Free Community Day: Ruth Asawa

dAniel Alvarado-Arias is a Venezuelan interdisciplinary artist, designer, and educator based in San Francisco. His practice bridges art, community, and education, creating spaces for collective expression and dialogue. Deeply connected to the Latino district of the Mission, he fosters creative engagement through workshops and cultural initiatives that activate public and community spaces.

Bill Bruckner’s earliest memory is copying sketches his artist uncle drew in their Bronx apartment when Bruckner was three years old. He has been drawing and painting ever since! He has had a San Francisco studio for more than 30 years.

Clarion Performing Arts Center provides education and live performance opportunities by fusing music, poetry, theater, and visual art as one organic artistic experience. Its program aims to inspire and empower youth, seniors, and the underserved immigrant community in San Francisco Chinatown, transform society’s view on Asian Americans, and provide a safe and sacred space for addressing current social issues that impact the Asian community.

Clarion Children’s Theater is a year-round program. Children perform in festivals and local events, and were featured in the music video “Snacking Kids Rap.” The program is directed by Clara Hsu and assisted by Tony Jin.

Community Music Center’s The Born Yesterday Choir is made up of Community Music Center students who are young at heart from several of CMC’s tuition-free programs: Children’s Chorus, Neighborhood Choir Program for Older Adults and Adults with Disabilities, and Intergenerational Songs and Stories Class. Born Yesterday is directed by Beth Wilmurt with accompanist Allison Lovejoy. New students are welcome in all of these classes.

The Cosmic Elders Theatre Ensemble is a women-led collective of local writers, artists, performers, and innovators. These longtime San Franciscans are dedicated to creating original works infused with courage, humor, and a vibrant spirit of collaboration. The Cosmic Elders serve as Resident Artists at Ruth’s Table in the Mission District.

Mário Pires Cordeiro is an American Portuguese artist and mentor in San Francisco. His work explores the intersection of visual art and functional objects, focusing on the personal and cultural significance of color. Inspired by design trends, engineering, and geometry, he creates minimalist forms across media, including painting, apparel, and installations.

Aiko Cuneo is an artist who taught in San Francisco schools for many years. She works with mixed media, preferring to use repurposed materials from SCRAP. The challenge of making art from someone else’s discards brings her joy and satisfaction during the process of transformation.

Rory Davis is the go-to choreographer in San Francisco for people with two left feet. As the resident choreographer for Peaches Christ Productions, he has staged numbers for film legends and drag queens alike. His cardio aerobics class RORYOGRAPHY is intended for all ages and skill levels and is now held in assisted living homes across the Bay Area. He was also Cher’s bodyguard for a single night and they both lived!

DJ Lamont has been playing with records since age 5 when his mom gave him a “Close ‘n Play” record player back in 1970. At 14, he started collecting records and has been a professional DJ ever since. In June 2004, DJ Lamont founded the DJ studio Fingersnaps Media Arts in the heart and soul of the Mission District, where he teaches the art of the DJ mix.

Jasmin Flores is a preschool teacher who has worked at Children’s Day School in San Francisco since 2015. She was a preschool teacher for 14 years at Buen Dia Family School in San Francisco, an arts-focused English-Spanish bilingual preschool program. She is fluent in Spanish.

Grant Avenue Follies create experiences through dance and performance that inspire audiences. The group was founded in 2003 with the intention of reviving the spirit of Chinatown’s historic nightlife, keeping the members active and healthy as well as advocating for older adults and the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities. With their vibrancy and amazing costumes, you’ll be reliving this enchanting bygone epoch once again.

Ashley Harris is a teaching artist and cultural worker from the Bay Area who holds an MFA in Photography from the San Francisco Art Institute. She has taught and overseen arts education programs for various museums, including the San Jose Museum of Art, the Crocker Art Museum, and the de Young. Harris has witnessed the power of the arts in fostering connections, confidence, and belonging and is passionate about supporting accessible arts experiences that serve communities of all ages and abilities.

Evan Johnson (he/they) performer, playwright, teaching artist, creative producer and the program director at Ruth’s Table. In 2007, Johnson graduated from Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre in Blue Lake, CA, where he studied ensemble-devised theatre. In 2010, Johnson wrote and performed their first solo play Don’t Feel: The Death of Dahmer at Mama Calizo’s Voice Factory. Following this premiere, Johnson was commissioned by New Conservatory Theatre Center (NCTC) to create Pansy in 2013, before later touring this show to Post5 Theatre (Portland, OR) in 2014 and Theatre Row (NYC) in 2015. Johnson has been a House Artist at CounterPulse in the Tenderloin since 2018. At CounterPulse, Johnson created Barn Owl in 2017 and How We Spend Our Days in June 2023, both in collaboration with KLANGHAUS. They also perform physical comedy as “Martha T. Lipton” at theaters, clubs, and private gigs (!) and Johnson is thrilled to be at Ruth’s Table serving its beautiful community!

Monica Lee worked as a professional photographer for many years and currently teaches creative reuse workshops at Ruth’s Table, SCRAP, and other venues in the Bay Area. She makes and exhibits her own creative reuse art.

Michele Menard is an interdisciplinary artist and educator with 25 years of education and experience in drama, mask and puppetry, creative writing, musical performance, visual arts, and directing.

Founded in 1976 by Anne Marie Theilen and based in San Francisco’s Bayview neighborhood, SCRAP works at the intersection of the arts, arts education, and the environment. SCRAP’s mission is to make the materials and methods of art making accessible to everyone, helping people transform everyday objects into creative projects that fuel the human spirit, support community vibrancy, and reinforce environmental awareness. At the time of its founding, Theilen oversaw a program that placed professional artists in schools. Unfortunately, there was no budget for materials, so the artists struggled to find supplies for their classrooms. Meanwhile, many local businesses were filling landfills with perfectly usable items for artwork — paper with incorrect logos, fabric samples from interior designers, industrial discards, product overruns, and other materials. Recognizing an opportunity to solve both problems with one solution, Theilen founded SCRAP in 1976. She teamed up with Ruth Asawa, who became the organization’s first Board President. Each year, SCRAP’s programs serve over 33,000 people by providing circular access to creative materials and services — both at its depot and in the community — all while diverting over 200 tons of waste from landfills.

Skywatchers is a cross-cultural, intergenerational, mixed-ability community arts collaboration in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood. Based on the belief that relationships are the first site of social change, they deploy their arts to weave the power and intimacy of personal stories, centering marginalized voices to shape culture and celebrate our interdependence.

Trash Mash-Up is a community art project. TMU reduces waste and inspires people to see each other and our environment in a new way.

Jasper Wilde is a self-taught non-binary abstract painter and educator based in San Francisco. As a studio artist at Root Division, their vibrant, dynamic artwork channels experiences of a trans person navigating late-stage capitalism. They use storytelling and their authenticity to share their art on their growing social media and have led abstract painting workshops at Ruth’s Table and Root Division. Their work has been exhibited at The Drawing Room, Rosebud Gallery, Root Division, SOMArts, Superfine Art Fair, Blue Line Art Gallery, Heron Arts Gallery, Ruth’s Table, and MOSA Gather.