Founded by former art teacher, Patty Palmer in 2008, Deep Space Sparkle’s mission is to uplift art teachers through happy art, colorful curriculums and sparkly support.
Based in Santa Barbara, California, our team supports a thriving membership site for art teachers, The Sparklers’ Club, and an active blog devoted to providing art projects for teachers and families.
Patty Palmer
CEO, Founder DEEP SPACE SPARKLE
Patty is the CEO and Founder of Deep Space Sparkle. Patty founded Deep Space Sparkle in 2009 while working as an elementary art teacher in Goleta, California.
Sharing project ideas and tips on what was happening in her art room on her blog, Deep Space Sparkle (named after a Crayola crayon color!) Patty nurtured connection and support for art teachers, classroom teachers and artsy parents all around the world.
Patty created The Sparklers’ Club in 2016. It was one of the first membership of its kind for art teachers and has since served over 15K art teachers, classroom teachers and homeschool families.
In 2020, Patty started her second business, Primerry, as a way to get back to what she loves doing most — teaching art directly to children. Families can sign up their children for studio art classes in their own home right here.
Patty is the author of Draw, Paint, Sparkle Creative Projects from an Elementary Art Teacher (Roost Books 2018)
Neil Cutcliffe
AKA Mister Sparkle
Neil is the CFO and CTO of Deep Space Sparkle. He keeps all ships running smoothly and even tolerates glitter. In his former life, Neil worked as a computer engineer and manager before devoting his days to DSS.
Neil and Patty got married in Santa Barbara in 1992 and have three grown children; Newt, Tate and Elly.
Shannon Cain Reyes
Customer Happiness
Shannon is our resident customer happiness guru. She takes care of everyone who comes into our sparkly world. No doubt if you emailed Deep Space Sparkle, it was Shannon who helped you out. While art may not be in her wheelhouse, this Tennis Queen plays a pretty creative game.
A native Texan, Shannon lives in Santa Barbara, California with her husband and two boys.
Ashley Christian
Publisher
Ashley meshes technical and creativity effortlessly by uploading & managing the content for The Sparklers Club and Deep Space Sparkle.
She ensures that all 1000 bits of content that our creative team creates on a weekly basis gets published in a timely manner. No small feat!
Fun fact: Ashley is a former student of Patty!
Amy Clay
Lesson Development and Curriculum Planning | Content Team
Amy creates our lesson plans and art resources all with our Core Value of The Sparkly Standard of Excellence top of mind. She is the creative genius behind our mixed-media projects and art history curriculum.
Amy is a former elementary school art teacher with a Master’s in Curriculum and Instruction. She lives with her husband, a sheep farmer, and sweet baby boy in South Dakota.
Heather Sparks
Lesson Development and Teacher Training | Content Team Manager
Heather hails from Georgia and has worked as an art teacher for 13 years before joining the Deep Space Sparkle creative content team. Heather is a master innovator and loves designing lessons that offer a unique perspectives on traditional subjects.
Heather lives with her two young boys and amazingly supportive husband in a fun, creative household in Georgia.
Emma Deardorff
Video and Photography
Emma brings our art projects and creative content to life with her beautiful photography and videos. She shoots, edits and animates our sparkly educational videos and keeps the office humming with her musical selections and creative energy.
Hannah Barbaria
Community Manager & Photo Editor
Hannah welcomes art teachers with a huge smile and open arms into our Sparklers community group, hosts the Sparklers’ Club weekly Zoom meet-ups and ensures that everyone is supported and celebrated. She is the creative “eye” behind our photoshoots, Instagram stories and newsletters.
Hannah lives in Santa Barbara and bicycles to work everyday on her adorable beach cruiser.
Alexis Watters
Graphic Designer & Maker of Pretty Things
Alexis is our resident graphic designer & illustrator. She ensures that our resources and lesson plans exceed our Sparkly Standard of Excellence that surprise and delight our members each month.
If it’s not “Alex-ified”, it’s not sparkly! Check out our special feature of Alexis on the blog!
Bethany Mees
Customer Happiness
Bethany loves cozy sweaters, mugs of steaming northwest coffee and helping our members. No problem is too small for Bethany and no question to simple. If you have any questions about your membership or questions about Deep Space Sparkle, Bethany is ready to help.
Bethany lives in Portland with her husband, 3 boys, 1 sparkly girl and a very large dog.
Rachelle Smith
Resource Specialist
Rachelle is art educator in Columbus, Ohio who teaches at a specialized school for the blind. Her vast knowledge as an art teacher to children with various abilities as well as experience teaching and reaching diverse audiences, is an exciting role for the growth of Deep Space Sparkle’s resources.
Mabre Lencho-Armstrong
Assistant Lesson Creator
Mabre is a studio artist with a background in art therapy, elementary education and museum work.
She is an elementary art teacher in Gilbert, Arizona and yes, she is currently teaching remotely!
Mabre specializes in mixed-media and clay.
2018 TEAM RETREAT
Team Sparkle believes in growing through learning and pushing past comfort zones. This was put to the test at this year’s team retreat.
We headed for Figueroa Mountain in the Santa Barbara back country to experience solitude, relaxation, brainstorming, harrowing drives up steep mountain faces, ostriches, roosters and gale force winds.
But we had wine and the most delicious food from Dolce catering.
2019 Team Retreat La Quinta Resort, Palm Springs, California
We are a growing company of online resources for art teachers. We're looking to grow our team in the areas of social media, community support, product design and education.
In person and virtual positions opportunities available. We are located in Goleta, California.
EXPLORE CAREERS
