The Art Prize Committee

SD ART PRIZE: Recognition of Excellence in the Visual Arts
presented by San Diego Visual Arts Network and SanDiegoArtist.com
at the L Street Fine Art Gallery of the Omni Hotel
SD Art Prize Catalogs


PATRICIA FRISCHER
Founder, San Diego Visual Arts Network
Patricia Frischer was awarded an MBA Magna cum Laude in sculpture from California College of Arts and Craft before becoming director of a sales gallery in London, England , and then Gallery Director for three exhibition spaces at California State University in Humboldt where she was an art professor. She then returned to London to head the Art Department at an international school in Nottinghill Gate. She was able to build the department, which awarded the International baccalaureate degree to over 300 students. She has written the book, "The Artist and the Art of Marketing" and has lectured extensively on marketing for artists. She is a dynamic part of the arts community in San Diego. Frischer is a former board member for the Combined Organizations for the Visual Arts (COVA), coordinator for the COVA's prestigious Art Collectors Round Table, former board member of the SDAI (now ICA), and currently chair of the North County Arts Network as well as coordinator and founder member of the San Diego Visual Arts Network. The SmART Collector on that site is designed to create more art buyers for the San Diego region. She has curated the Little & Large Jewelers and Sculptors promotion and Movers and Shakers: Who's Who in SD Visual Art portrait exhibitions,, Art Meets Fashion and the DNA of Creativity, San Diego's first art and science exhibitoin for the Oceanside Museum of Art. . Her own painting have shown internationally in numerous one women exhibitions including Oxford University. www.DrawsCrowd.com

DEBRA MCGINTY-POTEET
Turst Funds Board Member
Debra McGinty-Poteet currently is or has been an independent director, lead trustee and chairperson of the audit committee of the F/M Funds Trust family of four fixed and equity mutual funds and also an independent trustee and chairperson of the audit committee for the Series Portfolio Trust (SPT) a Master Series Trust with 15 Mutual Fund and ETF advisors and products including Interval, REITS, Alternative, ETF’s and other traditional Funds. She has been deemed a financial expert for both of the boards she serves on for SEC purposes. Debra has been an inside trustee for 20 years and an independent trustee for 11 years. Additionally, she has joined the Investment Committee of the Polycystic Kidney Disease Foundation and the advisory board for Corazon de Vida. She teaches financial literacy and does financial counseling for Veterans who are patients of the ASPIRE Center, a treatment facility of the Veteran’s Administration Medical Center for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who suffer from PTSD and Traumatic Brain Injury. She lobby’s the Congress and the Senate on behalf of the National Kidney Foundation and the American Society of Nephrologists.

ALESSANDRA MOCTEZUMA ,
Director of San Diego Mesa College Art Gallery
Alessandra Moctezuma is an artist, curator and professor of Fine Art and Gallery Director at San Diego Mesa College, where she supervises the Museum Studies program. Born in Mexico City, Moctezuma grew up in Los Angeles and earned both Bachelor of Art and Master of Fine Arts degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles. Moctezuma serves as a member of the San Diego Foundation’s Arts and Culture working group, which spearheaded the Creative Catalyst grants. She is on the Advisory Board of the San Diego Art Institute. From 2014 to 2015, she served in the City of San Diego Public Art Committee. In 2017 she curated the exhibition unDocumenta for the Oceanside Museum of Art, as part of the Getty’s initiative Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA, she curated two other exhibitions at the museum (Borderless Dreams, 2005 and Through a Lens Sharply, 2006). From 1994- 1998, she worked for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority as public art project manager. Previously, she was the Gallery Curator for the Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC) in Venice, California. She also has authored articles with her husband, urban historian, Mike Davis.

FELICIA W. SHAW
Felicia W. Shaw is a seasoned professional in the field of nonprofit arts management, a career that has spanned more than 30 years and has included an executive leadership position with the Regional Arts Commission of St Louis, and director positions with the San Diego Foundation and City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture.  An active and  life-long advocate for the arts, Ms Shaw currently serves on the boards of Californians for the Arts and California Advocates and is Vice CEO of of the San Diego Regional Arts and Culture Coalition now known as SD Art Matters. . Previously, she served on the boards of Grantmakers in the Arts, CERF+, and as member of the Americans for the Arts  - United States Urban Arts Federation. She is an active donor to arts, culture and women’s issues and also fulfills her commitment to philanthropy as a member of Women Give San Diego. A graduate of Northwestern University with a degree in Communications, Ms Shaw completed additional undergraduate study at the University of California San Diego with a focus in art history, theory and criticism. She also completed a certificate in Museum Management from Palomar College. She is also an alumna of the James P Shannon Leadership Institute.

JONATHON GLUS
Jonathon Glu is currently a Presby Fellow with a remit to create a SD City Cultural District. .He was at the City of San Diego from November 2018-2025 where he led and facilitated the strategic vision of the office. Prior to working in San Diego, he was the Director of Culture and Creative Economy for the City of Sacramento, CA where he led the city’s first cultural planning process in more than 20 years. He set in place an assessment of Sacramento’s film sector and an equity audit of the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission. Prior to Sacramento, he served as the first CEO of Houston Arts Alliance (HAA) for more than nine years. While at HAA, he worked closely with a board of more than 30, multiple committees, staff and partner agencies including VisitHouston, the Greater Houston Partnership, cultural districts and universities. Jonathon co-chaired the tourism committee of VisitHouston, partnered on multiple cultural tourism initiatives, and lead two studies on the creative economy in Houston region. He was also the chairman of the board of Texans for the Arts (TFA), a statewide arts advocacy organization. He was Executive Director of Arts & Culture for the City of Pasadena, CA where he led multiple cultural tourism initiatives and partnerships, represented that city with the Rachmaninoff International Piano Competition & Festival, and led the city’s cultural planning process, in partnership with the Pasadena Arts & Culture Commission. Jonathon Glus began his career with city arts agencies in Evanston, IL, and his arts career with the International Sculpture Center, in Washington, DC where he wrote for SCULPTURE magazine and traveling exhibitions internationally. He studied urban economics and public policy at Indiana University, and art and architectural history at University of Illinois. He also studied at University of Kent, in Canterbury, England, where he focused on British urban policy.

LARA BULLOCK, PHD
Curator, SD Art Prize
Civic Art Project Manager, City of San Diego Commision for Arts and Cu;lture Staff.
Bullock joined the City of San Diego in April 2019. She assists with management of the Civic Art Collection, facilitates coordination of public art commissions, and manages the siting of art in the public realm. She is a contemporary art historian, writer, curator, and educator. She has remained committed to the local arts community by serving as chair of the Artist Advocacy Committee for the Rising Arts Leaders of San Diego where she pioneered Rising Arts Fest, a day-long arts event in which all sectors of the arts community are invited to dialogue. She has also served as a member of the Arts, Culture, and Design Committee at the San Diego Unified Port District and served three years on the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture’s Public Art Committee. In addition, Lara Bullock has taught courses at a variety of institutions including Southwestern College and the University of California, San Diego and has worked at a variety of internationally renown art museums, including the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, as well as curated many exhibitions locally. As a scholar, Bullock is interested in art in a global context from 1945 to present, with a focus on art and its impact in the public realm. She received her B. A. in Art History, Theory, and Criticism with Honours and Minor in English from the University of British Columbia, followed by her M. A. in Art History, Theory, and Criticism from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She earned her Ph. D. in Contemporary Art History, Theory, and Criticism from the University of California, San Diego.

ANDREA RODRIGUEZ CHAMBERLIN
Administrator, SD Art Prize and SDVAN
Andrea Rodriguez Chamberlin is an experienced arts administrator and educator with a passion for supporting community-based arts programming. She holds a B.A. in Arts Management with a double major in Business Administration and Studio Art from Baldwin-Wallace University, and has completed continued coursework in Fine Art and Museum Studies through the San Diego Community College District. Over the past 15+ years, Andrea has worked with a variety of arts organizations across California, including the San Diego Art Institute Museum of the Living Artist, San Diego Art Department,, ShadowLight Productions, and the San Diego Visual Arts Network. Her work has spanned arts education, outreach, event coordination, and nonprofit administration. She is dedicated to making the arts accessible and impactful through thoughtful programming, collaborative partnerships, and strategic support behind the scenes. Her roll at SDVAN spans administrative duties including creation of a SOP,  monitoring time-lines, arranging social media postings and wordsmithing documents.

BRENDA ALEXANDRA ANDREWS
Educational advisor, SD Art Prize
Brenda Alexandra Andrews, MFA (California Institute of the Arts), is an internationally recognized multimedia artist, distinguished university and museum educator, and Education Director for the San Diego Art Prize educational initiatives. Her interdisciplinary practice engages cultural memory, historiography, and material culture, examining how visual narratives shape personal and collective identity through installation, photography, and research-based conceptual methods. Her work often incorporates site-responsive and socially engaged approaches that connect artistic practice with community dialogue and public learning. With more than twenty-five years of experience across museums, universities, and international cultural institutions, Andrews has developed innovative educational frameworks that integrate studio practice, art historical scholarship, and critical inquiry. She also serves as a Board Member of the San Diego Visual Arts Network (SDVAN), advancing programs that connect contemporary artists with students, educators, and the public. Her institutional affiliations include the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, San Diego Museum of Art, Orange County Museum of Art, Delaware Contemporary, University of California, San Diego¹, University of Southern California, Chapman University, University of Mumbai, and The New Children’s Museum. Her work has been exhibited internationally in museums, galleries, and cultural institutions in Beijing, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Los Angeles, and across Europe, and is represented in institutional and private collections. www.ikonology.com

Current advisory members:

Abe Hughes
Abe Tomás Hughes has had a lifelong commitment to arts and culture in Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia and San Diego. He is interested in promoting and supporting contemporary art and culture which features multi-cultural and global themes. He believes art and culture can transform societies by opening perspectives which stimulate dialogue, understanding and mutual respect. Additionally, the arts are transformative to a community, bringing joy and pleasure while also stimulating economic growth and education. Mr. Hughes is a technology executive currently responsible for the strategic growth and expansion of Trimble’s Latin American agriculture business, a pioneer in global positioning, modeling, connectivity, mapping and data analytics which is transforming the way we work in agriculture, mining, geospatial, transportation and logistics. He has over 20 years of corporate and entrepreneurial experience in a wide array of industries in the U.S., Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America.  He is active in the community and serves on the Board of the Institute of Contemporary Art San Diego and has served as a Board Trustee and on the Executive Committee of the Museum of Contemporary Art of Chicago (MCA), and is a Commissioner for Arts and Culture in the City of San Diego. Abe received his MBA from the Harvard Business School and his BA from Cornell University.  He is married to Diana Girardi Karnas of Porto Alegre, Brazil.

Mark Murphy . Mark Murphy Design
Founder and Art Director of Murphy Design, Mark Murphy, is one of the nation’s leading thought leaders on the impact of art and design. Books and business publications actively showcase his work, as well as the Library of Congress, design exhibits, and art museums. His client experience has produced award-winning projects for Brandon Boyd, Cartoon Network, Clint Eastwood, Green Day, Laguna Art Museum, McGraw-Hill, MCASD, Riverside Art Museum, Sony Music, Vincent Price Art Museum, Warner Bros. and inspirational artists from around the world. Murphy Design serves Art and Business pros looking for creative design, branding, and strategic marketing solutions.

Thanks to our Past Committe and Advoory, Members:

Our past: Advisory members: Johnny Tran, Thumbprint Gallery and Arturo Rodríguez, La Caja Arte y Cultura,
Eloisa Haudenschild, haudenschildGarage

CHI ESSARY
Administrator, SD Art Prize
Chi Essary   is a curator, artist, writer and photographer. Her cross-disciplinary exhibitions bring artists together with other fields of creative inquiry such as contemporary literature and science. She is a firm believer that "the best gift to humanity is bringing people together." In 2017 she curated Extra-Ordinary Collusion, pairing almost 50 scientists and artists to promote and explore the intersection of art and science with the public.  She also curated several lofts for SENSORIUM which was featured on the NatGeo Channel. She studied at Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, Oregon and has an active practice in oil painting and found objects. A board member of Vanguard Culture since 2014, Essary has applied her talents as a photographer toward content management of Vanguard’s social media pages. She also writes and photographs for her artist studio visit series: Poetic License. Having traveled extensively in Europe and Mexico assisting the multimedia artists, The de la Torre Brothers, with their museum residencies and exhibitions, Chi Essary brings a unique perspective to her mission to help build a culture that supports world class art in San Diego..

Our greatthanks go to Larry Baza, committee member who passed in 2021.

LARRY BAZA
Vice chairman of the California Arts Council
Larry Baza is a professional arts administrator with more than three decades of experience in advocating for the arts at the local, state and national level. He is the immediate past Chair of the San Diego Arts Commission. Baza has served on the boards of various nonprofit arts organizations and provided his expertise as a panelist for arts commissions and foundations. In his professional career, he has directed and managed San Diego arts organizations and businesses including Centro Cultural De La Raza, Sushi Performance and Visual Arts, Fingerhut Gallery, and Community Arts of San Diego. His wealth of knowledge and experience includes affiliations, consultancies, site visits and panel participation with multiple arts organizations including the National Endowment for the Arts, California Arts Council, California Association of Local Arts Organizations, Chicano Federation of San Diego County, National Association of Latino Arts and Culture, and the San Diego Community Foundation. Baza was appointed to the California Arts Council by Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins in February of 2016. On January 25, 2018, he was elected Vice Chair of the Council. His term expires January 1, 2020.

With enormous thanks to Erika Torri for years of hosting the SD Art Prize and on the committee

ERIKA TORRI
Former Director of The Athenaeum Music and Arts Library
The Athenaeum Music & Arts Library has earned a reputation as one of the outstanding art galleries and art collectors in San Diego. The Athenaeum’s art exhibition program, begun in the 1920s, has grown tremendously. Exhibitions in the Joseph Clayes III Gallery focus on nationally and internationally recognized artists. The Rotunda Gallery emphasizes community partnerships or emerging regional artists. The North Reading Room is devoted to showcasing the Athenaeum’s Erika and Fred Torri Artists’ Books Collection

With thank to ANN BERCHTOLD for her years of support of the SD Art PRize

Ann Berchtold has a Bachelors Degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in Internet Marketing. She is the founder of SanDiegoArtist.com, launched in April of 2000 to showcase the work of local, emerging artists. She is also the founder of INSPIRE! San Diego Art Kidz (sandiegoartkidz.com), an elementary school program that brings local artists into the classroom to share with students their personal sources of inspiration from the world of art history through activity-based presentations and demonstrations. Berchtold has designed and developed numerous web sites for various artists in San Diego. In addition to her non-profit endeavors, Ann has worked as an event planner for over fifteen years. Following her positions as Catering Director for the La Valencia Hotel, La Jolla, CA and the Ritz Carlton Hotel, San Francisco, Ann started her own event planning company, called Forderer Design Group specializing in up-scale events for both corporate and social gatherings. Ann Bercthold is the producer of the Beyond the Borders Interational Art Fair held annually in San Diego. www.sandiegoartist.com

SD Art Prize Mission: Fusing Energy for San Diego Visual Arts: Mentorship, Education, Recognition, Collaboration

THE Goals of the SD ART PRIZE, as presented by the San Diego Visual Arts Network, are to:

• Recognize and celebrate existing visual art accomplishments by spotlighting local artists.
• Create an exciting event that facilitates cross-pollination between cultural organizations and strengthens and invigorates the San Diego Visual Art Scene.
• Broaden the audience of the visual arts in San Diego by gaining national attention to the competition through a dedicated media campaign.
• Promote the vision of the future role that the visual arts will play in the San Diego community as lively, thriving, positive and empowering.
• Expand the infrastructure of spokespeople/art celebrities who can bring awareness to San Diego and perform as role models for our student artists.

If you believe in our mission, we are happy to accept your donations to support the San Diego ART PRIZE Send any amount with checks made out to SDVAN to 2487 Montgomery Avenue, Cardiff by the Sea, CA 92007. Please mark them for SD ART PRIZE. Visit the Support page of SDVAN to donate online.

SD Art Prize Frequently Asked Questions