Supporting the Arts in Mono County
Mono Arts Council’s mission is to facilitate and encourage art appreciation through education, advocacy and art-inspired programs and events.
To grow public and private financial support
To facilitate activities showcasing national and area artists
Continued advocacy for the arts and fostering regional partnerships in the Eastern Sierra
To become a resource for artists and the public leading to lifelong awareness of the arts and culture in our community
To provide arts
in education for
all ages.
Staff
Kristin Reese
Kristin Reese is a long-time resident of the Eastern Sierra, arriving with her parents in 1976. While she spent her youth mostly learning the performing arts, she was constantly exposed to all the Arts from having painters, photographers, musicians and dancers in her family. She left the area to obtain her Bachelor of Arts degree in Music from Sonoma State University but couldn’t stay away for too long. Upon returning from college, she quickly re-connected to the Eastern Sierra arts community. She co-founded Sierra Classic Theatre in 1999, and worked at the Edisto Gallery & Tea Room in 2003, where she was introduced to many of the Mono Arts Council local artists. Kristin is honored to lead Mono Arts Council and will work towards ensuring that every child in Mono County has access to the arts. She hopes to connect more artists and patrons of all arts to this long-standing organization. She is currently the singer and percussionist for the local band, Bodie 601, enjoys backpacking, kayaking, jogging, and x-country skiing, loves taking pictures and learning new art mediums, and resides in the Mono Basin with her husband, and fellow musician, Russ.
Brooke Rogers
Brooke has spent the last 15 years working in Arts Education in New York City. She has been leading education teams for organizations that focus on both in-school and out-of-school time programming, most recently for The Juilliard School.
Before coming to MAC and the Eastern Sierra, Brooke also taught in Wisconsin, Maine, and Washington working as an outdoor educator. She has done everything from leading wilderness expeditions to teaching students hands-on science activities; from working with corporate groups on high and low ropes courses activities to teaching video games remotely.
Brooke has a background in literature and theatre, and spends her free time hiking and canoeing with her dog Boone whenever she can!
Alonso Escobar
Alonso was born and raised in the Eastern Sierra. He has loved growing up in the Mammoth Lakes area. The area has created a foundation for exploration that has elapsed into adulthood. Growing up in a tourist area has given him the opportunity to learn about cultures both local and international due to the people that visit throughout the seasons. As a child of immigrants from Chile and Mexico, he was given the opportunity to understand the importance of knowing one’s roots while also being able to grow new branches.
He was able to leave Mammoth to obtain a degree in International and Regional Studies (European Studies) from UCLA. He returned to Mammoth to work in the educational field under the MUSD umbrella until 2020 when he was elected to the Board of Education. In 2022, he was able to obtain his Master’s in International Relations from American University.
Alonso has always loved and appreciated the varying mediums of art. Throughout his college experience, he took many art history courses and was always interested in the way that art was used as a representation of culture. However, he was incredibly interested in the way that art was used as a protest tool. He has enjoyed watching the way in which people within the area have used art to represent themselves and their cultures including the Pow Wow Social Dance, the Ballet Folklorico de las Flores, and the emerging theater and music scene. As an advocate for the arts, Alonso has worked with government entities to create channels for cultural and social acknowledgments. He hopes to use his education and love for the area to better impact the community.
Kristi Day
Kristi was born and raised in Sweden, but you’d never know since she doesn’t have an accent. She moved to Southern California in 2016, and after almost 1.5 years living in a van traveling all over the Western US and Canada, found Mammoth Lakes.
She attended a visual arts and sculpture high school and later went on to earn a Bachelor of Graphic Design and Communication degree from the University of Linköping. Graphic design has been Kristi’s main job for the past ten or so years, while art took more of a back seat.
Kristi is excited to be back in the world of art and feels honored to be able to teach and share her passion for everything art. She loves working with kids and their fascinating imaginations. Kristi enjoys the creation process and getting messy with anything from paint and glue to clay, wood, and metal.
She enjoys pretty much everything outdoors - downhill skiing, uphill skiing, cross-country skiing, climbing, hiking, biking, running, swimming, backpacking, horseback riding (dressage mainly). Indoors Kristi enjoys cooking yummy things, baking sourdough bread, and playing nerdy games with her wife, Molly, and friends.
Annemarie Hall
Annemarie was born in Ontario, Canada where she grew up on a small farm with horses, lush woods to explore, and lots of free time and open spaces. She learned to build structures like cottage decks and tree forts with her dad and brother, draw and paint with her mom, and garden and bake with her Oma. The daughter of German immigrants, Annemarie was the first in her family to go to college and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts with a minor in French and a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture. During her public-school years, she was involved in dance, theater and art, but she also loved her science and math classes.
In college, she realized how much having exposure to the arts helped her see the world in a more connected and whole way as she pursued her technical degree in Landscape Architecture. She could easily express her ideas on ‘a napkin’ with pencil in hand and saw how art education critically shaped her ability to see spaces in three dimensions. Exposure to the arts also taught her how to communicate clearly with clients and other professionals like engineers and architects. Her 30- year career was spent creating beautiful private gardens and large public spaces in the OC, San Diego and LA, as well as exhibiting her oil paintings in local galleries.
But every chance she and her family had, they ran away to the mountains to play in the snow and sage. Annemarie is thrilled to be part of the Mono Arts Council Gallery team as the Artist Liaison and Gallery Curator. Her goal is to promote local Eastern Sierra Artists, provide for a variety of art styles and media, and make the Community Arts Center a welcome place to come paint, paste and pour. She wants every visitor that enters the gallery, young and old, visitor and local, to be inspired by the art in the gallery and feel how art can touch the soul.
Julia Yaris
Julia Yaris grew up in Los Angeles and moved to Mammoth after feeling the need for more nature in her life. Julia was pursuing a Psychology degree at Loyola Marymount University before leaving to become a pastry chef and studying at the Institute of Culinary Education. She is an artist at heart that plans to pursue baking as a career while working at the gallery! She spent the past summer on a month and a half long camping trip and is excited to get back to exploring the Great Outdoors!
When not working at the gallery, Julia can usually be found baking, reading, gouache painting in nature or hiking with her two pups.
Stop by the gallery to meet her and see what she’s done with the place!
Peggy Sage Armenta
Peggy Sage Armenta has been coming up to Mammoth from Southern Cal since she was old enough to stand on skis, making this beautiful community her summer destination since her parents happily opted to retire here almost 30 years ago. Raised on a steady diet of public school music, theater and art programs, Peggy carried the inspiration forward into her college career, receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theater with a minor in music, at the University of Southern California. She earned her Actor’s Equity Union membership hoofing it through two seasons of Summer Stock in Michigan, playing violin in the pit orchestra then running upstairs to complete dance numbers on stage. Combining her musical and theatrical skills, she considers her top professional experience a show in which she was called on to play violin, flute and saxophone all while trying to keep a straight face while dancing in a poufy wig and horn-rimmed glasses in a Chicago production of “Oil City Symphony”.
Opting to move on to a steadier life-style, Peggy turned to her other love, teaching. Over the next 30 years she has shared her love of art, music and theater with children and parents in both Los Angeles and Orange Counties. Combining her skills as an educator, performer and musician, Peggy found herself a mainstay with libraries and bookstores all over Orange County, winning her an OCParent magazine’s “Best Story Time” recognition and getting her more deeply involved in spreading a love for the arts in both public and private programs. Peggy spent several years putting together both art and theater experiences for preschool through middle school children as the director of after-school programs, moving on to teach elementary school music and launching large-scale annual Christmas and Spring concerts.
In 2019, Peggy completed her teaching credential while finishing up the infamous 2019/2020 school year teaching classes via Zoom, opting to teach remotely from Mammoth to keep her dad company. By the summer of 2020, Mammoth at long last became Peggy’s permanent home and she found herself volunteering to help out at MAC’s July 4th Art Festival. In addition to being covered in paint at the Splash Booth, Peggy has happily found a new community of like-minded art enthusiasts and with great delight is now teaching art and theater arts programs at Mammoth Elementary and Middle Schools, all funded through the Mono Arts Council. Peggy is also an enthusiastic member of Mammoth Lakes Rotary, a volunteer with Mono County First Five and delighted to be a member of the Easter Sierra Chamber Orchestra through Cerro Coso College. She lives in Mammoth with her dad, Don Sage, her youngest of three sons, Ben Armenta and their dog, Hazel.
Teaching Artists
Madisun Hodges
Greate with the Greats
Judy Burgenbauch
Music
Dori Myer
Improv
Ally Tapley
Dance (on leave)
Sage Romero
Pow Wow Social Dance & Cultural Arts Program - Indigenous Arts
Board of Directors
Melissa Reeves
Board Chair
mmmothgirl@yahoo.com
Melissa was born and raised in San Diego and moved to Mammoth in 1993. She recently returned to college, earning an AA in Studio Arts at Cerro Coso and BA in Arts Administration from UMass Amherst. She was involved in nonprofit administration work for over 4 years at Mammoth Lakes Foundation/Mammoth Lakes Repertory Theatre and is currently employed at Mammoth Community Water District. Her passion for the arts includes jewelry-making and ceramics. She believes in promoting the arts, making them accessible, and appreciates the value the arts bring to our community.
Dave Titus
Vice Chair
me@davetitus.com
Dave is a talented Illustrator and graphic designer with many high profile clients to his credit including Disney, General Mills, Nabisco, Kirkland Signature, Airborne, GRAMMY Foundation, Hasbro and hundreds more. He’s also a sign painter and muralist, and has been painting outdoor art since high school. Art is in his blood. His mom was a painter, musician and writer and inspired the passion in him from the day he was born.
Living the life of an artist, Dave has been able to volunteer his time over the last 28 years to the community. He served as a board member with Mono County Little league for 17 years and coached baseball at all levels for 20, including high school. He served on 3 school WASC accreditation committees, started the Crowley Lake Trail Run as a fundraiser, and donated 100’s of hours to the schools throughout the upbringing of his boys. Currently Dave sits on the Board of the Mono County Office of Education, and is joining the MAC board to play a more direct role in the continuing development of art education programs throughout the community.
Christopher Platt
Board Treasurer
cplatt@monocoe.org
Christopher was born and raised in Bishop and has degrees in French Literature from UC Santa Barbara and Library and Information Science from the University of Washington. He spent many years in and around New York specializing in library collection development, launching the “BookOps” shared collection services center supporting the 158 locations of the Brooklyn Public Library and New York Public Library, and finally serving as Chief Branch Library Officer of New York Public Library. Yet when the mountains started calling again he gave up big city life to return to the Eastern Sierra in 2018 as Mono County Library Director. His experience working in public libraries makes him a firm believer that the synergy of literature and arts at the local level can bring about delight, inspiration, comfort, understanding, and a sense of connectedness -- all indicators of a healthy community.
Susi Bains
Board Secretary
owlmoonstudios@gmail.com
Susi was born and raised in the San Fernando Valley and earned her B.A. in Psychology from California Southern University. She grew up in a family of painters, woodworkers, and textile artists, so creating art was always encouraged and supported. As a child and young adult, she spent many of her summer vacations camping and hiking in the Eastern Sierra. Even then, she knew the meaning of “The Mountains are Calling,” and vowed to someday make them her home. Fast forward to the year 2000, and her dream became reality.
After more than a decade of working in the crisis intervention field with victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and child abuse, Susi formed a non-profit organization - SHINE – in 2017. SHINE is dedicated to assisting underserved and marginalized populations in Inyo and Mono Counties and provides community education focused on mental health first aid.
Susi is also a stained glass artist and owner of Owl Moon Studios. As a little girl, she was fascinated by the beauty and intensity of the colors and light that glass has to offer. In her late 20s, she took a community workshop to learn the basics of building leaded glass windows. She instantly fell in love with the process and has been committed to the craft ever since.
Susi believes that emotional, psychological, and social well-being are vital components of good mental health; creativity and the arts are necessary to help us handle stress, relate to others, and build a strong community.
Susi splits her time between California's Eastern Sierra and Montana's Flathead Valley. When not creating art or working in the community, you can catch her outdoors regardless of the weather.
Rebecca Clayton
Board Member
foxeydesigns@gmail.com
Rebecca grew up in L.A. and made frequent trips to Mammoth Lakes throughout her childhood. In high school, she knew that she would end up in the Eastern Sierra, but had a few things to check off her list before making that happen.
She attended Vanguard University in Costa Mesa and earned her B.A. in Business Administration and continued on one more year to earn her teaching credential. She competed in cross country and track throughout college and earned All American honors in both sports.
In 2010, she achieved her goal of making the Eastern Sierra her home.
Rebecca has always had a passion to create. She would call it one of her driving forces in life.
In 2011, she became a teacher for Eastern Sierra Unified School District and continues to work for the district. As a teacher, she has created and led various after school clubs, such as Hiking Club, Art Club, Running Club, and Knitting Club.
In 2016, she opened a local art shop in Bridgeport, called The Fox Den. She met so many wonderful Eastern Sierra artists through this venture. She also hosted art classes there as well- from painting, to glass bead making, to knitting.
In 2018, she created the Ridge Rambler Half Marathon in Bridgeport to share her love of running and the beautiful Bridgeport area.
In 2020, she and her husband created and opened Growlers Eatery in Bridgeport located next to Big Meadow Brewing Co.
She truly appreciates all of the art the MAC brings to ESUSD and is excited to join the MAC board!
Steve Shatkin
Board Member
Steven M. Shatkin is a graduate of the University of California, Riverside with a B.S. degree in Psychobiology. Post-college he worked as a lab supervisor for the organic testing department at E.S. Babcock & Sons, and then as a senior research chemist for CPI, Inc. where he was awarded two patents in chemistry.
Mr. Shatkin has served as the president of the Riverside Junior Chamber of Commerce from ’90-’94, and as an ambassador to Sendai, Japan for the Junior Chamber sister city program in 1991. He chaired the Environmental Beautification Committee for the Riverside Chamber of Commerce and was a member of the UCR Citizens University Committee. Mr. Shatkin is currently a Life Member of the UCR Alumni Association and works closely with the UCR Guardian Scholars for Foster Youth Program. He is also an Advisory Council Board Member for Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra in Mammoth Lakes, CA.
Mr. Shatkin joined Tortoise Industries, Inc., a design manufacturing firm, in 1994 where he currently serves as president and creative director. He is a regular guest lecturer at the Art Center School of Design and has collaborated with many notable architects, artists and galleries. He is also the curator / director of The Mark at Tortoise, a fine art gallery whose mission is to help aspiring young artist promote and exhibit their work.
Mr. Shatkin is married to his alligator Tracie and they have four children and three dogs between them. Mr. Shatkin is an accomplished pilot, violinist, artist and chef. In his spare time he enjoys skiing and hiking as well as managing Mammoth Lake’s popular coffee and donut shop, Mammoth Coffee Roasting Co.
“I am honored and humbled to be part of this amazing organization and will make every effort to carry forward the goals and mission of the Mono Arts Council.”
Mono Arts Council Statement on Racial Equity & Anti-Racism
As a leading community organization through the arts and a County partner in arts advocacy and education, Mono Arts Council is committed to racial equity and anti-racism both within our organization and throughout our programming and community services.
Mono Arts Council is committed to a nondiscriminatory and anti-racist approach to provide equal opportunity for employment and advancement in all of our departments, programs, events, and worksites. We respect and value diverse life experiences, heritages and orientations. We strive to ensure that all Mono County voices are valued and heard. We will also work toward decreasing barriers and amplifying the BIPOC and LGBTQ2+ voices in our community.
We understand that as a rural arts organization operating on now occupied traditional and present Northern Paiute, Shoshone, and Monache lands, we must continue to make a concerted effort to enhance and amplify Indigenous voices, to strengthen and preserve creative practices and to better engage and represent our entire community.
Mono Arts Council believes that bringing our organization together with community partners with differing backgrounds and life experiences, will enhance our ability to increase opportunities for all Mono County artists, artisans, art students, and arts & cultural organizations to succeed.
Mono Arts Council is committed to modeling diversity and inclusion for the entire arts industry of Mono County, and to maintaining an inclusive and anti-racist environment with equitable treatment for all.
Mono Arts Council ensures that every policy enacted will reflect the principles of equity, justice, and anti-racism. We are committed to acknowledge and dismantle any inequities within our policies, systems, programs, and services, and will continually update and report organization progress. Policies, programs, and activities will be administered to identify and stop discrimination, racism, and barriers to access, and to halt all disproportionately high and adverse effects on communities of color.
Mono Arts Council is dedicated to the just and equitable disbursement of resources, including programs, scholarships, supportive funding, and all Mono Arts Council services. To ensure that all disbursements and decisions are made in an equitable, anti-racist, and non-biased manner, Mono Arts Council will rely on the Decision Support Tool, as provided by the California Arts Council.
Diversity, inclusion, equity, and anti-racism are connected to our core values and critical to ensure the well-being of our staff, volunteers, contractors, board members, and the overall arts and cultural communities of Mono County.
We expect all employees, volunteers, contractors, and board members to embrace these principles and to express them in all Mono Arts Council interactions and in everyday practices as representatives of the Mono Arts Council.