Adam Corona
Discipline: Visual and Studio Arts
Website: Brasstuna.com
IG:@brasstuna
Bio
Adam Corona (BrassTuna) (b. 2000) is a Phoenix, Arizona-based visual artist creating works centered around queer and Latine culture, and how they overlap in the 21st century. Incorporating mask making, sculpting, sewing, and painting, BrassTuna immerses their photography style around the ideas of community building.
Project Description
This will be Adam Corona's first time setting out on a large scale Documentary photographic project. Documenting the grounds they grew up on in South Phoenix, which are surrounded by Mexican culture, heritage, and family. Described by Corona, "I hope to return to the grounds that raised me . With this show, I hope to find the strength to return to self . Through this , I'll be given the power to forge a new life." The project will begin production in early 2025, with a full scale photographic exhibition set for late 2025.
Amber McCrary
Discipline:Poetry and Zines
Website: ambermccrary.com
Bio
Amber McCrary is a Diné poet, zinester and the author of Blue Corn Tongue: Poems in the Mouth of the Desert (University of Arizona Press, 2025). McCrary lives in Phoenix, on the land of the Akimel O’odham.
Project Description
I would like to present a project focused on Rez dogs and their significance in Native communities, with plans to create a dedicated zine. Central to this project is my dog, Sandy McCrary, whom I adopted from the Coconino Humane Society in Flagstaff, Arizona. I also want to highlight several Rez dogs I fostered through the Tuba City Humane Society over a nine-month period. These dogs include those who were abandoned and homeless near the local high school, a puppy found lost under a work trailer and two brother puppies found at my grandma’s sheep camp.
Antoinette Cauley
Discipline: Painting
Website:antoinettecauleyart.com
Bio
Antoinette Cauley is an internationally recognized artist from Phoenix, Arizona, known for her vibrant, emotionally charged paintings inspired by Black American Hood culture and feminism. Her work, which emphasizes Black empowerment, includes notable public murals of James Baldwin and Brittney Griner in downtown Phoenix. Cauley studied Fine Art at Mesa Community College, where she apprenticed under Chris Saper.
Project Description
With grant funding, I will create a series of paintings that explore the concept of place-based safety within Black American communities. This work is inspired by Tupac's 1992 song "Wonder if Heaven Got a Ghetto" and my personal experience of freedom abroad. The project examines the historical and ongoing displacement of Black Americans, particularly the legacy of housing segregation. This project merges afro-futurism and my unique aesthetic to address themes of safety and belonging.
Camila de Andrade Bianchi
Discipline:Interdisciplinary
Website: www.bianchicamila.com
IG: @camilabianchi
Bio
Camila de Andrade Bianchi is a Brazilian transdisciplinary artist, researcher, and educator based in Phoenix, Arizona. In her work, she uses interactive sculpture and performance to investigate human and more-than-human relationships, emphasizing their potential for promoting social and ecological regeneration.
Project Description
"Effervescent Futures" explores prospects of the future through collaborative participation and mutual care. The work is an installation composed of ceramic sculptures that host the biological process of kombucha fermentation. Using sculptures as bridges between people and other biological cultures. The work will invite discussion about the possible ways in which we propagate and transform ourselves toward the future through relationships of radical care between people and microbial life. The project will manifest as both an installation and a participatory performance, with the performance unfolding within the installation space itself. "Effervescent Futures" will be accessible to the public in March 2025 during the Art Detour exhibition as part of ASU Grant Street Studios' "Open Studios" weekend in downtown Phoenix.
Christiane Agnese Barros
Discipline: Visual (Short documentary)
Website:@inhapy_films
IG: @chrisagnese
Bio
Chris Agnese is a Brazilian filmmaker with extensive documentary experience. Based in the U.S., her short Jegues won Best Cinematography at the Amazon Film Festival, and she directed Experimente for Channel Bis, earning a bronze medal at the New York Festivals. Chris is CEO of Inhapi Films, specializing in multilingual projects.
Project Description
In the poetic short documentary US, Brazilian-Venezuelan immigrant Luciana navigates the challenges of displacement and isolation in America. Struggling to find her place in a foreign land, she turns to writing as a way to heal and express her complex emotions. Alongside her, Chris, a Brazilian filmmaker also grappling with her own immigrant journey, provides support and encouragement. Through their connection, Luciana discovers the transformative power of creativity as a means of resilience, while Chris learns to channel her own struggles into a shared artistic vision. US is a celebration of hope, solidarity, and the healing power of creative expression.
Daniel Mariotti
Discipline: Sculpture and Photography
Website:www.danielmariotti.com
IG: @dvmariot
Bio
Chris Daniel Mariotti is a Phoenix-based interdisciplinary artist blending photography and sculpture. Drawing inspiration from science and personal narratives, his work examines memory, materiality, and cultural identity through abstraction. Recognizing that the work itself is often a tool in a greater process, he investigates the structures and frameworks we create within.
Project Description
The proposed project, Tak Slucham (Polish for "Yes, Listening"), explores Daniel's personal history and cultural identity, shaped by his father's struggle with Alzheimer's and eventual passing. The project reflects on the artist's role as a son, navigating between childhood memories and the layers of his Polish-American upbringing. Mariotti blends personal storytelling with Polish folklore, such as Baba Yaga and Pisanki, to explore themes of memory, loss, and identity. By incorporating both historical research and childhood objects/memories, Tak Slucham aims to trace the artist's evolving sense of self, while reflecting on the broader cultural narratives of survival and transformation.
Dean Terasaki
TO
Discipline: Visual Art: Photomontages
Website:www.deanterasaki.xyz
IG: @silvers_dk
Bio
Dean Terasaki's childhood discovery of his father's 442nd Regiment, WWII snapshots sparked a lifelong photographic exploration of memory, race, and culture. Terasaki studied at the University of Colorado (BFA) and Arizona State University (MFA). For 33 years, he taught photography and digital imaging at Arizona's Glendale Community College.
Project Description
Dean Terasaki's project, "Veiled Inscriptions," explores the experiences of Japanese Americans during their illegal WWII incarceration. The project is based on letters written by Japanese Americans who were forcibly removed from their homes and incarcerated in ten "relocation" camps. The letters, which were hidden for nearly 70 years, were mail order requests sent to his family's pharmacy. Terasaki reveals stories of mystery, isolation, and loss by combining these letters with his own site photographs of the historic camps. He offers a poignant perspective on a tragic chapter in American history, highlighting the enduring spirit of the Japanese American people.
Diego Lozano
Discipline: Graphic Designer, Photographer, Digital Organizer, and Multidisciplinary Artist
Website: www.diegonacho.com
IG: @diegonacho
Bio
Diego Lozano is a graphic designer, photographer, and multidisciplinary artist whose work focuses on culture, identity, and resilience, shaped by his Mexican-American heritage. Through design and photography, he creates intentional work that amplifies voices, raw emotions, and connects communities, all while staying grounded in his personal experiences.
Project Description
My project is a multimedia interactive installation that explores themes like borders, control, freedom, and other pressing political issues, pushing people to reflect on the challenges shaping today’s polarized climate. With division among Americans at an all-time high, critical art has never been more important. It has the power to challenge perspectives, deepen understanding, and provoke dialogue.
Francisco Diaz
Discipline: Textile Art
Website: ciscosews.com
IG: @ciscosews
Bio
Francisco is a textile artist, designer and community organizer from Phoenix, AZ. His work explores themes of sustainability and queer expression, made from second-hand or recycled materials. His work has been displayed at Boston Fashion Week, Austin Slow Fashion Festival and locally at The Sagrado Galleria and CALA Alliance.
Project Description
With grant funding, I plan to create a collection of wearable art pieces using second-hand materials. Alongside this collection, I will develop an informative installation focusing on over-consumption, water usage, and the environmental impact of fast fashion. I hope to accomplish this by dividing the project into the following three steps:
Gayle Tomimbang
Discipline: Filmmaking, photography, and camera-based multimedia work
IG:@fistbones
Bio
Gayle Tomimbang is a filmmaker, photographer, and interdisciplinary media artist. Born in Manila, Philippines, and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, Gayle's work explores themes of identity, memory, and cultural displacement. Gayle holds a BA in Film and Media Production from Arizona State University and works full time as a videographer for her alma mater.
Project Description
"Duty Free Care", a documentary, investigates the history and current state of Filipino nurses in America. The language of the film, combined with images of the often dehumanizing work of migrant labor, will create a contrast between the realities of Filipino nurses' working conditions with the dreams and desires of those performing the work. This contrast between public/working spaces experiences and interpersonal non-work exchanges will shed light on issues surrounding migrant labor, US imperialism in the Philippines, the exploitation of Filipino nurses through pay disparities and workplace discrimination, COVID furthering exploitation of Filipino nurses, and so-called "work-life balance".
Harold Lohner
O
Discipline: Visual Arts Printmaking
Website:haroldlohner.com/
IG: @haroldlohner
Bio
Harold Lohner is an artist, type designer, and professor emeritus. After a career of teaching printmaking and more at Russell Sage College in upstate New York, he has devoted himself to creating his own work at his home studio. Harold has exhibited his monoprints and artist's books nationally and regionally.
Project Description
With grant funding, I plan to create a collection of wearable art pieces using second-hand materials. Alongside this collection, I will develop an informative installation focusing on over-consumption, water usage, and the environmental impact of fast fashion. I hope to accomplish this by dividing the project into the following three steps.
Jared Peterson
Discipline: Sculpture and Installation Art
Website:jaredpetersonstudio.com
Bio
Jared Peterson (b.1993) is an artist from West Virginia, interested in society’s relationship with sports, Christianity, labor, and gender norms. Jared received his Masters of Fine Art degree from Arizona State University in 2024, and currently works in Phoenix, Arizona.
Project Description
For this project I will create a large-scale sculptural installation featuring a baseball infield constructed of porcelain, terracotta, and coal. For this installation, porcelain casts of wood will be used to create the white baselines and batter’s box. In place of the dirt and clay used to form the infield, I will use crushed bituminous coal. In place of the grass, I will use crushed terracotta from the factory discard at Mission Clay Products, a major US producer of industrial ceramic pipe, located in southwest Phoenix.
Jennifer Datchuk
Discipline: Visual Arts
Website: jenniferlingdatchuk.com
Bio
Jennifer Ling Datchuk’s work is an exploration of her layered identity–as a woman, a Chinese woman, as an “American,” as a third culture kid. A trained ceramicist, she works with porcelain and other materials often associated with traditional women’s work—like textiles and hair fibers, her practice discusses beauty, femininity, identity, and her personal history.
Project Description
Ripening explores the fragility, resilience, and silenced histories of how the non-white body is commodified, sold, and in service of others. Women’s – globally, girls’ – labor is still a major economic driver whose workers still struggle for visibility and equality. My project will consist of porcelain sculptures displayed on revolving mattress type platforms to explore the global to regional inequalities of labor.
Jesse Perry
Discipline: Sculpture and Installation Art
Website:shinethruart.com
IG: @mrdowntownphx
Bio
Jesse Perry is a muralist based in Phoenix, Arizona. Inspired by the diversity and cultural richness of the Southwest, Jesse's art reflects the vibrant colors and character of the region. With a distinctive style that is unmistakably his own, Jesse continues to make a profound impact on the Phoenix art scene and beyond.
Project Description
With this grant, I will paint a mural for the Alice Cooper Solid Rock Teen Center in Phoenix, a place that provides teens with a central place to learn, have fun, and explore their creativity in a supportive and safe environment. The mural will focus on central themes of diversity, unity and imagination while reflecting outlets the center promotes including music, art and theater. In addition, there will be an opportunity for members of the center to assist with the design and installation of the mural itself, giving them a stronger sense of community and themselves.
Kenaim Al-Shatti
Discipline: Visual Artist
Website:kenaim.com
IG: @kenaimx
Bio
Kenaim Al-Shatti is a visual artist based in Phoenix, Arizona. His work spans video art, large-scale installations, and immersive experiences, blending technology and emotion to create work that steps over conventional boundaries.
Project Description
“Another Planets” is an original animated film and musical suite inspired by Gustav Holst’s The Planets. Drawing on my lifelong connection to Holst’s evocative score and its otherworldly grandeur, this project reimagines the planets as a wholly original sonic and visual odyssey. Each movement features a new composition rooted in the emotional and mythological essence of the original, brought to life through groundbreaking animation and immersive sound design. More than an audiovisual experience, Another Planets is a transformative journey through the cosmic and the human, designed to captivate, challenge, and linger in the imagination long after the stars fade.
Mariane Hanneken
Discipline: Music Performance and Recording
IG:@marilions, and @mediopintoband
Bio
Marian is a singer-songwriter, violinist, and versatile musician from Venezuela with a deep love for fusion. Classically trained, she has performed in orchestras, choirs, and Venezuelan folk and Afro-Venezuelan bands. Now based in the U.S., Marian constantly seeks to blend her Afro-Venezuelan roots with world music in her current project with Medio Pinto band.
Project Description
My project is focused on recording an EP of original songs, inspired by personal experiences and the powerful stories I've heard from others. These songs blend a variety of rhythms and sounds, including my Afro-Venezuelan roots, with global musical influences, creating a fusion of cultures, emotions, and traditions. I’m thrilled to be working alongside amazing musicians, lifelong friends, and family who have been integral to this journey. This project offers me the opportunity to share this beautiful music with the world, honor my roots, and explore themes of identity, connection, and shared human experiences.
maryhope lee
Discipline: Interdisciplinary Visual Artist: practices include, but are not limited to, collage, needlework, and poetry.
Bio
maryhope|whitehead|lee is an interdisciplinary collagist whose work has appeared in, and on, the covers of print and digital journals and magazines, and exhibited in Phoenix at Raíz Gallery, ASU’s downtown campus, Songbird Coffee and Tea House, and The Domino in New Orleans, as well as a number of virtual galleries.
Project Description
“Deadly Crossing” uses fragments of maps, collages, poems, and embroidered handkerchiefs to commemorate the lives of those who have died and disappeared while crossing the Sonoran Desert over the last two decades. The goal of “Deadly Crossing” is to expand the visual, material, and emotional vocabularies of my practice by incorporating new embroidery techniques, and three-dimensional elements, including small metal charms, textiles, and found objects. The deaths and disappearances continue to mount, and the grief I feel remains raw and present. “Deadly Crossing” is an expression of my personal grief and, hopefully, a catalyst for empathy and compassion in others.
Matt Flores
Discipline: Poetry and Prose
IG:@mattf1331
Bio
Matt Flores is originally from South Texas and is interested in the counter-narratives of the borderlands. They have received fellowships and residencies from the Mellon Foundation, Vermont Studio Center, the Ideafund, and Center for Imagination in the Borderlands.
Project Description
In this project I will engage in a poetic practice through reflecting on encounters along borderlands of the US and Mexico, as well as more capacious understandings of what borders are. As pseudo-fictional political boundaries to establish security for the insecure, I’m interested in the fluidity of forms – that include writing, photography, drawing, archive building, and oral stories – which when freely engaged with destabilize their own disciplinary borders. We may unconsciously reimpose these disciplinary and conquest strategies when making art and personal encounters, so finding an ethical joy that’s critical in this process of artmaking is a root goal of this work.
Melanie LeGendre
Discipline: Visual Artist: Painter, Mixed Media
IG: @mlegendre1
Bio
Highways bridge physical and spiritual worlds, connecting us to new places and experiences. Arizona’s decorative highway patterns inspire my exploration of patterns as visual prayers symbolizing guidance, protection, and blessings. Through oil paint, mixed media, and intaglio printing, I blend landscapes, interstate structures, and patterns to depict the divine connection between landforms, roads, and spiritual transcendence.
Project Description
I will create a series of 10 works using intaglio, mixed media, and paint on patterned substrates to explore the connections between Arizona’s highways, landscapes, and spiritual journeys. Integrating printed silhouettes of interstate structures underlaid with intricate patterns, I will depict the grand architecture of the highways, their real and symbolic role in connecting places, people, and the divine, and the uneasy relationship with the natural environment. This work reflects on the journey facilitated by these roads, capturing the beauty and the tension between the contemporary desert landscape, human intervention, and the animals and plants who share the landscape.
Monica Gisel
Discipline: Painter
Website: Monicagisel.com
Bio
I am a teaching artist, illustrator, and printmaker from Mexico City. Since 1989, my work has been exhibited internationally and recognized with various awards, including Best of Show and Honorable Mention. This year, I am excited to be an Artist to Work grant recipient from the City of Phoenix.
Project Description
Through this project, I seek to heal the multigenerational wounds of the diaspora through self-reflection, reconnecting with the land of my ancestors, and sharing the stories of family left behind. I will document my journey to Oaxaca, the land of my ancestors, and my creative process, through video and painting. The project will culminate in an exhibition of my paintings, and the video will be displayed at the opening, followed by a Q+A session
Saskia Jorda
Discipline: Visual Arts: Site-responsive installations, soft sculptures, and drawing
Website: saskiajorda.com
IG: @saskiajorda
Bio
Saskia Jorda is an interdisciplinary artist and educator whose works span the range between site-specific installations, soft sculptures, textiles, and drawings. Her work references the relationship between body and space, cultural identity, and mapping a sense of place. Jorda has exhibited widely within the U.S. and internationally.
Project Description
With support from an Artists to Work grant, I plan on expanding on the theme of the ‘second skin of the land,’ which merges two thematic strands of my practice: projects dealing with the ‘body’ and ‘cultural identity;’ and projects dealing with the ‘land’ and ‘place.’ This sculptural body of work will use my “Rooted” and “Home” series as points of departure, to explore narratives of immigration, assimilation, and identity, and to capture both the anxiety of leaving one’s home and the optimism of settling in a new home – conflicting emotions that are often at the core of the immigrant experience.
Shaunté Glover
Discipline: Multidisciplinary
Website:shaunteglover.com/
IG: @shaunte
Bio
Shaunté Glover is a multidisciplinary artist working in photography, video, sculpture, and installation. Her work explores identity, culture, and the experiences of underrepresented communities. Recent exhibitions include the Phoenix Art Museum, Lisa Sette Gallery, and Tucson Museum of Art’s Biennial, where she examines the intersection of self, community, and representation.
Project Description
The grant will support a solo exhibition, "Trophy Room," blending my artistic background with experimentation. The show reimagines late 18th and early 19th-century women's basketball memorabilia, featuring object-based works, photography, and poster designs. "Trophy Room" highlights overlooked contributions of women in basketball, identity, and culture. The immersive experience will include upcycled jerseys, found basketballs, and artifacts that evoke the era, along with imaginative pieces celebrating women of color. This project expands my exploration of history and culture through object-based art, offering fresh perspectives on representation and social change, while engaging audiences in critical reflections on history and identity.
Socorro Hernandez
Discipline: Visual Arts: Printmaking and ceramics
Bio
Socorro Hernandez is a Mexican-American printmaker and ceramicist whose work explores cultural identity, resilience, and heritage. Inspired by her upbringing in a working-class town near Phoenix and her family’s roots in migrant labor camps, she creates powerful linoleum prints that honor history and empower marginalized communities.
Project Description
Tierra y Esperanza is a series of ten 8x10 linoleum prints capturing the daily lives of Mexican families in early 1900s migrant labor camps. Inspired by my heritage and rooted in extensive research, the project honors their resilience and contributions. Through tactile linocut techniques, I aim to convey their strength and humanity while challenging myself artistically. By attending printmaking workshops, I will refine my craft and explore new methods to deepen the narrative impact of my work. This project celebrates cultural identity and connects viewers to the enduring legacy of these communities.
Yaritza Flores Bustos
Discipline: Interdisciplinary
IG:@northeada
Bio
Yaritza Flores Bustos migrated from Michoacán, México at a young age alongside her family. They established home and grew in Maryvale, the Westside of Phoenix, something she states with pride. She works across mediums to develop a new archive in which the multiple languages her community utilizes within survival are venerated.
Project Description
I will develop site-specific installations at Las Pantallas (Glendale Park ‘N Swap) and Los Perros (Phoenix Park ‘N Swap), two cultural pillars within my community, that we seek for support, comfort, and understanding. Swap meets are an example of the informal economies that exist as a hidden basis of support and structure for our communal survival. They are not exclusive to Phoenix, expanding timelines, man-made borders, languages and generations; they are prehispanic and a marker of historic continuity. The installations will serve as monuments, aimed to preserve our cultural heritage born out of necessity, one’s that my community has immediate access to.