Faculty & Staff

Cynthia Brannvall is an art historian and an interdisciplinary multi-media artist. She is particularly interested in the entanglements of human experience teaches art history through a global lens. Cynthia has undergraduate degrees in Art Practice and Art History from UC Berkeley and an MA in Art History from San Francisco State University with an emphasis on Modern and Contemporary art.

Her artwork explores themes of identity, memory, and forced and voluntary migrations through a feminist lens. Her artwork has been exhibited in multiple galleries and museums including MoAD, New Museum Los Gatos, Triton Museum, and Marin Moca.

Cynthia was a nontraditional (older) student who started her academic journey at community college and believes in the adage that says community colleges are the engines of social justice and that it is never too late or too early to thrive.

Marco Marquez, is a graphic design consultant, educator, and artist. Marco has worked in the design industry for over 20 years. He began his career as an in-house designer and transitioned into design agencies where he worked for cornerstone clients such as Cisco, Sony, and Apple. Marco previously served as a senior lecturer at Santa Clara University. In 2013 Marco joined De Anza College as the lead instructor and program manager in Graphic and Interactive Design. Marco has served as the Art Department chair and has taught well over one hundred design and animation courses. 

Tellef Tellefson is an interdisciplinary artist and educator working across sculpture, new media, and design. His art is focused on how we experience architecture, public space, and design objects in our daily lives. He explores the territory between these conventions, working at their margins to find unexpected possibilities and to playfully imagine new ways of experiencing our built world.

Alongside his art practice, Tellef has worked professionally as a designer, multimedia artist, and art fabricator. He enjoys balancing these different ways of working and bringing that range of experience into the classroom, combining traditional studio skills with digital fabrication technologies. Through material exploration, experimentation, discussion, and learning from art history, Tellef encourages students to discover their own creative identities and strengthen their problem-solving skills.

Originally from Santa Maria on California’s Central Coast, Tellef has lived and worked in Los Angeles, Chicago, and the Netherlands. He received a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and an MFA from the University of Southern California.

Linda is a Bay Area native and an alumna of De Anza College taking courses in Art History and Dance. After graduating from De Anza, Linda worked at high tech companies such as Apple, Motorola and NetApp in program management. Her passion, however, was in the arts. She left high tech and returned to college and received a B.A. in Art History from Smith College in Massachusetts and attended UC Davis for her M.A. in Art History with emphasis on the History of Photography and Modern Art.  She has been teaching Art History at De Anza since 2011.

Since childhood, Meiru has been learning and practicing art. She especially enjoys teaching various drawing and painting techniques. Having earned a Master of Fine Arts from San Jose State University with an emphasis in Pictorial Art, Meiru has additional interests in printmaking, wheel-throwing and book art. Although being an art instructor and exhibiting artists in the Bay Area is a daily challenge, she feels it is also rewarding. Meiru says, “The most wonderful thing about teaching is that once in a while, we have a chance to help others make an important mark in their lives. As a student, I was greatly influenced by my art mentor. Given a teaching opportunity, I feel more than honored to contribute to our art community.”

Yael Karmi is passionate about art and education. She was born and raised in Israel, where she earned her B.A. in Literature and Philosophy. Later she completed her M.A. in Art History at San Jose State University and has been teaching Art History at De Anza since 2006.

Yael’s teaching philosophy is rooted in her belief that every student deserves respect, acceptance, and the opportunity to be the best lifelong learner he or she can be. Outside of De Anza Yael is also the head of a Hebrew Language school located in Los Gatos.

Eugene Rodriguez is a San Francisco based visual artist whose work includes painting, drawing, film, and installation. Aesthetically, his work incorporates theater, neorealism, and surrealism and then utilizes multiple painting and storytelling approaches to create a kaleidoscopic hybrid.

Rodriguez's films and videos have been featured in numerous national and international festivals. His paintings have been featured in solo exhibitions in New York City and San Francisco as well as group exhibitions across the country and Europe. In addition to exhibiting, he has curated exhibitions and lectured extensively on "Transforming Arts Curriculum for the 21st Century".