Contact Us & Staff Information

Contact Us & Staff Information 2023-05-22T13:24:06-07:00

620 Market Street  |  Kirkland, WA  |  98033  |  (425) 822-7161   View our office hours.

Interim Executive Director
Director of Education

Star Hang Nga Rush
srush@kirklandartscenter.org

Star Rush has held faculty and administration appointments at colleges and university in Washington state. She has taught writing, American Literature, and creative writing. Star earned her Master’s Degree in English Studies, Nonfiction, from Western Washington University. Star has served as Interim President and Provost & Vice President of Academic Affairs for Cornish College of the Arts. Her photography has appeared in the United States, London, the Netherlands, and Europe, as well as magazines Actual Colors May Vary, Askar Magazine, Camerapixo, Dodho.com and featured on international sites and publications: Resource Magazine, wired.it, and Volksrant. Her poetry and short stories have appeared in Hawaii Review, Fireweed, and others. Her cultural essays about connected mobile photography have appeared in iPhonegraphy.com, wearejuxt.com, dprConnect, iPhoneogenic.com, and others. She is currently serves on the Cultural Arts Commission-City of Kirkland.

Ceramics Studio Manager

Brooke Cerny
bcerny@kirklandartscenter.org

Brooke grew up in the Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York. She earned an honors BA in Visual Arts with a concentration in Ceramics and a minor in Art History from Eckerd College in 2016. After completing her degree, she was awarded a Teaching Fellowship from the Spanish Ministry of Education and lived in Spain for several years teaching English. Since then, she has worked for several Artist Residency programs in both Spain and New York and has been an Artist-in-Residence herself at Saratoga Clay Arts Center and Salem Art Works. Brooke has served as a mentor and educator for a wide range of ages and demographics and enjoys fostering community through clay. In addition to her Arts and Education background, she brings years of organizational and management experience to the KAC ceramics team.

Ceramics Technician Emeritus

Pat Colyar
pcolyar@kirklandartscenter.org

Pat Colyar is a longtime ceramics technician at the Kirkland Arts Center and has taught ceramics since 1988. She enjoys helping people learn about the joys of clay work while discovering their own abilities. She specializes in making functional ceramic ware and two-dimensional wall pieces.

Education Assistant

Glenda Cooper

gcooper@kirklandartscenter.org

Glenda Cooper has been an integral volunteer member of the KAC staff for the last twenty years, and holds amazing institutional memory. She deftly helps students register for class, and assists staff and teaching artists prepare for, and then execute classes. In addition, she is a talented painter and mixed media artist, who has a passion for plants and archery. Glenda has taken a number of painting, art history, and abstract art classes at KAC, and is a great resource for class recommendations, or sourcing art supplies. Originally from Virginia, she lives with her husband and dog in Woodinville.
DL 2023

Assistant Curator

Danielle Librera
dlibrera@kirklandartscenter.org

Danielle is originally from New Jersey, but now calls Seattle home. She graduated from the University of Washington in the spring of 2023, with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Art History. While she has an admiration for all forms of art, her favorite era is Modernism with particular focus on post-World War II art. She loves working in the gallery because it gives her the opportunity to introduce our patrons to our artists’ work and techniques. Danielle has personally studied watercolor painting and enjoys creating art in her spare time. Previously, Danielle was a pastry chef for many years in Seattle and Phoenix, even owning her own bakery for a few years. She still bakes from time to time when the mood strikes.

Gallery Director & Chief Curator

Miha Sarani
msarani@kirklandartscenter.org

Miha Sarani is a visual artist, an art historian, and an art educator. Born and raised in Ljubljana, Slovenia, he moved permanently to the United States in 2007, becoming a citizen in 2021. He earned a BFA (painting + drawing, ’15), and an MA (art history, ’19) from the University of Washington.

Miha’s work has been shown at art museums and galleries, featured in art journals, publications, promotional material, and on music album covers. His large Koncentrik Painting series is owned by the University of Washington and on permanent display at the Mary Gates Hall. He lectures on art history for Seattle Central College CE, and OSHER program at the University of Washington, as well as practical art making at the Kirkland Arts Center.

Also passionate about music, Miha released his first music album Emona Au Revoir in 2016. It was included in Seattle Public Library’s PlayBack program the following year. He is a member of the Shift Gallery in Seattle, where he works and lives with his wife Tomitha, and their dogs Blue and Sister Ray.

Education Coordinator

Analisa Soverns-Reed
asovernsreed@kirklandartscenter.org

Analisa Soverns-Reed is an art historian and educator. She was born and raised in Everett and has lived in the Kenmore/Kirkland area for the past several years. Analisa attended the University of Washington where she earned an honors bachelor of arts degree in art history with a minor in history. After working in various fields for the next seven years, she decided to follow her passion for education. In 2022, she graduated from Grand Canyon University with a master’s in education with a concentration in secondary humanities education.

Outside of her work for KAC as the education coordinator, Analisa runs the Accessible Art History social media platform. This digital humanities project utilizes free social media platforms (Instagram, YouTube, podcasts, blogs, etc) to bring art history education to anyone that is curious! Analisa is passionate about helping others to understand our shared history through objects.

In her free time, Analisa enjoys reading, working on writing her first art history book, spending time with friends and family, and cheering on Seattle sports teams!

Assistant Ceramics Technician

Eleanor Stelter
estelter@kirklandartscenter.org

Eleanor Stelter is an interdisciplinary artist focused on three-dimensional functional work who finds great joy in helping people express themselves creatively. Since graduating with a BFA in 2018, they have worked primarily in the ceramics community. Eleanor has taught every age demographic and loves to continuously expand their skill set and pass useful and sustainable practices on to others.