2024 Artist in Residence: Lauren Nicole
Lauren Nicole (LN) is a neurodivergent, Indigenous, Southern California-based artist, focusing on painting and beadwork. Her expressively vibrant and exaggerated portrait style, with its play on perspective, immerses viewers into the sensations of having sensory-processing differences. Drawing strength from her neurodiverse traits, like synesthesia, Lauren’s palette contains a hidden language of traits behind each work. Her work is also a commentary on the silencing of emotions, what is considered appropriate, and the onslaught of infantilization and predatory sexualization when one is perceived as weak or having less inherent value by societal standards.
Combining elements of her Indigenous heritage (Tongva, Chumash), beadwork and Native plant relatives are commonly incorporated into her work. Her work has been shown across the United States and Canada. Most recently, Lauren was awarded the California Creative Corps ‘23-’24 Artist Grant from the Arts Council for Long Beach and the California Arts Council. Her work with local art nonprofits includes leading sensory-safe open studio sessions for neurodiverse and/or disabled artists beginning in 2024.
2023 Artist in Residence: Jac Alva
Jac Alva graduated Summa Cum Laude honors with her MA in Modern Art History, Theory, and Criticism from Azusa Pacific University in 2021.
Her research focuses on modern food-oriented media in fine and commercial art, including packaging, design, and marketing. Jac’s interests in this field derive from her years of experience as a food/beverage hospitality worker.
Her exposure to unsavory aspects of the U.S. food system have compelled her to explore the relationship between popular consumption and today’s unprecedented levels of food waste as well as its impact on the environment.
Through her investigation of these issues, Jac has unearthed connections between modern art’s role in propagating overindulgence within the fields of media, representation, and food culture. Furthermore, from both an academic and creative stance, she explores the art world’s innovative solutions to reducing and reusing food waste, thereby aligning her scholastic interests with her artistic endeavors.
Jac’s portfolio includes mixed media designs, specifically, food-themed trash art. In addition, as a multi-passionate creative, she has experience curating themed art exhibitions for Low Key Gallery and has built a network of opportunities for artists to share and display their artwork and brands. Currently, Jac serves as an art instructor for The Muckenthaler Cultural Center while administering her own teaching brand, Healing He(art) with Jac Alva Art.
2022 Artist in Residence: Marlo De Lara
Born in Baltimore, MD, Marlo De Lara (she/they/siya) received a PhD in Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies at University of Leeds, a Masters in Psychosocial Studies from the Center for Psychoanalytic Studies from the University of Essex. Her research areas focus on personal and social histories/narratives, postcolonial/post-imperial studies, racial trauma, and migration/diaspora studies, specifically Filipinx/a/o Americans.
Her practice works within the realms of sound performance, visual distraction, and film, aiming to blur definitions of the (un)intentional and (im)permanence. Using found objects, installation, and various forms of amplification, environments/structures use sound to impart meaningful affect. Focusing on interactions between sound, visual work, and the stories of those encountering the work, she revels in interpretive possibilities.
Informed by her journeys and coming-of-age experiences as the child of Philippine migrants, an unabashed feminist sociopolitical practice/research lens is used, editorializing on contemporary global conditions. De Lara is currently Principal Faculty at AMDA College and Conservatory of Performing Arts and was a 2021 Intercultural Leadership Institute Fellow. The Intercultural Leadership Institute is a year-long intensive leadership experience for artists, culture bearers and other arts practitioners. ILI is a collaborative program of Alternate ROOTS, First Peoples Fund, National Association of Latino Arts & Cultures (NALAC) and PA’I Foundation, with funding support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, amongst others.
2021 Artist in Residence: Erin Schalk
Erin Schalk is the Artist in Residence at The Muck for 2021. She graduated with her MFA in Studio from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2017, and she has exhibited her art throughout the United States, Europe, and in Japan.
Erin holds a BFA in Studio Art from the University of Oklahoma (2010), a BA in East Asian Studies from the University of Maryland Asia (2015), and a Master of Arts in Art from the University of Dallas. From 2010 - 2013, she lived and worked in Okinawa, Japan — also as an artist, writer, and teacher.
During her residency, Erin brought with her to the Muck a wealth of experience working with, teaching, and advocating for visually impaired artists and patrons.
In the process she educated our staff and our teaching artists through a series of workshops and projects that has made our institution more aware and accountable.
In 2021, Erin publisehd (quiet, space)., a collection of poetry, images, and prompts designed to guide you toward making time and space for your creative work.
In (quiet, space). a place for rest, reflection, and creation., Erin shares her stories of navigating challenging life circumstances while making creative work. With her characteristic gentle demeanor, she also reminds us that our best art is often found between the cracks of our daily lives.
2020 Artist in Residence: Katharine Zaun
Katharine Zaun is a writer and educator interested in the nature of community, and in how we might question outdated narratives and invite in new perspectives. She facilitates learning with adults of different backgrounds to build skills and promote social-emotional growth. A few of her most valuable tools in this work include counter-storytelling, peace education practices, and human-centered design. In addition to teaching, Katharine has worked with education non-profits to revise curricula and train facilitators. As a writer, she focuses mostly on poetry and short stories and is inspired by our relationship as human beings with the natural world. This artist side of her is infused into all of her collaborations. She is also the creator and curator of the Global Poetry Project, a moving multicultural initiative created to build community and give voice to belonging.
RED LADY WITH OCHRE - November 2020
TOTEMS - October 2020
PURPLE - September 2020
PLUG IN - August 2020
WHAT RESTLESSNESS, WHAT CRAVING - July 2020
”I wander into the woods searching” - June 2020 (Ekphrastic poem based on the painting The Love Embrace of the Universe, the Earth (Mexico), Myself, Diego, and Señor Xolotl by Frida Kahlo.)
”STARS” - June 2020
”Being Alive” - May 2020
”Earth feelings” - April, 2020
"Stories” - March, 2020
During her residency Katharine gave seminars and classes on creative self expression to various groups we serve through our arts education department.
She contributed monthly poems that saw first publication in the Muck newsletter.
Katharine also created The Found Poetry Project, a collaborative, community art installation.
2019 Artist in Residence: Lara Wilson
In 2019, the Muck began it’s Artist in Residence program with Lara Wilson and her dance company The Assembly. Working collaboratively during their residency year, Lara crafted “How To Draw an Outline,” which premiered on the Muck stage on Sep. 12, 2019.
Photography by Michael Townsend
Lara Wilson is a graduate of the Ailey/Fordham B.F.A. program in New York City. After moving to Orange County in 2012, Wilson collaborated with other dancers to produce The Assembly’s introductory show. On the East Coast, her work has been seen at Jacob’s Pillow, Symphony Space, Brooklyn’s Galapagos Art Space, and during APAP. Out West, her dances have appeared at Highways Performance Space, the O.C. Great Park, NAVEL LA, and on screen at the San Francisco Dance Film Festival. Along with being the co-founder and art director of The Assembly, Wilson also owns and co-operates an art space called Compound YV in the high desert, and is the creative director of the dance journal, DIYdancer.
Founded in 2014, The Assembly strives to create dance focused on the intersection of movement, visual design, and storytelling. The company has produced 8 seasons of collective dance projects, original dance photography, a print journal, and a short film. Their creations are often seen in nontraditional spaces such as galleries, empty warehouses, several event venues, and a yoga studio.
Artist in Residence Applications
The residency is open to artists of any and all disciplines and backgrounds with special consideration given to artists who live and/or work in Orange County, California. The Artist in Residence has access to The Muck’s 8.5 acre grounds, professional recording studio, art gallery, ceramics studio/kiln, and outdoor stage.
For questions email: AIR@TheMuck.org