Cart 0
Schedule Gallery Takeover
Current Virtual Gallery
Who We Are What We Do History Visit Access
Cart 0

ASHLEY HARRIS
PROGRAM MANAGER

Ashley Harris is a Teaching Artist and cultural worker from the Bay Area who holds an MFA in Photography from the San Francisco Art Institute. She has taught and overseen arts education programs for various museums, including the San Jose Museum of Art, the Crocker Art Museum, and the de Young. Ashley has witnessed the power of the arts in fostering connections, confidence and belonging and is passionate about supporting accessible arts experiences that serve communities of all ages and abilities.

KRISTIN HOUK

Kristin Houk is a San Francisco based restaurateur, artist and designer. She owns and operates three Bayview district restaurants: All Good Pizza, Tato and Cafe Alma and founded the San Francisco Clayer's Club, a public access pottery studio. She is passionate about her community and loves working in clay, culinary arts and hospitality and graphic and interior design. Her most treasured creation and role is being mom to her son Hudson, who is also an artist.



JESSICA McCRACKEN
SENIOR DIRECTOR OF CREATIVE ENGAGEMENT

Jessica McCracken, MPA, brings people together through the creative process. Her career began at the Center for Elders and Youth in the Arts, Institute on Aging in 2007. She holds a Master’s Degree in Public Administration with an emphasis in Nonprofit Arts Management. With enthusiasm for supporting professionals in the field, Jessica co-founded Creative Aging San Francisco (now Spark: A Creative Aging Gathering), a collective of individuals utilizing the arts to support healthy aging. As an artist deeply rooted in community, Jessica alongside her sister Bridget, founded Trash Mash-Up, an eco-arts program.

SUZANNE REICH
TEACHING ARTIST

Suzanne Reich is a museum educator and arts educator committed to engaging the wider community with art and art-making.  She has worked with students and adults at Ruth's Table, at the Contemporary Jewish Museum, and at SFMOMA and taught for many years as a literacy specialist in elementary schools.  At Ruth's Table, she developed and leads our monthly virtual Slow Looking Program and facilitates our Memory Cafe, offering exhibit tours and art-making, for people living with dementia and their caregivers. 

MONICA LEE
TEACHING ARTIST & FOUNDING MEMBER

Monica Lee’s art making started as a young child growing up in a busy household with five sisters. She was very influenced by her father who was always creating and building. Monica has taught over a thousand art workshops at Ruth’s Table since 2011. Her creative reuse and community based art workshops have participants of all ages and abilities.  She has also taught at ScrapSF, FabMo, SFCB, and other venues. Monica makes her own artwork, some of which has been exhibited in the United States and Japan. Prior to teaching art workshops Monica was a professional film photographer for 30 years publishing her portraits and architectural images in books and magazines nationally and internationally. She has a B.A. degree in Visual Communications. She lives with her husband Jonathan Rapp and their dog Maple Bar and have two adult children Elana and Samuel Rapp who grew up in an art-filled house in a foggy part of San Francisco.




 

LOLA FRAKNOI

"In 2009, Lola Fraknoi, Bethany Center's Program Director, conceived of an intergenerational arts program that would bring together Bethany's residents and people of all ages from the surrounding community. Inspired by the idea, Lola's mentor, renowned local artist Ruth Asawa, donated her famous dining table, constructed by her husband, architect Albert Lanier, to the project and gave us our name."

"Her large, welcoming table, symbolic of social gathering, community, and creativity, formed the start of an arts initiative we then called Ruth’s Table.  Like the table had been in her home, it was to serve as a hearth for creativity.

Ruth’s Table continues to strive to foster positive change through creative programming and to build an environment where participatory arts are integral to life in our community."

RUTH’S TABLE STORY TOLD BY LOLA

JERRY BROWN
FOUNDING MEMBER

Jerry Brown is a founding member of Ruth's Table at Bethany Center. As CEO of Bethany Center from 1982-2019 ( later merged with COVIA/Front Porch) he hired Ruth's Table creator Lola Fraknoi who was the visionary behind the program. Jerry met Ruth Asawa in the 1980s through Bethany UMC Pastor Rev. Dr. Elmer Schmidt who was her neighbor. Jerry was instrumental in getting federal funding to build the RT building and programming for BC residents.


AIKO CUNEO
TEACHING ARTIST & FOUNDING MEMBER

From a family of makers, Aiko Cuneo earned her BFA from Pratt Institute. For over thirty years, she was a teaching artist in San Francisco schools. She believes art making at any age promotes curiosity, invention, collaboration, social interaction, flexibility and a safe way to fail and succeed. “The art of making something from someone else’s discards brings me joy and satisfaction from the challenges that come during the process of transformation.”




TINA KWOK

Integrative Wellness Educator & Chair Yoga Specialist

Tina’s purpose is to empower graceful aging through mindful movement. She has called San Francisco home since 1981. She is a 200-hour Yoga Alliance Certified Yoga Teacher, a Certified Chopra Meditation Instructor, a SATYA (Somatic Awareness Training for Yoga Attunement) Instructor, and a Functional Medicine Certified Health Coach.

Before devoting herself fully to holistic wellness, Tina built a successful career as a Certified Public Accountant and later as the owner of a beloved East-West cuisine restaurant in the Fillmore District, which she operated for over 15 years.

Now approaching 71, Tina brings a wealth of life experience to her teaching. She is a two-time cancer survivor and has recovered from brain surgery—experiences that have only deepened her compassion and commitment to healing. Her classes are gentle, grounding, and deeply attuned to the needs of seniors and anyone seeking mindful movement and inner peace.

A lifelong lover of the arts, Tina also finds joy in cooking, photography, travel, dancing, and playing the piano. Through Chair Yoga, meditation, and breathwork, she supports others on their own paths to resilience, connection, and well-being.

Tina’s mission is simple: to empower others to feel at home in their bodies, cultivate calm in their minds, and reconnect to the joy and vitality within.



CLARA HSU

Clara Hsu is a Chinese-American poet born in Hong Kong. She is a mother, piano teacher, traveler, actor, translator, playwright, and executive director of Clarion Performing Arts Center. 

In 2022 Clara established Clarion Children’s Theater. It is a year-round program for the children of low income and new immigrant families in San Francisco Chinatown. 28 students are currently enrolled in the program.

Clara is a proponent of the Cantonese language. She conducts a free, weekly Cantonese Conversation Class (started in 2023.) It is a drop-in class with regular attendance of 10 to 16 people. Clara’s bi-lingual music videos, Gai Mou Sou Rap, Glammas Wrap, Snacking Kids Rap and the Cantonese play, DragonBeard, have sparked interest and uplifted the spirit of Cantonese-Americans.

It is Clara’s mission to promote the awareness of poetry and create a platform in the arts for the underserved members of the Chinatown community.




DANIELLE

I have always been an artist and as a child my parents could not keep up with my need for art supplies and enough space to display my never ending steam of creations. In grade and middle school, I aspired to be an architect and took classes in drafting, design, and shop where I had exposure to all kinds of wood working and other building processes. In high school, I attended a visual arts program where I fell in love with photography and was soon showing my work and receiving awards.

I continued in this direction earning my BA from UCSD in Media Production with focus in photography and video production. I worked in Hollywood on films, in television, and on commercial photography projects as a photographer and photo stylist.  As my family grew, I shifted my focus and leaned into my 30 plus years of art teaching experience working with students of all ages- toddler to adult, as well as other such projects as directing a community activation gallery for several years, and creating art based community events. My personal creative endeavors broadened from photography to other mediums including metal work and assemblage. I also served as chair for the Community Advisory Committee overseeing Special education at SFUSD. And I work with STAR, the Shipyard Artist Trust.

Currently, I view myself as a conceptual artist and work in many mediums using what ever gets me creatively to the message I am conveying.  My resent works include the “Primitive Computer,” a series of mixed media sculptures commenting on our dependence on computers. My “SARS-Covid-19” series of pen and ink drawings shown at the De Young Museum, and my most resent piece, “It’s All Love”.

“It's All Love” is a dialogue between me and my now 83 year old mom with Alzheimers around her meals which I prepare. For me food prep is a daily opportunity to be creative and an act of love. At one of mom’s early meals after cancer she asked me to “take a picture.” She has continued this ritual with all the meals she feels are especially beautiful. In the beginning I felt this would just be a lovely personal record of this time, but it has become a dialogue of love and appreciation. The ritual continues to this day with over 400 images and growing, showing our unique journey.





COSMIC ELDERS

The Cosmic Elders Theatre Ensemble is a women-led collective of local writers, artists, performers, and innovators. These longtime San Franciscans are dedicated to creating original works infused with courage, humor, and a vibrant spirit of collaboration. The Cosmic Elders serve as Resident Artists at Ruth’s Table in the Mission District.