Alejandro Gehry graduated in 1998 with a BFA in Illustration from the Rhode Island School of Design. During his stint as an illustrator/designer at a New York City based advertising agency, Gehry did illustrations and storyboards for various ad campaigns including Tommy Hilfiger, Progressive Auto Insurance and Playboy Enterprises. He did character development for multimedia use on web sites incorporating animation as well as concept drawing and model making for product and packaging design.

 

Gehry had the rare opportunity to design the two large-scale illustrative murals for the opening of the Issey Miyake flagship store in New York City. He worked directly with the design team in Tokyo, Japan as well as project architect to create murals. It was during this time that Gehry was inspired to go back to his roots in figure drawing and painting.

 

Since moving back to his native Los Angeles in 2002, Gehry has primarily worked in oils on a large-scale. At the White Design/Sauce Design in Venice, California, he did illustration and concept drawings. He is also a painter and has had many exhibitions in Los Angeles. He served as Artist Assistant at Robert Graham Studios and presently works at Gehry Products in Los Angeles where he is Designer and Creative Director. He has taught at the Brentwood Art Center since 2004 and at the Los Angeles High School for the Arts since 2005. Gehry currently lives and works in Venice.

 

 

David Schoffman was born in Brooklyn just a few years before the Dodgers moved to L.A. Perhaps it was fate maybe it was chance but David followed a short 35 years later. Since then he has painted about a hundred paintings, made about 3000 drawings, got a few parking tickets and made a name for himself teaching high school students how to get into RISD.

 

Awarded several fellowships related to his pedagogical talents, Schoffman has been recognized nationally for his unique ability to fire the artistic affinities of young people. In addition to his private tutoring, David teaches at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, The Brentwood Art Center School of Fine Arts, Ryman Arts and The California State Summer School for the Arts. He has lectured and has worked as a visiting artist at CalArts, UCLA Graduate School of Performance Music, Pace University and Universidad Oriente in Santiago de Cuba. David is a graduate of Rhode Island School of Design

 

 

Sandi Silbert is an award-winning art director and graphic designer. At Art Center College of Design, she majored in advertising and graphic design and has spent her career combining the two disciplines. She worked for five years as an editorial art director before starting her own boutique design firm. Later, she joined Suissa Miller Advertising, where she was associate creative director for 15 years.

 

After a successful run art directing national and local advertising campaigns and winning Belding and Graphis awards, Sandi once again heeded the call to run her own business. In 2003, she established Sandi Silbert design + advertising.

 

In 2008, Silbert joined the in-house design department at FIDM, where she is now a senior art director currently designing print, direct mail, marketing collateral, signage and online campaigns for a variety of departments within the college, while maintaining and strengthening the FIDM brand. She is also on the faculty of Los Angeles County High School for the Arts where she has been a teacher since 2004.

 

 

Ellen Sklarz has been a journalist and editor for numerous magazines and newspapers.  With experience that began with New West  magazine, she was a feature writer and editor for the Los Angeles Times, contributing regularly to the Sunday “Book Review” and creating the weekly “Discoveries” column. After writing and editing for several Los Angeles-based and national magazines, she was founding editor and columnist for L.A. Style. Sklarz co-founded Threshold Productions Inc., an independent film production company committed to producing movies about people and institutions having an extraordinary, affirmative impact on the world.

 

During the time her children attended Oak Grove School in Ojai, Sklarz served as Admissions Director, responsible for writing and/or editing much of the written materials generated by the school.  Simultaneously, she wrote and copy-edited instructional materials for The Connecting Link, which offers effective classes designed to meet professional development needs of educators.

 

Today, Sklarz works with authors on rewrites, text editing, copyediting and/or proofreading. She also tutors high school and college students who need to improve writing and reading comprehension skills. During college application season, Sklarz works with seniors on writing and editing their personal essays.

 

A native of New York, Sklarz received her B.A. in Speech Communication and graduated Summa Cum Laude from the State University of New York at Buffalo. While completing her M.A. from the University of New Mexico, also in Speech Communication, she taught university courses in Fundamentals of Speech Communication and Interpersonal Communication, and co-authored the public-speaking textbook, Stand Up, Speak Out.  She received Dean’s List honors throughout her academic career and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa.  Sklarz holds a California Community College Instructor Credential for teaching Language Arts and Literature.