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The Department of Arts and Culture’s San Antonio Artist Registry is provided as a community service to San Antonio artists to post information and events related to the work they do - and to promote the creative economy. If you are interested in hiring one of these artists, note that the City of San Antonio expects that you will pay them for their work. Though the registry is moderated for posting applicable and relevant profiles, the City of San Antonio does not endorse nor verify the information included, does not guarantee the quality, authenticity, accuracy, appropriateness nor security of the included links or content, which are posted by the artists themselves, and is not responsible for any misrepresentation of the artist. Note that the works posted by some artists may cover sensitive subject matter of a graphically violent and/or sexually explicit nature and may contain coarse language, therefore viewer discretion should be exercised.

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Jeff Bagato

Media Arts: Filmmaker, Media/Visual Communications, New Media/Technology; Multi-Disciplinary: Multiple Art Forms; video, mail art

A multi-media artist living near San Antonio, Jeff Bagato produces poetry and prose as well as electronic music and glitch video. Activities include mail art and pop surrealism paintings. He has contributed to a wide range of literary journals including Blaze Vox, Otoliths, Utsanga, Word For/Word, Futures Trading, Brave New Word, Pedestal, Exquisite Corpse, Slipstream, Rat's Ass Review, and Chiron Review. His writing on music and art has appeared in Utne Reader, The Washington Post, Washington City Paper, Option, Cool and Strange Music, among others. He has published nineteen books, all available through the usual online markets, including And the Trillions (poetry) and The Toothpick Fairy (fiction).

Esmeralda Baltazar

Literary Arts: Author/Writer, Poet; Media Arts: Architectural Illustrator, Author/Writer, Ceramist, Constructions/Collage, Craftsperson, Dancer, Filmmaker, Graphic Artist, Illustrator, Jeweler, Literary Arts, Media Arts, Media/Visual Communications, Mixed Media Artist, Mosaics Artist, Multi-Disciplinary, Multiple Art Forms, Muralist, New Media/Technology, Painter, Performer and Writer, Performing Arts, Photographer, Poet, Printmaker, Producer, Sculptor, Storyteller, Teaching Artist/Instructor, Textiles, Visual Arts, Vocalist/Singer, Voiceover, Woodworker; Multi-Disciplinary: Architectural Illustrator, Author/Writer, Ceramist, Constructions/Collage, Craftsperson, Dancer, Filmmaker, Graphic Artist, Illustrator, Jeweler, Literary Arts, Media Arts, Media/Visual Communications, Mixed Media Artist, Mosaics Artist, Multi-Disciplinary, Multiple Art Forms, Muralist, New Media/Technology, Painter, Performer and Writer, Performing Arts, Photographer, Poet, Printmaker, Producer, Sculptor, Storyteller, Teaching Artist/Instructor, Textiles, Visual Arts, Vocalist/Singer, Voiceover, Woodworker; Performing Arts: Dancer, Storyteller, Vocalist/Singer; Teaching Artist/Instructor; Visual Arts: Architectural Illustrator, Ceramist, Constructions/Collage, Craftsperson, Illustrator, Jeweler, Mixed Media Artist, Mosaics Artist, Muralist, Painter, Photographer, Printmaker, Sculptor, Textiles, Woodworker; Installation Art (public and in galleries/museums)

The artifact tells a story about the process; all three are art. Esmeralda Baltazar is a multi-media interdisciplinary artist. She explores how our individual-collective identities are impacted by our local to global social, economic and environmental policy. At the age of 19, Esme co-founded a youth-led arts organization, The Crib Collective, a space for young leaders to dialogue about social issues through open-mics and community-based projects. This led her to understand the importance of conversation within the art-making process. In 2007, she co-created “Dialogo” at the National Museum of Mexican Art, a mixture of ethnography and installation art that Latina magazine referred to as representing “how Latinas navigate between tradition and their modern-day lives.” Esmeralda holds a Bachelors in Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a Masters in Educational Leadership, Politics and Advocacy from New York University. In 2012, in her hometown community of San Antonio, she co-created a mural, Taking It Back: After the Chicano Civil Rights Movement. The process of creation included a set of workshops that encouraged community input in the development of the mural and supported the community’s collective learning about the mural’s topic. Esmeralda consistently balances the individual and the collective in her art-making process for the sake of learning and healing. She works in community answering our complex social, economic and political challenges.

Marisela Barrera

Literary Arts: Actor, Author/Writer, Director, Literary Arts, Media Arts, Multi-Disciplinary, Multiple Art Forms, Performance Art, Performer and Writer, Performing Arts, Playwright, Poet, Radio/Television Talent, Spoken Word Artist, Storyteller, Teaching Artist/Instructor, Voiceover; Media Arts: Actor, Author/Writer, Director, Literary Arts, Media Arts, Multi-Disciplinary, Multiple Art Forms, Performance Art, Performer and Writer, Performing Arts, Playwright, Poet, Radio/Television Talent, Spoken Word Artist, Storyteller, Teaching Artist/Instructor, Voiceover; Multi-Disciplinary: Actor, Author/Writer, Director, Literary Arts, Media Arts, Multi-Disciplinary, Multiple Art Forms, Performance Art, Performer and Writer, Performing Arts, Playwright, Poet, Radio/Television Talent, Spoken Word Artist, Storyteller, Teaching Artist/Instructor, Voiceover; Performing Arts: Actor, Author/Writer, Director, Literary Arts, Media Arts, Multi-Disciplinary, Multiple Art Forms, Performance Art, Performer and Writer, Performing Arts, Playwright, Poet, Radio/Television Talent, Spoken Word Artist, Storyteller, Teaching Artist/Instructor, Voiceover; Teaching Artist/Instructor

Marisela Barrera is born from mixed status immigrants along the US-Mexico Borderlands, a Tejana writer and performer with a BFA in Acting from Southern Methodist University and MA/MFA degrees in Creative Writing, Literature and Social Justice from Our Lady of the Lake University. She was Artistic Director of Cara Mia Theater, Theater Director at the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, and has performed in Latino cultural centers in Dallas, Houston, Austin, and San Antonio. Recent original productions include a live-streaming pandemic performance of Tejana Rasquacha with Jump-Start, Ruby Reds, Big Birds y Burras at the Guadalupe, and Tejana Trilogy at Palo Alto College. Favorite directing projects include Yemaya’s Belly with Cara Mia, Lydia with AtticRep at Trinity University, and Ay, Pedro at the Guadalupe. Barrera’s writing has appeared in The Brooklyn Rail, HowlRound, The San Antonio Report, Latina Critical Feminism, Out in SA, Texas Matters, The San Antonio Current, Radio Esperanza 101.5 LP-FM, and TheaterJones, among others. She teaches writing and literature at Northwest Vista College and is a two-time recipient of the National Association for Latino Arts and Culture Fund for the Arts award. Barrera is a company member at Jump-Start Performance Co., where she spins and eats fire. She recently performed in ArtHeist and as Michael Scott in The Office: A Parody at the Tobin. She was awarded a Luminaria Artist Foundation Award in 2021.

Bett Butler

Literary Arts: Author/Writer, Composer, Literary Arts, Musician, Performing Arts, Poet, Spoken Word Artist, Vocalist/Singer; Performing Arts: Author/Writer, Composer, Literary Arts, Musician, Performing Arts, Poet, Spoken Word Artist, Vocalist/Singer

Believing that storytelling is essential for human connection, Bett Butler pours her considerable energy into storytelling using whatever is at hand: words, music, found footage, and imagery. She partners with her spouse, bassist/composer/producer Joël Dilley, at Mandala Music Production, creating tracks played in ambient settings worldwide and licensed by HBO, Discovery Channel, Travel Channel, Food Network, and more. Her poetry, videos, and short fiction have appeared in small-press publications in the U.S., U.K., E.U., and Canada; but in collaborating with Dilley on their upcoming release on Dragon Lady Records, Gracia, she sings without words. Current projects include The Gospel Truth, inspired by the proliferation of conspiracy theories in the U.S.; ongoing collaborations with experimental writers and filmmakers; and music/poetry/meditation videos for YouTube’s Mandala Meditation Channel.

Michael Aaron Casares

Literary Arts: Actor, Author/Writer, Literary Arts, Media Arts, Multi-Disciplinary, Performer and Writer, Performing Arts, Poet, Radio/Television Talent; Media Arts: Actor, Author/Writer, Literary Arts, Media Arts, Multi-Disciplinary, Performer and Writer, Performing Arts, Poet, Radio/Television Talent; Multi-Disciplinary: Actor, Author/Writer, Literary Arts, Media Arts, Multi-Disciplinary, Performer and Writer, Performing Arts, Poet, Radio/Television Talent; Performing Arts: Actor, Author/Writer, Literary Arts, Media Arts, Multi-Disciplinary, Performer and Writer, Performing Arts, Poet, Radio/Television Talent

Michael Aaron Casares is an American poet and novelist. His most recent publications include Even In Death (2021), Severance: Poems from a Dystopian America (2020), Poetry from the Edge of Forever (2020), The Vanishing Poet (2020), A Trick of the Eyes (2017) and The Distance to the End (2016). He has two previously published collections of poetry, This Reality of Man (2011), and Sad Height (2005). Michael is the founder of Virgogray Press, a perennial publishing house of underground poetry and literature since 2005, and blogs at his website: The Root of Many Returns. Michael hosts the podcasts The C Report, a current events show that livestreams on multiple platforms, and his personal podcast, The Experience w/ Michael Aaron Casares.

Gerardo Cazares

Visual Arts: Graphic Artist, Illustrator, Mixed Media Artist, Muralist, Musician, Painter, Poet, Printmaker, Visual Arts

My name is Gerardo "ghost" Cazares and I was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas. My parents immigrated to this country in the late 70s and they taught me the value of hard work, respect and responsibility. I have been creating art for as long as I can remember, from daycare, through school, the military and up to present day, I have been developing skill in my craft. I joined the army in 2008 and served eight years as a combat engineer. I was stationed in Fort Hood and deployed to Iraq in 2010. I was also stationed in Grafenwohr, Germany and deployed with my unit to Afghanistan in 2013. I returned home in late 2014 and had trouble with reintegration. I had been gone for a little while and had changed so much that I really felt like a foreigner in my hometown. I had never taken art really seriously, it was just a hobby that I used to pass the time throughout my life. This was a time in my life where I started using it as a therapy to assimilate back into the civilian world. With nothing to lose, I went out and bought beginner painting supplies, I did not exceed my $20 budget at that time. I was able to get enough material to produce my first set of paintings that would ignite a fire inside me that has taken me through a very awe-inspiring journey through life. I have gone from setting up tables on South Alamo, live art on the St. Mary's Strip, to now painting murals around the city. I continue to work as a full-time artist to support myself and my family and I don't really see myself doing anything else at the moment.

Irene Chavez Galvan

Literary Arts: Actor, Literary Arts, Media Arts, Media/Visual Communications, Multi-Disciplinary, Performance Art, Performer and Writer, Performing Arts, Playwright, Poet, Spoken Word Artist, Storyteller, Voiceover; Media Arts: Actor, Literary Arts, Media Arts, Media/Visual Communications, Multi-Disciplinary, Performance Art, Performer and Writer, Performing Arts, Playwright, Poet, Spoken Word Artist, Storyteller, Voiceover; Multi-Disciplinary: Actor, Literary Arts, Media Arts, Media/Visual Communications, Multi-Disciplinary, Performance Art, Performer and Writer, Performing Arts, Playwright, Poet, Spoken Word Artist, Storyteller, Voiceover; Performing Arts: Actor, Literary Arts, Media Arts, Media/Visual Communications, Multi-Disciplinary, Performance Art, Performer and Writer, Performing Arts, Playwright, Poet, Spoken Word Artist, Storyteller, Voiceover

Irene Chavez Galvan is a poet, playwright, storyteller, and entrepreneur. Her play Las Cochinas Christmas was featured in the Teatro Salon at the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Theatre. She wrote and directed the play. She also co-wrote, The Prey which was later made into a short film. In 2017, the City of San Antonio Department of Arts and Culture with the support from Gemini Ink chose her poem “Esperanza” as part of the 30 Poems for the Tricentennial. The thirty poems featured in this anthology were selected by a panel of nationally recognized poets and tell the story of San Antonio, celebrating the people, places, and history of our great city. Her work has also been published in the St. Mary’s University Pecan Review. Irene has a long history of community activism and worked for the United Farm Workers in California. Irene is a graduate of St. Mary’s University where she earned her bachelor’s degree in Speech Communications and her MBA.

Marisol Cortez

Literary Arts: Author/Writer, Literary Arts, Multi-Disciplinary, Performer and Writer, Poet; Multi-Disciplinary: Author/Writer, Literary Arts, Multi-Disciplinary, Performer and Writer, Poet

As a mentally-intense, mixed-blood Xicana weirdo rooted in San Antonio but formally coming of age in rural Central Texas, poetry was the first form of political agency accessible to me and also the first theoretical work I produced. Even after I found communities for political resistance and critical inquiry, I could never really get away from creative writing either in my scholarship or my activism. These days, I understand myself primarily as a writer, albeit one who feels most comfortable working in the spaces between artistic, activist, and academic worlds, as well as across creative genres (poetry, fiction, essay, theory, manifesto). Much of my writing bears out all these tensions: I write hybrid, cross-genre, mixed-blood Xicana texts that can’t quite (and ultimately don’t want to) extricate poetry and storytelling from historical analysis and cultural theory from direct, on-the-ground struggle. As a writer grounded in the collective work of movement building for environmental and social justice, I find myself most often gravitating toward questions of place, power, and the possibilities proliferating at the margins. I write to remember the land and its pluriverse of inhabitants; to make visible colonial logics of displacement; and above all to give voice to those longings that might call forth new relationships of ecosocial interdependence and solidarity. I write for all the other borderwalking weirdos out there.

Katrina Curtiss

Literary Arts: Literary Arts, Musician, Performing Arts, Poet, Radio/Television Talent, Teaching Artist/Instructor, Voiceover; Performing Arts: Literary Arts, Musician, Performing Arts, Poet, Radio/Television Talent, Teaching Artist/Instructor, Voiceover; Teaching Artist/Instructor

Katrina Curtiss is a percussive, bluesy guitarist, singer/songwriter. Katrina traveled up and down the East Coast, performing at nightclubs for 7 years before becoming a Radio Personality. After 23 years behind a microphone playing other artists music, she has returned to her first love, playing and singing before live audiences. Her shows are exciting and fun as she engages audiences with her guitar skills, unique singing style and personality.

Dominique Davis

Literary Arts: Author/Writer, Composer, Director, Literary Arts, Media Arts, Media/Visual Communications, Mixed Media Artist, Multi-Disciplinary, Multiple Art Forms, New Media/Technology, Other, Performance Art, Poet, Producer, Spoken Word Artist, Storyteller, Visual Arts, Vocalist/Singer; Media Arts: Author/Writer, Composer, Director, Literary Arts, Media Arts, Media/Visual Communications, Mixed Media Artist, Multi-Disciplinary, Multiple Art Forms, New Media/Technology, Other, Performance Art, Poet, Producer, Spoken Word Artist, Storyteller, Visual Arts, Vocalist/Singer; Multi-Disciplinary: Author/Writer, Composer, Director, Literary Arts, Media Arts, Media/Visual Communications, Mixed Media Artist, Multi-Disciplinary, Multiple Art Forms, New Media/Technology, Other, Performance Art, Poet, Producer, Spoken Word Artist, Storyteller, Visual Arts, Vocalist/Singer; Other; Visual Arts: Author/Writer, Composer, Director, Literary Arts, Media Arts, Media/Visual Communications, Mixed Media Artist, Multi-Disciplinary, Multiple Art Forms, New Media/Technology, Other, Performance Art, Poet, Producer, Spoken Word Artist, Storyteller, Visual Arts, Vocalist/Singer

My name is Dominique Davis, otherwise known as Aziz, The Substance. I'm a multi-disciplinary artist with creative outlets spanning across audio, literature, visual, and tech. Having a futurist mindset, I strive to conceptualize projects that encourage critical thought. I want to bring awareness to issues that effect us now and perpetuate a deficient lifestyle for those generations to come.

Tyson Davis

Literary Arts: Actor, Author/Writer, Director, Graphic Artist, Illustrator, Literary Arts, Media Arts, Mixed Media Artist, Mosaics Artist, Multi-Disciplinary, Multiple Art Forms, Muralist, Painter, Performer and Writer, Photographer, Poet, Producer, Sculptor, Spoken Word Artist, Teaching Artist/Instructor, Visual Arts, Woodworker; Media Arts: Actor, Author/Writer, Director, Graphic Artist, Illustrator, Literary Arts, Media Arts, Mixed Media Artist, Mosaics Artist, Multi-Disciplinary, Multiple Art Forms, Muralist, Painter, Performer and Writer, Photographer, Poet, Producer, Sculptor, Spoken Word Artist, Teaching Artist/Instructor, Visual Arts, Woodworker; Multi-Disciplinary: Actor, Author/Writer, Director, Graphic Artist, Illustrator, Literary Arts, Media Arts, Mixed Media Artist, Mosaics Artist, Multi-Disciplinary, Multiple Art Forms, Muralist, Painter, Performer and Writer, Photographer, Poet, Producer, Sculptor, Spoken Word Artist, Teaching Artist/Instructor, Visual Arts, Woodworker; Teaching Artist/Instructor; Visual Arts: Actor, Author/Writer, Director, Graphic Artist, Illustrator, Literary Arts, Media Arts, Mixed Media Artist, Mosaics Artist, Multi-Disciplinary, Multiple Art Forms, Muralist, Painter, Performer and Writer, Photographer, Poet, Producer, Sculptor, Spoken Word Artist, Teaching Artist/Instructor, Visual Arts, Woodworker

Born 1981 in small town Nacogdoches, Tx. Tyson began his career as an artist in 2015, with a 107ft x 24ft mural on a busy highway street in downtown Nacogdoches. Making history to become the first African American artist to complete a public art project, in its historic downtown. In 2017, Tyson was selected through a competitive process, to design, and install, artwork with Art in Public Places (AIPP), Austin Parks & Rec. (PARD), The City of Austin, and The Colony Park Homeowners Association. Tyson has recently worked with small businesses like: Bahadi’s Chicken & Lounge, The Vapor Studio (Pflugerville), Johnson’s Furniture (Nacogdoches), Stripling’s Pharmacy (Nacogdoches), Knuckle Sandwich (Nacogdoches), and Brotherton’s Bar B Que (Pflugerville), to design and transform their blank spaces. As the Owner and Operator of Blank Canvas, Tyson has curated art shows, sat on selection panels, and hired young talented artist, to complete projects large and small. He has curated solo and group exhibits, also entertained with live painting at numerous events. Skills Photoshop & Illustrator - Photography – Management – Power Equipment – Design – Installation

Ida De La Rosa Ellis

Teaching Artist/Instructor; embroider, sewer, crochet, knit, beading, tie dye, polymar clay,

My company De La Rosa Designs engineers your dream projects into reality. Do not have a sewing machine, you say you can't sew, let us do it for you. I can take your designs and create it for you; making patterns, prototypes and often times manufacturing small orders. I teach sewing in person and I have video blogs that help new sewers, making straight lines, learning to create a sewing kit, learning about your machine, hand sewing and other things that you might find helpful.

Aminah Decé

Literary Arts: Artisan, Graphic Artist, Literary Arts, Media Arts, Mixed Media Artist, Multi-Disciplinary, Multiple Art Forms, New Media/Technology, Painter, Performance Art, Performer and Writer, Performing Arts, Poet, Spoken Word Artist, Storyteller, Teaching Artist/Instructor, Visual Arts; Media Arts: Artisan, Graphic Artist, Literary Arts, Media Arts, Mixed Media Artist, Multi-Disciplinary, Multiple Art Forms, New Media/Technology, Painter, Performance Art, Performer and Writer, Performing Arts, Poet, Spoken Word Artist, Storyteller, Teaching Artist/Instructor, Visual Arts; Multi-Disciplinary: Artisan, Graphic Artist, Literary Arts, Media Arts, Mixed Media Artist, Multi-Disciplinary, Multiple Art Forms, New Media/Technology, Painter, Performance Art, Performer and Writer, Performing Arts, Poet, Spoken Word Artist, Storyteller, Teaching Artist/Instructor, Visual Arts; Performing Arts: Artisan, Graphic Artist, Literary Arts, Media Arts, Mixed Media Artist, Multi-Disciplinary, Multiple Art Forms, New Media/Technology, Painter, Performance Art, Performer and Writer, Performing Arts, Poet, Spoken Word Artist, Storyteller, Teaching Artist/Instructor, Visual Arts; Teaching Artist/Instructor; Visual Arts: Artisan, Graphic Artist, Literary Arts, Media Arts, Mixed Media Artist, Multi-Disciplinary, Multiple Art Forms, New Media/Technology, Painter, Performance Art, Performer and Writer, Performing Arts, Poet, Spoken Word Artist, Storyteller, Teaching Artist/Instructor, Visual Arts

Aminah Decé is trained at the World Combat Academy, Institute of Martial Science and maintains degrees of The Humanities, Fine Arts & Art History/Criticism from The University of Texas, San Antonio. Under the pseudonym P16, she began her artistic journey as a slam poet in Killeen, Texas, discrediting the concept of race and supremacy through a variety of media and performance. Aminah teaches Art leads Progrés Studios and A OK Arthouse. She collaborates with local artists and organizations to create Happenings and conduct visual and literary art workshops in the community. Aminah is also a member of Return of the Matriarch, a band completed by San Antonio's Poet Laureate, Andrea “Vocab” Sanderson. Together R.O.T. M has featured their message of youth and women empowerment at South by Southwest, Luminaria, The McNay Art Museum, San Antonio Art Museum, The Carver Community Cultural Center and various schools and universities in the Central Texas region. Return of the Matriarch is currently preparing for the release of their long-awaited album, Queendom Come.

Nina Diaz

Performing Arts: Musician, Performer and Writer, Performing Arts, Poet, Visual Arts, Vocalist/Singer; Visual Arts: Musician, Performer and Writer, Performing Arts, Poet, Visual Arts, Vocalist/Singer

My music career began at the age of 13, as the main songwriter and front woman for San Antonio’s own all female alternative band, Girl in a Coma. By the time I turned 22 years old, we had released four albums on Joan Jetts' Label Black Heart Records and toured all over the United States and overseas. I spent a good chunk of my time lost in a haze of stages. Stages of drug addiction, depression, and a victim of narcissistic abuse. The program in my mind that focused on likes and followers as true success got flushed out when I inevitably found my balance after my first solo album. True success as an artist became success in recovery from drug addiction, setting boundaries and allowing myself to take up space. After twenty years of traveling, writing and now a full-time solo artist, I can now confidently express and answer that question every artist cringes at when asked: What is it you're trying to say in your art? I am a healer, a leader and strive to connect to those who may feel alone or misunderstood through my music, videos and paintings.

John Espinoza

John Olivares Espinoza is the author of the poetry collection, The Date Fruit Elegies (Bilingual Review Press, 2008), as well as two chapbooks, Aluminum Times (Swan Scythe Press, 2002) and Gardeners of Eden (Chicano Chapbook Series, 2000). His poetry has appeared in journals and anthologies domestically and internationally such as Alta Journal, American Poetry Review, Berkeley Poetry Review, New Letters, Poetry International, Quarterly West, Rattle, ZYZZYVA and In Xóchitl in Cuícatl: Floricanto: Cien años de poesía chicanx/latinx (1920-2020) (Editorial Polibea: Madrid, 2021). His honors include a writing grant from The Elizabeth George Foundation, a Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans, and a residency at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. Espinoza has been a member of the Macondo Writers Workshop since 2004 and lives in San Antonio with his family. John attempts to create a family mythology around their experiences and identities as immigrants, laborers, and New Americans. Meanwhile, other speakers in his poems grapple with their identities as first generation Americans. Poet Christopher Buckley introduces Espinoza's poetry by saying, "...[I]t was the lives of his family, of the people who did not stay at resorts [and the homes of the rich], that became [John's] theme, and his poems risked clarity at every turn to do them justice. John's poems are witness to this life, and with poignancy and inventiveness they reveal the essential dignity and compassion of the people he knows."

Fernando Esteban Flores

Fernando Esteban Flores is a native son of Tejas, graduate of the University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Arts in English and has taught writing at various San Antonio secondary schools. He was selected as Teacher of the Year three times (twice at SSAIS D, Dwight Middle School-1992/2002 and Robert C. Zamora Middle School-2008, SSAISD) and South San Antonio Independent School District’s Teacher of the Year for 2008. He was also a candidate for Trinity University’s Prize for Excellency in Teaching 2008. In addition, he received 2 ExCEL awards for excellence in teaching from KENS 5-TV. Fernando is the founder of a group of eclectic seasoned and emerging poets, Voces Cósmicas who have been promoting poetry, art, and music at different venues throughout San Antonio since 2012. His three books of poetry: Ragged Borders, Red Accordion Blues & BloodSongs are available from Hijo del Sol Publishing and were recently archived at the Ozuna Learning Center & Library at Palo Alto College as well as the San Antonio Public Library’s new Latino Collection. Fernando recently received an ELLA Award (Exceptional Library Leaders and Advocates) from the San Antonio Public Library system June 2108 for his work in promoting and advocating poetry and the arts. In 2918-19, the Department of Arts & Culture of the City of San Antonio, with support from Gemini Ink selected Fernando’s poem Song for America V (Yo Soy San Antonio) as one of 30 poem/poets to commemorate the City’s Tricentennial anniversary. Fernando received the 2019 Arts & Letters Award from Friends of the San Antonio Public Library for outstanding contributions to the artistic community of San Antonio, TX.

Anel Flores

Literary Arts: Architectural Illustrator, Artisan, Author/Writer, Illustrator, Jeweler, Literary Arts, Maker, Mixed Media Artist, Multi-Disciplinary, Multiple Art Forms, Other, Painter, Performance Art, Performer and Writer, Playwright, Poet, Printmaker, Spoken Word Artist, Storyteller, Teaching Artist/Instructor, Visual Arts; Multi-Disciplinary: Architectural Illustrator, Artisan, Author/Writer, Illustrator, Jeweler, Literary Arts, Maker, Mixed Media Artist, Multi-Disciplinary, Multiple Art Forms, Other, Painter, Performance Art, Performer and Writer, Playwright, Poet, Printmaker, Spoken Word Artist, Storyteller, Teaching Artist/Instructor, Visual Arts; Other; Teaching Artist/Instructor; Visual Arts: Architectural Illustrator, Artisan, Author/Writer, Illustrator, Jeweler, Literary Arts, Maker, Mixed Media Artist, Multi-Disciplinary, Multiple Art Forms, Other, Painter, Performance Art, Performer and Writer, Playwright, Poet, Printmaker, Spoken Word Artist, Storyteller, Teaching Artist/Instructor, Visual Arts

Anel I. Flores is driven by a sense of urgency to record LGBTQIA+ visual and literary art as meditation; aiming at recovering history, dynamics, and complexities of relationships with others, self, memory, past, future and present. Her areas of production center Latina/x literature, sexuality, gender, race/border/diaspora, spirituality, body and blood memory. With a MFA in Creative Writing, she is founder of creative residency, La Otra Taller. Her awards include Catalyst for Change, Best Local Poet, Women’s Advocate of the Year, the Nebrija Creadores Award, Best Of San Antonio Author, Chingona in Lit Award, Ancinas at Squaw Valley, NALAC Fund for the Arts, Accion Women Inspiring Women, Yellow Rose of Texas Award, and the Mentorship Leadership Award. She is co-editor of forthcoming Jota Anthology and author of Lambda literary award nominated book Empanada: A Lesbiana Story en Probaditas. Among various anthologies and magazines, Flores’ work can be found in Camino Real, the Fifth Wednesday Journal, RiverSedge Literary, Entre Guadalupe y Malinche, Rooted: Queer Women of Color Anthology, Sinister Wisdom, Raspa Magazine, iungo Arts Magazine, the Lodestar Quarterly, The Pitkin Literary Review and La Voz. Her play, Empanada was recently produced by SA Public Theater.

Anthony Flores

Literary Arts: Literary Arts, Multi-Disciplinary, Performer and Writer, Performing Arts, Poet, Spoken Word Artist, Teaching Artist/Instructor; Multi-Disciplinary: Literary Arts, Multi-Disciplinary, Performer and Writer, Performing Arts, Poet, Spoken Word Artist, Teaching Artist/Instructor; Performing Arts: Literary Arts, Multi-Disciplinary, Performer and Writer, Performing Arts, Poet, Spoken Word Artist, Teaching Artist/Instructor; Teaching Artist/Instructor

Anthony "The Poet" Flores is a three-time San Antonio Grand Slam Poetry Champion who has represented our city in competition on six different occasions at the National Poetry Slam. He has performed his work all over the United States, from local schools & community centers to H.B.O.'s Def Poetry Jam to the famous Lincoln Center in New York City. He is a co-founder of Fresh Ink Under-21 Youth Poetry Slam, the only on-going poetry slam and open-mic for teenagers in San Antonio, and he was also a judge for S.A.'s La Voz City-Wide Spoken Word Competition. Anthony The Poet has also recently completed his 8th year of serving as a judge for the San Antonio Public Library's Young Pegasus Poetry Contest for kids and young adults. A few years ago, he founded The University Of The Spoken Word, a collective of spoken-word artists that has performed at some of the city's most high-profile cultural events, including Una Noche En La Gloria, Luminaria, and the touring Matisse & Pablo Picasso Tapestries exhibits at the San Antonio Museum of Art, to name a few. His widely popular "Manu Ginobili" poem was published in 2018 as part of the Manu Ginobili Tribute Poster by the San Antonio Express-News, and he was named "Best Local Poet" in the San Antonio Current's "Best of San Antonio 2018" issue. He released his first full-length book of poetry, CINCUENTA, just last year. He is a full-time poet who lives & works on the Southside.

Sierra Forester

Literary Arts: Author/Writer, Ceramist, Craftsperson, Literary Arts, Painter, Poet, Sculptor, Teaching Artist/Instructor, Visual Arts, Woodworker; Teaching Artist/Instructor; Visual Arts: Author/Writer, Ceramist, Craftsperson, Literary Arts, Painter, Poet, Sculptor, Teaching Artist/Instructor, Visual Arts, Woodworker; Installation

Sierra Forester is a Texas based artist with an emphasis in installation, drawing, sculpture, and ceramics. In her work, Forester addresses themes of human existentialism, perseverance, and exploration. As an artist, Forester works with the understanding that she will never find the answers to the questions we pose. However, the sisyphean approach to search for clues to a riddle made entirely of human construct is the driving force behind the studio. Existing between context and content, the work produced is bound in the ongoing dialogue of attempting to discover what may not be present. Forester’s studio research is primarily conducted through walking and looking intently at their environment with an acute and curious eye. Parallels can be drawn between the material within our environment and the context of our own existence. A shimmering polypropylene wrapper found on a street curb from an undoubtedly delicious treat may be small and insignificant, but only as small and insignificant as our own existence in the grander universe. Conversely, if we can find value in our arguably meaningless existence, just maybe we can find greater meaning, or potential answers, in the debris that sheds from our day to day presence.

Anthony Francis

Literary Arts: Filmmaker, Literary Arts, Media Arts, Media/Visual Communications, Mixed Media Artist, Multi-Disciplinary, New Media/Technology, Performer and Writer, Photographer, Poet, Teaching Artist/Instructor; Media Arts: Filmmaker, Literary Arts, Media Arts, Media/Visual Communications, Mixed Media Artist, Multi-Disciplinary, New Media/Technology, Performer and Writer, Photographer, Poet, Teaching Artist/Instructor; Multi-Disciplinary: Filmmaker, Literary Arts, Media Arts, Media/Visual Communications, Mixed Media Artist, Multi-Disciplinary, New Media/Technology, Performer and Writer, Photographer, Poet, Teaching Artist/Instructor; Teaching Artist/Instructor

Anthony Francis is a photographic artist whose work considers the politics of portraiture, encoding his images as a type of communality that renders the studio a place for gathering and shared yearning while critiquing the way his own intents fall short in the practice of a flawed apparatus. He holds degrees in English, and masters in Educationa Administration and a MFA from the Academy of Art University. He has exhibited nationally and abroad with shows that include the McNay Museum and such talks and presentations as Black Portraitures in South Africa and Atlanta Contemporary for Descrit.

Julene Franki

Julene Franki paints primarily in acrylic en plein air using palette knives. Julene, a sixth generation Texan, was raised in Alice, Texas and spent most of her life living in, or travelling the roads between, Alice, Austin and San Antonio for school, family visits in all three cities, and business. Her parents recognized her artistic abilities and sent her to private art lessons until she was 14. Taught to paint in oil from the age of five, Julene has used various media since, including the long use of oil pastel while in college and law school at UT Austin and her professional career in Austin, Philadelphia, and San Antonio. After her return to Texas in 2012 and her mother’s death that year, Julene brushed up on her painting skills in art classes at Inspire Fine Art Center. In the fever of a pent-up passion released Julene has, in increasingly 3-D impasto style, painted prolifically, mostly en plein air. Painting the beautiful gardens and parks of Central and South Texas as she develops her vision for her art is the core of her work. That work has been accepted and awarded in juried art shows and festivals. In July 2014, while on her fourth trip to Tuscany, she attended a retreat in Calamecca, where she fell in love with the beautiful Tuscan hill town. She later spent two weeks in Florence studying art with Florentine-trained artists. The European trained artist, scion of Calamecca, and a leader of the first retreat, recommended that Julene be the art teacher for the next Tuscan retreat in 2017. Julene painted Tuscany and Liguria extensively and brought this work home where it all sold out. In 2019 her acrylic on cradled birch panel, “Fallen Artichokes” was selected by Rex Hausmann as part of the All Things Project: NYNY/SATX he curated in New York City. Julene was juried into the River Art Group Gallery, has had the privilege of showing in San Antonio, Boerne, Wimberley, Austin, and New York City.

Abril Garcia-Linn

Literary Arts: Actor, Author/Writer, Craftsperson, Jeweler, Literary Arts, Mixed Media Artist, Multi-Disciplinary, Performance Art, Performer and Writer, Performing Arts, Playwright, Poet, Sculptor, Spoken Word Artist, Storyteller, Teaching Artist/Instructor, Textiles, Visual Arts; Multi-Disciplinary: Actor, Author/Writer, Craftsperson, Jeweler, Literary Arts, Mixed Media Artist, Multi-Disciplinary, Performance Art, Performer and Writer, Performing Arts, Playwright, Poet, Sculptor, Spoken Word Artist, Storyteller, Teaching Artist/Instructor, Textiles, Visual Arts; Performing Arts: Actor, Author/Writer, Craftsperson, Jeweler, Literary Arts, Mixed Media Artist, Multi-Disciplinary, Performance Art, Performer and Writer, Performing Arts, Playwright, Poet, Sculptor, Spoken Word Artist, Storyteller, Teaching Artist/Instructor, Textiles, Visual Arts; Teaching Artist/Instructor; Visual Arts: Actor, Author/Writer, Craftsperson, Jeweler, Literary Arts, Mixed Media Artist, Multi-Disciplinary, Performance Art, Performer and Writer, Performing Arts, Playwright, Poet, Sculptor, Spoken Word Artist, Storyteller, Teaching Artist/Instructor, Textiles, Visual Arts

I am Chicana born and raised in the Westside of San Antonio. Growing up, I participated in my family’s tradition of Teatro and paper mache mask making. As a child, I performed original plays for my family members at gatherings and holidays. Teatro is in my blood. I am an artist, art instructor, seamstress, writer, performer, and cultural arts advocate. I am a proud mother of two amazing children. I am a founding member of the poetry/performance group Women of Ill Repute :Refute. We were featured in the book “Stages of Life: Transcultural Performance & Identity in U.S Latina Theater'' 2001. My poetry has been published in various anthologies and publications including The SAPL “Young Pegasus” 1996, “Cantos Al Sexto Sol: An anthology of Aztlanahuac Writing” in 2002, “Contemporary Chicanx Writers Anthology” 2021. My original play “The Altar'' was showcased at the San Antonio Museum of Art in 2019. Through my work teaching arts, crafts, and sewing to refugees in 2016, I completed a project designing and creating a line of handcrafted jewelry and accessories to sell at open-air markets as a fundraiser for the Catholic Charities Refugee Resettlement Program. In 2017, I created a line of handmade dolls designed by my six-year-old daughter Sofia called Fea Dolls. I am a teaching artist in many San Antonio schools and non-profit organizations such as the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center. I teach poetry, folk art traditions, mask making, sewing, and jewelry making. I have over 25 years of experience working with various non-profit cultural arts organizations. I completed a six year term as board member and President for San Anto Cultural Arts (2003-2009). I have served as a board member and President for the Conjunto Heritage Taller since 2014. I currently work as an Instructional Aid for NISD Adult Education and Literacy.

Xelena Gonzalez

Literary Arts: Author/Writer, Dancer, Literary Arts, Multi-Disciplinary, Performer and Writer, Performing Arts, Poet, Storyteller; Multi-Disciplinary: Author/Writer, Dancer, Literary Arts, Multi-Disciplinary, Performer and Writer, Performing Arts, Poet, Storyteller; Performing Arts: Author/Writer, Dancer, Literary Arts, Multi-Disciplinary, Performer and Writer, Performing Arts, Poet, Storyteller

Xelena González is a storyteller, poet, and visiting author who centers self-love in her multi-disciplinary workshops for all ages. Her picture books include the recently-released WHERE WONDER GROWS and ALL AROUND US, winner of multiple accolades, including the Tomás Rivera Mexican American Children’s Book Award and an American Indian Youth Literature Honor Award. Her third collaboration with friend and muralist Adriana M. Garcia will be released by Simon & Schuster in 2023. Xelena’s storytelling skills were honed as a public librarian in her hometown of Yanaguana/San Antonio and in Guangzhou, China, where she served as head librarian for an international school. Her writing for adults includes poetry, essays, fiction, and screenwriting. LOTERIA REMEDIOS is her independent publication featuring icons from her Mestiza culture and offering reflections, divinations, plant and animal medicine, and other tools for self-healing. A former librarian and enrolled member of the Tap Pilam Coahuiltecan Nation, Xelena has become a sought-after speaker on topics such as radical self love, creative early literacy strategies, inhabiting story through music and movement, and reclaiming indigenous identity in Latinx communities.

Angela Guerra Walley

Angela Guerra Walley is a multidisciplinary artist known for her advocacy of contemporary visual and performing arts through thoughtfully crafted documentary films and as the frontwoman of the indie pop band, Dreambored. A San Antonio native, Angela co-founded her independent video production studio, Walley Films, in 2010 with her husband and 19-year collaborator, Mark Lee Walley. Angela has produced short documentary film series for San Antonio Museum of Art, Moody Center for the Arts, Rice University Art Gallery, and Glasstire. Angela's photo and video art collaborations have been presented at Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, McNay Art Museum, Blue Star Contemporary Art Museum, Sala Diaz, and Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center. In 2018 her feature-length documentary directorial debut, Tía Chuck: A Portrait of Chuck Ramirez, won Jury Prize Best San Antonio Filmmaker at the San Antonio Film Festival. In 2020 her band Dreambored released their debut album, Loved Ones, and in 2021 she co-wrote and directed a music video for their first single, Coming Down. Angela is currently developing a body of work for her debut solo art exhibition.

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