“Lo que se ve, no se pregunta”: Creating Queer Space in the Work of José Villalobos I am happy to share that I authored an article featured in an open-access scholarly journal, which delves into the captivating work of José Villalobos. The journey of this article began as a term paper during my PhD studies, specifically in a course focused on LGBTQ History and Visual Culture. Through rigorous efforts spanning over eight months, and with the invaluable guidance and insights from esteemed scholars in the field, it evolved into the refined version now available for everyone to read at this…

In my role as Director of Exhibitions at Pennsylvania College of Art and Design, I proposed a pan-institutional exhibit featuring PCA&D’s artist community for Governors Island in New York City. The proposal for an environmentally themed exhibition was selected for the 2020 season.

The role of a gallery at an art college is especially pivotal. The enhanced hands-on learning opportunities that a gallery provides as a platform of creative exploration is crucial for students to transition to successful creative careers outside of school.

I was selected to participate in the inaugural East Calls Curatorial Residency in Budapest, Hungary organized by East Topics. It is an honor to be one of the chosen curators from over fifty international applicants and an immense pleasure to share this intensive experience with my cohorts from around the world. Our group, the twelve (as referred to by the local art community during the East Topics opening reception) seems to have been carefully selected to represent diverse parts of the global art perspective. Ann Mirjam Vaikla, academically trained in scenography, is the Director of Narva Art Residency based in Estonia. Genevieve Farrell holds a Master’s Degree­ in…

It was a pleasure being on the 2018 Luminaria Contemporary Arts Festival Curatorial Committee. I was blessed to work with a fantastic team of individuals with diverse discipline expertise in the artwork selection process, along with the amazing staff of Luminaria that manages to successfully put on such a large-scale and fantastic after-dark arts festival every year. The festival which ran Friday, November 9 through Sunday, November 11, 2018, continuously gains more momentum and ground. Over the years, I have enjoyed attending the festival as a patron, but this year it was a wonderful experience to see it operating from…

After five years at Ruiz-Healy Art as the Associate Director, I started to search for a new position that could further my career development. I loved working for the artists on the roster, gaining more familiarity with artists from Mexico, and wholly devoted myself to the business for a half-a-decade, but at this point, I have extensive experience working in a commercial art gallery. Much of my professional growth was from my projects outside of the gallery. Fortunately, all of my hard work paid off as my portfolio of independent projects (that I worked on tirelessly in the evenings) paved…

Guest curating Thread, an exhibition at Clamp Light Gallery in San Antonio this past March, I conducted a local, national, and international search for artists working in the medium. I discovered the work of Sol Kesseler online and gravitated to her contemporary embroidery practice, which in part, incorporates electronics. We had only communicated via Instagram messages and emails before she shipped the works included in the exhibition. I decided that I would personally deliver them back to her when the exhibition closed. On April 12, 2018, I traveled to the San Telmo neighborhood of Buenos Aires in Argentina to visit…

The original idea for my blog was to write about every studio visit I conducted.  I figured by doing so I would improve my writing and provide transparency for my artist selection process. However, after writing for three publications and co-curating an exhibition that included thirty artists (in my free time) I am quite behind on the blog! I wish to circle back to a studio visit with Jared Theis from August 20, 2017, because this is where I left off, but it also seems appropriate to backtrack to this visit since Theis has just recently opened an exhibition at…