Jessica Elena Aquino shares how her multidisciplinary work in printmaking, weaving, natural dyes, and sculpture functions as both personal expression and community engagement. She draws connections between her artistic practice and historical and contemporary activist artists and collectives to show how art can communicate, resist, and empower. This brown bag conversation invites students to explore how their own voices and artistic expression can address questions of justice, identity, and visibility while contributing to collective action.

Jessica Elena Aquino is a multidisciplinary artist, educator, and horticulturist from Santa Ana, California, currently based in Brooklyn, NY. She holds a B.A. from Colgate University and an MFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Her work has been exhibited nationally at institutions including the Museum of Contemporary Art Arlington, Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts, Creative Alliance, Anna Zorina Gallery, NARS Foundation, and The Other Brooklyn Fair. Aquino has participated in residencies and fellowships at the University of Arkansas–Fort Smith as a Windgate Fellow, Manhattan Graphics Center, Oak Spring Garden Foundation, Santa Fe Art Institute, Chautauqua School of Art, Textile Arts Center, and the Chrysalis Institute. She is a recipient of the Murray Dessner Travel Grant, which supported her research in natural dyeing and tapestry weaving in Teotitlán del Valle, Oaxaca, Mexico.

Our Brown Bag series repeats every Tuesday at 11:30 a.m. These talks are catered, free, and open to all.

Co-sponsored by Dart Colegrove Residential Commons and the Department of Art