Synergistic Toxicity
Mediums: Oil Paint, Metal, Pesticide, and Sand on Canvas with (Optional) WebAR Lens
Inspiration: I focused on the devastating effects underrepresented communities in California face due to climate change and its housing crisis. With the Imperial County reaching record high temperatures every year, the Salton Sea continues to shrink and expose its synergistic toxicity to the local, often low-income, residents—causing them to develop respiratory diseases such as bronchitis and asthma. Consequently, many Imperial Valley residents will have to relocate once they understand the situation will only worsen due to rising temperatures and the shrinking Salton Sea. These residents usually search for affordable housing options in exurbs such as the high desert. The sprawl in the high desert inadvertently causes long-term carbon emissions and devastating consequences because of climate change. Migrating to the high desert is a short-term solution to the Salton Sea, because it fails to address the core issues of climate change and poor land management.
Process: In my painting, Synergistic Toxicity, I expose a landscape painting of Joshua Tree, CA to the pesticide and metal participles that contaminate the air in Salton Sea, CA. Half of the painting was protected from the dust to capture a clear juxtaposition between the unpolluted and polluted sections of the painting. A WebAR lens was later added to add an interactive element to the piece. Visitors can explore the virtual lens with any cellular device that has a camera and access to the internet.
Bio
<p>Evelyn Olvera was born in 1996 in Rancho Mirage, California. She attributes her strong work ethic and sense of cultural identity to her parents, who immigrated from Mexico in the 1980s. Before receiving multiple art scholarships to pursue her bachelor’s degree in Art Education at California State University, Long Beach, she was prepared to work a service industry job to financially support her parents. After receiving the aforementioned scholarships, she moved to Los Angeles at the age of eighteen, where she has lived for the past nine years. As a native of the Coachella Valley who later moved to Los Angeles, it was the juxtaposition that inspired her to document and archive these distinct regions as she has experienced them. </p><p>In her adolescence, Olvera fell in love with oil painting. While she is proficient in oil and acrylic paints, recent developments in augmented reality have rekindled her interest in artistic experimentation. In her most recent series of paintings, Olvera integrates an augmented reality lens in order to expand the scope of her inquiry. Olvera’s artistic practice is multidisciplinary, investigating traditional and digital mediums and the intersection of the housing crisis, gentrification, and climate change. Olvera is fixated on making sense of the generational poverty many low-income families are unable to escape. <br></p><p>Olvera is an alumna of California State University, Long Beach, where she received her bachelor's degree in Art Education and single-subject teaching credential in Art. Olvera’s lexicon in Art Education was furthered at Teachers College, Columbia University, where she received her master’s degree in Art Education. She possesses a CTE Art, Media, and Entertainment (AME) and Manufacturing and Product Development (MPD) clear credential. She is the first in her family to have earned an undergraduate or graduate degree.</p><p>For the past four years, Olvera has taught fine art at a public high school in the Los Angeles area. Olvera teaches three advanced painting and drawing courses, two of which are college accredited through Glendale Community College. Throughout her life, the idea of becoming a practicing artist was rarely entertained with serious intent; however, after living vicariously through her talented and astute students, she is ready to commit to her artistic practice and endeavors. Olvera's work has been exhibited in a few group exhibitions at galleries such as the Painting Center, Macy Gallery, and Self Help Graphics & Art Gallery.<br></p>
