor of Art Education at Humboldt State University. He received his PhD from the University of Georgia, where he studied arts-based research methodologies and socially engaged practices. His co-authored graphic novel on social justice-oriented teacher education, On Mutant Pedagogies, was awarded the American Education Research Association’s Qualitative Research Group’s Outstanding Book Award and the Society of Professors of Education Book Award in 2017. He loves to paint and teach.