SHOUT! 2015: Meet the Artists

Melanie is a U.S. Navy veteran. She has always enjoyed walking the path less traveled, both in her personal and professional life. She was the first in her family to travel to the African continent, and she is the only woman in her family to have served in the Armed Forces. Melanie is a graduate of the George Washington University and San Jose State University, respectively. She currently lives in Panorama City, California.

Ashley is from Georges County, Lanham, Maryland and has resided in the East Bay, California for over ten years. Ashley is a California Army National Guard veteran who is currently working towards completion of a graphic design degree at the Academy of Art University. She enjoys drawing, cooking, graphic illustrating, reading, writing poetry, digital rendering, and participating in outdoor sports as pastimes. Ashley has a genuine love for people, community and the visual/performing arts.

Born in Parma, Ohio, Anne joined the Ohio Army National Guard after high school. In 1998 she transferred to the U.S. Army Reserve stationed at Fort Hood, Texas and deployed to Kuwait in 2000 on active duty and was deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. Anne completed a two-year tour as a drill sergeant at the U.S. Army Military Police School in Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, and she is currently serving in Schofield Barracks, Hawaii.

Trish is a North Carolina/Oregon-based photographer, artist, educator and veteran. She served for 7-1/2 years as a photographer in the U.S. Army. She was medically discharged in 2011 and returned to college to study art. Trish will graduate this August with her MFA from Pacific Northwest College of Art. Trish currently lives in Hope Mills, NC with her family. Her husband is an active duty soldier at Fort Bragg. For more information visit www.trishbrownlee.com.

Latonia is a U.S. Army veteran, multi-media performer, visual artist, and published poet in the anthology, She is Everywhere, a Community. Latonia is the organizer of the Arts in the San Francisco Bay Area with veterans and non-veterans, a registered nurse, commander of the American Legion Post 315, chapter president for the San Francisco Veterans Lions Club, Team AMVETS District 4 commander, and a commissioner of the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Commission.

Born in Stockton, California, Dana is a former surface warfare officer and served between 1999 and 2005 in the U.S. Navy where she deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom/Iraqi Freedom from 2002-2003. She has a BA in Global Studies from Sonoma State University and an MA in Government from Sacramento State University. Dana lives in Sacramento, California and works as a special projects analyst for the state of California. Visit Dana’s website at www.danamferry.com.

Cameran decided to join the U.S. Air Force at age 21 after spending most of her life in Woods Hole and Boston, Massachusetts. After her time in the Air Force, she moved to the San Francisco Bay Area where she enjoys living near other artists.

A wife and mother of two, Hope obtained her AA in Graphic Design. She is president of the Artist Society at and commissioner of Convocations and Fine Arts for Associated Students at Cerritos Colleges and lives in Pico Rivera, CA. Hope is a U.S. Navy veteran who is running for Ms. Veteran America to help homeless women veterans. Hope is also an advocate who runs a forum page regarding veteran suicide.

Marie is a service-connected, disabled Navy veteran. She experienced military violence that caused traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress and has accessed hard-earned healthcare benefits at San Francisco VA Medical Center. In 2011, a counselor and a woman veteran persuaded Marie to explore therapeutic horsemanship. Presently, Marie is encouraged by discoveries about life-long neuroplasticity, and gains quality-of-life through equine therapy.

Dottie served in the U.S. Army and is an Iraq War veteran. She is currently the veteran outreach specialist at the Oakland Vet Center, lead ambassador at Women Veterans Connect, sits on the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Commission, and is very active in the veteran community. In her copious amounts of free time, Dottie enjoys road trips, Manhattans and baseball. Check out Dottie at about.me/dottielou.

Tangerine served in the Army Reserves and National Guard for 24 years. She has been deployed to Iraq and various foreign countries. Now retired, Tangerine lives in San Francisco, is active in arts and crafts, and hopes to sell her work in the future. Tangerine is active with Amnesty International and Doctors without Borders. She is traveling learning different cultures and languages. “This world is such a beautiful place and there is so much vibrant diversity, I can’t imagine ignoring it.”

Vicki lives in the San Francisco East Bay with a family of humans, cats and a dog. Vicki retired from the U.S. Army after 33 years of service in 2012. She has an MFA in nonfiction from Saint Mary’s College and is the author of No Red Pen: Writers, Writing Groups & Critique. Visit www.vickihudson.com for more about her poetry, essays and fiction, and where to read them online or in print.

Tanya was raised in Southern California by her Hispanic, Catholic, free-spirited mother and her Irish, Mormon, Hell’s Angel father. Tanya became an observer of chaos, violence, love, religion, ethnicity, and culture which heavily influencing her artwork. Tanya creates art and advocates for veterans, and those who care for, and support them from her studio in Texas. Tanya’s advocacy efforts have been recognized by the Texas Veterans Commission and the Military Veteran Peer Network. Her website is www.tanyakinney.com.

Star served 12 years on active duty in the U.S. Army, and then earned a BA in Business Management from CSU East Bay. She is currently the women veteran program manager at Swords to Plowshares. Star’s short stories have been published in anthologies including, Proud to Be: Writing by American Warriors, Vol. 3, 2014 and Paper Dolls: Stories from Women who Served which has been shown in special collection libraries nationwide. Last year the California Department of Veterans Affairs voted her Woman Veteran Leader of the Year.

Jennifer left the U.S. Army after 14 years of service. She started painting while in graduate school in order to change her environment and her outlook on life after being sexually assaulted in the Army and diagnosed with PTSD. Jennifer graduated from Appalachian State University, Boone, North Carolina with her MA in Geographic Information Systems in 2003. She currently lives in her hometown, Kimbolton, Ohio and works for the Social Security Administration.

Bert was born and raised in Dawson County, Nebraska and graduated from Cozad High School in 1978. After high school, she joined the Army National Guard and remained for more than twenty years. Throughout Bert’s life, photography has been a passion. Bert’s deployment to Iraq allowed her to return with 100s of photographs, documenting history through her eyes. In 2010, Bert graduated from Metro Community College, Elkhorn, Nebraska, with an AA in Commercial Still Photography.

Tiffany served in the U.S. Navy as an aviation electrician. Tiffany worked on the F/A-18C platforms, assigned to VFA-97 Warhawks. Tiffany is a wife and mother of two active and beautiful children. When she’s not cooking dinner or taking care of domestic responsibilities, Tiffany can be found with either her camera or playing “Minecraft” with her two kiddos and lives in Oakdale, California.

Jo Ann is a U.S. Air Force veteran, mom, writer, and visual artist in traditional and digital media who lives in Alameda, California. She is a contributing author in Paper Dolls: Stories from Women who Served, shown in special collection libraries nationwide. Her artwork has been exhibited and auctioned off for fundraising in Northern California. In 2011, she placed second at the local level of the National Veterans Creative Arts Festival.

Phyllis worked for over 20 years for the U.S. Navy doing fine art, painting, medical illustration, and technical drawing. Her formal education was at the Art Center College of Design, and UCSD (Finance & Business Economics). Phyllis is currently offering “Art Clinic” for seasoned artists, who are veterans in West Los Angeles, California. For more of Phyllis’ work visit www.meroegallery.com.

Christina is a married mother of three, and a former U.S. Marine. She lives with her family in the Sacramento area. Photography helps Christina to visualize what she too often cannot put into words. Visit www.stinareffittphoto.com for more about her photography.

Ramona was in the U.S. Navy. Currently, she is attending Las Positas College in Livermore, California and preparing to study abroad in Madrid, Spain where she plans to take many candid photographs capturing true moments and real life. “My love of people, culture and new experiences brings me to travel and share a glimpse of their lives through my lens.”

Susanne is an award-winning mixed media artist. Her work has been exhibited nationally, internationally and is included in private collections. Susanne combines her interest in color and texture in collage and sculptures mixing paper, fiber, metal and natural elements – literally and figuratively. Originally from Michigan, she is a graduate of the John F. Kennedy Arts and Consciousness Program. Susanne is a U.S. Air Force veteran and resides in rural Washington State.

Valerie works at the Fender Music Foundation, a non-profit organization that donates instruments to music education programs. She attended Moorpark College and belongs to the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society. Valerie loves creating artwork, and has sold original greeting cards to a family-owned boutique. Valerie has always appreciated the service of the men and women in our Armed Forces.

Juvoni is a California native, and currently serving in the U.S. Air Force Reserves in Sacramento, California. She enjoys photography and looks forward to taking advantage of opportunities to both showcase and improve her skills by creating thought provoking photographs. Her current style of photography is photo-journalism, “Telling the story though a series of photographs.”

Kate served in the U.S. Army and is an activist against sexual assault in the military. Kate has been a featured speaker at over 100 events discussing sexual assault over the past six years. She has been vocal about her experiences in the military and is featured in the documentary, The Invisible War. Kate helped establish the Tri-County Veterans’ Collaborative in Sonoma County providing services and resources for veterans near her home in Santa Rosa, California.

Sandra served in the U.S. Army, then the Delaware National Guard and the California National Guard. As a nurse, she was stationed in Germany, Ft. Riley, Kansas and South Carolina. Sandra also worked at San Francisco and Palo Alto Veterans Affairs Medical Centers for 25 years. Finally retired and after a great deal of traveling, she now lives at the California Veterans Home in Yountville.

Annette deployed to Fallujah, Iraq in 2004 with Oklahoma National Guard with an Engineer Battalion. Her second deployment was in 2008 to Balad, Iraq with the Florida National Guard in an aviation unit. Annette currently lives by a lake in Sadler, Texas where she is rejuvenating her spirit!

Emily is an artist using writing, music, and visual art to help her process her experience in life, the military and everything. Through her art, she expresses her many opinions and observations, casually brushing aside social stigma in the interest of breaking down communication barriers and shining light on the many ties that bind humans together. Emily served in the U.S. Army and now lives in Oakland, California. To learn more about Emily visit emilyyatesdoeseverything.com.