From 2018-2021, I worked as an Artist-in-Residence for Asphalt Arts, a community-based arts partnership with the Herberger Institute of Design and the Arts at Arizona State University, the City of Phoenix Parks and Recreation Department, and Arizona State campus organizations. Using a community cultural development model, we explored community assets, as defined by youth and our partners, through arts-based mediums such as digital story-telling, mask-making, and virtual photo-collage.

Our focus shifted staring the fall of 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and we partnered with campus organizations at Arizona State that support first-generation college students. We created a series of virtual photo-collage workshops centered on the theme: How do we build community in virtual spaces through art-making? We also partnered with the College Assistance Migrant Program Scholars Project at ASU to develop arts-based and community-building portions of a virtual summer camp for students of migrant farm workers throughout Arizona.

Highlighted below are a few of our projects!

Virtual Photo-Collage and Storytelling Workshop with the First-Year Student Success Center at Arizona State University

Sunnyslope Mask-Making Residency: How Are You a Leader in Your Community?

Through mask-making as the art medium, Sunnyslope youth explored the prompt: “How are you a leader and/or mentor in your community?” We began with games and trust building exercises to build ensemble, and then moved into story circles to explore youth’s personal connection to leadership within their community. We used “I Am” poems to further explore leadership with the youth. The youth then used these poems as inspiration for designing their mask templates. Afterwards, we began the step by step process of leading the youth through building, sculpting, and painting their individual masks. The residency culminated in a final gallery showing where the youth displayed their masks and presented their poems to their friends and family at the Sunnyslope Youth Center. 

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South Mountain Community Center Residency: What Does the South Mountain Community Mean to You?

Through a series of four different art mediums, we explored with youth “What does the South Mountain Community mean to you?” The youth created collages, paper-maché masks, coat-hanger mobiles, and wrote poems. The residency culminated in a gallery display of the youth’s art pieces in glass case at the center. The final product also incorporated an interactive component for audience members to write their own responses to the central question on a poster board next to the case.