My given name is Gloria Beatriz, meaning “glorious bringer of joy”. I go by the names GB or Beatriz, and am known by my apodos “Triz” or “Teach,” the calligraphic, stylized names I spray on walls with aerosol paint. I am a multi-faceted Creative and educational trailblazer. My groundbreaking scholarship rolls out the evidence-based blueprints of a comprehensive “True School” Hip Hop cultural Education model, offering a liberatory alternative paradigm to traditional schooling. After earning my PhD (UCLA, Education) in 2016, I re-occupied the classroom space, teaching 9th grade Geography at Travis Early College High School/SAISD from 2017-2021. In that space of daily, critical, creative action, I mapped the innovative model of my doctoral research onto core content curricula, richly animating and shaping young minds, and earning “distinguished” marks in the process. In “Remaking Education Now” I will set forth the exciting, practical framework for teachers, developed across my research and classroom practice of nearly 30 years.
Visit my webpage www.universalstyleschool.org, and view our Instagram page @universalstyleschool. Universal Style School was Co-Founded in San Antonio in 2014, by myself and creative partner, Faustino “Dote” Aguinaga of Leon, Guanajuato, Mexico. Through US School, we offer a multidimensional programme of public art/muralism, hands-on events and workshops for all ages, and development of publications for and with youth, teachers, and ... view more »
Artist Style: Literary: Children, Documentary, Editor, History, Non-Fiction; Teaching Artist/Instructor: Group Instruction, Guest Speaker, Instruction for Adults, Instruction for Children, Multi-Day Artist Residency, Performer for Schools/Classrooms, Workshop Presenter; Visual Art: Collage, Contemporary, Documentary, Environmental, Experimental, Interactive, Narrative/Historical, Representational, Site-Specific, Social Commentary; Social Scientist/Scholar. Aerosol Writer of Style.
For more than 25 years, Gloria Beatriz “Triz” Rodriguez, JD PhD, has persisted in her mission to totally transform teaching and learning through arts & culture integration across the curriculum. A vibrant and multifaceted Creative across sectors and media, Triz seamlessly pivots from empowering classroom teacher to inspiring spray can wall writer, shaping minds, hearts, and whole communities. It is a place-making artistic practice, whether with pen or spray can. It is the art & science of teaching (and learning), of being a true Pedagogue; via essential expressions of the human self and spirit - Triz - the self-selected, culturally-derived name.
My artworks express puro love and light, through vibrant, unexpected color combinations, and sacred geometric flows of Hip Hop movimiento letreado. My works of art, from larger scale Wildstyles to smaller canvas and blackbook works, elicit powerful reactions of ánimo from viewers of all ages and backgrounds.