See What Some Otis Alumnx Have Been Up To

1970s

Susan Moss, ’70 BFA Painting, Printmaking

Moss, who taught painting at Otis in the 1970s, most recently was included in the show, “On the Edge and Off the Grid: Contemporary Abstraction,” at Quidley and Co. Fine Art in Naples, Florida last February. She also has a show scheduled at the BG Gallery, Bergamot Station, for October 2021. She recently independently published her fourth book, COVID-19: A Natural Approach (she has three others, Keep Your Breasts!, Survive Cancer!, and The Accident Stager). Moss’s art is in 540 collections, including in five museums.

1980s

Joan Takayama-Ogawa, ’86-’89 Extension

Takayama-Ogawa, who currently teaches at Otis in the Creative Action, Liberal Arts and Sciences, and Product Design programs, most recently had her work, Bleached Coral Chandelier, shown in an exhibition about climate change at LAX’s Southwest Terminal. Her work also was featured in Craft in America’s “Democracy 2020: Craft and the Election” show. Her solo show, *Virtual* Currents, will be shown virtually at the Monterey Museum of Art from October 30-November 22. She will have her first retrospective at the Craft in America Center in 2021. For more information, please visit joantakayamaogawa.com/. 

Jonas Kulikauskas, ’89 BFA, Communication Design, Illustration

Kulikauskas currently has a solo exhibition of his project, Yosemite People, at the California Museum in Sacramento, California. He also recently had a solo show of Not of This World, his Cal State Los Angeles MFA thesis, at Hauser & Wirth. He will begin a Fulbright Research Award for independent research in Lithuania in January 2021. For more information, please visit kulikauskas.com. 

1990s

Mano Sotelo, ’92 BFA Communication Arts

Sotelo’s work has been exhibited at the Coutts Museum of Art, Alexandria Museum of Art, Tampa Museum of Art, Coos Art Museum, Haggin Museum, Brownsville Museum of Fine Art, Tucson Museum of Art, University of Arizona Museum of Art, Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, Tucson Desert Art Museum, Phoenix Art Museum, local and national juried and invitational shows, and a variety of Tucson, AZ galleries. His work has also been highlighted in competitions hosted by The Artist’s Magazine, International Artist Magazine, and American Art Awards.

Sotelo currently is a member of the Visual Arts faculty at Pima Community College, where he teaches drawing, painting, figure drawing, color, composition, and design courses. With over 18 years of higher education teaching experience, he has taught courses at Southwest University of Visual Arts (SUVA) and Artist Network University (online). For more information, please visit sotelostudio.com.

Otino Corsano, ’99 MFA Fine Art

Corsano recently directed and shot the video project, ʞɹo⅄ ʍǝN: A View from Above (2020). This latest Ocean Course Films video production features an original soundtrack created by Canadian drone/sound artist Kristel Jax (Brigitte Bardon’t), as well as video footage of New York architecture juxtaposed with the interior of home appliances. This dualism activates comparisons, and contrasts poignantly with the heightened awareness surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. For more information about the project and to see some of the video, please visit oceancoursefilms.com.  

2000s

Matthew Muller, ’07 BFA Communication Arts, Graphic Design 

Muller is the Creative Director at Innovation Protocol, based in Los Angeles, where he leads a team of designers developing unique brand experiences across multiple mediums. Muller also is launching a brand that will focus on creating products and content focused on wellness and creativity. Follow Muller on Instagram, @itsmematt. 

Rob Gonzalez, ’08 BFA Communication Arts, Illustration 

Gonzalez is the Creative Director at GT’s Kombucha. For more information, please visit Heart82.com. 

2010s

Amy Fortunato, ’11 BFA Graphic Design, Art History

In 2019, Fortunato completed a MFA in Visual Communication at Kookmin University in Seoul, South Korea, where living there for almost four years left a deep impact. Currently, Fortunato lives in Brooklyn and teaches undergraduate students at Queens College CUNY while maintaining a freelance design practice, which involves a mixture of collaborations in Los Angeles, Seoul, and New York City.

Francis Almendárez, ’13 BFA Fine Arts, Teacher Credential Preparation

Almendárez’s Navigating the Archives Within, a performance-lecture in collaboration with Anthony Almendárez, will be presented online at Aurora Picture Show from December 2-6. For more information, please visit francisalmendarez.com, and follow Almendárez on Instagram, @francis_almendarez. 

2020s

Maria Laura Hendrix, ’20 MFA Fine Art 

This past September, Hendrix was awarded a two-year residency as an Emerging Artist, Artist in Residence, at Studio Channel Islands in Ventura County. She also was excited to be included in the exhibition, “Legacy: Seven Decades of Ventura College Art,” which presents a survey of the history, instructors, and artists who came out of the Ventura College art department. Originally scheduled to run from March 6-April 26, 2020, the exhibition at the Museum of Ventura County will continue to be on view through the end of the year, marking Hendrix’s longest running exhibition to date. Follow Hendrix on Instagram, @mlhendrixart. 

Are you an Otis alumnx who would like to submit a Class Notes update on what you’ve been up to? Please use this form!