MICRO-BIO

• I am an artist and a community-based Sustainability researcher, concerned with the co-creation of inspiring, sustainable and equitable neighborhoods. Currently based in downtown Los Angeles, adjacent to Skid Row, I founded The Building Community in...More

  I am an artist and a community-based Sustainability researcher, concerned with the co-creation of inspiring, sustainable and equitable neighborhoods. Currently based in downtown Los Angeles, adjacent to Skid Row, I founded The Building Community in 2018 to design sustainable supportive housing solutions with and for individuals who are housing insecure or un-housed. We have developed plans for a tiny home ecovillage in Skid Row, and are working to provide training and employment in earth building and construction, along with community outreach and other supportive programs. These activities are contributing to our understanding of interpersonal connection and trust building across divides in urban setting, through the application of qualitative analysis and arts-based participatory methods.

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EXPERIENCE

• California Polytechnic University - Pomona

  • Lecturer
  • Regenerative Studies
  • Present

EDUCATION

• Arizona State University

  • PhD Sustainability
  • August 2016 to December 2019

  I successfully defended my dissertation, Creating the World We Want to Live in: Reconnecting for a Sustainable Future, on November 4, 2019 and will be graduating on December 16 with my PhD from the School of Sustainability.

• Otis College of Art and Design

  • MFA Public Practice
  • August 2014 to May 2016

• New York University

  • 16 units toward MA
  • August 2011 to May 2012

  Completed 16 units toward MA degree in the Gallatin School for Individualized Studies, where my self-titled program was "Urban Sustainable Community Building."

• Maryland Institute, College of Art

  • BFA/ Fibers
  • August 1996 to May 2000

Interests

• Social Sculpture

• Public Practice

• Sustainable Building

• Community Based Research

• Homelessness

• Qualitative Methods

• Arts Based Research

• Participatory Research

• Design

• Equity

• Sustainability

Links

• Artist portfolio
• The Building Community, Founder and Director