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  • Michael Cataldi
    Founder and CEO

    Michael opened Paradise Framing in his artist studio after completing his MFA at UCLA in 2015. Prior to moving to LA for graduate school, Michael was a preparator at the Whitney Museum of American Art. He loves working with artists and designing special details for their framing that become signatures for their works. The first example of that work is the x spline that he designed with artist Kelly Akashi. That was such an important project that we made into an icon that accompanies our logo. When Michael is not at Paradise, which is rare, he likes surfing and hiking with his partner and their dog Dusty.

    Madison Brockman
    Paper Conservator

    Born and raised in Long Beach, Madison returned to Southern California after studying art history and science at UC Berkeley to gain more experience working in several well-regarded Los Angeles art institutions. Madison earned a Masters of Science in Paper Conservation from the Winterthur/University of Delaware graduate program. When not spending time outdoors with three rescue Chihuahua mixes, Madison enjoys cooking, reading, and dabbling in all types of arts and crafts. Madison likes to listen to KCRW and other new music discoveries while helping us build our conservation program and treat each unique artwork.

    Lana Sternick-Mandell
    Production Coordinator, Lead Carpenter

    Lana grew up in rural New England and earned her BFA from Maine College of Art in Woodworking and Furniture Design. She settled in LA following a 13 week cross country road trip. The most exciting project that she’s worked on since joining Paradise Framing in January 2021 was a 24 hour turnaround rebuilding and refinishing a frame that arrived in LA for an exhibition from a shop in NY that didn’t fit the art. While she’s working in the woodshop she may be listening to Norah Jones, or Norwegian Black Metal, it just depends on the day. When she’s not here at Paradise Framing she enjoys making art, cooking, learning new languages, and snowboarding.

    Sara Ybarra
    Registrar

    Sara’s a native Angelino from Hawthorne. She moved north to study Art History at CSU Sacramento & returned a week after graduating with honors to start a Getty Marrow internship. Sara recently joined our team in the summer of 2022 after spending 7 years as a registrar at the Autry where the most memorable project that she worked on was assisting in repatriation of cultural items to Karuk Tribe of Northern California. When she’s not working at Paradise she’s out hiking or running, or at home reading, cooking, and sharing meals with friends.

    Gordon Landenberger
    Production Associate

    Gordon hails from the beautiful state of Vermont. He studied art and theater at Sarah Lawerence College. When he’s not at Paradise he enjoys cooking, reading, and working on art and film projects. While he’s sanding frames in our woodshop he likes to listen to politics and culture podcasts and playlists from the Gaylord Fields show on WFMU on his headphones. Gordon’s favorite projects have been the ones that he can visit in exhibitions at museums around town.

    Megan Russell
    Production Associate, Hinging & Fitting

    Megan earned her BFA in painting and drawing at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design in her hometown. She joined the team at Paradise in the summer of 2022 following a 3 year stint hinging and fitting artwork at Downing Frames in NY. Her favorite project so far has been engineering and troubleshooting museum microclimate or “passepartout” packages for two deKooning paintings on paper where the verso of the artwork had to be visible from the verso of the frame. When she’s DJing in the fitting room her go to’s are Tommy Guerrero & Slow Pulp. When she’s not hinging artwork at Paradise she likes to spend time exploring her new neighborhood or relaxing at home, reading, drawing, and playing guitar.

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