| Program Description | I am a Peruvian-American artist from Seattle. Since moving here from Perú in 1996 I have been a working artist. Before coming here I majored in Art at the Pontifical Catholic University of Lima and over the next decade worked as an illustrator for educational materials and later in the National Theater in set and costume design. I also worked in Peru as an illustrator for children’s books, textbooks, and educational materials produced by NGOs like UNICEF.
My activities in the Seattle area have focused on visual arts and teaching children. While I have spent a large part of my career presenting artwork and doing commissions, I find that children are a huge focus of where art can have the greatest positive impact on their lives and their communities. My first experience teaching in Washington was in The Little School in Bellevue, where I taught young students how to create mosaics. This was volunteer work, but soon thereafter I began working as an artist in residence in various schools around Seattle. I taught and led a number of art projects at schools such as Mercer Island Middle School, Whitman Middle School, Seattle Amistad School, University Prep, and Broadview Thompson. In all of my projects, I strive to teach students that they are free to express themselves, use their imaginations, and learn the many possibilities that materials can provide for us in art. All of my projects leave room for students to have their own input, with students free to choose colors, shapes, or placement of components. I have also taught art as part of certain events, festivals, and programs, such as Washington Hall, Seattle Center, Everett Children’s Museum, Parks & Recreation, and Seattle Office of Arts & Culture. One program I led with sponsorship from Parks & Recreation was called “Park in the Heart,” where I gave free art lessons to kids in Ballard Commons Park. This had great community feedback and helped activate the park. During the pandemic, I won a grant from Parks & Recreation to create video art lessons for kids online, teaching very similar projects to what I teach in classrooms but in a video format. |