From There To Here

It was the summer of 1992 when i arrived to the Southern California the place that would be my home for the next 2 decades and a half. De El Distrito Federal a La Frontera Norte Americana llege. this moment has served to be a anchor to my identity as an immigrant,pocho,mojado,wetback,traveller,and artist as well as a translatable characteristic living in a country of immigrants . in 2011 i would have the opportunity to share this story with the Students of Berkeley Highs Arts and Humanities Academy as the Visiting Artist on the FROM HERE TO THERE interdisciplinary project. Which focused to use techniques in performance , visual arts, English and science to tell stories of immigrants who had come to call Berkeley HOME .Together we created a series of memory boxes that would serve as capsules to the stories .here are some Photos documenting the process and presentation








Selected Student Work







Thanks to Kala Art institute www.kala.org and the Teachers of the AHA project.http://aha.bhs.berkeleypta.org/about_aha.html

BAR NONE

a The concept of a bar is to provide individuals a meeting place with plenty of social lubricants by which to engage more freely in conversation . Originally this concept served in providing the alternate meeting places for working class groups to decide and deliberate on issues affecting them and there communities . But as stress continues to build in our life's bars are becoming places that are less about the community building and more about consumption paired with displaced anger and social destitution brought upon by an individualist cultural demand. Barn None is a two part project . this first part was framed as an interventionist effort where two groups of artist including Sarah Valentine and Chris Granillo provided impromptu collaborative drawings. the drawings covertly redirected the bar goers attention from beers and shots to pencils and paper. simultaneously redefining the uses of a bar space as well as producing culture through exchange of ideas and personal philosophies.
part two of the project was a social sculpture constructed at California College of the Arts . The guerrilla installation reclaimed an underutilized space connected to the graduate studios on the Oakland Campus that was then used as a bar that served drinks during class hours and encouraged student involvement.

episodes of a collaborative experience

the art world is composed of everyone not just artist . writers . musicians . and or poets the audience is as important as those creating the art objects and happenings.

"Every human being is an artist, a freedom being, called to participate in transforming and reshaping the conditions, thinking and structures that shape and inform our lives"

Joseph Beuys

Phish Festival 8. Community Print Press
Mono type print press powered by human weight and friction.This process was used by a community of campers at the phish music and arts festival in 2009 to produce one of a kind prints that were then displayed and traded for the during the 3 day event.

El muralismo

In 2007 Louisa castrodale and I began the Mural Project for Palm Springs Unified School District . What was initially envisioned to be a single project housed by the Desert Hot Springs Alternative Education program became an ongoing district wide Arts Program. This effort produced over 50 murals in a time span of three years. The Murals were created in collaboration with students ranging in from middle to high school grade levels

achieved objective : produced murals through which students learned essentials in painting and drawing while simultaneously providing a forum for teacher/student mentorship and open dialogue in a safe and productive environment. As well as creating a model that encouraged student attendance and responsibility .

Special thanks to collaborating artist : Bijan Masoumpanah and Aaron Hansen .

THanks given .

thanksgiving 2010 saw me in a new place. . a big city . with many people and new horizons. I may not have a lot but i am grateful for what i do have and what i have done. i thank all the people who have lent a hand along the way. And as most of these thank you speeches go , I also will start by thanking my mother who carried me Across the American border in a morral, to my father who always told me that hard work was essential to any and all achievements, to my English teachers who taught me how to speak the language of this country, my math teachers who figured out a way to make me learn the things i thought i wouldn't, to my mentors Louisa , Terry , miss stone , Mrs..west., and Carlos who i will never forget and can not thank enough. to Aaron a die hard collaborator and inspiring force in my life . to my ex girlfriends who stood up with me in my crazy years. and to my partner in crime Sarah who challenges me daily to see things differently than just another 24 year old Chicano. Thank you .