Today we’d like to introduce you to Christopher Velasco.
Christopher, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I grew up in Lincoln Heights as a shy and creative child. However, I learned to cope with my undiagnosed dyslexia and excel in school in inventive ways. In High School, I learned about a free program called the California Arts Partnership (C.A.P) at the California Institute of the Arts, and it would change my life forever. Through the medium of photography, I found a way to harness my anxiety and depression into a positive and productive energy that gave me a focus and drive allowed me to do better in school.
I attended East Los Angeles College and learned to hone in my artistic skills and motivated me to transfer from ELAC and earn my Bachelors in Fine Arts. My acceptance to Cal Arts is one of my greatest personal achievements because I am the first in my family to attend art school and earn a BFA in 2010.
During my undergraduate experience and after, I worked for the Vincent Price Art Museum, Santa Monica Museum of Art (Now Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center, and Library, and becoming Studio Manager for Laura Aguilar.
Currently, I am studying for my MFA in Studio Art at the University of California Santa Barbara, which I will receive this upcoming June 2019.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Being a person of color and an inspiring artist is a struggle. While attending community college, I had to work full time to support myself. Even with scholarships and financial aid, it was not enough to help with books and photographic supplies. Yet, ELAC was a vocational school, which teaches its students how to work commercially in the photography field, so I was able to find work as an assistant or photo printer.
When I graduated from Cal Arts, I was exhausted. I wasn’t prepared to deal with my mental health issues. Unfortunately, I was taught to keep on moving and not deal with my issues. My body just broke down, and I had to rebuild myself back from the beginning.
It was a journey from ELAC to Cal Arts to UCSB. It was a lot of work, but during that journey, I met a lot of amazing artists and colleagues that have supported my growth as an artist but as a person.
We’d love to hear more about what you do.
Originally, I wanted to become an abstract painter. But since that one photo class in High School, photography became everything to me. It was in the community college where I realized that I could experiment with both mediums together. Since then, I mix painting techniques onto my photographs, create collages out of my own photography or found images. I not only play with the process, I also can print high-quality images on a commercial and fine art level.
At the heart of it all, I am like a mad scientist, exasperating various ways to push photography to its material limits. I can drive myself crazy with research and conducting experiments. But being that passionate about my art practice, it as lead to become a photo teacher at California State Summer School for the Arts (CSSSA), a mentor to photo and art students, and studio manager for a well-known photographer. I may be highly experimental, but I am a firm believer in learning the basics then having the ability to break the rules.
I am trying to be both technical and experimental in my work, which is why I am working towards my MFA.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I would not change anything about my journey. I believe we meet people and go through life for a reason.
I would like to give some shout outs though:
As a mentee in the arts, I have been afforded much-needed guidance and motivation from my mentors—such as Harry Gamboa, Jr. and Mei Valenzuela. They supported and assisted in my growth as an artist. And still, do to this day. Their wisdom and experience is one of the reasons I am pursuing a Master’s degree. They are artists that have influenced me to achieve an education, and for that, I want to continue their legacy of inspiring and teaching others.
I also want to mention Lizette Guerra, Librarian and Archivist, who taught me the numerous ways to research any topic, archive on a budget and to work with the community. She became a mentor and friend. Laura Aguilar, the woman who taught me a lot about being true to one’s self, in photography but in life. Not only she was a mentor in photographer but a friend as well.
And I want to give a special shout out to my parents, Larry and Martha Velasco. They have continuously supported me in all my outrageous and enthusiastic ideas. They are an inspiration to all those who never had the encouragement, especially being Queer Chicano boy from East L.A.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://christopheravelasco.wixsite.com/cav-photography
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caver83/
Image Credit:
Juan Silverio, Dakota Noot
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