Staff

  • Samantha Kurtzman-Counter

    Founder & CEO

    Sam founded Art Farm at West Dry Creek after decades of dreaming big, working hard at making work, and reiterating every step of the way. An artist her whole life, Sam has worked as a dancer, photographer, cinematographer, and director/producer of documentaries and narrative film/TV. As an entrepreneur, she co-founded and served over 15 years as President of The Mother Company, a family-facing content company with a focus on social-emotional learning and a mission to Help Parents Raise Good People. She co-authored 10 children’s books and won an Emmy for the preschool series, “Ruby’s Studio.” A lifelong activist, she came to understand that her passion for the work of regenerative, climate/ecosystem justice-focused farmers & land stewards was equivalent and deeply interconnected with her love of art, so she became ignited by the idea of bringing them together in conversation and collaboration. And thus, Art Farm at West Dry Creek was born.

  • Liza Hinman

    Culinary Program Director

    Liza founded The Spinster Sisters, a farm-to-table restaurant in Santa Rosa, CA, in 2012 as the head chef and partner. Chef Hinman got her start in restaurants growing up on the East Coast, sparking her interest in all things culinary, and graduated from the California Culinary Academy in 2002. Since graduating, she has worked in several of the Bay Area’s finest restaurants, including Delfina and Bizou, and has been part of the Sonoma County restaurant community since 2004.
    In addition to restaurants, she is currently chapter president of Les Dames D’Escoffier Sonoma, a non-profit focused on supporting and mentoring women in the Culinary, Hospitality, Fine Beverage and Agriculture fields, and a board member of The Santa Rosa Urban Arts Network, which offers connections and grant opportunities for working artists in Santa Rosa’s thriving art scene. She enjoys reading, singing (in the car these days), and cooking with her three kids, along with her husband, who is a Healdsburg native, winemaker, and a mostly-retired bread baker.

  • Samuel Burris DeBoskey

    Lead Farmer

    Sam is a farmer, carpenter, rites-of-passage guide, and community organizer from Denver, Colorado. With over 15 years of farming experience across the country and around the world, he is passionate about the power of food and farming to bring people together and strengthen our connection to the natural world. In 2020, he co-founded an urban farm at the Village Exchange Center, an immigrant and refugee center in Aurora, Colorado. There, Sam grew and distributed culturally relevant produce for a variety of local markets, developed educational programming for kids and adults, and helped generate meaningful work for community members. The farm continues to thrive today as a vital part of the Aurora community, and the experience reinforced and inspired Sam’s commitment to food justice and community building through farming. Sam has called Sonoma County home since 2023 and, when not out in the field, you can find him reading fiction, playing basketball, or puttering around the woodshop.

  • McKenzie Jones

    Director of Programming and Development 

    McKenzie is an off-grid farmer turned social scientist who brings a passion for human interactions, nature, and justice to her work at Art Farm. McKenzie is a founding member of the Aurora Pocket Neighborhood Cooperative, an urban intentional community that she still calls home. She specializes in worker ownership and consults with cooperatives, including as a Peer Advisor with the US Federation of Worker Cooperatives and through her consultancy, The Worker Place. In her spare time, she enjoys riding her homemade bicycle, taking road trips with her three children, and performing with her bands, Strange Heavy and Mama Look!

  • Amber McInnis

    Residence Manager 

    Amber has called the Healdsburg area home since 2001, beginning her hospitality career managing the beloved Flying Goat. She went on to serve as Events Director for Barndiva (2010–2013) and most recently for the Michelin-starred Cyrus (2022–2025), where she brought her signature blend of creativity and precision to every gathering. Now based in Geyserville, Amber balances her work at Art Farm with raising her two children, exploring her passion for fitness, and sewing one-of-a-kind creations on her vintage machine.

  • Rachel Martinez

    Chief Financial Officer 

    Rachel is a Managing Director at Ground Control Business Management, bringing two decades of expertise in financial services. An alumna of UCLA, she is especially drawn to organizations that focus on community building and making a positive impact. She is also part of a fourth generation California farming family and enjoys tending her own garden and farm animals with her four children.

Board of Directors

  • Dawnelise Rosen

    Dawnelise is the Executive Director of FARMpreneurs, a project of Ideagarden Institute 501(c)3. FARMpreneurs offers national entrepreneurship education workshops for farmers aiming towards regenerative organic practice. She is a former hospitality entrepreneur of restaurants Scopa and Campo Fina in Headsburg, as well as the co-founder of Corazón Healdsburg, a non-profit aiming to create a more just and compassionate community by amplifying the local Latin-American voice, offering family-centered resources, and a cradle-to-career approach to education for all ages.  Dawnelise has spent over 20 years community building, instigating social equity initiatives, and nurturing community through food and connection.

  • Marci Ellison

    Marci Ellison is a designer and builder who creates spaces rooted in beauty, simplicity, and sustainability. Her journey has taken her from fashion at Esprit to land conservation in Chile, and farming at UC Santa Cruz. For three decades, she’s helped create community in Healdsburg through thoughtful design and community service, including five years on the Corazón Healdsburg board. Her greatest joy is being a mother, wife, and homesteader. For the past three years, she and her small but mighty team—Sergio Prado and Jaime Godinez—have brought the Art Farm to life.

  • Chelsea Hadley

    Chelsea Hadley is Director of the Mohn Art Collective (MAC3), a groundbreaking collaborative initiative between the UCLA Hammer Museum, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA). Launched in 2024, MAC3 reimagines how contemporary collections are built, shared and sustained. Chelsea’s 25+ years in the arts and philanthropy include serving for 12 years as Director of the grantmaking arts and environmental nonprofit The Shifting Foundation, fundraising and strategic partnerships at LACMA and Norman Lear’s social justice organization People for the American Way, leading PaceMacGill Gallery Los Angeles, and producing fine art editions in collaboration with artists such as Richard Misrach and Ed Ruscha. Chelsea received her BA with honors from Vassar College and was raised in Washington, D.C. by her mother, a photographer and avid gardener. 

  • Alex Kurtzman

    Alex is a Peabody, Emmy, and Tony Award-winning writer/director/producer of TV, film, and theater for over 25 years. He is the founder of Secret Hideout, a production company dedicated to positing a brighter future through stories that inspire us to create a better world through characters you root for, no matter the odds against them. Alex is also an avid art enthusiast and delights in teaching writing and producing workshops at Sundance Institute and Wesleyan University.

Advisory Board
(In the making)

  • Ezequiel (Zeke) Guzman

    Zeke has dedicated his life to advocating for farmworkers and their families, a commitment shaped by his own experience as a migrant seasonal farmworker. Mentored at age 17 by George Ortiz, he went on to spend more than 40 years in workforce development with organizations such as the California Human Development Corporation, La Cooperativa Campesina de California, and the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs, helping farmworkers gain training and stable employment. He founded La Familia Sana during the COVID-19 pandemic, leading vaccination efforts in Cloverdale that were recognized by The Washington Post, and in 2022 launched Jardin del Pueblo - Community Farm, which has expanded from one to five gardens and produced over 43,000 pounds of food in 2024 alone. For more than 40 years, Zeke has also served with Latinos Unidos del Condado de Sonoma, where he is now President and Volunteer Executive Director, continuing its mission to provide scholarships, cultural programming, and community support for the Latinx community.

  • Jessica Martin

    Jessica Martin is a multi-disciplinary artist, curator, and educator based in Northern California. Her work considers our continual process of growth and healing, and the ways we find joy and strength through meaningful connections with nature, one another, and ourselves. Jessica studied Anthropology at Vassar College and did her fieldwork in Madagascar and France. She received her MA at California College of the Arts. Jessica has been Artist in Residence for Google, and her work is shown in the US and abroad. Her kids’ hotline public art project, Peptoc, has received over 20 million calls and press from around the world.  In addition to her art projects, Jessica runs the arts program for West Side Elementary, and works as an advisor to nonprofits, cities, and residency programs.

  • Alex McClave

    Alex McClave is an art advisor, helping private collectors, foundations, corporations, and institutions build meaningful contemporary art collections. He specializes in the discovery, sourcing, purchase and sale of artworks, as well as the management of collections. He earned a BA in Art History at UCLA and worked at Sotheby’s New York before launching his independent consultancy. Alex grew up in Northern California and helped tend the family vegetable garden. 

  • Barbara Van Wollner

    Barbara is a creative spirit, passionate home cook & food lover, mixed media artist, enthusiastic gardener, loyal partner, wife & stepmother, supportive friend, devoted & loving sister, people connector, yoga practitioner, active community supporter, appreciator of nature, former restaurateur & AIDS fund-raiser.