Secretary, Eloise Sotelo (left) and High School Visual Arts Chair, Jennifer Lothrigel at the Orinda Library Gallery, are the new board members at the Lamorinda Arts Council, supporting local arts programs.
Lamorinda Arts Council (LAC) began its new year by electing Eloise Sotelo as secretary and inviting Jennifer Lothrigel to join as a board member at large, with a focus on the 2026 High School Visual Arts Competition (VAC).
Sotelo is a Los Angeles native with a background in advocacy for children, seniors and dependent adults and a passion for community engagement. She currently serves as Program Director for The Orinda Association (OA) Seniors Around Town program.
As a past secretary for The OA over a two-year period, her responsibilities included maintaining legal records for Board activities. In that role and in her current role with LAC, she is involved in discussions and planning for various programs administered by each organization.
A self-described passionate dabbler in the arts, she is fascinated by interior and architectural design, and has taken numerous design classes. She studied fashion merchandising and design and has taken many crafting and calligraphy classes.
Her Orinda home has an eclectic art collection derived from her family’s travels.
“I also enjoy collecting art pieces from private sellers on Facebook Marketplace and Buy, Sell – Lamorinda. I love the hunt,” she said. Endlessly fascinated by art in all forms, she considers it important to surround herself with it in her daily life.
Her Seniors Around Town office is located right under the library so she sees LAC artwork and sculptures on display in the gallery on a regular basis. She has enjoyed the Lamorinda Idol program at The OA’s 4th of July events and Classic Car Show.
Having met current LAC President Sue Farmer at a Rotary Club event, she was deeply impressed by her and other board members.
“LAC has an excellent reputation in the community and I am aware of the work they have done for years and consider it to be very important,” Sotelo said.
As to the value of LAC to the community, she said these are difficult times in our country.
“The presence and encouragement of art in our community is essential to maintaining our focus on freedom of expression and beauty in our lives. As a community, I believe that it is of the utmost importance to support our artists,” Sotelo added.
Lothrigel is a multidisciplinary artist and teacher based in Lafayette whose practice spans photography, painting and poetry. Her work is deeply informed by the natural world, embodied experience and ancestral narratives.
“Through my art, I create pathways for reflection, connection and expanded ways of seeing, inviting audiences to engage with the intuitive dimensions of human experience,” she said.
She believes in the transformative potential of creativity and in the role of the arts as a catalyst for personal and collective well-being. Sharing art-making with adults and children is part of her life and helps her receive support for her own path as an artist.
“Art is an essential part of the community,” Lothrigel said. “I think it is important that we nurture and support student creativity.”
As chairperson of the VAC program, Lothrigel offers a place for student artwork to be professionally displayed where the community can enjoy it.
“This gives students real-world experience of their creative work being valued and supported. It invites them to think about many aspects of being an artist, including how to prepare their work for display, how to price their work if they want to sell it, how to write about their work, and to think about what they feel is important to express in their own unique way,” she said.
Lothrigel was invited to join LAC by another board member when she was part of an exhibit in the Art Gallery at the Orinda Library. Ironically, she was looking for a way to give back to the local art community, so the timing was perfect.
“I’ve been on the receiving end of all that LAC offers artists over the years, including inclusion in Art Embraces Words, the Virtual Gallery at Wilder and the exhibit mentioned above,” Lothrigel said. “Being part of an organization with so many passionate art supporters is such a gift to me.”
For more information about Lamorinda Arts Council and its mission, visit lamorindaarts.org.
