Collage • Creative Expression • Drama • Photography • Mandalas • Masks

"My goal is for students to express themselves in meaningful and beautiful ways. I encourage teamwork and sharing insights on values and goals. I am a mixed media artist and have pioneered the practice of expressive arts therapy and the use of tools in human resource development."

Linda is a professional photographer and multi-media artist with a masters in Creative Arts Education. She received national honors for excellence in program design. Her creation, Salinas Children – Thinking Through Art, exhibited at the National Steinbeck Center and at Salinas City Hall, was a culmination of children’s classes she taught at City Elementary After School Programs and the Migrant Education Art Academy at La Paz Middle School as well as inter-generational community workshops in East Salinas. She is currently working with students on probation and with Second Chance programs.

The Lisa Coscino Gallery in Pacific Grove features the work of emerging and mid-career artists from across the United States, specializing in those living and working in California. Exhibitions change monthly and typically consist of two separate one-person shows. The Gallery also hosts private art exhibitions in Los Angeles where Central Coast artists are exposed to Los Angeles collectors.

"Silk embroidery has been one of the most prestigious arts in China, surpassing the fame of painting during some periods. From its earliest development, around 800 B.C.E., roughly half a millennium before the terra-cotta warriors were buried in the grave of the emperor, outside what is now Xi’an (c.210 B.C.E.), embroidery has evolved rapidly during those period when social conditions favored it. Ming dynasty (1368 – 1644) the court in Beijing established official embroidery workshops in Suzhou.” - Quote from “Threads of Light” by Robert Glenn Ketchum, article by Patrick Dowdey, the Editor of this book.

In China, there are four styles of silk embroidery. They are Hunan, Sichuan, Canton, and last, also the best of all – Suzhou, which is very different from the other three. The best and finest silk arts are made and presented in Suzhou style.

Thus we at Lu Lu’s Silk Art Gallery have the urgency to show these wonderful Suzhou silk arts to the world and help all who love this kind of art to collect a piece before they disappear.

MYA was founded as a non-profit nine years ago. Our mission is to provide opportunities for children of Marina and throughout the region to experience the performing, visual, and cultural arts through seasonals and year-round participation-based programs. We are the only non-profit organization in Marina committed to such an endeavor. We believe that communities need to preserve and nurture the Arts because they are vital to the quality of life now and in the future.

Visual Arts

I have a strong passion for the arts and a love for children. I try to instill into all of my students that “everyone is an artist”. Together we work to perfect our craft through creating art. My students learn how to use various types of media including: chalk and oil pastels, watercolor and acrylic paints, clay and more.

With a degree in both Arts Education and Museum Studies, Marissa works closely with students, encouraging them to express themselves. When she graduated from C.S.U.M.B, her primary focus with working with middle school children to explore their self-identity. A professional oil painter, Marissa also uses numerous other mediums in her own work as well as in the classroom. She is currently the art instructor at Steinbeck Elementary School in Salinas.