About Elizabeth

Teacher, Facilitator & Artaluma Director

Hi, I’m Elizabeth McKoy. I’m a Painter, Teaching Artist, and the founder of ARTALUMA, a non-profit Visual Art Education Studio, where art is for EVERYONE!

I believe that living a full, joyful life includes creative expression. For me, there’s nothing more powerful than the combination of creativity, community, and connection. That’s the heart of everything I do as an Artist and Teacher.

I love sharing the beauty, tools, and techniques of visual art with students of all ages—from curious beginners to experienced artists. While I’m a working painter and mixed-media artist, my deepest love is teaching. I find so much joy in helping children, teens, and adults discover their creative voices and experience the freedom that art can bring.

My paintings, jewelry, and functional art are colorful, textural, and full of movement. I’m inspired by rhythm, music, and the natural world, and I often lose track of time when I paint. I love both abstract expression and realistic work, and I embrace the layered, evolving nature of the creative process. Some of my favorite paintings have 10 or more finished layers beneath the surface.

The formal training I got from art school didn’t work for me, so I began a self-directed, joyful art journey. Now, I help artists find their own path, overcome their fears, and live passionate lives as artists. In 2000, I trained with the Lincoln Center Institute in New York in a powerful method called Aesthetic Education. It’s a non-traditional approach to arts learning that focuses on inquiry, discovery, and artistic concepts rather than rigid step-by-step instruction. This method changed everything for me—how I see the world, how I teach, and how I see myself as an artist. I’ve used it ever since in classrooms, workshops, and studios with hundreds of students.  This training inspired our successful 'The Artist's Footstep' series, which I now teach year-round. 

Before focusing full-time on visual art, I spent two decades as the Founding Artistic Director of Berkeley Playhouse, a professional musical theatre company in the Bay Area. I’ve always been a dual artist—rooted in both theatre and visual art—and eventually felt called to focus on teaching and directing in the visual arts space.

In addition to running Artaluma, Teaching Classes and Camps, and teaching Dance Jam, Groove, and Splash, I’m also the proud mom of five amazing kids who keep my world busy, beautiful, and meaningful.

Elizabeth McKoy, Artaluma Founder

View Article – Her World Is the Stage