Jo Ford
With a unique take on art-curating, Jo has successfully put together many interesting and successful exhibitions. As part of the San Francisco Art Institute Artists’ Committee “Adeline Kent Award” jurors, Jo awarded Richard Kamler a solo show for his Table of Voices, which premiered at the Walter Mc Bean Gallery, eventually being installed at Alcatraz Prison, viewed by many thousands of visitors. Her tenure with the Artists’ Committee also enabled her to curate “Hover”, the 118th annual art exhibit/event at the SF Art Institute. Individually, Jo created the show “California History” an exhibit at the Oakland Art Gallery (co-curated with Maria Porges), and more recently produced “Connections” a show of Bay Area Artists at the People’s Bazaar Gallery in Berkeley in 2022.
Jo received her BFA from the SF Art Institute and her MFA from UC Berkeley in 2002. She is excited to bring her lengthy history of curating great art as CEO and managing Director of L7 Gallery!
Blaise Smith
As CEO of Music Orange San Francisco, Blaise has headed commercial productions for Sony, Apple, Microsoft, Unilever (Dove products), Salesforce, Google, Mitsubishi and the NFL, as well as numerous other national and international businesses. His company has also provided music for network TV shows, movies and award-winning documentaries. In his capacity as CEO and Executive Director, Blaise developed one of the most respected global music libraries called “Music Orange Library Online” (MOLO). He also co-wrote the theme song for "SpongeBob Squarepants" for which he has won the ASCAP Top TV Show Award for six seasons and the ASCAP Screen Music Award for Top Rated Series.
Blaise’s transition into the art world was relatively seamless, given his lifelong friendships with artists such as Pope L, Richard Kamler, Ward Fleming and Ted Terbolizard, just to name a few. His collaborations with animators from Pixar, Paul Tippet Studios and Dreamworks also helped to exapnd his artistic knowledge and experience. He is passionate about great art, and is continuously inspired buy the now famous Picasso statement "A gallery is only as good as its worst piece". As Executive Director and artistic co-ordinator at L7 Gallery, Blaise is committed to achieving that level of artistic integrity.
Dewitt Cheng
DeWitt Cheng is an art writer/critic based in the San Francisco Bay Area. He has written for more than twenty years for regional and national publications, in print and online, He has written dozens of catalogue essays for artists, galleries and museums, and is the author of “Inside Out: The Paintings of William Harsh.” In addition, he served as the curator at Stanford Art Spaces from 2013 to 2016, and later Peninsula Museum of Art, from 2017 to 2020.