Design and Art
I am a collaborative creative and consider art and design to be a vessel for problem-solving and change-making. Over the course of my adult life, I have devoted countless hours of study to understanding and learning different methodologies and mediums of creativity. I seek to create works that are more than just the sum of their parts, but rather transformative pieces that have a lasting impact on how people see the world and their place in it.
No Woman Left Behind
Year: 2020
Medium: Zine, Paper and ink collage
No Woman Left Behind is a limited edition “Quaranzine” born out of the COVID-19 global pandemic. The “Quaranzine” was the brainchild of the Design department at the University of San Francisco, defined as a Zine created during and/or about the quarantine of 2020. The 12 page quaranzine content was a conversation between myself and my neighbor via text message during the COVID-19 shelter in place orders. The photographs used are selfies taken by adult children. The words in this quaranzine represent significant life changes, inside jokes and future hope between myself and my neighbor. The zine is part of the Rare Books Permanent Collection in the University of San Francisco’s Gleeson Library.
ABC Book
Year: 2019
Medium: Accordion Book, handmade paper, metallic paint, laser cut mat board
ABC Book is an accordion-style book that uses handmade paper and metallic ink to display each letter of the alphabet in a cut-and-paste style. The whole book is housed inside a wooden box to enhance the book opening experience. The design of the book is inspired by designer Willi Kunz and was intended to showcase his life's work. During the process of planning and creating this book, I contacted Mr. Kunz, explained the project to him and asked for his advice. Mr. Kunz responded with “get off the computer and create something with your hands”.
CDMX
Year: 2020
Medium: Digital magazine article mockup
While visiting Mexico City for the Dia de los Muertos Festival in 2020, I was taken with the hand painted signage covering the walls of the suburbs. As a result, I created CDMX, a digital magazine article showcasing photography from my trip, personal stories, and reflections of the hand-painted signs. This project was a practice in creating a personal publication while showcasing my own layout and copy content.
Glass Paper Weight
Year: 2019
Medium: Woodcut molded glass
Glass Paper Weight was made by carving out a relief in a piece of wood, creating an original Japanese woodblock style carving. I was able to use the woodblock as a mold in which I could press into moulton glass creating a design, in this case a paper weight. The original design is a hummingbird on a branch with leaves and berries.
Minds in Motion
Year: 2020
Medium: Website and Merchandise Design
Minds in Motion was a three day event created by Yolanda to foster healing and to build community within the military veteran population. Utilizing golf, surfing and yoga for healing, the event was scheduled for May 2020 but was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. To date, the event has not been rescheduled although the interest is still there.
Totebag with Minds in Motion logo
Triptych
Year: 2020
Medium: Triptych, Paper and Ink collage
In 2018 my eldest son graduated from The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, commonly known simply as The Citadel, which is a public senior military college in Charleston, South Carolina and joined the U.S. Army as an Infantry Officer. Using collage and decoupage I wanted to create a triptych to express the vastly different personalities of my three adult children and how they approach life.
Head in the Ground…AR.
Head in the Sky…MR
Head in the Clouds…ER
Māori Bullroarer
Year: 2017
Medium: Eucalyptus wood, acrylic paint. 14” long.
Māori Bullroarer is a pseudo-musical instrument that produces a howling sound when whirled through the air. To play this instrument a string would be fastened to the hole at the end of the piece. Its pitch is determined by the speed in which it is whirled through the air. This instrument was created using founded eucalyptus wood and was painted with acrylic paint. This piece was an exercise in using what was available to me to create a musical instrument which could also be displayed as a beautiful piece of art. I used the coloring of the blue hippo tang fish as my inspiration for the painted design.
People Who Come for Our Children
Year: 2021
Medium: Cardstock and Ink
People Who Come For Our Children is a book that was created with the process of détournement: a remixing of fair use work that falls outside of copyright law due to its age. This book is a 20 page printed publication, 5.5” x 8.5” color, and was printed on bicentennial card stock with a saddle stitch binding. People Who Come For Our Children aims at exposing the various ways adults sexually groom children in American society. The book is composed of various illustrations and text from the 1940s book, People Who Come to Our House. Using Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop and scanned collage images, the illustrations and text were rearranged to make a completely new book. This work was created to bring a nuanced awareness to a very complicated issue.
re:flect
Year: 2022
Medium: Board Game: wood, cardstock, styrofoam, paint, ink, 3-D printing; resin and filament
re:flect is an interactive board game which memorializes media headlines to illustrate the impact of COVID-19 on American society during the Coronavirus global pandemic.
I used power tools, saws, and a laser cutter to create two puzzle boards which represented the confusion of conflicting media coverage during shelter-in-place orders. Logos of political parties, health organizations, and social media outlets represent how impactful these agencies were in our lives.
Using 3-D printed material, I chose to create game pieces representing aspects of societal struggle during the pandemic: a toilet paper roll to represent supply chain issues, a wine glass to represent the rise of alcoholism, and a laptop to represent the struggle of shifting to online working.
Using media headlines selected from March 1, 2020 to March 1, 2022, I created gameplay cards forplayers to traverse the boards. Reading the headlines and following the cards' directions invite the player to re:flect on their own personal experience with major events during this monumental era in world history.
