EDUCATION
M.Ed. The University of Minnesota. Masters of Education in Second Languages and Cultures, 2005
B.A. The Evergreen State College. Bachelor of Arts, Latin American Studies, 2000
GENERATIVE WORK
Salud/Paz/Comunidad, CLUES, Saint Paul, MN. Solo show. A pair of multimedia, participatory installations dedicated to the end of 2024 and the beginning of 2025. 2024
Blood Memory, Public Functionary, Mpls, MN. Solo show. A set of 6 multimedia, participatory altar installations interrogating the ways that we are able to connect to ancestors and ancestral homelands through sensorial experiences. Info here. 2024
Transgressive, Franconia Sculpture Park, Franconia, MN. Multimedia installation piece in the show INVENTADAS, curated by Alondra Garza. 2023
Seen, Mpls, MN. A multimedia, participatory installation including a digital collage set of the major arcana representing Caribbean performers pushing the gay agenda. Installed at Public Functionary as part of Affirmation Space. 2023
Respira/Breathe, Mpls, MN. Creation of 6 public temporary, participatory installations in South Mpls designed to promote healing and community connection. 2022
Exhale, Mpls, MN. A participatory project designed to direct the Mpls QTBIPOC community in remembering, grieving, honoring and releasing all that we have lost in pandemic through altar creation and hybrid online/in person event. Info here. 2022
Las Ranas Jewelry. A jewelry and writing project based in the brujería tradition exploring how the manipulation of shape, color and words create different spells and energies. Mixed media assemblage. 2018- present
Radical Playground, Creative City Challenge winner, Mpls, MN. In collaboration with Mary Anne Quiroz and Indigenous Roots Cultural Arts Center. Temporary sculptural installation debuting in June 2019. Installation featuring whimsical interactive alebrije animal sculptures inspired by dream creatures from the Caribbean, Mexico, the Pacific Islands and the indigenous cultures of Minnesota along with a summer of programming, inviting communities of color to heal and participate in radical joy through movement, music, ceremony and play. Lead artist team. 2019
COMMUNITY DESIGN + PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Art for Nervous Systems, Creative CityMaking, Mpls, MN. In collaboration with 8 artists from Creatives After Curfew created 4 murals based on the concept of reclaiming and de-monetizing indigenous herbal knowledge. Community herbal distribution based on mural art began in summer 2022. Project manager, ideation, design. 2021-22
MayDay Accessibility Coordinator, In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre, Mpls, MN. Worked with theater and community to make the MayDay Festival more accessible. 2019
Creative CityMaking arts team, Mpls, MN. Worked as a team with a muralist for a year with the Resilience in Communities After Stress and Trauma (ReCAST, City of Mpls Government) program and CLUES Mpls to capture and share immigration stories of the Latinx community. The project culminated with a mural installed outside city council chambers. Project manager, community engagement, design. 2019
I Am Water, I Am a Water Protector, Northern Spark Festival, install on East 7th Street in St. Paul, MN. In collaboration with the Indigenous Roots Cultural Center and MN350 celebrating youth water protectors at Standing Rock. Project ideation, design and community organizing. 2017
Central Identity Project, Central Neighborhood/ Green Central Community School, Mpls, MN. A 2000 sq. ft. mural fabricated in 10 community paint sessions throughout Central Neighborhood exploring the Central Identity. Project ideation, management and community organization. 2013
ARTS FACILITATION + CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT
Making it Public (MIP), Forecast Public Art. Curriculum development and facilitation of the MIP workshop series, a national workshop that guides artists on developing a career in public art. 2019-present
Equity Fund Cohort, PFund. Curriculum development for three online and in-person five week cohorts of QTBIPOC small business owners. 2023
Center for Embodied Pedagogy (CEPA), Puerto Rico. Lead facilitator for Mpls pod, Dialects of Decolonization 6 month study group and curriculum development team. 2020-22
MayDay Council, Mpls, MN. Participated in a community elected committee to reimagine the MayDay Festival for In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre. 2020-22
Lead project organizer, Forecast Public Art Publication: Creative Alternatives to In-Person Arts Based Activities in the time of Covid-19. Digital publication. 2020
Creating Change Gallery, Mpls, MN. Co-founder and mentor. Program gives four artists under 25 funding for a solo show with a mentor each year. 2019-2024.
Facilitator, MRAC, St. Paul, MN. Contracted to run listening circles with local BIPOC artists focusing on grants, funding and arts programming in local BIPOC communities. 2018
Arts Coordinator, Roosevelt High School, Mpls, MN- oversaw all arts programming and arts opportunities at Roosevelt. Ongoing objective is to build a cohesive arts program that uses arts-based strategies to address historical, systemic and current educational inequities. 2013-18
CONSULTING
Career Consultant, Springboard for the Arts. Artist mentorship and career guidance. 2019-Present
Lake Street Artist Organizer, Mpls, MN. Arts consultancy with the Lake Street Council. Overseeing and administering two public art calls- one local call for 12 artists to complete public art projects on Lake Street in 2018, one national call for a public artist to create work on the Mercado Central in 2018. Coordination of art projects from call to completion. 2017-18
Live painting coordinator, Soundset Music Festival 2019, St. Paul, MN.
GRANTS + RECOGNITIONS
2024 MSAB, Creative Individuals, $10,000 for Blood Memory show.
2023 Mexican in Minneapolis Folk Arts Residency, City of Minneapolis
2022 PFund Foundation, $10,000 Equity Fund grant for jewelry project Las Ranas
2022 MSAB, Creative Support, $5000 for Exhale show.
2022 MRAC, Arts Impact, $5000 for Respira/Breathe Installations
2020 MRAC, Next Step Fund, $2500 Finalist