Matías Anaya - Music Instructor Matías is a local musician, songwriter and producer. They have years of experience playing piano, drums, guitar, and bass in a wide variety of styles - from classical to cumbia, rock and jazz. Teaching is one of the few things that bring Matías as much joy as playing music. Matías welcomes you to come explore your musicality with them during their Tuesday night workshop at Art Division!
Nick Arciero - Career Building Advisor Nick Arciero runs Art Division's career building workshop. Nick (and his dog Jetson) joined the Art Division faculty in 2015, and he works with students focused on career development, graphic design, and advises them on portfolio content, C.V.s, and life skills. Nick is a lifetime creative with a BA from DePaul University in Chicago and specializes in visual design, operations and strategy with a focus in bridging creative and technology together. Over the course of his career, he has worked at companies such as Leo Burnett, Capitol Records, tomandandy, and The Walt Disney Company. Nick is also a practicing fine artist with a focus in multi-media.
Javier Carrillo - Printmaking Instructor Javier Carrillo has been making prints for many years, and has worked alongside different master printers such as Claudio Stickar, Roger Herman, Xavier Fumat, and Fernando Sandoval. His work is influenced by Mexican and Japanese Prints, and artists including Guadalupe Posada, David Hockney, Wayne Thiebaud, Daniel McCleary, and Rembrandt among others. His classes focus on both the fundamentals of printmaking and advanced printmaking. Students learn different techniques beginning with rubber blocks, linoleum blocks, and finally with woodcuts. Students also have the opportunity to make etching prints using plexiglass, zinc, and copper plates. They are encouraged to try both types of printmaking and are expected to complete two or more editions per semester.
Fabian Cereijido - Art History Instructor Fabián Cereijido is an artist, professor and author. He has lived in Buenos Aires, Mexico City, New York City and, since 2004 in California, where in 2011 he obtained a PhD in art history. He currently teaches Art History in colleges and other educational institutions.
Among other subjects, he’s written about current modes of art censorship, the similarities between Goya’s Disasters of War and Freud’s Beyond the Pleasure Principle, and the art produced in Latin America during the recent continental anti-neo-liberal revolt. His video-installations, drawings and sculptures conjur up fictitious travels in milk and everyday rituals.
Lois Powers - Current Events Instructor Lois Powers leads the current event workshop at Art Division. She has been with Art Division since the beginning, initially as volunteer tutor. Powers grew up in L.A. and received a BA in Liberal Arts from UCLA. She received her Master’s in Special Education from Cal State, Los Angeles and became the Director of the Learning Disabilities Clinic at Kaiser Dept. of Psychiatry where she worked with both children and adults with learning issues. She started volunteering at HOLA and then followed Dan to Art Division. "This has been, by far, my most wonderful job!"
Frank Ryan - Painting Instructor Frank Ryan is a native Californian, born and raised in Marin County. Inspired by the landscape of his surroundings, he focuses on the immediate aspects of direct observation to find unique perspectives on the common subjects of his experience. Ryan draws from the historic themes of American and European realist traditions to reflect on contemporary American life. His influences include Edward Hopper, the Ash Can School, John Singer Sargent, and Manet. Literary influences include Raymond Carver, John Fante and Charles Bukowski. Frank Ryan received his MFA in oil painting from UCLA and his BFA from Sonoma State University. His work has been exhibited in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Santa Rosa, and Chicago. He has been reviewed in the Los Angeles Times and his paintings have been featured in Studio Visit Magazine and New American Paintings. He currently lives and works in Los Angeles
Luis Serrano - Director of Drawing & Painting Luis Serrano is the painting instructor and runs the figure drawing workshop at Art Division. He also led Art Division's first vocational training workshop in frame building in 2018 - which resulted in 80 custom frames built for the Dos Colectivos exhibition at USC Fisher Museum of Art.
Serrano holds a MFA from Otis Art Institute and has painted and drawn for the past 40 years. Along with the fine art practice, Luis has taught general art classes such as Design, Watercolor painting, and two and three-dimensional design at LAUSD, LA Community Colleges, and Ryman Arts. Currently he is an adjunct instructor and mentor in the MFA program for Laguna College of Art and Design.
Ellie Herman - College and Career Counselor Ellie Herman is a writer, teacher and coach. She has worked extensively with first-generation students in low-income communities, both as a high school teacher and as a college and career coach at Art Division. For the last three years, she has worked as a college readiness teacher at Animo Leadership Charter High School in Inglewood, where she coached students on their college applications and helped them plan their future careers. She is certified as a coach with the International Coaching Federation. Before becoming a teacher, Ellie was a TV writer and producer for 20 years, working on television shows that included Desperate Housewives, Jericho, Chicago Hope and many others. She has published short fiction, creative non-fiction, editorials and articles about public education.
