2014 News
Tucson Pima Arts Council (TPAC) Arts Educator Lumies Award
I was humbled and honored to receive the 2014 TPAC Arts Educator Lumies Award. The highlight was getting to share the evening with my very first photography student, Jannell, who I worked with at the afterschool program VOICES, Inc. in 1999. Her humor, perseverance and kindness helped me find the courage and inspiration to believe in myself as an arts educator.
Lens on the Land – Rosemont: What’s at Stake
After nearly 3 years of planning, photographing and gathering images, we exhibited 50+ photographs, images and audio celebrating the natural and cultural heritage that would be destroyed by the proposed Rosemont copper mine, just 30 miles south of Tucson. The Lens on the Land exhibit opened at Fluxx Gallery to a packed house of 350+ folks – standing room only! We were humbled and inspired by the turnout. The exhibit then traveled to Tubac and is at the Tohono O’odham Museum & Cultural Center through January 2015. If you are interested in exhibiting this work contact us through the Lens on the Land website. After exhibiting the work at Fluxx we printed a small selection of the photos up to 15 feet tall and pasted them on the side of the Steinfeld Warehouse along 6th Street just west of Stone Avenue. Here is a short video that Arizona Public Media created about the exhibit and wheatpaste project. To stay updated and provide support in stopping Rosemont Mine, visit Save the Scenic Santa Ritas website.
CommunityShare Launches
After many months of planning and web development, we launched the “Beta” version of the CommunityShare website in October 2014. We are piloting CommunityShare with teachers at four Tucson schools. We are excited that over 225 community partners have already signed up, ready to share their skills, passions and experiences with students and teachers. For those that are not familiar with CommunityShare, CS is an online platform that connects K-12 teachers in Tucson with local experts/community partners who are excited to share their passion, expertise and career experiences with students in the classroom. We have had illustrators share with elementary school students how to create their own children’s books, engineers help kids design and build their own mechanical mouse trap cars, and videographers share how they use film to make change in the world. CommunityShare helps students see the real-world application of what they are learning in school, exposes them to new career possibilities and helps students imagine a future they never knew existed. CommunityShare also provides a simple and meaningful way for us all to give back to our schools, community and support our next generation of learners, entrepreneurs and leaders. If you live in the Greater Tucson region, we would love to have you sign up (takes just a few minutes).
Buffalo Exchange Emerging Artist Award Nomination
I was kindly nominated for the 2013 Buffalo Exchange Emerging Artist Award. Recognition like this makes me so thankful for all the artists and amazing folks in our community who have supported me since I arrived in Tucson in 1999.
Finding Voice Project
In March 2014, Julie Kasper and I presented our work with the Finding Voice Project at the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) national conference, one of the largest gatherings of educators and administrators in the U.S. Our talk was entitled: “Finding Voice: ELLs Developing Multi-literacies through Creative Civic Engagement.” We met some amazing folks from throughout the U.S and globe and were inspired by keynote talks by Sir Ken Robinson & Daniel Pink. Check out the Finding Voice website, as we added all our students work from the past 8 years. Julie is now working for Refugee Focus and we continue to work together supporting refugees and youth in Tucson.
Reconnecting Youth, Arts & Culture in Artesia, New Mexico
I was invited by the Artesia Arts Council to explore with local youth, adults and community leaders strategies for engaging Artesia’s youth more in arts & culture. After touring the sites and sounds of this booming oil town, I had the good fortune to meet with about 50 elementary kids to share my own photography experiences and learn about their hopes and dreams for arts programming in Artesia. After that I facilitated a session with the Artesia Arts Council, local arts organizations, and educators to explore the strengths, challenges and opportunities for Artesia’s youth. Together we developed some initial strategies, one of which was engaging youth in the planning of arts and culture programming. I wrapped up my visit with a photography workshop with a small group of teens passionate about the arts.
Yale Hixon Center for Urban Ecology Lecture
As an alum of the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, I was invited in October 2014 to present “Finding Voice: Engaging Youth in Re-Imagining Urban Ecosystems Through Visual Storytelling” to students and faculty. It was exciting to reconnect with professors and mentors after having ignited my passion for youth photography 15 years earlier as a Master’s student at Yale! Where does the time go?
Transit Talks
A group of Tucson artists (Liz Burden, Kimi Eisele, Denise, Uyehara, Sara Gonzales & myself) has been working in partnership with transit advocates to promote community conversations about transit in the metro Tucson region. Together we identified and designed short-term creative actions, like “re-imagining” a bus stop, to engage the public in public transit issues. You can learn more about Transit Talks here.
101 Youth Center Launched
After nearly 2 years of planning, youth on the Youth Design Team (YDT) began seeing the fruits of their labor at the opening of the new 101 Youth Center in the main library in Tucson. The opening featured cool art activities (animation, ocular rift, photography), endless pizza, spoken word poetry and a rockin’ youth band. The 101 Youth Center offers youth access to free arts programming, computers and other cool stuff most afternoons afterschool. For 3 years I have been working with library staff and the YDT to develop the vision, design and programming for the space.
Women’s Oyster Cooperative Photoessay: Edible Baja Magazine
Edible Baja — featuring all things foodie in Southern Arizona & Northern Mexico — published a photoessay I had created several years ago about a courageous and entrepreneurial group of women who run a women’s oyster cooperative near Puerto Penasco, Mexico. You can read more about the cooperative and see some of the images here.
Digital Media Learning (DML) Conference Presentation
I was excited to have the opportunity to present “Building Community Partnerships that Transform Youth Voice into Agency” at the March 2014 DML conference, an amazing gathering of practitioners and academics focused on digital media and learning.
Tohono Chul Park Exhibitions
I was invited to contribute photographs for two exhibitions in Tohono Chul Park’s main gallery: “Sky Islands” & “Road Trip.”