Staff
Directors
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Alex Alvarez
Director
Alex is the director of the Gnomon School of Visual Effects in Hollywood, as well as The Gnomon Workshop, The Gnomon Gallery, Sketchtheatre, Gnomon Studios and CGchannel. Having dedicated the last decade to educating students and professional artists around the world, Alex has helped change the face of computer graphics and design education.
He has been published in industry magazines, websites and books - plus he has taught courses at several major trade conferences. He continues to work on personal and professional projects, recently as a creature development artist on the James Cameron film Avatar, JJ Abram’s Star Trek and the DC Comics film adaptation of Green Lantern. Other clients include Neville Page and the Aaron Sims Company.
Prior to Gnomon, Alex worked for Alias|Wavefront as a consultant and trainer for studios in the Los Angeles area. Alex is an alumnus of the Art Center College of Design and the University of Pennsylvania.
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Darrin Krumweide
CAO, Associate Director
Darrin is an alumni of the Art Center College of Design, where he studied Transportation and Industrial Design. After graduating, Darrin was employed as an Applications Engineer for Alias|Wavefront for three years where he received numerous awards including Outstanding Technical Support in 1994 and 1995.
Darrin then moved to the entertainment industry as a Senior Animator/Modeler with Kronos Digital Entertainment, Inc. for two years. After leaving Kronos, he began teaching at the Art Center College of Design while simultaneously working as an independent artist/consultant with entertainment companies such as Warner Bros., Honda, Sega and MCA/Universal.
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Kristin Bierschbach
Director of Administration
Kristin is a graduate of Stephens College in Columbia, MO where she earned a BA in Art History. Upon returning to California, Kristin went to work at the Art Center College of Design in the Special Programs Department. During her six years at Art Center, Kristin counseled hundreds of prospective students on careers in every aspect of visual arts. She oversaw a 50 percent increase in extension attendance for Art Center at Night and the Saturday High School Program and was promoted to Assistant Director of Special Programs. At Gnomon she has built the infrastructure of administration that has helped make us successful.
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Brian Bradford
Director of Admissions
Prior to joining Gnomon, Brian studied illustration, graphic design and 3D at various schools across his native Southern California including Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa and Gnomon School of Visual Effects. Brian has dabbled in various art forms here and there, including freelance illustration and a brief stint in the Hollywood music scene.
Brian began his career in the Visual Effects industry at Gnomon in 2005 and subsequently grew his experience in the areas of art counseling, recruitment outreach and program development. As Director of Admissions, Brian oversees a team of school representatives and works closely with the marketing and administrative departments in serving prospective students while maintaining Gnomon’s high admissions standards.
Outside of Gnomon, Brian remains active in community youth programs focusing on art education. Brian spends his free time watching strange films, visiting art galleries and listening to records.
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Travis Bourbeau
Director of Industry Relations
After a decade of experience in concept art and modeling for games and film, Travis moved from Massive Black to The Gnomon Workshop. Now he lends his talents to CG Channel and The Gnomon School of Visual Effects. When he isnt working on industry artist relations he still finds time to produce DVDs and events for the Gnomon Workshop and The Gnomon School.
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Alegria Castro
Assistant Director of Administration
Max Dayan
Associate Director of Education
Staff
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Anthony Almanzor
System Administrator
Anthony Almanzor is a graduate of UCLA where he obtained his bachelors in Materials Science and Engineering. He worked in the semiconductor industry for 6 years as a process engineer, overseeing several areas of semiconductor manufacturing. He is now part of the Gnomon family as the System Administrator, hoping to take digital and traditional courses in the near future to uncover his hidden artistic talents.
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Shannon Wiggins
Manager of Placement & Alumni Relations
Shannon brings 15 years of entertainment industry experience and more than a decade of experience as a visual effects artist on 30 feature films plus commercials and gaming. After vfx positions in production and team supervision for studios such as ILM, Digital Domain, Sony Imageworks and Rhythm & Hues, Shannon turned her focus to vfx recruiting/placement and making sure great artists are matched with great projects. Having worked for many different studios ranging from very small to very large – in capacities ranging from freelance to staff – she has the experience to help students and graduates navigate the world of visual effects to find their own growth opportunities.
Shannon’s educational background includes MFA graduate studies in TV/Film at Loyola Marymount, and a BA in Mass Communications (TV/Film Production) at the University of Denver. She has also immersed herself in the industry through organizations such as Siggraph and the Visual Effects Society.
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Mark Bertuldo
Accounting Assistant
Mark graduated from UC San Diego with a BA in Computing in the Arts (music emphasis). He worked in accounting support at Smashbox Studios in West Hollywood and at the Quixote Studio Store in Hollywood before going across the street—literally—and joining the Gnomon School staff. He plays and writes for the band Hot TV.
Shannon Keller
Admissions Coordinator
Shannon holds an MFA in New Genres from San Francisco Art Institute and a BFA in Drawing from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. She remains an active ‘maker’ and shows in and around Los Angeles regularly. She is also a proud mother of two and enjoys puzzle games, red wine and the films of Stanley Kubrick.
Jason Mendoza
Admissions Outreach Representative
Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, Jason is a Venice local. He attended Gnomon where he studied 3D and specialized in Effects Animation. During school he worked on a student project as an Effects Animator and Compositor on the opening animation for Steven Spielberg’s Lifetime Achievement Award presented by the Visual Effects Society during the 2008 VES Awards Show.
Since then he has worked on various music videos and feature films. With his extensive background in 3D and Computer Graphics he lends his skills in the Admissions team. Jason also represents Gnomon at various Industry trade shows such as Siggraph, Game Developer’s Conference and Comi-Con just to name a few.
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Michelle McDaniels
Financial Aid/Compliance
Michelle earned her BS in Information Science from Avila University in Kansas City, Missouri. She put her attention to detail to work in computer programming, niche/minority marketing and national consumer expositions before becoming affiliated with education in Southern California.
As the Assistant Director for an educational consulting firm, she helped school administrators achieve and maintain compliance with state and local government, national accrediting and federal agencies. As a consultant, she guided Gnomon through accreditation, immigration (student visas) and Title IV (financial aid) approval. Michelle recently accepted the opportunity to coordinate Gnomon's Financial Aid and Compliance requirements. She joins us with almost 10 years of experience in proprietary vocational school administration.
Paullina Weeks
Administrative Coordinator
Paulli for short, is a Cleveland, Ohio native. (Cleveland rocks!) She attended Cleveland State and The Paul Mitchell Academy. Prior to Gnomon, she has lived in Ohio, Florida and now California. Paulli enjoys being up on the latest and greatest films, music, and fashion.
Clark Torres
Receptionist
Mark Dedecker
Resident Artist
In the last few years Mark has been Lead Character Artist for Gentle Giant Studios and Ignition Entertainment. He has also done freelance character art for various production studios.
He is a 2006 Gnomon CG Certificate program Alum.
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Bob Ward
Creative Advertising Administrator
Bob Ward is a graduate of Kendall College of Art and Design where he obtained his Bachelors Degree of Fine Art in Illustration. He spent 3 years designing coffee and tea packaging for national grocery franchises, along with making freelance flash animation, print design, and illustrations for businesses in the retail industry. Bob has won 3 silver Addy Awards for his work in design and animation. He is originally from Grand Rapids, Michigan, but was hired by Gnomon School of Visual Effects to lend his talents on the advertising team.
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Eric Carl
Designer
Eric Carl is a web designer, graphic designer and illustrator residing in Los Angeles, CA. He works full-time at the Gnomon School of Visual Effects as a web designer in addition to teaching the Graphic Design and Career Realities/Portfolio Design courses. From 2003—2008 he worked at TaigMarks. Inc, an advertising agency producing an array of web and print design. His passion for computer graphics and design began early in his high school years when involved in various video game mod communities and digital art websites.
Eric's personal work covers illustration, digital collage and poster design. In his free time he experiments with electronic music production.
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Tom Heyerman
Lab Tech
