STAFF

Carol Sauvion, Executive Director, Executive Producer, Director
Carol is the creator, Executive Producer and Director of Craft in America, the documentary series celebrating American craft and the artists who bring it to life. She is also the Executive Director of the Craft in America non-profit organization whose mission is to promote and advance original handcrafted work through educational programs in all media. Craft is Sauvion’s lifelong passion. For the past thirty years she has been the director of Freehand, her Los Angeles gallery specializing in functional craft.

Patricia Bischetti, Executive Producer
Patricia has produced the Craft in America series since its beginning in 2007. She has produced and supervised documentaries for PBS, Discovery, National Geographic, TBS, TNT, TCM, CNN, Lifetime, Starz, and Showtime.  Her work includes the Emmy Award-winning American Masters Mel Brooks Make a Noise, American Experience Last Days in Vietnam featured at the Sundance Film Festival, Peabody Award-winning Black Sky: The Race for Space, Code Black winner of the LA Film Festival, and PBS primetime series Tavis Smiley Reports. As Executive Producer at Big Buddha Baba Productions, she produced interactive media and experience design projects.

Denise Kang, Associate Producer
Denise has worked on every aspect of the Craft in America project since she joined the organization in 2006. Denise works on pre-production shoot planning, assists the crew and director at all on-location shoots, and is involved in post production including archival research, archival licensing, image retouching, double checking on-screen text, and handling deliverables for PBS. In addition, Denise also works on in-house graphic design and branding, manages and updates the website, oversees IT, social media, and all marketing materials. Denise also produces the filming of the Craft in America Center talks. Denise graduated from the University of Southern California with a BFA in ceramics, printmaking, and graphic design and continues to make pottery today.

Emilia Shaffer-Del Valle, Production Associate
Emilia Shaffer-Del Valle has worked as production coordinator for Craft in America since 2019. She has also independently curated exhibitions, organized educational programs, and written essays, always approaching the arts as a critical tool for education and change. Shaffer-Del Valle graduated from Columbia University with a B.A. in English and Art History. 

Michelle Starks, Production Controller

Terry de Castro, Communications
Terry became involved with Craft in America in 2011 while working at Freehand Gallery, a retail store specializing in fine American craft. In 2012, she started curating a series of concerts at the Craft in America Center, which has hosted more than 40 concerts. A musician herself, she performed in and co-coordinated Craft in America’s 10th anniversary music festival at Olvera Street in Downtown LA in 2018. She took over the role of Communications in 2019.

Alejandro Nam, Website Manager

Emily Zaiden, Craft in America Center Director & Curator
Emily is Director and lead curator of the Craft in America Center, where she has curated over forty exhibitions for the Center and partner venues since 2010. In addition to overseeing public and educational programming, she publishes catalogues and writes for journals including Archives of American Art Journal, American Tapestry Alliance, and Metalsmith. She has served as juror and lectured widely. Emily has an M.A. from the Winterthur Program in American Material Culture, and she was a Research Associate to the Decorative Arts department at LACMA and research editor for Architectural Digest prior to joining the organization.

Alex Miller, Center Coordinator
Alex has served as Center Coordinator and Communications Coordinator since 2017. He graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 2010, having studied art theory, art production, and poetry. Miller has been producing interactive events and exhibitions throughout Los Angeles. Prior to working with Craft in America, Miller co-managed ForYourArt’s activity space and worked for commercial galleries and nonprofits throughout Los Angeles. He brings his contemporary art programmatic and communications expertise and works with the Director to curate and mount the installations at the Center. As an artist and writer, his personal engagement with ceramics and other craft media help him in managing communications, marketing, programming, and social media for the organization.

Jenelle DeLucrezia, Education Coordinator
Jenelle is the Craft in America Center’s Education Coordinator, bringing with her a wealth of experience in art education within Los Angeles’ museums and schools. Having studied printmaking and illustration at the University of Hartford, she spent several years as a working artist before moving to Los Angeles in 2011. Since then, she has planned and implemented object and project based curriculum for both LACMA and the Huntington Library’s mobile, youth & family programs. She applies her knowledge of the visual arts frameworks for K-12 students to creating dynamic gallery experiences for learners of all ages.