Spring 2021
Spring 2021

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Feature type
Class Notes

What Otis College Alumnx Have Been Up to This Spring

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Check out new work—and new small businesses—from the Otis Alumnx Community.

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1970s

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Karen Silverman, ’75 MFA Design/Printmaking
Silverman writes: “I am newly retired after working in corporate. Currently, I am returning to my fine arts roots and Otis training, and participating in Zoom life drawing sessions, which I am enjoying very much. I hope to develop my dormant skills and find that, fortunately, my Otis training is ingrained in my brain and my soul. I am so thankful that I have the opportunity now to explore my full potential.”

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1980s

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Judy Coates Perez, ’85 BFA Communication Design

Masks and fabric by Judy Coates Perez
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During the pandemic, Coates Perez designed a COVID mask pattern with a line of fabric that is designed using her paintings. Her fabric can be bought from the print-on-demand site Spoonflower. She also has a tutorial for making the masks on her website. Follow Coates Perez on Instagram, @judycoatesperez.

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1990s

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Russell Jacobs, ’96 BFA Sculpture

Jacobs is based in Las Vegas, Nevada and can be found at RussellJacobsArt.net.

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2000s

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Michelle (Chipres) Bates, ’07 BFA Communication Arts

Bates writes: “After pursuing graphic design after graduating, I landed jobs in the automotive industry. After close to a decade of working with one of the leaders in the aftermarket world, I started my own marketing agency: www.bates-design.com.

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2010s

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Victor Yates, ’14 MFA Writing

Victor Yates
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Yates writes: “I received a grant from the city of West Hollywood through the Artful Distancing program, created in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic. I created a digital Black Lives Matter project titled Death Sentence. Death Sentence is a spoken-word performance commenting on Blackness, police violence, queerness, and survival. The goal, through the project, is to help viewers work through and heal from the trauma of police brutality against Black bodies. Death Sentence premiered on the city of West Hollywood’s website on October 23, 2020. I also received a grant from the city of Glendale for the Death Sentence project for its virtual Black History Month programming. For the video performance, I centered African fabric, history, and Black bodies along with six spoken-word poems to create a visually haunting viewing experience. I also won the 2020 George Floyd Honorarium for Poetry from the Los Angeles Press and have an essay published in Unheard Voices from IAP Press in March 2021. 

I spoke on the panel, “How We See Us: Black Artists in Conversation,” which was sponsored by the Glendale Arts and Culture Commision, on February 25th. I was accepted into the 2021 West Hollywood Artist Bootcamp Cohort, a group that allows artists to transform their art practice into an art business. I also was featured on the website Pride LA for Death Sentence.

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2020s

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Jacqueline Vigil, ’20 Communication Arts, Graphic Design

Stickers by Jacqueline Vigil of Muchas Flores Studio
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Vigil writes: “Since graduating from Otis in May 2020 I have been working as a freelance graphic designer and running my small business, Muchas Flores Studio. I aim to spread self love and positive vibes through colorful and inspiring designs. I screenprint merchandise for my online shop out of my home in El Paso, Texas and also create stickers, keychains, and prints. I hope that one day my small business will be my full-time job and I am working on that every day!” Follow Vigil on Instagram, @muchasflores_studio.

Alexandria Wallace, ’20 MFA Fine Arts

Wallace is participating in a two-person exhibition titled Soft Architectures at the Irvine Fine Arts Center. Wallace’s works employ formal and conceptual gestures that underscore the malleable and impossible endeavor of concretizing formidable events through mental recollection, while simultaneously exploring how perceptions of time and memory shape notions of place and being. The exhibition may be viewed online, from February 1-May 8, at this link. Read more about Wallace’s recent work in this Alumnx Spotlight.

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!