Kristen Balouch

SOLUTION SAVANT

FOUNDING MEMBER 

 & BOARD MEMBER

Brooklyn artist Kristen Balouch is the author/illustrator of a handful of children’s books which have been recognized by the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation, Society of Illustrators, SCBWI, and others. Her work has spanned over thirty years inspired by the universal themes in folk art and color play. She has collaborated with the Guggenheim Museum, along with various licensing partners, fabric manufacturers, and product makers. Her work has also been seen in the New York Times, Bologna Children's Book Fair, Print Magazine, Communications Arts and solo and group shows. She is the founder of Little Blue Mushroom Literary Agency, bringing poetic image-makers to the children’s book market and has served on the Banks Street Children's Book Committee and now on the board of the Pen & Ink Brigade. Kristen is also a professor of Illustration Business at Pratt Institute in Associates Degree Department.

Meanwhile, she is on a mission to find new ways to bring art into the world and do good. 

Shelley Kommers

INSTIGATING AUCTIONEER

BOARD MEMBER

Shelley Kommers is a Los Angeles-based fine artist and illustrator. Her artwork is collage-based and layered, with a joyful, whimsical quality. Her artwork has been shown in galleries and museums nationwide, and has been featured in numerous books and magazines. Shelley's clients and licensing partners include Pottery Barn Teen, Spirituality & Health Magazine, Minted, Oopsy Daisy, Wheatpaste Art Collective, and Lendrum Fine Art— collectors include The Kimpton Gray Hotel in Chicago, The Julia Morgan School for Girls in Oakland, and private collections in the United States, Australia, and Canada. When Shelley isn’t cutting up paper and playing with paint, she enjoys her time as an arts educator, sharing her creativity with young children all over Los Angeles. She lives in a sunny yellow house with her amazing family and a fish named Walter.