ARTISTS & EDUCATORS
ALMA CIELO
A graduate of Yale University in Anthropology and Heritage Studies in the Philippines, Alma is a multi-disciplinary artist and educator focused on community art projects. She teaches Integrated Arts, Music, Movement/Dance, and the sharing of personal stories, believing that the arts are an important path for healing, developing resilience, recovering from trauma, and building community.
In 2025, the ARTISTS AT WORK program selected Cielo (an EATON FIRE survivor) and the Los Angeles Conservancy for an 18-month collaboration to celebrate resilience and cultural heritage in the wake of the January 2025 wildfires. Altadena residents will participate in transforming ceramics, glass, and tile from the fire—to be used in the large-scale public project, 1000 VOICES ALTADENA MOSAIC.
EMILY HOPKINS
Emily (BFA/MA Cal Arts) is the Executive Director of SIDE STREET PROJECTS, a mobile self-sustaining Community Arts Center whose mission is equitable access to the Arts. SSP promotes innovation in Arts and Education, utilizing a regenerative, symbiotic relationship with the environment. In 2010, SSP was recognized as “the most innovative artist space in the Nation” by Leveraging Investments in Creativity (LINC), a collaboration of MIT, NEA, and the Ford Foundation.
PAUL LIVINGSTONE
International performing artist PAUL LIVINGSTONE has studied and played Sitar for the past 20 years in India and the US. A disciple of legend Ravi Shankar, Livingstone is also a composer, educator and community activist in Los Angeles. He performs on sitar and unique fretless guitars of his own design. In addition to his North Indian music focus, he plays creative new music blending ideas from diverse world traditions.
Paul has played and recorded with a number of world music, jazz and popular artists including Kenny Burrell, Ozomatli, and Alanis Morissette. He composes creative world music for film, was on the faculty of Cal Arts for the past 5 years, and is Artistic Director of the Sangeet School of World Music in North East Los Angeles.
D PAUL
D Paul is an artist, sculptor and custom woodworker who generously lends his hand to repair and beautify the ranch.
ROHAN GOYOT-SUTHERLAND
Lecturer - Regenerative Studies, College of Environmental Design (Cal Poly)
Rohan is a Sustainable Living Biotecture Instructor and designs, builds, and advocates for Regenerative Practices around the world. With a keen eye for the inherent synergies in nature, he uses biomimicry to shape the built environment efficiently and in an eco-friendly way. He has managed a wide range of projects relating to self-sufficiency and adaptation to climate change for individuals, companies, non-profits, and international institutions. Rohan believes in giving back to the planet and communities in need. By sharing his knowledge, he tries to promote a regenerative lifestyle whenever he can.
MIGUEL ELLIOTT (“SIR COBALOT”)
Miguel is the founder of Living Earth Structures: leading workshops, teaching in schools, and building earthen structures. Featured at the Solar Living Center and known for his Palletable Cobins, Miguel creates small, cozy structures using pallets, straw insulation, and cob plaster. Affordable, quick to build, beautiful and functional, Miguel's work inspires people to embrace natural building methods, promoting sustainability and environmental consciousness. Lead builder of the Cob on Wood project in Oakland, he constructed earthen structures under the freeway at a homeless encampment. He also built a school in Florida, which has survived two major hurricanes.
YOSHIKAWA WRIGHT
Yoshikawa is a nationally acclaimed Japanese/American stone sculptor whose deep connection with stone began at the University of Colorado. This awakening set him on a path of refinement, leading to an apprenticeship in the historic stone quarries of Shodoshima, Japan. His time there was an immersion into a tradition where material's natural form.
“As a sculptor, my goal is to suggest the spiritual side of life. While my medium is stone, earth-bound and enduring, I strive to create work that suggests the spiritual dimension not by illustrating it literally, but by evoking it. In this way, the sculpture becomes a vessel for stillness, silence, and presence. Beauty touches something deep within us that is wordless and eternal, what I would call spirit.”
BRETT GOLDSTONE
An artist from New Zealand, Brett was inspired by the work of Jirayr Zorthian on his frequent visits to the ranch. Brett immersed himself in Kinetic Sculpture and is renowned for “THE GREAT HERON GATE” at the LA River, among other achievements.
“Art can’t function as anything else if it’s going to be Art. If you use a painting to blend your sofa and your wallpaper, then it’s not Art."
DAVID APODACA
APO’S GARDEN is named after this gifted plant expert, who seems to be able to grow anything. Apo has been a friend and garden beautifier on the ranch for many years.
ANDRES—SHEPHERD
Andres frequented the ranch as a child with his rancher father, who kept animals with Jirayr. He grew up around many rancheros, and continues this tradition of ranching, raising cattle, and cooking meats. For more info you can find Andres on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shdy_sheprd/
BUNNY POTTER
Most days Bunny can be seen working her magic in “DEEPER ROOTS” vegetable garden. She’s a gifted massage therapist and creative artist.