Every year, thousands of talented young artists move to the San Francisco Bay Area much like aspiring actors move to Hollywood. They come here to attend BFA and MFA programs at the Academy of Art, California College of the Arts, Mills College, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco State University, Stanford, and UC Berkeley.  Stark Guide was founded to help you buy the work of those emerging artists. 

Marianna Stark (pronounced mary-anne-a) founded Stark Guide in 2007.  She is a active member and former chair of SFMOMA’s SECA (Society for the Encouragement of Contemporary Art).  She has contributed articles to San Francisco Arts Quarterly (SFAQ) and SFArts.org.  She is an active member of ArtTable.  Over the years Marianna held leadership positions in many different arts organizations including two years on the board of ArtPoint, the young professionals’ auxiliary of the San Francisco Fine Arts Museums.  Marianna holds a BA in Art History from the University of California at Berkeley.

Marianna’s love for the arts was sparked by her grandfather, E. Preston Ames, an Academy Award winning Art Director, and by Prudy Kohler’s History of Art course at San Francisco University High School.

In 2010 Marianna fell in love with Sam Perry and moved to Oakland.