Susan Archibald
Current Board Member / Board of Directors Chair
Role: As the Board Chair, my administrative duties include helping set the the Board’s monthly agenda, meeting weekly with our Office Manager, helping with class organization and overseeing events. I also attend monthly and quarterly meetings with other organizations. As a member of the Curatorial committee, I help install the gallery shows, plan and participate in receptions, and work with our volunteer docents.
Relevant experience: My interested in art started as a child. I was given art supplies and enjoyed taking art lessons. As an adult, I worked as a Country Social Worker for forty years. I held the positions of worker, supervisor, and program manger. I interacted with a variety of people including co-workers, other professionals, and clients. During my career I also sat on two boards dealing with issues related to child welfare. Upon my retirement, I began taking painting classes. When the Santa Cruz Mountains Art Center opened it’s doors in my neighborhood, I became involved. I like that the Art Center is so focused on serving people in these small mountain towns, where I have lived for thirty years. I greatly enjoy meeting and working with people in our local schools, business and nonprofits.
Barbara Chambers
Current Board Member
Role: Barbara joined the board in 2025. She has primarily focused on the gallery lighting system, building and testing prototypes for modern, wide-spectrum lighting to bring our facilities up to current standards while maintaining versatility. Additionally, she contributes to general decision-making, oversight of gallery operations, and strategic planning.
Relevant experience: Barbara retired from a 45-year career in electronics engineering in 2019. She became active as a local artist and gallery member shortly afterwards, working in oils in several Modernist traditions. She became active in gallery functions, eventually joining the board out of appreciation for the value of our local gallery and the friendships she built there.
Sally Eastman
Current Board Member / Board of Directors Secratery
Joy Kutaka-Kennedy
Current Board Member
Role: As a current Board Member, I generally support many of our endeavors ranging from active engagement and input in our Board meetings, serving on the 10 year plan and finance committee, and any other need that arises when I’m available.
Relevant experience: I’ve sculpted stone for many years before moving to the Santa Cruz mountains, and I’m delighted to have found a new artists’ community in the Santa Cruz Mountain Art Center with so many opportunities for growth and expansion. I’ve learned pastels, sewing, and clay, my new passion. Professionally, I served on the Board of the California Association of Professors of Special Education for 17 years. In terms of other board experience, at my prior residence, I served multiple terms on the board of my 228 unit condominium homeowners association. I’ve also been a board member for the Committee of 100 for Tibet. I’m currently a full time professor of special education training teachers to serve students with mild/moderate and extensive support needs in all K-12+ settings in California.
Noelle Lightbourne
Current Board Member / Ceramics Instructor
Role: Coming from a diverse background including Montessori Preschool teaching to Women Spirit event coordinator, I have always enjoyed working with people. After my internship and assisting in ceramics at our center I stepped into the volunteer position of managing the department with my partner and co-chair David Kurtz. We see that various duties in our studio are given to volunteers to make sure our ceramic department is run safely and efficiently.
Johanna McCormick
Current Board Member / Curatorial Chair, Graphics & Web Design
Role: My role at the SCMAC has recently changed from marketing to become the Curatorial Chair. I am in charge of the exhibits in the Thomas Gallery and lead the Curatorial Crew in all aspects of presenting the exhibits — from yearly selection of themes and gallery maintenance to submissions and hanging the shows. I also design the graphics and all collateral material for the exhibits. I have been a Board member since 2014.
Relevant experience: Owner of McCormick Design, a commercial graphic design firm, for almost 40 years. Specialized in the horticulture industry, also worked extensively with non-profits and the hotel/travel industry. Performed all design tasks from client contact, job initiation and vendor supervision through completed projects.
Rae Rodriguez
Current Board Member / Adult & Youth Instructor
Role: As a Board Member, I wear a few hats at the Art Center. I teach after-school art programs for youth in our mountain schools, metal clay jewelry classes for adults, and serve as the Art Center’s Social Media Coordinator, sharing our classes, exhibits, and events with the community.
Relevant experience: In my past life, I worked in marketing and advertising for multiple corporations, always on the art side, specifically photography. I later worked for a nonprofit whose after-school programming paired soccer with poetry. I’m also a working artist. Through my business, Jester Swink, I work in all things clay, from silver and bronze metal clays to ceramic, creating handcrafted jewelry and home decor in the Santa Cruz Mountains. What I’m most passionate about is kids and art, and the Art Center is where I get to do both. It’s pure joy. Our kids are the future.