Agency of Assets Intern Karla Ramirez reflects on S.O.Y. Artista 2023
By: Karla Ramirez
My name is Karla Ramirez, and I am a high school intern for Self Help Graphics and Art through the Agency of Assets program of the Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (ICA-LA). Since the beginning of my internship, I have been attending SHG’s SOY Artista program. Although this year, the five-week program took place in the Sol y Luna apartments, that didn’t stop us from having lots of new and returning students come and join us. The program lasted from June 20- July 21, 2023, Tuesday-Friday and consisted of screen printing, relief printing, acrylic painting, art IRL (In Real Life), and Art Punk.
The workshops that I was able to participate in were Art IRL (In Real Life) with the artist Joan Zeta, Art Punk with Martha Carillo and Victor Rosas, and Illustration, Design, and Visual Storytelling with Tasha Kusama from ArtCenter. Even though I wasn't there for the other three weeks, my experience in these workshops was really good. I really enjoyed how the artists let you take charge of what had to be done because it didn’t feel like an art class where they tell you what you have to do, which was pretty nice to me.
During the time I was there, I was helping out by placing snacks for the students. I would clean after the workshops, and because I was able to take some of the workshops, I learned many new techniques and different perspectives of art that I had no idea of. The SOY Artista program also shared some important information about their other workshops and how we could take whatever we learned and use it for future reference. But overall, the experience for me was really good. I also had a chance to speak with some of the students that were taking the workshops, which led us to the interviews that I did with two students who participated this year, Amanda and Leila.
Q&A with S.O.Y. Artista participants:
Amanda’s interview
What is your name?
My name is Amanda, and I’m a part of the SOY Artista project
What grade are you going into?
I am going to be a High School freshman.
Have you done the program before?
I did the program last year and had a really good experience, like making new friends and finding out about different types of art like screen printing and photography. So I thought that was really interesting. I really liked doing it, so I wanted to redo it and wanted to try some more art styles or try to do more designs
Do you have any hobbies?
I like to do photography, drawing, and I like making jewelry.
What has been your most entertaining/favorite thing throughout the program?
Probably making the stamp-type things like when we have to carve out linoleum and make a little print, which I thought was really cool.
What is something you think the program can improve on?
Maybe doing a few more classes because sometimes you have to rush everything, which could be a little stressful, like adding one more day. Then that really helps, like spreading it out to help enjoy it and spending more time with classmates and keep on doing work that we are doing.
Leila’s Interview
What is your name?
My name is Leila.
What grade are you going into?
I am going into ninth grade.
How did you find out about the program?
My dad found out about it, and he recommended it to me, so I said yes, and he signed me up.
Have you done the program before?
No, this is my first time.
What were your first thoughts about this program?
It was very welcoming, I liked that we just jumped straight into it, it’s always productive, and I like that something is always going on. The first day, I reported to my parents and said, "Oh my gosh, it was really fun!” I think that the first week was probably my favorite week. It was really, really fun.
Do you have any hobbies?
I dance, I play soccer, and I do art.
What has been your most entertaining/ favorite thing throughout the program?
Probably the sweaters we did during ArtPunk because I thought we would do acrylic painting, but I liked what we did a lot more. I was pretty happy with how it came out.
Karla Ramirez is Self Help Graphics & Art’s Summer 2023 Agency of Assets ICA-LA high school student intern.