With Spring being one of the most amazing seasons at the Hacienda – plants beginning a new cycle of life, animal species mating everywhere, and the creative inspiration that comes with that warm breeze – we anticipate a very rewarding experience. For this inaugural session, we will be hosting 6 outstanding professionals in residency at the hacienda. Their various backgrounds in the arts and sciences will set a fertile stage for new cultural developments and intellectual findings.
R E S I D E N C Y : M A R C H 9 – A P R I L 2 , 2 0 1 8
E X H I B I T I O N : S A T U R D A Y M A R C H 3 1 , 3 – 7 P M
Aaron is a life coach, facilitator, writer, social justice advocate, social and political policy researcher, and member of the Building Movement Detroit and Detroit People’s Platform teams. He attended the University of Michigan’s Honors Program, where he earned a dual degree in Cultural Anthropology and Spanish Language & Literature. He completed the core coach training curriculum with the Coaches Training Institute (CTI), one of the most rigorous coach training programs in the world, where he has consistently been recognized as a stand-out coach and leader. He spends his days working with leaders in Detroit and around the country who are committed to building sustainable social movements and running a coaching practice dedicated to helping people step more fully into the authentic, joyful, and meaningful lives they were meant to live. He has recently been exploring photography as a way of communicating pressing issues such as ecological degradation and particularly, the water crisis in Detroit, Michigan.
Amy became a qualified architect after studying her masters and undergraduate degrees in Architecture at Newcastle University, UK. Her thesis project “Excess: A Material Practice” was short-listed for the international RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) Silver Medal Award in 2012 and the RIBA Hadrian’s Medal Award. She has previously been awarded a Leonardo da Vinci scholarship through the EU commission in Germany, and a residency through LADA (Live Arts Development Agency) in Folkestone Art Triennial. Since her studies she has worked at the studio of muf architecture / art, in London for five years on a range of projects that include public art, public realm, community engagement, writing guidance, furniture design, urban strategies, and landscape design. In 2016 Amy became a member of P.E.A.C.H (People’s Empowerment Alliance of Customs House), London in a project that challenges housing regeneration through direct engagement with residents and proposes an alternative plan driven by their desires and needs. She teaches hands-on approaches to architecture through working with materials, and considering the real social context projects are situated in through the eyes of citizens. With much of her work in the public realm she pays attention to social and political contexts through direct engagement with the community, addressing power balances, and what this means for space.
Au is a graduate from the School of Creative Media, City University, majoring in Critical Intermedia Practices. She has been exploring the notion of urban public space and its possibilities. Also engaged in art|education|community projects, she is a member of YMTgardeners, a group promoting rooftop gardening in Hong Kong. After staying in Turkey for a 4-month study exchange prgramme (2011-2012), she became obsessed with the natural environment there, especially trees. At the end she conducted a research about the sound of trees as her graduation project. In March 2012, Au relocated the sounds of the reclaimed West Kowloon waterfront to Soda Dry Lake in the Mojave Desert in a 12-day study trip to California for a course namely ‘New Media and the Environmental Art’, a collaboration between UCLA and the School of Creative Media.
Christina is an artist, curator, and arts organizer based in Detroit, USA. Her personal work is interdisciplinary, and often draws from her background in political science and law. Frequently working in collaborative and improvisatory performance environments, Christina’s main focus areas include photography, video, and social practice projects exploring immediately-relevant social themes. Christina is a former co-director of Spread Art, an artist-run creative incubator based in Detroit, designed to foster new works through residencies and collaborations with artists, curators, and organizations around the world. Christina also co-founded Bushwick Open Studios and Arts in Bushwick, all volunteer organizations that are considered among the most influential artist-run festivals and entities in NYC. She is the current Director of Kresge Arts in Detroit, a program that has provided over $4.5M in fellowships and other awards to metro Detroit artists. Christina is inspired by the knowledge that each of us, in every moment, has the capacity to fully awaken. And with this capacity, we have the ability to individually and collectively transform our world.
As a jeweller and artist, Elsa´s main conceptual interest has always been ‘what might people consider precious?’, looking for answers beyond valuable materials. Some answers which she has used in her work have been wearer participation – resulting in cuttable, edible and colour changing jewellery – and sign symbolism, recently resulting in alchemical geometrical form studies. Her interest in symbolism has other branches. One is symbols in dream interpretation, another is ancient myths. What drives her is the beliefs of people today and how, in a world with declining religious commitment, we still have a need for the old symbols.
Patti is a writer who contributes to magazines on food and nutrion. She is also a community leader and is part of the Kitchenist movement in National City and Tijuana MX. Women are enlisted to take a six week course which teaches them to recreate Mexican food to fight obesity and illness at the Olivewood Garden, an educational facility that serves students and local families. Patti is currently working on a children´s books series.
Roberto Salas is a multidisciplinary visual artist/musician whose work addresses a wide breadth of traditional and experimental approaches. He earned his MFA degree from the University California San Diego during a time when the faculty was comprised of (including David and Eleanor Antin, Manny Farber, Jean-Pierre Gorin, Allan Kaprow) some of the most interesting conceptual thinkers of our time. Roberto has used his highly theoretical based education together with his Hispanic heritage and his passion for global travel and study of diverse art and culture as influence for his personal vision. His diverse works include large-scale public art pieces, multi/cross cultural musical performance and community projects involving inner city and underrepresented low-income youth. Mr. Salas also owns and directs Crossing Tracks Gallery in San Diego, California where he curates exhibitions and musical performances by regional, national and international artists and musicians. Whether it be a small musical gathering or a long-term public project, Roberto is self directed and passionately committed to his artistic vision. His experience working within diverse cultural pockets and disenfranchised communities, such as in the Arctic Circle, in the deep south of Louisiana, in Bali, Indonesia, and Mexican villages, proves his adaptability to living and working in other cultures. Matter of fact, he thrives on the prospects. His personal work evolves through the adaptation and integration of mixed cultural iconographies. His perspective on the world is both inclusive and celebratory.
Guapamacátaro Art & Ecology 