CRUCIBLE - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Member of the EMERITUS ADVISORY BOARD
Job Titles:
- Principal of Einstellung Labs
Alexander Zwissler is the Principal of Einstellung Labs, a consultancy working at the
San Francisco from 1999 to 2006. Prior to Fort Mason, Zwissler had a 17-year career as a
Job Titles:
- Member of the EMERITUS ADVISORY BOARD
B is an entrepreneur and product leader, most recently leading the teams focused on Creative Tools at Twitter. He founded Clef, an Oakland cybersecurity startup that hosted weekly community dinners in Jack London Square for many years and received a 2016 East Bay Innovation Award as well as the 2016 Oakland Chamber "Tech Oakland" Award. Throughout the pandemic, B has worked on 3D modeling and printing art pieces to be cast in bronze, skills he learned in the Digital Fabrication and Foundry class he took at the Crucible in 2019!
Jay is a driving force behind Five Ton Crane, an artist collective responsible for large-scale art projects such as the Raygun Gothic Rocketship and the Steampunk Treehouse.
Jay worked as the Senior Artist at the University of California Office of the President from 1991-2007 where he was solely responsible for the creation::maintenance::cultivation of an astounding amount of websites and printed material.
Jay worked as the Curator and Producer for Maker Faire‘s flagship events in both the Bay Area and NY where he managed the curation, layout, placement and the large-scale art direction/installation. He was also on staff at Obscura Digital as an install technician and at the Exploratorium in Public Programs just to keep things interesting
Job Titles:
- Moldmaking and Stoneworking Department Head
Billy Hiebert received his MFA for sculpture in 1965 from CCAC, now CCA. After a few years of sculpting with metal, carving marble, and teaching sculpture and design, he was attracted to industrial processes involving molding and casting. This soon led to a full-time business that offered model making, molding and casting to both artists and industrial clients. His exposure to new methods and materials soon led to a different direction in his sculpture. Billy left behind welded steel and carved marble and embraced a world of molding and casting. He worked with molding and casting in his art for many years until recently returning to his love of carving stone.
Job Titles:
- Advisory Council
- Instructor
Brian has been an instructor at the Crucible since 2006 teaching welding, welded sculpture, and special projects in welding, as well as assisting in the woodshop and blacksmithing smithy. His personal work almost always incorporates metal, wood, historic artifacts and sometimes fire. His West Oakland workshop is just a few blocks from the Crucible!
He founded 12sticks Sculpture and Design in 2005 and has been creating commissioned works in everything from furniture and interior design to public art and community parks in California and Alaska. Through his work he seeks to create pieces that are of value to individuals, communities, future generations and hence society at large by bringing the audience into dialogue. Both with the past of their community, themselves, and with each other in the present moment. To get to a state of "intuition surfing" in the work where what is shared is a conscious and subconscious conversation.
Bryan, a SF Bay Area native, earned a Bachelor's in Business Marketing from CSU, Monterey Bay, and is currently pursuing an MFA in Industrial Design. He comes from a marketing and advertising background in various industries such as Automotive and Medical Devices.
He lives and breathes design, photography, and all things transportation. When not at the Crucible, Bryan enjoys a good funk album, cycling, and spending time with his wife and their cat, Gabby.
Job Titles:
- Bike Shop Department Head
- Bike Shop Department Head / Department
For 20 years, Cathasach has been involved in almost every facet of the bike industry, from shipping parts to teaching youth how to ride safely in the city. His wealth of knowledge and enthusiasm for collaboration makes him a great addition to our Bike Shop. Cathasach is passionate about getting people on bikes, whether that means selling bikes, teaching students to ride, making riding more enticing through improved infrastructure, or just fixing up a bike they can't use.
Cathy Niland, an East Coast transplant, earned her BFA from Pratt Institute in 2012, with a concentration in drawing and extended studies in ceramics and art history. Since then, she has established a small business selling functional ceramic wares. She also teaches beginner wheel-throwing classes at The Crucible and Merritt Ceramics. Other past non-profit work includes animal rescue and food equity. In her spare time, Cathy enjoys roller skating, hiking, and doing impressions of Celine Dion.
Job Titles:
- Member of the EMERITUS ADVISORY BOARD
Job Titles:
- Blacksmithing Department Head
Christopher Niemer was born with metal in his blood-both his father and grandfather were machinists. Chris Niemer has been Department Head of The Crucible's Blacksmithing Department since its first opened it doors in 1999. "For me, metalsmithing is a form of alchemy, forging the past into the future using the tools that are present." Keep reading.
Job Titles:
- Neon & Light Department Head
- San Francisco Bay Area Artist
Christian Schiess is a San Francisco Bay area artist originally from New Mexico. His art utilizes a variety of materials including luminous and kinetic materials to create permanent sculptures, assemblages, and site specific installations. His education spans several disciplines and institutions that include a B.A. from Univ. of New Mexico- Albuquerque, in Anthropology; a B.F.A. in Visual Arts from the Univ. of San Francisco, S.F., CA, and an M.F.A. in Sculpture from Mills College, Oakland, CA. Additionally, he completed a Fulbright Fellowship at the Royal College of Art in London, UK, and is the author of the book "The Light Artist Anthology." His awards include a grant from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, an NEA/AFI Grant, three NEA/Western States Regional Media Arts Fellowships, several artist-in-residencies including the San Francisco Exploratorium, the Bristol Exploratory England, and a New York State Council on the Arts residency at Binghamton, NY. He has been chosen twice as a visiting guest artist in Sculpture at the Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT. His work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally. Currently, he is on the faculty and Department Head of the Neon & Light department at The Crucible.
Job Titles:
- Kinetics and Electronics Department Head
For more than 30 years, Cindy has led the design and expansion of digital services with a primary focus on education. In her current role, she oversees Edutopia, a trusted source for inspiration and information about what works in education. Prior to joining the George Lucas Educational Foundation, Cindy served as senior vice president of interactive and education for the Public Broadcasting Service. At PBS, she was responsible for the launch and growth of the award-winning pbs.org and its suite of Internet sites, including pbskids.org, pbsparents.org, and pbsteacher-source.org. Cindy's passion for online learning started in 1989 with text-based interfaces and 300 baud modems when she managed teacher support and training for Learning Link, an online service for K-12 classrooms. She holds a master's degree from Teachers College, Columbia University and a bachelor's degree in communications from Ohio University.
Craig moved to the Bay Area in 1989 to attend UC Berkeley and never looked back. His 20+ years in the tech industry have spanned a wide range of roles--desktop support, systems engineer, and network architect to name a few. While he has fond memories of installing Excite.com's last internet crawler and indexing server farm, people and organizational culture are his passion. This was highlighted by his leadership role as Operations Director for Postini, Inc., which he helped grow into an email security market leader. Postini was eventually guided through a successful acquisition by Google where Craig currently has responsibility for production infrastructure supporting the Android ecosystem for billions of mobile devices across the globe. Married to Dominique for 20 years, they've made Oakland their home and are raising four children--Ruby (18), Sylvie (16), Frankie (14), and Teddy (11).
David was drawn to this position as someone with both nonprofit experience and as a former small business owner. He is a passionate supporter of local artists and is especially excited about the program's ability to create community, provide dedicated studio space, offer skill-building opportunities, and access capital through our SFMade partnership. "There is often a lack of resources for BIPOC makers who might not have access to facilities like The Crucible. I was interested in working to bridge that gap. OFB creates a safe and welcoming space to learn new skills and scale their businesses," David says.
Job Titles:
- Member of the EMERITUS ADVISORY BOARD
Job Titles:
- Member of the EMERITUS ADVISORY BOARD
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer of Oakland Thrives
Dr. Melanie Moore is Chief Executive Officer of Oakland Thrives. An experienced, strategic social sector leader specializing in innovation, collaboration, and collective impact in public-private partnerships, she was a professional evaluator for over 15 years, leading projects assessing the impact of youth development, school reform, community development programs, capacity-building initiatives, and funder networks. As a strategic leader in the social sector for over 10 years, Melanie has created strategies for achieving community and population-level results in governmental, nonprofit, and philanthropic organizations. Dr. Moore was the lead evaluator for the San Francisco Department of Children, Youth, and Families' first comprehensive outcomes-based evaluation, and also led the Department's citywide strategic planning efforts for the Mayor's Children's Cabinet.
Job Titles:
- Member of the EMERITUS ADVISORY BOARD
Job Titles:
- Machine Shop Department Head
- Machine Shop Department Head / Department
Ian Wenck's passion shines bright on The Crucible Machine Shop and beyond. "I stumbled into machining about 10 years ago and had a realization like, ‘Oh, that's how it's all made.' Then I started saving up money and went out and bought my own mill and a lathe," Ian shared. "I studied machining independently for five or six years, then went through the Diablo Valley College program." Over a decade later, Ian has found his way back to our Machine Shop as our new Department Head. His passion for machining is contagious and his love of problem-solving makes him a perfect fit for the job.
Job Titles:
- Member of the EMERITUS ADVISORY BOARD
Job Titles:
- Glass Fusing & Slumping Department Head
Janet Hiebert's formative years were spent in the mid-western United States. Born in Illinois, living briefly in Iowa, and spending fourteen years in Kansas shaped her artistic vision and spiritual values. She studied drawing, painting, and ceramics at CCA (formerly CCAC) and received a BA in Studio Art from California State University East Bay (formerly Cal State Hayward).
Jeremy Crandell is the owner of St. Louise Studios, a collaborative workspace for artists, fabricators and entrepreneurs, located at the northern end of the West Oakland Industrial Arts Corridor. Crandell has worked with The Crucible since 2000 in various capacities; as student, volunteer, staff and on the Board of Directors from 2005 to 2012. He has returned to Board service again in 2013. Crandell is a member of the Board of Directors of the Friends of the Children's Eternal Rainforest supporting the work of the Monteverde Conservation League in Costa Rica. He has served on the Black Rock City LLC's Art Department for the annual Burning Man event as well as the Black Rock Arts Foundation's Advisory Council. Crandell was a co-founder of Brightmail, Inc., the email protection platform, now owned by Symantec, the Director of Technology for Network for Good and a Senior Technical Producer at America Online. Earlier in his career, Crandell worked for the Soviet/Russian Refugee program for the State Department and Immigration and Naturalization Service. Crandell received a bachelor's degree in Politics and Russian from Principia College.
Jeremy Sugerman is an Oakland-based attorney who has represented a number of working artists and non-profit organizations. He has held a variety of leadership roles, including as a board member of the BlackRock Arts Foundation, and as past President of the Board of Directors of the San Francisco Senior Center. He is also a current board member of the American Safe Climbing Association.
Job Titles:
- Member of the EMERITUS ADVISORY BOARD
Job Titles:
- Instructor at Techshop
- Woodworking Department Co - Head
- Woodworking Department Co - Head / Department
Jolie Karno is a skilled woodturner and accomplished instructor at Techshop in San Francisco and The Crucible in Oakland. She loves teaching, and has introduced scores of people to fine woodworking. She is the Director at The Lower 48, a maker space in Oakland with the mission to welcome more people, especially more women and people of color, to the joy of turning wood into beautiful objects. Jolie is known for her contagious enthusiasm about all this wooden and loves to turn, teach, and play with animals.
Job Titles:
- Business Design Strategist
Joyce is a business design strategist and futurist whose experience spans reimagining patient-centered healthcare, launching wearable technology, and leading rapid business model prototyping sessions within a venture accelerator.
Job Titles:
- Founder
- Enameling Department Co - Head
Judy Stone, founder of the Crucible enamel department and co-department head along with Katy Joksch, is a hidden treasure among all the illustrious Crucible faculty members. Her worldwide reputation among enamelists as a teacher, mentor, and artist is unprecedented and has earned her the moniker of "the enamel doctor." During the 50+ years, Stone has been enameling she undertook the task of learning the scientific underpinnings that she could use to solve technical problems she was encountering. As a result of her research, she developed a unique approach to teaching enameling which other enamel instructors have wholeheartedly embraced.
Majoring in German language and literature, Stone received her bachelor of arts degree from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio in 1966 and her master of arts from the Indiana University in 1968. She first encountered enameling in 1968 while studying on a Fulbright fellowship in Germany. She later recalled, "One day I saw a piece coming out of a kiln. It was molten red and as it cooled I could see brilliant color emerging. It was the alchemy of that transformation that piqued my interest." After returning to the United States in 1969 and settling in the San Francisco Bay area in 1972 she taught herself to enamel while also enrolling in workshops with some of the leading figures in the enamels field. "I took workshops with Margarete Seeler and Bill Harper in the mid to late 1970s, with Jamie Bennett in the early 1980s, and with Bill Helwig in the 1990s." But it was Fred Ball's book on experimental enameling that had the most profound influence, encouraging her to explore non-traditional approaches in her work.
Like her Bay Area friend and mentor June Schwarcz, Stone rethinks venerable vessel-making traditions as she creates open forms in glass and metal, abstract sculptures which, while referring to tradition, defy the fundamental notions of containment, enclosure, and functionality so long associated with the vessel. However, unlike Schwarcz, whose enamel and metal sculptures are created, for the most part, through an electroforming process, Stone works with spun or hand-raised copper forms. She then cuts into and rips open these pristine vessels and re-stitches them with metal wire.
The principles of destruction and renewal or "healing" are central to Stone's work. Her process involves tearing open a form to reveal what lies within and then reassembling it to construct a new reality. As she states, "These ‘destructed vessels' challenge me to heal what has been destroyed, making it more beautiful and more balanced." However she is also mindful of the unique properties and capabilities of enamel: "I want the satin finishes, the exterior of the piece, to be handled and caressed. I paint with light and want light to play on and through the piece."
Job Titles:
- Executive Director of Business Support for National Facilities Services at Kaiser Permanente
Julie Sigoloff is the Executive Director of Business Support for National Facilities Services at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, CA. A Kaiser Permanente employee since 1992, Julie worked as the managing director of leadership development for the Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group before moving to NFS in 2010. She also has clinical experience as a mental health clinician and crisis counselor.Julie is a certified executive/life coach and a certified Gallup Strengths coach.
Karen Flynn joins our board after recently stepping down as CEO of the Bay Area Discovery Museum, a position she'd held since 2011. Prior to becoming CEO, Flynn was a Trustee for the Bay Area Discovery Museum for five years, serving as Chair of the Board of Trustees and Chair of the Development Committee. Flynn has also served on the boards of community organizations including The Financial Women's Association, Heyday Books, AND the Mountain Play Association.
Job Titles:
- Glass Blowing Department Co - Head
Job Titles:
- Director of Financial Strategy and Community
Ken is a Director of Financial Strategy and Community Impact Investing at First Republic Bank, where he focuses on navigating the macroenvironment to drive long-term sustainable growth and investing in low and moderate income communities. Ken also founded the Bank's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Ambassadors program to increase engagement and ensure a long-term commitment to ideation, implementation, and lasting change. Ken lives in Oakland and is passionate about playing music, the outdoors, and giving back to the community.
Kirsten is a painter and multidisciplinary artist living and working in the Bay Area. She earned her BFA in Painting and Art History from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2019. Her work often combines elements of painting and stained glass as a means of exploring light and color. When she isn't making art or keeping the studios running at the Crucible, she is running her independent lifestyle and homewares brand, Total Pansy, where she designs and creates vibrant and fun objects for creative people.
Job Titles:
- Member of the EMERITUS ADVISORY BOARD
Job Titles:
- Glass Flameworking Department Co - Head
Job Titles:
- Member of the EMERITUS ADVISORY BOARD
Job Titles:
- Member of the EMERITUS ADVISORY BOARD
Job Titles:
- Designer
- Founder
- Member of the EMERITUS ADVISORY BOARD
Michael Sturtz is an internationally acclaimed innovator, designer, educator, and artist. Michael earned his BFA from Alfred University and MFA at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He set out to reinvent the idea of arts education and founded The Crucible as a truly non-competitive learning environment. Launched with only a conceptual design and a grant for $1,750, it quickly grew under Michael's leadership to become the largest nonprofit industrial arts education facility in the country.
While there, he designed, directed, and produced stunning theatrical Fire Operas, and Fire Ballets which defined a new genre of entertainment. After twelve years at the helm, Michael retired from The Crucible in 2011 and found new creative challenges at Stanford's d.school, where he spearheaded the ReDesigning Theater project. He later established and led The Stanford Creative Ignition Lab at Autodesk in San Francisco. In early 2017, Michael was invited to lead the prototyping lab at Google X, a research and development facility that focuses on building early-stage proof of concept prototypes.
In 2019, Michael was tapped as lead consultant to Gracefield Innovation Quarter, a high-energy research and development district near Wellington, New Zealand. He has lent his expertise to the country's effort to lead worldwide innovation in environmentally restorative technology. More recently, he became an Edmund Hillary Fellow, joining world-class entrepreneurs and investors in New Zealand who are working to catalyze positive change in the world. Michael continues to be an in-demand speaker, educator, and creative provocateur, igniting revolutions in thought, organizational development, and creative empowerment across the globe.
Job Titles:
- Woodworking Department Co - Head
Nico first joined The Crucible community as our Fuego Coordinator, working with our teen leadership program during the summers.
Nico is a Ph.D. student in the Teaching and Learning Department at NYU Steinhardt. He is a critical learning scientist seeking to use design-based research with the purpose of re-envisioning English Language Learners as Multilingual Multicultural Makers (M3) through linguistically-responsive teaching, culturally-responsive teaching, and maker-centered learning. In embarking on this research, Nico wants to empower teachers to design with the whole child in mind.
In embarking on this research, Nico wants to empower teachers to design with the whole child in mind. His research also encompasses the topics of Arts-Centered Integrated Learning, Critical Literacy, Pedagogical Language Knowledge, Teacher Burnout, and Teacher Identity.
In the past, Nico worked as an English Language Arts teacher in Oakland, CA and as an international educator in a variety of projects in Kazakhstan, Myanmar, China, Taiwan, and Senegal. His forte is in designing learning environments with an emphasis on creativity, English language acquisition, critical thinking, and cross-cultural empathetic communication.
Job Titles:
- Member of the EMERITUS ADVISORY BOARD
Job Titles:
- Member of the EMERITUS ADVISORY BOARD
Job Titles:
- Glass Flameworking Department Co - Head
Job Titles:
- Member of the EMERITUS ADVISORY BOARD
Job Titles:
- Glass Blowing Department Co - Head
Samantha Maria Xochitl Espinoza is a Chicanx artist coming from a Mexican and Salvadoran family. She grew up in L.A. and in Denver, CO, and loves being a Libra. She references living in between worlds, identities, and homes as a marker of her queer, Chicanx experience. Her work reveals her historical and personal traumas as openings for wider conversations on racialized, gendered, sexual, and capitalist oppression. Her work is meant as a gift to fellow brown womxn in the hopes that they will see parts of themselves reflected or whispered within her work. She is a youth educator, organizer, daughter, sister and falls in love frequently.
Job Titles:
- Member of the EMERITUS ADVISORY BOARD
Job Titles:
- Fire & Performance Department Head
A lifelong performer, Shaina Dyani Johnson began Ballet studies at Age 4, later exploring Modern, Khatak, Odissi, and Argentine Tango dance forms as well as Yoga and Circus Arts. In 2001, she discovered fire performance and now regularly appears at private, corporate, and festival venues across the United States and overseas. Some of her performance credits include Huis Ten Bosch in Kyushu, Japan; the Harbor Nights Festival in Hamilton, Bermuda; the Sonoma International Film Festival in Napa Valley, CA, as well as the Great American Music Hall and the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, CA. In 2004, she founded the Copper Lantern Fire Theater, an ensemble of performers, musicians, and fabricators who create a stylized fusion of dance theater, fire performance, custom flame effects, and live and electronic music, which has been awarded multiple grants for innovation.
Shaina has performed at the Crucible since its Oakland Grand Opening celebration in 2003. Since then, she has performed for open houses, fashion shows, fire festivals, and full-length theatrical productions such as Romeo & Juliet: A Fire Ballet, Heat: A Fire Cabaret, and Crucible Revival. She formally joined the fire performance faculty in 2012 and instructs fire eating classes for regular adult programming and corporate team builds.
As an instructor, Shaina strives to create a supportive environment for participants to explore new skills by imbuing her classes with warmth, humor, and engaging, hands-on activities. Her classes emphasize safety, learning at one's own pace, interactivity, and community creation.
Job Titles:
- Vice President With Citi Community & Investing Development
Shawnee Keck is a Vice President with Citi Community & Investing Development. She has worked with organizations in six countries and across the public, private and non-profit sectors with a focus on economic development, policy and systems change. With Citi, Shawnee has invested in Black-led real estate and property projects, user-led public service design and local arts and manufacturing business development. An American in London for over a decade, Shawnee was a Project Manager and Economic Policy Advisor for the London Borough of Hackney in east London where she documented the rise of the creative industries and policies to support inclusive vibrant cities.
Taj Wilson grew up in the East Bay and has been involved with a variety of non-profit, education-based organizations. He is currently an in-house counsel for Google and previously served as a Deputy Associate Counsel at the White House during Obama's presidency. Wilson was formerly a member of The Crucible's Advisory Council.
Vanessa Zagaroli is a multidisciplinary artist who lives in Oakland, CA. Through the mediums of installation, performance, sculpture, video, painting, and relational aesthetics they explore life as a human in America. Vanessa is part of The Crucible staff as the Director of Studio & Facilities, as well as teaching in the Foundry Department.
Job Titles:
- Member of the EMERITUS ADVISORY BOARD
Originally from Nicaragua, Zeydi came to the US when she was 17-years-old due to the civil war. After learning English, Zeydi earned her B.S. in Organizational Management and her MBA from Golden Gate University. As a member of the City of Oakland Workforce Development Board, Zeydi supported federally-funded employment and training programs and services in Oakland, making a difference both locally and nationally.