ABOUT JACALYN
BIOGRAPHY

I am a native Californian, born 1953 in the city of Monrovia, Los Angeles. My father Henry Lee Lopez (a Mexican-American born from Las Animas, Colorado) and Sara Quiroz Laborin Lopez (a born Yaqui Shaman from Colonia Dublán, Chihuahua MX) fueled my artistic vision as a transmedia visual storyteller/photographer. As a young girl I grew up in Santa Ana, CA and was educated in the Santa Ana Unified School District. I later attended Santa Ana Junior College and continued my education in Riverside County. It may have taken me 20+ years to complete my educational training, but that’s ok, because I made it happen.

In 1997, I earned my bachelor’s degree from UC Riverside in Studio Art/Photography and I completed my M.F.A. degree in Photography/Multimedia in 1999. While completing my art degrees emphasis was placed on pursuing my life long dream of exploring art as therapy; and, upon graduation my work gravitated towards a career as a transmedia visual storyteller/educator.

During the early 70s, my interest in photography grew out of my life experience working closely with my husband owned and operated several business, including García Advertising. As a darkroom assistant I developed photographic wet-lab skills which inspired me to pursue a degree in photography.

My love and passion for the theatre also paved the road to working for the Department of Theatre at UC Riverside in the early 80s where I gained invaluable experience photographing the theatrical performances for publication. My hands-on experience, helped me realize my career goals and upon graduation from graduate school I immediately began my teaching career as an Adjunct Photography instructor at Riverside Community College. From 1999 till 2017, I taught a variety of Photography, Multimedia and Art classes in Riverside and LA County and later retired from teaching in 2017.

Aside from teaching, I worked steadily as an exhibiting artist and received numerous awards for my artistic achievements including a California Council for the Humanities Grant in 2005, for Life Cycles: Reflections of Change and A New Hope for Future Generations. My photographic works have been published in Gary Keller’s groundbreaking two-volume work titled Contemporary Chicana and Chicano Art from 2001, and in his equally important Chicano Art for Our Millennium from 2004.

I am especially proud of the local, national and international recognition my art projects have received. My most prominent work has been collected by the Hispanic Research Center of Arizona State University at Tempe, the Long Beach Museum of Art, the Claremont Graduate University, the University of California, and the California Museum of Photography, in California.

As a transmedia visual storyteller, my artist vision focuses on blurring the boundaries of museum and gallery walls with the use of contemporary technology. A common theme among many of my multimedia projects involves creating reflections of the past with the intent of exploring new understandings of the present. Finding innovative ways to integrate technology with the use of traditional and non-traditional artistic practices such as photography, computer art, music, poetry, short stories and video is very important to me. An integral aspect in my artmaking involves the process of combining a variety of media to explore the endless possibilities of creating media-based projects that have the potential to serve as catalysts of memory.  Hence, as a transmedia visual storyteller, I embrace the process of integrating media to conjure up a variety of social and cultural contexts.

Today, after retiring as an educator, I am a full-time artist and I work steady as an entrepreneur who serves as a Tepati (Nahuatl word for energy healer).  Each of my businesses offer the opportunity to explore the benefits of connecting with Universal Life Force energy:  Salton Sea Sanctuary @ Goldie’s Farm Artist Retreat and Spiritual Healing Center in Salton City, CA (goldiesfarm.com); cosmic-tepati.com, tepatihealingherbs.com, cannablissinfusions.com (all subsidiaries of Goldie’s Farm).  In the Spring 2024 Goldie’s Farm merges with Rancho Tepati a sister spiritual healing center in Mead Valley, CA. 

 

JACALYN LOPEZ GARCIA (abbreviated resume)

EDUCATION:

M.F.A. 1999, Claremont Graduate University, CA, Multimedia/Photography with an emphasis in visual storytelling
B.A. 1997, University of California, Riverside, CA, Studio Art/Photography with an emphasis in multimedia
A.S. 1994, Riverside Community College, CA, Photography

WORK HISTORY:

Owner/Manager, Salton Sea Sanctuary @ Goldie’s Farm Artist Retreat and Spiritual Healing Center (present) Located on the West Shore of the Salton Sea. This family owned enterprise was established to attract artists and healers from other parts of the state and the country to stay and create art; provide theatrical presentations; offer musical performances, hold training workshops and offer healing sessions at the facility. Subsidiaries of Goldie’s Farm include: Cannablissinfusions.com, Cosmic-Tepati.com, TepatiHealingHerbs.com,  Comic-Tepati.com.  

Retired, Fine Arts Educator (2000-2017)  Taught courses in Photography, Multimedia & Art at College of the Desert, Palm Desert; Riverside Community College District campuses at Norco-Moreno Valley; San Jacinto College; UCR Extension; and Institute for Arts & Multimedia (LAMC), Los Angeles

Retired Director, UCR Center for Virtual Research (1978-2007) Responsible for overseeing the implementation of a HUD & California Wellness grant, in the southeastern underserved communities of the Coachella Valley; implemented training centers to offer courses designed to train a cadre of high school youth in the gathering of documentary material to help build capacity using industry software and equipment.

ARTISTIC ACHIEVEMENTS

Transmedia Visual Storyteller/Photographer/Artist (1990-present)

Exhibition history of 30 years includes local, national and international recognition at major museums and galleries such as: California Museum of Photography; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; European Media Arts Festival, Osnabruck, Germany; Palace of Fine Arts (Bellas Artes), Mexico City, MX; Artpool P60 Art Space, Budapest; Manhattan Beach Art Center; UCLA Armand Hammer Museum, among local desert galleries including Coachella Valley Art Center, Venus Studios and the Marks Art Center

Recipient, California Council of Humanities Grant (2005)

Produced a documentary project Life Cycles: Reflections of Change and A New Hope for Future Generations. This interactive website examines the personal histories of seven immigrant and migrant farm worker families that settled in the colonias of Coachella Valley and further reveals their involvement in changing the California social landscape. (http://lifecycles.ucr.edu has been moved temporarily and is accessible via https://web.archive.org/web/20210211000249/http://lifecycles.ucr.edu/)

Published works (1990-present)

Include: 2023 The Multimedia Works of Contemporary Latin American Women Women Writers and Artists, Lavery and Bowskill (EDS), Art & Technology by MIT Press; LEONARDO, National Science for Art, Science and Technology; Contemporary Chicana and Chicano Art, Arizona: Bilingual Press/Editorial Bilingue; Techno-logical Visions, The Hopes and Fears that Shape New Technologies.Temple University Press among others.

Website Projects (1997-present)

Glass Houses: A View of American Assimilation from A Mexican-American Perspective
goodgirlgoldie.com  
In Search of the Mago
LAND-artproject.com
Life Cycles: Reflections of Change and a New Hope for Future Generations
themanhuntproject.com

Work in Progress and on the horizon:
From Nothing to Something
Mi Casa Es Su Casa

AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST – full vitae

VIP NOTE – As I work on updating this website you are encouraged to visit me at http://artelunasol.com. 

TOP / HOMEOUT /  EXHIBITIONS  / INSTALLATIONS /  PHOT TRANSMEDIA   /  VIDEO  /  WBSITES   .