Cynthia Cao

Creative Ambassador

Cynthia Cao, Gallery Technical Coordinator at San José State, is the Creative Ambassador for the Office of Cultural Affairs. Her project Taste of Home is in collaboration with Chopsticks Alley Art. She is the co-organizer for Community Table project at SJSU. Her work as a printmaker and painter has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including Salt Stained: Home at San José City Hall and Arte Senza Confini: Art Without Borders in Florence, Italy.

Trami Cron

Chopsticks Alley Art

Trami Cron Nguyen is the founder of Chopsticks Alley Art and Chopsticks Alley multi-media publication. She is a cultural organizer, producer, and host of Chopsticks Alley talk show, podcast, and author of VietnamEazy. She is an Emerging Arts Professional San Francisco Fellow and has a Business Marketing degree from the University of Utah.

Elaine Li was born in Guangdong, China and raised in San Francisco. She is a visual development artist and 3D modeler, studying at San Jose State University's Animation/Illustration Program for a Bachelor of Fine Arts. As a digital artist, she enjoys exploring different styles of graphic arts. Her art is inspired by her environment and experiences as an Asian American woman.

Tessa K. Cheng

Project Assistant

Tessa K. Cheng was raised, and currently resides, in the California Bay Area where she received her Bachelor's of Fine Arts and Associates in Art History. As an alum of San Jose State University her art practice includes illustration, printmaking, and installation. She often uses permanent, or semi-permanent, mediums such as graphite, ink, watercolor, and botanical samples in her process. Her body of work focuses on exploring self-identity and furthering her deep love of both the natural, and supernatural, world.

Michelle Wilson

Co-Organizer

Michelle Wilson is a papermaker, printmaker, book and installation artist. She is the co-organizer for the Community Table project at SJSU. Wilson is also one-half of the ongoing collaborative, political art team BOOK BOMBS. She has exhibited her work both internationally and in the United States, including participation in biennials such as Philadelphia's Philagrafika 2010 and the 2006 Second International Biennial for the Artist's Book in Alexandria, Egypt.

Irene Carvajal

Co-Organizer

Irene Carvajal is a multidisciplinary Costa Rican-American artist, her art practice includes printmaking, collage, sculpture and installation. Irene has exhibited in the United States, Japan and Costa Rica. Thematically her work touches on colonialism, labor, feminism, value, and mass production. She received her BFA from the University of Kansas and her MFA at SFAI where she received the Bronze Roller Award. She has participated in art residencies in Japan, USA, Mexico and Costa Rica, and was most recently at La Ceiba Gráfica in Vera Cruz, Mexico. Currently, she lectures at San Jose State University, The San Francisco Art Institute and Stanford University.

Alena Sauzade

Art Gallery Director

Alena Sauzade is the Natalie and James Art Gallery Director and University Collections Manager at San José State University. Sauzade previously served as the Visual Arts and Gallery Curator for the City of Pleasanton (2018-2020). Her dissertation Witnesses to Terror: Nationhood and Trauma in Memorials to Victims of Terrorism focused on memorials to the victims of the 9/11 attacks. She earned her PhD in Art History from Stony Brook University, where she specialized in public art and commemoration, and her B.A. in Art History from Mills College.

Kohar Scott

Kohar Scott’s background includes a focus on Color, Material, and Finish (CMF) and Industrial Design. Her client list includes industry leaders in consumer electronics, pro-audio, toy manufacturing, personal care, and soft goods. Kohar’s current research revolves around the use of materials, AI, VR, and AR to solve problems in the design process.