Each year more than 1,000 designers and artists graduate from ASU’s Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts ready to use their creative capacities to drive change in the world. Here are just a few examples of some of the Institute’s outstanding alumni who are changing the landscape of their creative fields and changing narratives in society through their art.
Ann Morton, School of Art
Arizona artist and School of Art alumna Ann Morton launched “The Violet Protest” – a public effort to send 50 hand-made textile squares to each member of Congress in support of core American values of respect, citizenship, compromise, country over party and corporate influence, courage, candor, compassion and creativity. Makers from across the U.S. are creating square textile units using a variety of techniques. As of June 25, the project had 2,173 makers and 16,307 squares pledged. The project is funded by public donations and the Phoenix Art Museum, where visitors can view the squares. Congressman Greg Stanton visited the exhibition and recently presented Morton with a Certificate of Congressional Recognition. Earlier this year, Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego also visited the exhibition and signed a proclamation recognizing April 13, 2021 as Violet Protest Day. Learn more about the project and view the squares.
Ninabah Winton, School of Arts, Media and Engineering
As an Andrew W. Mellon Fellow at the Heard Museum, Ninabah Winton, an alumna from the School of Arts, Media and Engineering who studied digital culture, helped develop “Color Riot! How Color Changed Navajo Textiles,” an exhibition that is part of the museum’s ongoing efforts to privilege Native American perspectives and that is showing at museums across the country. Winton also authored commissioned gallery labels for Phoenix Art Museum’s “Reframed” initiative, a new and ongoing effort supported by the Henry Luce Foundation that invites artists and scholars from communities historically underrepresented in museum spaces to contribute their perspectives and knowledge on works in the Museum’s American art collection. Learn more.
Ruby Morales, School of Music, Dance and Theatre
Dance Magazine featured dance alumna Ruby Morales as an artist and activist to watch. She is investigating culturally informed teaching methods and her relationship with movement as a bgirl and Mexican influenced cumbia Sonidera, according to her website. She is a 2021 National Association of Latino Arts and Culture Advocacy Leadership Fellow and a 2021 Intercultural Leadership Institute Fellow.
“Ruby has enormous skill, a deep engine of inquiry and a willingness to stand up and be heard. I would follow her anywhere.” –– Liz Lerman, Herberger Institute Professor
Stormy Nesbit, The Design School
Stormy Nesbit, a Phoenix artist and designer who earned a master’s degree in visual communication design from The Design School, partnered with Forever 21 on a clothing line celebrating Black History Month this year.
“It’s touching when I get messages from people saying that their child was teased for their hair or their skin color, but now they have clothing that looks like them that they can wear with confidence.”
Andrea Camacho-Tiznado, The Sidney Poitier New American Film School
Andrea Camacho-Tiznado is a first-generation Mexican American who tells stories that aim to question the status quo. She recently completed her first year as a Directing Fellow at the American Film Institute, and in February received the AFI AWARDS Audi Scholarship for women and BIPOC Fellows at the AFI Conservatory and commemorating AFI AWARDS recipients. She has a decade of film and media production experience, worked as an editor for The Sidney Poitier New American Film School’s Film Spark program, and taught and mentored undergraduate students at the school. She is the founder and creative director of Arizona-based media company Rollcrew Media and is part of Mad Girl Films, which aims to “transform racial stereotypes and introduce a new wave of colorful cinema that truly reflects our vibrant stories and cultures.” Learn more about Camacho-Tiznado and her work.