Art Faculty & Staff

Art Department Faculty

Mary Catherine (MC) Bassett, Department Chair
Ceramics, 2D & 3D Design, Sculpture
www.marycatherinebassett.com
mbassett@peralta.edu

Mary Catherine (MC) Bassett is Full-time faculty in the Art Department at Laney College and a practicing artist working primarily in ceramic and glass.  MC received her BFA rom the School of the Art Institute of Chicago with an emphasis in Fiber and Material Studies and earned her MFA in 2012 from the School for American Crafts at the Rochester Institute of Technology with a degree in Glass Sculpture. Mary Catherine has been an artist in residence at S12 studio in Bergen Norway and Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally. 

Fan Lee Warren
Drawing and Composition, Art History
www.fanleewarren.net
fwarren@peralta.edu

Fan Lee Warren is a contemporary Chicago artist who lives and works in Oakland, CA. She has been exhibiting works on paper, sculptures, and installations for over three decades. Currently, she teaches drawing, painting, and art history at Laney College since 2000.

Hannah Tandeta
Art History
htandeta@peralta.edu

Hannah Tandeta studied art history and studio practice at UC Irvine, and later earned her MFA in Printmaking and Photography at San Jose State University. She has taught a broad range of subjects with Peralta Community Colleges since 2003. She has two daughters, two granddaughters, and one cat.

Liesa Lietzke
Art History, Color Dynamics
https://www.instagram.com/liesalietzke/
llietzke@peralta.edu

Liesa Lietzke is a San Francisco Bay Area based artist and educator. Her studio work has been exhibited at Deitch Projects Art Parade, Aqua Art Fair Miami Beach, The Oakland Museum of California, The Lab, Krowswork and other venues. Her 2013 curatorial project brought together artists addressing an array of issues raised by breast cancer and installed their work at the triennial California Breast Cancer Research Project Symposium. Her writing has been published by the Chinese Cultural Center of San Francisco, San Francisco State University Humanities Symposium Journal, and others. Lietzke completed her graduate studies at California College of the Arts, earning an MFA in sculpture at in 2009 and an MA in Visual and Critical Studies in 2011.

Martha “Mo” Storm
Ceramics, Figure Sculpture
mstorm@peralta.edu

Mo Storm started working in clay as a teen then in college she took the serpentine path through textiles and sculpture [sometimes blending the two mediums], earning an MFA in sculpture at Mills College. She came back to ceramics because it was still a deep part of her soul. She believes that art teaches creative problem solving and is good for all students, no matter what major or field. 

Taught at: Academy of Art, H.A.R.D [City of Hayward], Laney College, Mills College [TA 2+ yrs], NIAD [Arts and Disabilities program, Richmond CA] 

Meghan Pohlod
Printmaking
mpohlod@peralta.edu

Meg Pohlod is a print artist based in the Bay Area. Prior to teaching she was the Artist Residency Manager for four years at Kala Art Institute in Berkeley, California. Over the last 10 years she has been working at and with art centers to assist with program development and volunteering for special events. She received her MFA in printmaking from the University of Alberta in 2017. Her visual research examines the body as interior and exterior space; questioning what happens with memory attached to trauma of abandonment when triggered by image, place and time. Pohlod has exhibited work, and been a visiting artist nationally and internationally. When she is not printing in the studio, she is enjoying walks with her chihuahua Rupert and partner Max.

Robert Abrams
Ceramics/ Gallery Director
rabrams@peralta.edu

Robert began his art practice in 1993 in NY City. He moved back to the Bay Area in 2000 and went on to earn Masters in Fine Art Sculpture in 2007 at Academy of Art University, San Francisco, having previously earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Organizational Psychology at UC Berkeley in 1986. He has shown his work in many  exhibitions in NY and California, including at the Legion of Honor, Room art Gallery in Mill Valley, and many others.  Robert has taught ceramics for 20 years at various studios around the bay area including The Potters’ Studio, Richmond Art Center,  and The Berkeley Art Studio(ASUC Art Studio). He currently is on the Solano Avenue Association board, teaches at Laney College and at the Mill Valley Potters Studio. Robert is the owner of Abrams Claghorn Gallery in Albany CA and his latest venture is a small teaching studio in El Cerrito, Ca called MudWorks Pottery.

 

Frederick0 Alvarado
Painting
falvarado@peralta.edu

 

Fredericko Alvarado is a project based artist working through drawing, painting, public art, video, and curatorial practices. Their work revolves building with communities in the creations of site specific works. Alvarado engages sites through observation, research, and connection to local centers, organizations, and individuals who negotiate given spaces. This allows them the ability to experience, learn, and decipher differences and commonalities between the diverse personalities and cultures of this beautiful world. 

Pamela Thomas
Figure Sculpture
pthomas@peralta.edu

Originally from Hollywood, California, Pam caught the clay bug at 17 in her very first sculpture class at UC Berkeley- taught by Richard Shaw (!).  She received a BA from UCB and then earned her MFA from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University.  There she concentrated her studies on life-size ceramic figure sculpture.   

In addition to being an artist, Pam is also a teacher of all things clay and sculpture. She has taught at the Hartford Art School, the University of Connecticut- Storrs, Seoul Women’s University in South Korea, as well as Los Medanos College, City College of San Francisco, Laney and Merritt Colleges in California. 

Sharon Siskin
EcoArt Matters
sskin@peralta.edu

Sharon Siskin received her BFA from Tyler School of Art; MA from University of New Mexico and MFA from University of California, Berkeley. Sharon has an extensive exhibition record, showing her work in museums, galleries, and public sites for more than 45 years. She is the recipient of numerous residencies, awards and grants.   

Sharon is currently a Faculty Advisor in the MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts Program at Goddard College in Port Townsend, WA, and an Adjunct Professor in the Art and Cultural Studies Program at Berkeley City College and in the Art Department at Laney College. She has taught at the San Francisco Art Institute, California College of the Arts, John F. Kennedy University, California State University East Bay, University of New Mexico, at several Bay Area Community Colleges, and for 5 years as an Assistant Professor at University of San Francisco.  

Minoosh Zomorodinia
EcoArt Matters
rzomorodinia@peralta.edu

Minoosh Zomorodinia is an Iranian-born interdisciplinary artist and educator. She is a freelance media artist and currently a Part-time Faculty at Peralta Community College since 2015. She serves as a co-chair of the Women Eco Artists Dialog, and a member of Art Program Committees for several Art Centers in the Bay Area. Zomorodinia has received several awards, residences, and grants including Headlands Center for the Arts, and Recology Artist Residency. She has exhibited locally and internationally at Asian Art Museum San Francisco, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and Pori Art Museum. She earned an MFA from San Francisco Art Institute.

Anna Vaughan
Art History
anvaughan@peralta.edu

Studio Staff

Interviews in progress for Department Coordinator