An art class at East LA College gives students path into Getty's massive SoCal project

In the months after she graduated college with a computer science degree, Anaid Garcia applied to over 100 jobs. They didn’t get any offers, and the experience left them feeling deflated and unmoored.

But with the job market in shambles, Garcia had time to look inward. They’ve loved to paint since childhood, and, in college, they took at least one art class every semester — “to de-stress.” Garcia began researching MFA programs. But before taking the leap, they explored a potential career in the art world by signing up for a museum studies program at East Los Angeles College, and a special course that blended science, environmental justice, and art.

Opportunities to partake in museum exhibitions are rare for burgeoning artists. This class would provide a path.

And so, on a chilly spring morning earlier this year, Garcia found herself enjoying a tamal and café de olla aboard a small flat-bottomed boat in the canals of Xochimilco, a borough of Mexico City. As she listened to the sound of the paddle hitting the water, she marveled at the world around her.

Over the next few days, Garcia and her classmates at ELAC learned about the region’s chinampas, islands the Aztecs created in the 15th century to grow crops. They also learned about what local residents are grappling with now. And soon, they'd use this experience to make art.

ELAC students and VPAM curator Joseph Valencia page through a zine they created ahead of their trip. In Xochimilco, they shared copies with their collaborators.

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Andrés Jurado and Eduardo Velazco

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Courtesy Ruta del Castor

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Bringing students into the artistic process

This ELAC course grew out of a years-long effort to bridge education and art under the banner of the Getty’s giant, cross-site PST ART initiative.

Each edition of PST ART is planned long in advance; the Getty set this year’s theme, “Art & Science Collide,” in 2019.

That theme resonated with ELAC leaders.

“Being one of the few partners who is on a community college campus, we thought it'd be really important to try to integrate students in any way possible,” said Joseph Valencia, a curator at ELAC’s Vincent Price Art Museum who co-taught the course.

In addition to developing the class, ELAC reached out to Carolina Caycedo, an L.A.-based artist with roots in Colombia, to design an exhibition and collaborate with students.

The result is the exhibition “We Place Life at the Center/Situamos la vida en el centro,” now on view at the college’s museum.

“We Place Life at the Center” is presented across two floors of the museum’s galleries. The show is teeming with paintings, photographs, drawings, video installations, and other forms of art.

ELAC students and faculty observe a farming technique in Xochimilco.

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Andrés Jurado and Eduardo Velazco

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Courtesy Ruta del Castor

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In preparation for the exhibition, Caycedo undertook four years of research and fieldwork, including conversations with Seres de río, a collective made up of water protectors in Colombia.

'What waters do you belong to?'

Over Zoom, the students also met with members of Seres de río and, together, they designed a mural that’s now in the exhibition.

During the design process, Garcia thought back to their time at Xochimilco, where they were confronted with an important question: “¿A qué aguas perteneces?” — What waters do you belong to?

The question compelled her to think about the L.A. River, wending its way through concrete walls. It made her think about the Santa Fe dam in the San Gabriel Valley, where she and her cousins splashed around as kids. It made her think about her father’s side of the family, which hails from a lake community in the Mexican state of Jalisco, and about how, even after they migrated, they continued to find places where they could fish. It made her think of “this idea of trying to find home outside of home,” of “how water is all connected,” and “how you try to find water everywhere you go.”

While co-developing the mural, Garcia recalled that, sometimes, a harmless water snake would glide into the dam, and all her family would rush out. She shared that memory with the group. Among other elements, the mural at VPAM has a snake, along with landmarks and figures representing the importance of water in L.A. and Colombia.

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Paul Salveson

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The students signed their names on the artwork, alongside professional artists.

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Photo courtesy of Vincent Price Art Museum.

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The mural is “a series of vignettes,” said Gloria Ortega, an ELAC alumna who’s now an assistant curator at the museum. “There's a lot happening at once, but if you take a step back and spend time with each image, you're able to see that each piece is trying to speak for itself.”

In addition to collaborating on the design, Garcia and her classmates had the opportunity to bring the mural to life under the guidance of Caycedo and Pavel Acevedo, an artist based in Boyle Heights.

Garcia had been wanting to paint a mural since middle school. Crossing that goal off her bucket list, she told LAist, strengthened her confidence — both in herself and in the work she’s now pursuing.

The installation "Bionave Flotilla, 2024," surrounded by other artworks at the exhibition.

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Paul Salveson

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After years of being away from home, and after years of being one of just a few Latinos in any given room, it felt good to be someplace where she didn’t have to prove or over-explain herself. She also loved learning from students with different majors and from different age groups. Above all, it felt good to start building an arts community.

“Being in the class, being in Mexico, being surrounded by artists,” she said, “I was like: ‘Wow, this is what I want to do.’”

What you might find at the VPAM exhibition

On the ground floor: Drawings by Coyotl + Macehualli, a community organization focused on education, environmental protection, and land stewardship in El Sereno. The group formed in response to a developer’s plan to build luxury homes on a hillside, threatening the survival of local residents, including black walnut trees.

On the second floor: A huge green vinyl contraption hangs from the ceiling, surrounded by smaller ones. Akin to cartoon spaceships, they appear to be flying in the direction of passersby. The piece pays homage to the Red Colombiana de Energía de la Biomasa (the Colombian Network of Biomass Energy), which teaches communities across the country about the benefits of DIY biodigesters. In these sealed containers, microorganisms break down organic material into fertilizer through a natural process.

Caycedo's geochoreography "Sembrando humedad" in Xochimilco.

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Carolina Caycedo and Ruta del Castor. Satellite imagery on vinyl.

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Courtesy of the artist and Ruta del Castor.

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Visitors will also find a photograph of a geochoreography, a group performance designed by Caycedo. The performance served as the culmination of the class journey to Mexico City. In addition to ELAC students, the work features local artists, activists, scientists, farmers, and faculty. Collectively, their bodies form a germinated seed with roots and corn stalks, representing the promise of growth and a commitment to the ecological restoration and sustainability of Xochimilco.