On Tuesday, August 22, 2023, after a one day rain delay, Mesa College welcomed thousands of students to campus for the first day of the Fall 2023 semester. See the Mesa College Fall 2023 Welcome Week Photo album for more photos.
Second-year student Zora Williams is using her voice to bring more mental health and nutrition programming to San Diego Mesa College. Williams was elected president of the college’s Associated Students (AS) for the 2024-2025 academic year and serves as the college’s student representative on the San Diego Community College District Board of Trustees.
Sometimes, you hear a story that makes you want to know more. Kevin Gonzalez has such a story. The last time this story was updated, San Diego Mesa College student Kevin Gonzalez was a 15 year-old heading off to Massachusetts to complete his high school education. In the ensuing years, he has travelled to the other side of the world, built houses, but remained in close contact with his Mesa College professors and connections he made while on campus.
The San Diego Community College District has appointed four new student trustees for the upcoming academic year. Dalia Ramirez (San Diego City College), Zora Williams (San Diego Mesa College), Hailey Hua (San Diego Miramar College), and Haydee Zuniga (San Diego College of Continuing Education), will be sworn in during the June 20 SDCCD Board of Trustees meeting.
October 7, 2022
San Diego, CA - San Diego Mesa College Art Gallery recently celebrated LatinX Heritage Month, with the exhibition In Lak’ech: Tu eres me otro yo (You are my other me), featuring Artworks by Maria de Los Angeles and Ryan Bonilla. Maria de Los Angeles is a Latinx artist and professor of painting at Yale University School of Art and started her education as a Dreamer at Santa Rosa community college. Ryan Bonilla is a Filipino-American fashion photographer that has worked for Tommy Hilfiger, Burberry and published in ELLE and other fashion magazines. They traveled from the East Coast to attend the reception. Maria de Los Angeles is based in New York.
In Lak’ech: Tu eres me otro yo (You are my other me) invokes a Mayan concept popularized by Chicano playwright Luis Valdez. This affirmation reflects a philosophy of caring and connecting with the human spirit of one another. This idea is what the tone for this two-person exhibit at the San Diego Mesa College Art Gallery. In addition to human spirits, Alessandra was delighted to Maria and Ryan at the Reception.
“At the reception, Maria and Ryan’s generous spirit came through, stated Alessandra Moctezuma, Gallery Director and Professor of Fine Arts. “They spent the three hours of the reception talking to students, answering questions, listening to their interpretation of the art.”
Moctezuma reflects back on her experience with Maria de Los Angeles, “I met Maria de Los Angeles on a FB artist activist group during the Trump era, maybe 2018? When anti-immigrant furor was at its height. I immediately fell in love with her work since it resonated with my own experience as an immigrant from Mexico.”
Through evocative paintings, wearable dress sculptures and drawings, artist Maria de Los Angeles connects with America’s multiple selves: those of the immigrant, the refugee, the undocumented, and the indigenous. She questions and breaks down racist stereotypes and tackles otherness and the concept of belonging.
Alessandra acknowledged, “Her art spoke of the difficulties but in such a beautiful way. She was in New York but we would chat via message and got to know each other.”
Maria immigrated from Mexico and was raised in Northern California. De Los Angeles received her MFA in painting and printmaking from Yale University School of Art (2015), a BFA in painting from Pratt institute (2013), and an associate’s degree in painting from Santa Rosa Junior College, California. Maria has been involved in community projects and has created youth arts programs. She received the Community Action Partnership’s award, and the Blair Dickinson Memorial Prize given by Yale University. She was an artist in residency at El Museo del Barrio (2017) and at Mana Contemporary (2015-2017).
In fall of 2022, she was hired as Assistant Director of Painting and Printmaking at Yale University School of Art.
Ryan Bonilla is a multimedia artist who was born in the Philippines. Bonilla migrated to New York as a child, and as a teenager, he was influenced by the vibrant street culture that surrounded him. He worked and collaborated with fashion houses such as Tommy Hilfiger, Burberry, and David Yurman. He has been published by Elle, Playboy, GQ, and i-D magazines. His work has been presented by galleries in New York and around the world, showcased at Art Basel and SCOPE, and has been acquired by the Museum of Art and Design and by private collectors. He currently resides in New York and Jersey City.
Tags: Latinx, latest news, #INTHENEWS, art gallery
Jennifer Nichols Kearns
Director of Communications
jnkearns@sdccd.edu
(619) 388-2759
On Tuesday, August 22, 2023, after a one day rain delay, Mesa College welcomed thousands of students to campus for the first day of the Fall 2023 semester. See the Mesa College Fall 2023 Welcome Week Photo album for more photos.
San Diego Mesa College and San Diego City College and have earned Gold and Silver status respectively as Military Friendly schools for 2023-2024. Mesa College maintained its Gold status from the previous year and City College was awarded its inaugural Silver status. “The San Diego Community College District (SDCCD) and our colleges are honored to serve active-duty military, veterans, and their families with accessible higher education programs which recognize and value their military experience,” said SDCCD Acting Chancellor Gregory Smith. “The prestigious Military Friendly school recognition is the result of the extraordinary work our faculty, classified professionals, and administrators at San Diego City College and San Diego Mesa College do each day to serve our military communities successfully.”
Los Angeles, CA - - It wasn’t the Oscars, but close. On Sept. 25, 2021, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences christened its $484 million Renzo Piano-designed movie museum with a starry gala. That night, Annette Bening, Tom Hanks and Bob Iger received Pillar Awards, recognizing their efforts leading the capital campaign to complete the long-gestating project. The scene represented a moment of true unity for Hollywood and the city of Los Angeles that, at long last, had a new landmark to brag about. Less than two years later, that communal pride has given way to deep fractures across an industry at a standstill amid the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes. As the battle rages, Bening is back in the lights with a new mission.
