Artists In Residence Bring More of the World to Student Creators

Originally published November 6, 2015

By Lisa Y. Garibay

UTEP News Service

Alexander Keyes brought loads of cardboard with him to El Paso from Seattle and regularly scours recycling bins for more to sculpt into imagined spacecraft. Cristina Ibarra is translating immigrants’ stories about being apprehended by U.S. Border Patrol to face deportation into film.

As part of these pursuits, both are serving as artists-in-residence at The University of Texas at El Paso as part of a recently established program under the Department of Art.

2015-16 artist in residence Alexander Keyes sits among his work in his studio on the UTEP campus. Photo by Ivan Pierre Aguirre / UTEP News Service.
2015-16 artist in residence Alexander Keyes sits among his work in his studio on the UTEP campus. Photo by Ivan Pierre Aguirre / UTEP News Service.

While it has a long history of developing creative mastery within its students, The University of Texas at El Paso’s Department of Art is encouraging a focus on the commercial aspect of creativity with its artist-in-residence program. Alumnus Alejandro Almanza Pereda – an up-and-coming visual artist and current Border Arts Resident in La Union, New Mexico – is excited by what his former department is up to now.

“As an undergraduate student in the UTEP art department, I never missed a visiting artist lecture,” Almanza Pereda said. “Not only was meeting artists that I admired in person a one-of-a-kind experience, but it also provided the opportunity to learn how their work was made, what influenced their work and practice, and about their experiences in the art world. I cannot think of a better way to strengthen the UTEP art department than an artist-in-residency program,” he said.

At a recent UTEP documentary cinema class, Ibarra openly shared details about how she raised the funds to make her latest documentary, “Las Marthas,” and how creative selling of it via PBS and other means has contributed to continuous income while fomenting partnerships that feed future work. She pointed out that an artist’s education doesn’t end when they graduate and exit the university system.

“Things are always changing, so you have to keep learning,” she said.

Sculptor Alexander Keyes came to UTEP from Seattle and knows there is value to sharing the experiences he’s had – particularly the mistakes – with those about to follow in his footsteps.

“I’ve learned so much about the business of art making and art consumption and I can only hope to impart a few of my hard-earned lessons upon student artists,” Keyes said. “One of the most important things I have learned is how to get out of my own way. I stress to my students and anyone else that walks into my studio that experimentation is king.”

The majority of student questions asked of UTEP artists-in-residence center on career development, said Department of Art Chair Vincent Burke.

“Our resident artists become important resources for our students when they graduate from our program,” he said. “In many cases, the UTEP artists-in-residence are the first major professional contact our students will make as they begin their careers in the arts. This is the start of a professional network that could help sustain our students and generate other career-building contacts in their field.”

By bringing noted artisans from around the country to campus, the University’s program gives students greater perspective on the realities of pursuing a career in this field to empower them as contributors to the cultural life of wherever they live and work. And by providing students with the know-how to manage the business aspect of their creative career and become stronger at self-promotion, networking and generating a variety of revenue streams, they can become more self-sustainable in El Paso or anywhere else.

“Being an artist is more than just making art in the city you live in,” Keyes explained. “You have to engage with a world economy in a way that globalism has made necessary. While here, I am trying to show students how they can do this through residencies, physically showing work and developing a web presence.”

Learning so much beyond creative techniques also makes artists able to become more employable as teachers, which adds another potential income stream of which they can take advantage. One former UTEP student who went on not only to succeed as an artist, but also guide generations after him on how to do so, believes strongly in such an option.

“The education I received at UTEP not only broadened my fields of knowledge and exploration, it raised my socio-economic status,” said Gaspar Enríquez, noted painter and longtime teacher of art at Bowie High School, who received his Bachelor of Arts degree from UTEP in 1970 and was named a Distinguished Alumnus in 2015. “It helped fulfill my passion and gave me the opportunity to mentor students who grew up in the same barrio I grew up in.”

UTEP’s artists-in-residence program also has been a buoy for native El Pasoan Cristina Ibarra, who has spent more than a decade living in New York and California while making movies about the borderland. She says that being offered a residency this semester has given her the space to reflect and develop new work.

2015-16 artist in residence Cristina Ibarra, standing, serves as a mentor to budding artists and filmmakers. Photo by Ivan Pierre Aguirre / UTEP News Service.
2015-16 artist in residence Cristina Ibarra, standing, serves as a mentor to budding artists and filmmakers. Photo by Ivan Pierre Aguirre / UTEP News Service.

Ibarra is eager to learn about how students’ specific disciplines, from painting to metalwork and everything in between, might be captured in feature films. This mindset inspires students to think beyond their craft and explore interdisciplinary collaborations, which can broaden their audience and generate additional compensation for the work they are doing.

The award-winning filmmaker also serves on the diversity committee of the prestigious Sundance Institute and is actively seeking to spot El Paso talent that can be recommended to the organization’s film programs.

Ibarra and Keyes aren’t just hunkered down on campus. They’re making their way out into the El Paso community as well, attending exhibit openings at museums and events like Chalk the Block in order to give the public and artists who may not be students at UTEP the chance to interact with them.

In early 2016, Keyes will be showing a piece at the El Paso Museum of Art. He also invites El Pasoans to visit his studio in UTEP’s Fox Fine Arts Building to see what he’s up to while he is in residence through the spring 2016 semester. Anyone interested may call the Department of Art at 915-747-5181 to check Keyes’ schedule.

Ibarra’s regret that she did not enter her career with this kind of support is fueling her passion to provide it now.

“I wish I had someone to teach me how to brainstorm strategic development so that I could take full advantage of opportunities in a way that wasn’t so project-specific,” she said. “I am available for this kind of mentorship now for anyone who might be interested in goal-setting questions.”

Almanza Pereda is hoping that programs like these won’t only bring outside artists to the region; they may also contribute to El Pasoans staying or returning to their hometown to make their careers.

“It is the nature of an artist to seek different experiences, and in many ways, to do so is integral to a successful practice,” he said. “El Paso is a unique place that offers an interesting environment, and I believe – and am proof – that mid-career artists can be lured back.”