Alex! Jimenez - Public Artist, Illustrator, Printmaker and Mother

In this episode, we hear from Alex! Jimenez, Public Artist, Illustrator, Printmaker, and Mother. Alex begins by sharing a story about the exciting project that started through an initiative of the US Water Alliance and Tucson Water. As the selected artist for the Tucson Water team, Alex shares the goals of the project and how she decided to mitigate the “bad history” in South Tucson in relationship to water and the path to building trust. Sharing the historical context in which the project took place, Alex then gets into how her process led to collaborations with the community and Tucson artists to develop a library of monsoon storm sounds. She then shares her motivation for working in the intersections of art and science.

Alex takes us back to when she was pursuing a career as a veterinarian, and we learn how her career trajectory shifted to visual arts and the excitement of being awarded an artist grant as she completed a BFA degree in Illustration from the University of Arizona. Alex provides advice for emerging artists and emphasizes the importance of seeking grant funding to develop projects and the value of collaboration in her practice. Finally, she shares what is moving her in this moment and the big plans in store for the coming years as a public artist working in her home community of South Tucson.

Lear More about Alex’s residency here!

Additional audio provided by Alex Jimenez featuring collaborations with Logan Phillips, Cazo, Karima Walker, and Kevin Larkin.

 

To hear all this more, listen to the full-length podcast by clicking the link above! To listen to the mini, click below!

https://kxci.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Alex-Jimenez-Mini_mixdown.mp3

 

Alex Jimenez. Image courtesy of the artist. The Talking Mural, 2017.  This mural has QR codes that you can scan to listen to short stories told by the business owners whose signs are featured on this mural. Image courtesy of the artist.

 

Our Pond, Our Planet, 2021. An editioned screenprint that plays with the idea of our shared water both on the micro level of an ecosystem but on the global level of our planet. The animals along the perimeter of the pond are natives of the Sonoran Desert. Image courtesy of the artist.

 

Trabajadores, 2018. An editioned screenprint that plays with the icon of the ‘Sleeping Mexican’ and challenges the stereotype of laziness by displaying icons of the many forms of work that immigrants labor in. Image courtesy of the artist.

 

Te-Gila Sunrise, 2020. A mural on an electrical box in Sahuarita, AZ that plays with the design of the Gila Monster and turned into a Rorschach inkblot design. Image courtesy of the artist.

 

C is for LeCaves, 2016. An editioned screenprint from the series Abecedario del Sur that pulls the letters of the alphabet from signs of buildings on the Southside of Tucson. Image courtesy of the artist.

 

Tucson Toonland, 2018. This mural spans 3 sides of a drive-thru archway into the Hotel McCoy. It features a rising moon on the east wall that becomes the talavera style half moon/half sun across the arch and then sets on the western wall. Image courtesy of the artist.