Margarita Paz-Pedro

The Fundamentals Workshop

Location: Diana Ingalls Leyba Gallery

When: Friday, July 15th | One-day in person workshop

Time: 10am - 2pm

Participants: Max. 12

Price: $70

Using ALMA’s handmade tile stock collection, participants will learn how to install and grout a personal mosaic that they will take home. This is a great introduction into the handmade ceramic mosaic process.

About

Margarita Paz-PedroBorn in Albuquerque, raised in Las Cruces and with family in Laguna Pueblo, Margarita has ties across NM. Her multi-ethnic background (Mexican-American, Laguna Pueblo & Santa Clara Pueblo) is core to her artmaking. She is a ceramic artist, teacher, organizer and muralist. She received her BFA with an emphasis in Ceramics in 2003 from the University of Colorado-Boulder. Then an MA in Art Education in 2008 at the University of New Mexico. In 2006, while at UNM, she was able to do an apprenticeship abroad in Paris, France with an internationally known ceramicist, Madame Fance Franck. In 2009, she was able to travel to Japan for a ceramics exploration trip as a part of an Arita Porcelain class at UNM. In early 2020, she was an Artist in Residence at Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, where she is currently in the MFA-Studio Arts low residency program.

Since 2009, she’s worked as a lead artist with the ALMA Summer Institute of ALMA, creating large-scale public art mosaic murals across New Mexico. In 2015, she helped start a non-profit called ALMA (Apprenticeships for Leaders in the Mosaic Arts) and is the Operations Director/ALMA Artist. In 2020, ALMA was awarded the Creative Bravos Legacy award in Albuquerque, NM. She has also been a full time Art teacher at a Charter High School, in Albuquerque, NM since 2009. Both of those bridge her passion for working with community and youth through art.

Bio: ALMA stands for Apprenticeships for Leaders in Mosaic Arts. ALMA supports and nurtures artists of all ages in creating artworks of exceptional quality and becoming artistic entrepreneurs. Our paid apprenticeship model develops leaders in a diverse and inclusive way.

The artists of ALMA developed our apprenticeship model over twenty years of creating handmade tile mosaic artworks in collaboration with youth and adults in our community. Throughout the years, we have employed more than 250 artists on our large, public mosaic projects. After being sponsored by a few different organizations, the leadership team of ALMA incorporated as our own nonprofit organization in 2015.

We are a multiracial, women-led organization that reflects the population of New Mexico in our leadership, apprentices, and board. We have a two-fold purpose: first, to create complex, beautiful, exquisitely crafted artworks that represent the cultures, histories, and traditions of our diverse New Mexico communities; and second, to provide career pathways in the arts to young artists with a focus on youth from underserved communities. Our apprenticeship program covers all aspects of creating a public artwork, including research, design, and presentation; tile carving and glazing; and mosaic installation, in addition to transferable job skills.

Instagram: @almatile and @pazpedro.clay