Panel: Material, Motive, & Multiplicity

Moderated by Michael Anthony García

UPDATE: Pre-Registration For This Event Now Closed. Walk-Up Tickets May Be Available Day-Of.

This panel conversation brings together local and regional artists and practitioners to discuss their work relating to the themes of material exploration, motive and symbolism, and multiplicity.

This local panel series occurs once during each exhibition cycle, pulling themes and concepts from exhibiting work as a platform to engage local and regional artists in conversations highlighting their practice. This series is organized by Emmy Laursen, curator of public programs & engagement.

Participating artists include Suzy Gonzalez, Paloma Mayorga, and Gil Rocha. The conversation will be moderated by artist and curator Michael Anthony García.

About the speakers:

Suzy González is an artist, writer, self-publisher, curator, and organizer based in Yanaguana, aka San Antonio, TX. She has had solo exhibits at Galería E.V.A., Spellerberg Projects, Presa House Gallery, Hello Studio, Palo Alto College, and two-person exhibits at Texas A&M University Corpus Christi and the University of Connecticut. She recently completed murals with Texas A&M-San Antonio, the City of Logan, UT, the City of Pasadena, TX, San Antonio Museum of Art, and Centro San Antonio. She has attended residencies at Vermont Studio Center (VT), the Trelex Residency (Peru), The Wassaic Residency (NY), Starry Night Residency (NM), the Studios at MASS MoCA (MA), and Hello Studio (TX). Suzy publishes Xicana Vegan zine, co-organizes the San Anto Zine Fest, and is a part of Dos Xicanx and Breathe Collective. She is the Editorial Content Manager for the food and environmental justice collective, Veggie Mijas, and is currently serving on the People’s Fund Grant Committee for Mercy for Animals. She’s an alum of the National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures Leadership Institute, the Intercultural Leadership Institute, and served as a mentor for the NYFA Immigrant Artist Mentoring Program. Suzy holds an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and a BFA from Texas State University.

Paloma Mayorga (b.1989) is a Mexican American interdisciplinary artist and independent curator born and raised in Austin, Texas. Often using her own body as medium, her work explores movement and place in relation to landscape and ancestral uses of plants. Through unconventional forms of photography, video works, and installations that utilize natural materials, Paloma documents the interaction between her body and nature. Her work has been exhibited across Texas and nationally. Paloma participated in The Contemporary Austin’s Crit Group Program and recently began a curatorial project titled Yo trabajo con la tierra / I work with the earth that brings ecofeminist perspectives to the forefront. Paloma earned a BA in Painting from the Sarofim School of Fine Arts at Southwestern University, and has gone on to receive the Emerging Artist Award from the Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Center, Best Visual Artist by the Austin Chronicle Reader’s Poll, and Southwestern University’s 18 Under 40 Award.

Gil Rocha is a full-time artist from Laredo, Texas. He boasts an impressive educational background, holding a Master of Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2006), a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Texas at San Antonio (1999), and certification as an all-level Texas Educator from Texas A&M International University (2002). Rocha’s work is currently displayed in “2nd Place” at Gerarld Peters Contemporary in Santa Fe, NM. and "Soy de Tejas," a Texas Survey Exhibition in San Antonio, TX. He recently exhibited alongside Cande Aguilar (aka Barrio Pop) in "Control+X: Composed/desCompuestos," a two-person show in Forth Worth. Additionally, Rocha curated The 2023 Contemporary Art Month Perennial in San Antonio. Other recent accomplishments include features in PASSAGE Visions (Issue 6) and Maake Magazine (Issue 11), as well as participation in two group exhibitions: "Son de Allá, Son de Acá" in Albuquerque, NM., and "Desde La Frontera" in San Antonio. Rocha has also presented as a panelist at the Sixth Biennial Inter-American Studies Conference "Walls, Bridges, Borders" and the International Sculpture Conference "Identity, Race & Culture: Misconceptions along La Frontera." In addition, his work has been included in the 2017 Texas Biennial and the Trans-Border Biennial at the El Paso Museum of Art and El Museo de Arte in Ciudad Juarez in 2018.

About the moderator:

Multidisciplinary artist & independent curator Michael Anthony García, claiming both Mexican and US citizenship, is based in Austin, Texas, and predominantly focuses his practice around photography/ video, sculpture/ installation & performance. He is a founding member of Los Outsiders curatorial collective & has curated large-scale exhibitions of international artists, in & out of the US. Notably, he has had solo curatorial projects for Mexic-arte Museum, Texas State University Galleries, the gallery at the Austin Central Public Library and Fusebox Festival. He participated in the 2011 Texas Biennial & has won awards both for his curatorial & 3D work. He co-hosts an intersectional conversation podcast named El Puente and is publisher for POCa Madre Magazine. García has premiered work for The Utah Museum of Contemporary Art, Experimental Action Performance Art Biennale in Houston, The Contemporary Austin, SoundSpace at The Blanton Museum of Art, El Museo de la Ciudad de México, and ThreeWalls in Chicago.