Karen Atkinson: President and Founder, Coeditor of Artists*At Work
 
Karen Atkinson is a media, installation, public artist, independent curator, and collaborator. Atkinson has published and guest edited a number of publications. Exhibiting and curating internationally, Atkinson's work has been shown in South Africa, Australia, Europe, Mexico, Canada, throughout the USA, and in the Fifth Havana Biennial in Cuba.

In 1991, she was a co-founding director of Side Street Projects, a non-profit artist-run organization in Los Angeles, which continues to thrive now in Pasadena. Atkinson has held a faculty position at CalArts since 1988, teaching Foundation Seminar, Context Revolt (addressing installation, public and net art), and her renowned Getting Your Sh*t Together class. She has taught workshops for over 20 years, both regionally and nationally, for organizations like the California and Boston Lawyers for the Arts, Side Street Projects, The National Association of Arts Organizations, and dozens of additional artist-run spaces and non-profits.

Karen created the GYST software for artists from scratch and in 2000 she founded GYST as an artist-run professional practices service company. Currently, Atkinson chooses to focus on making life better for artists and less on exhibiting her own work.

In her spare time she serves on Boards and Advisory Boards of local and national arts organizations, advises artists on their careers, and tries to get into as much art trouble as possible. To view some of Karen’s projects visit karenatkinsonstudio.org

Tucker Neel: Vice President/Coeditor of Artists*At Work GYST's newsletter
 
Tucker directs GYST's overall marketing, PR, sales and advertising program. He co-teaches GYST’s Spring and Fall classes and is also the co-editor of Artists*At Work, GYST's blog and newsletter. Please direct all sales, marketing, PR, and editorial inquiries to him.
Tucker Neel is an artist, freelance writer, and independent curator living and working in Los Angeles, CA. Embracing a polymorphous practice, Neel utilizes drawing, painting, sculpture, video, installation, and online communication to create works that investigate personal, public, and political attempts to solidify memory in a material form. To view his complete projects please visit tuckerneel.com

He holds an MFA from Otis College of Art and Design and a BA in Art History and Visual Arts from Occidental College. As a curator he organized exhibitions for The Regent Galleries in downtown Los Angeles and the Bolsky Gallery at Otis College of Art and Design. His work has been reviewed in the LA Times, ArtWeek, The Loyolan, L.A. City Beat Newspaper, The Tennessean, Art Week, The Nashville Scene, The L.A. Times, on artforum.com, and on Flavorpill.com. He regularly contributes art reviews to Artillery Magazine in Los Angeles, CA and ART LIES in Houston, TX. You can read these reviews at www.tuckerneel.wordpress.com.

Chris Bassett: Internet Technology Manager
 
Chris Bassett is an artist living and working in Los Angeles. He received his MFA in Art from CalArts in 2005 and his BFA in Graphic Design from Western Michigan University in 2000. Chris’s recent work focuses on the forces behind Mystical Capitalism and their role in shaping contemporary culture. He currently co-directs Monte Vista, an exhibition space in Highland Park.

He is responsible for development and maintenance of the GYST website. Prior to working for GYST, he worked as a freelance web developer and server administrator for a mix of business and arts clients.

Monica Hicks: Operations Manager

Monica Elayne Hicks is an educator, writer, event planner, and accessory guru living and working in the Los Angeles area. Monica focuses on her traditional drawing skills coupled with basic 'science' and curiosity of surface characteristics to describe her perspective and lack of experience as a woman of color in American society through the photographic history of her ethnicity. Her works are about the paradigm between integration and difference. Her education is based in biochemistry with an emphasis in pathology, but holds a BA in Studio Arts from the University of California, Irvine and an MFA in Visual Art from the California Institute of the Arts. She has an arsenal of skills, including and not limited to: acoustic shower singing, couture fashion accessories, 1970's slang, and interior design (making a small apartment look huge). If you are not a jive turkey and you want to view Hicks' work, visit MonicaElayne.com

Calvin Lee: Archive Technician, Documentation

Calvin Lee is a conceptual-based photographer from Boston, MA. He recently received his MFA in 2009 from California Institute of the Arts in the Photography & Media program; and a BFA in Visual & Critical studies and photography from School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in 2007. Calvin works mainly in photography, sculpture, and installation. His work combines intelligence and humor to explores the connectivity of images, the repression within representation, and the rhetoric/visual semiotics of an image. His analytical, emotional, and experiential practice deals with multiple theory based discourses in conversation that questions technology, culture, representation, and language. His work has been exhibited in Boston as well as recently in Los Angeles.

Calvin's specializes in fine art/editorial contemporary photography and provides skills in artwork/gallery documentation, portraits, scanning, photo retouching, and digital archiving. He currently lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.

April Totten is an artist who makes multi-media video installation work. Her last project, "The House in the Middle", combined multiple projection pieces with heavily layered audio throughout the gallery space and required special attention to timing, balance and editing. April grew up in Long Beach, Ca. and now resides in Los Angeles. She received her BFA and MFA from Cal Arts.

Freddy Bustillos, GYST Programmer

Freddy Bustillos is an artist, independent FileMaker contractor, entrepreneur, restaurateur, father, husband, assistant wrestling coach and licensed EMT.

Under the direction of Karen Atkinson, Freddy Bustillos manages the development of the GYST software. Freddy’s work includes custom built database solutions for companies such as GYST, Ingram Micro [a Fortune 100 company], Resonance Records, Ocean Medical, Torok Design Solutions and EDS Financial Services, Inc.

Ari Kletzky: Business Advisor
 
Ari Kletzky is the business advisor for GYST and has ten years of experience in business in a variety of industries. Graduating from UC Berkeley, Kletzky received dual degrees with a B.S. in Business Administration and a B.A. in Rhetoric. Upon graduating from Berkeley, Kletzky worked as a management consultant with Monitor Company, an international management-consulting firm serving Fortune 50 companies and foreign equivalents. More recently, Ari has worked in the Hispanic community for the last 4 years. He was VP at Clinica Medica General, the largest integrated healthcare delivery system serving the Hispanic Community in Los Angeles where his responsibilities ranged from planning and business development to finance and operations. Currently, he is part of the senior management team at a start-up company called Confianza, which is the first private, microfinance company focused on the United States.

Simultaneously, while working in the field of business for the past ten years, Kletzky has pursued an art practice working in a variety of mediums including video, photography, installation, poetry and performance. He currently directs Islands of LA, an art project exploring the use and availability of traffic islands as public space to foster discussion and create community.

Michael Grodsky: Financial and Health Insurance Specialist

Michael Grodsky’s mission is to create vibrant and interesting educational experiences for artists on the topics of financial planning and health insurance at various locations in the Los Angeles area.

A specialist in socially responsible investing and an Accredited Investment Fiduciary, Michael holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Classical Guitar and a Masters in Music Theory and Composition from Cal State Fullerton.

His firm, Aquarius Financial (aquariusfinancial.com) provides employee benefits consulting services, helping businesses and non-profit organizations implement retirement and group health plans.

Michael lives in Los Angeles with artist Mara Lonner and their two rescue dogs, Nancy & Henry.