Mrs. Nalyne Lunati - CEO and Executive Education Director
Nalyne Lunati is a Thai-American artist residing in the Bay Area. She founded Avant-Garde Art Studio in 2007, but she has been teaching art since 2004. She came to the U.S. at the age of 5 when her father was awarded a fellowship at the University of Connecticut School of Dentistry. She holds a Master of Fine Arts from San José State University in painting and a Bachelor of Arts from U.C. Berkeley in Political Economy of Industrial Societies (P.E.I.S.), with a minor in Business Administration.
Fine arts has always been her life long passion. She started formal fine arts training at 12 years old under the mentorship of a well known local artist in Los Angeles. In 2009, she was happily accepted to Art in Embassies program which is part of the U.S. Department of State. Since then, she exhibits her work internationally through this amazing program. She is also featured in an anthology, "Troubling Borders:Southeast Asian Women in the Diaspora," by Temple University Press which is coming out in 2012. She is also a member of Women Environmental Artists Directory and a staff on DVAN.org.
She has taught art at various venues, like San José State University, Montalvo Arts, and Palo Alto Art Center. She has done educational consulting and art workshops for the Pleasanton and Dublin Unified School Districts.
Jessica Huang - Teaching Assistant
My name is Jessica Huang and I am a first year student at the University of Southern California studying Occupational Therapy and Fine Arts Two-Dimensional Studies.
As a former student of Mrs. Lunati’s from my freshman year to my junior year at Foothill High School in Pleasanton, California, I have received extensive instruction from her and have gained a comprehensive understanding of her teaching philosophy.
At Foothill High, I enrolled in an AP Studio Art: Drawing class and an AP Studio Art: 2-D Design class, and submitted a portfolio for both. In my first two semesters at USC, I have taken a Drawing 101 course and Painting 105 course at the Roski School of Fine Arts. While in high school, I had an abundant amount of opportunities to function in the studio as Mrs. Lunati’s assistant for the Fundamentals of Fine Arts classes and Studio Arts classes of all levels. For two years in high school, I was able to assist with instruction throughout this time. Last summer, I worked with other operations and management of the studio in addition to assisting students. My tasks included managing inventory, image library organization, studio organization of materials and space, and financial matters.