CO-CABE 2020 Program Cover Artist: Mya Oldham
Oldham is a middle school honor student and artist who resides in California. She is involved in arts education programs, track, and a community service program called California Junior Scholarship Federation. Drawing and music are a rich part of her daily practice. Most recently, Mya had her artwork showcased at the “Endangered Wildlife” art expedition in Escondido, CA. This year, she was charged with the task of developing original artwork for CO-CABE’s conference. She went through a disciplined process of research, sketching, stakeholder input, and drawing fundamentals before developing the final artwork. To support this year’s theme, the initiative was to illustrate a story of how the future will depend on the information that comes from community, culture, and education. The aim of the work is to create a feeling of joy and playfulness.
Artist Mentor: Ángel López
Ángel López is a design strategist, visual artist, and educator originally from Denver, CO. He is the uncle and mentor to Mya Oldham in aspects of her artistic professional development. Ángel is based out of Brooklyn, NY, holding a BFA in Communication Design and an MFA in Transdisciplinary Design.
His experience stems from working with the National Park Service impacting over 100 park units across the nation using visual strategies, brand architecture, and storytelling to support preservation and stewardship initiatives. Ángel has worked with dozens of diverse advocacy agencies in a similar capacity. As a design strategist he uses community-centered practices to co-develop tactics and strategies to respond to the systemic sub-marginalization of communities in and outside the country. Ángel is an expert in facilitating a design processes to develop actionable or future-driven solutions to respond to large-scale issues. The design of his work is to activate social change.
Ángel currently teaches undergraduate and graduate courses at Parsons School of Design in NY and is User Experience Designer for a company called CodeScty (Code Society) that teaches basic computer science through original music, videos, and activities.
Ángel López, MFA | alopezdesigns.com | @alopezdesigns