What would you like us to know about you and the work you make? 

Hi! My name is Armando Minjarez, I’m a Mexican-born interdisciplinary artist, designer and community organizer. I have been developing a community-based art practice for the past decade, often guided by themes of displacement, collaboration and empowerment of racialized people in the US, especially in the Heartland. My work has focused on opening space for the development of social change strategy, utilizing creative expression as a vehicle for healing and liberation. 

For the last 10 years, I have shaped my work to develop the skills and capacity of artists to foster lasting social change in their community. I facilitate workshops and retreats for artists, activists and community organizers; I develop strategies to highlight the work and narratives of BIPOC, Queer and undocumented artists; I mentor students, budding artists and emerging community leaders as they develop their own initiatives as I continue to design and produce studio-based artwork as a process for introspection and healing. 

The demanding work of arts administration and community-based art has often kept me away from the studio, however, this new work marks my first attempt at a drastic shift in my practice from grassroots neighborhood art production to designing domestic objects. 

This new ceramic work is heavily influenced by the aesthetic expressions I saw growing up in northern Mexico. Mountainous desert landscapes, colorful colonial towns, agrarian lifestyles defined by utility and the resourcefulness of rural isolation. In terms of design, my primary concerns in the studio have been to be practical and to have lots of fun. 

How long have you been a practicing ceramicist? 

I’ve been working with clay for almost 15 years, using clay as a prominent material to create sculpture and installation work. 

After working in arts administration and programming for several, I launched Del Norte Studio in 2015, marking the beginning of a major shift in my artistic practice designing and creating objects for domestic use and for public space.