Artist-in-Residence

Artist-in-Residence

The Artist-in-Residence program is a partnership between ReGen Monterey, Last Chance Mercantile (operated by the Veterans Transition Center of California) and the Visual and Public Art program at California State University, Monterey Bay (CSUMB). Selected students create upcycled artwork using discarded materials salvaged from ReGen and the Last Chance Mercantile.

Learn more about recent artists, and see how their artwork inspires audiences to repurpose, recycle and reuse discarded materials.

Spring 2026 Student Artists

10 Year Anniversary: Daniela Ilizaliturri-Gonell, Evelyn Stephenson, Eva Calzada and Jordan Josey

2026 marks the tenth anniversary of the Artist in Residence program. To commemorate the milestone, we welcomed four student-artists into the fellowship — our largest cohort yet. Daniela Ilizaliturri-Gonell, Evelyn Stephenson, Eva Calzada and Jordan Josey’s collective exhibition, Lucidity, opened with an anniversary event on the CSUMB campus and remained on view throughout the spring. The department also invited program alumni to contribute new pieces built from salvaged materials and hosted a panel discussion at the opening.

Eva Calzada worked in mixed media, building self-portraits and figurative pieces from plaster, found metal, and repurposed wood to explore womanhood and the tension between organic identity and technology. Evelyn Stephenson used recycled packaging, wire, and sugar alongside paint to examine amatonormativity and aromantic and asexual identity, including a wall sculpture built around a jellyfish form and a series centered on Valentine’s Day iconography. Daniela Ilizaliturri-Gonell combined photography, ceramics, and found objects, including camera parts, bottle caps, and food wrappers, into assemblages about memory, time, and the overlooked beauty in everyday materials. Jordan Josey worked with reclaimed textiles, wood, and cardboard to explore home and memory, drawing on landscapes and wildlife from Southern California and Monterey County.

View each 2026 Artist in Residence’s portfolio from Lucidity:
 
 

Spring 2025 Student Artists

Melanie Gatica

Melanie Gatica, a Mexican-American multidisciplinary artist born and raised in Salinas, California, has been selected as one of our 2025 Artists in Residence. Focused largely on painting, her work is heavily influenced by bygone eras, particularly the visual aesthetics of pulp comics, pin-up posters, and retro psychedelic films. Her vivid and colorful paintings primarily focus on women, particularly Latinas, as they are rarely represented in art. Her artwork explores glamour through the lens of the lower middle class, especially in relation to objects that those of higher status might dismiss as tacky. These objects serve as symbols of perseverance and resilience in the work, embodying the beauty and pride found in everyday life and the mundane.

“Working on artwork at ReGen has been an incredibly fun and eye-opening experience, giving me a whole new perspective on objects and what can be considered art. My work has always explored the intersection of glamour, beauty, and the mundane, often through lower-class aesthetics—but until now, it has primarily been limited to paintings on canvas.

At ReGen, I have the opportunity to create pieces that align even more deeply with my themes by reclaiming discarded objects and transforming them into something beautiful and glamorous in an entirely new way. This experience has pushed me beyond my usual practice, forcing me to develop new skills like woodworking and even experimenting with materials like tiles and caulking.

My goal for this residency was to do things outside of my area of expertise while still keeping my style and aesthetics and I think that I have successfully been doing that.”

Website: melaniegatica00.wixsite.com/melaniegaticaart
Instagram: @miss.begotten
 
View the 2025 Artists in Residence installation: “Doll Parts: Reclaiming Glamour from the Forgotten“

Ashley Brunetti

We are honored to welcome one of our 2025 Artists in Residence, Ashley Brunetti, a multidisciplinary artist from Escalon, California, whose practice is rooted in painting and drawing. She is currently expanding her artistic approach to incorporate woodworking and fiber arts, which she plans to integrate into her residency experience. Brunetti’s work consistently engages with themes surrounding women’s shared experiences, LGBTQ+ representation, and environmental concerns.

She is presently developing a new body of work in the Last Chance Mercantile studio, exploring the intersections of femininity, nature, and consumerism. Influenced by Pop Art and Post-Impressionism, Brunetti combines graphic aesthetics with symbolic visual elements. Through this approach, she creates works that balance lighthearted, whimsical qualities with contemplative and thought-provoking themes.

“At first my goal was to create pieces inspired by societal expectations of women, but as I began creating, I kept wanting to include aspects of nature, consumerism, and femininity. The whole experience with ReGen has been inspiring and enlightening in regards to recognizing the impact our
(daily) choices have on the world, and has definitely triggered a kind of ‘venn diagram’ thought experiment that I plan to develop.”

Website: ashleybrunetti.wixsite.com/my-site/portfolio-glimpse
Instagram: @ashleybrunettiart
 
View the 2025 Artists in Residence installation: “Doll Parts: Reclaiming Glamour from the Forgotten“

Spring 2024 Student Artists

Michael Acevedo

View Michael Acevedo’s art portfolio of triptychs, paintings and sculptures.

View the 2024 Artists in Residence installation “Transmute: An Exploration on Duality and Reconstruction”

Michael Acevedo is one of our 2024 Artists in Residence, a mixed-media artist from Salinas, now living in Marina, California. He likes to challenge himself and learn various artistic techniques, which have included sculpture, painting, drawing and digital media: “My goal as an artist is to challenge myself and push past my creative limits to make pieces that go outside of my established comfort zone,” says Acevedo. A residency that requires making art from salvaged materials will provide ample opportunities for artistic experimentation.

Acevedo chose to study Visual and Public Art in his home county, and credits his mother and community as major sources of inspiration: “I was raised by a single mother who worked three jobs. She is an artist and always encouraged me to create. My mother is one of my biggest sources of inspiration. I am a Latinx artist and take pride in my Hispanic heritage. I am very passionate about helping my community, which I take pride in, and using my art to discuss sensitive issues that have affected myself, my family, and others within my community.”

“I use my art as a platform to discuss sensitive topics, such as social injustice, mental health issues, my race, and traumas. Exposing my deeper layers of self through my art can also act as a therapeutic experience. My practice allows me to express deeper emotions and often helps me work my way through past traumas that have lingered.”

Acevedo is at work in the Last Chance Mercantile yard creating interactive, colorful and eclectic sculptures and paintings that we look forward to sharing with you. Check out his excellent portfolio at acesoddart.godaddysites.com and follow him on Instagram at @acesoddart.

Melanie Mena

Melanie Mena is one of our 2024 Artists in Residence. Melanie is an inspiring and aspiring artist located in Seaside, California. She enjoys working with ink, charcoal, graphite, acrylics, string and clay, recreating ordinary places or objects to uncover the hidden stories they withhold. Reflecting on various life conflicts, Mena is able to portray emotion, spur contemplation and tell a story through inanimate objects and locations. Her background in Psychology also influences the themes she chooses to explore in her work.

“I tackle complicated themes including the duality of beauty and trauma with encompassing eerie undertones. I am heavily influenced by the idea of liminal spaces and warped realities, often creating environments or subjects to convey a sense of dysfunction or abnormality,” said Melanie Mena. “I take inspiration from my history with mental health and reflect on how well-being can shape and change someone.”

“Taking a tour of the location and learning about ReGen Monterey has truly been eye opening to everything that goes on behind the scenes. This place is an entire system that works perfectly together in such a beautiful and intricate manner. I am extremely honored to have been chosen to work with this wonderful community and become part of this vast ecosystem. I hope I can provide something of value through my work and artistic lens. My plan is to reuse materials to build canvases, frames, and push my paintings into a three-dimensional realm.”

Support this skillful and professional student artist by checking out her portfolio online at mmelaniesart.weebly.com and following her on Instagram at @art_crowz.

View Melanie Mena’s art portfolio of fine art drawings and paintings.

View the 2024 Artists in Residence installation “Transmute: An Exploration on Duality and Reconstruction”

Spring 2023 Student Artist

Jesse Villarruel

Jesse Villarruel is a multidisciplinary artist from San Diego, California. He specializes in painting, drawing, sculpting, and poetry. According to Villarruel, his art is “inspired by the people, environment and stories that surround us,” especially “stories of people who overcome great obstacles.” Jesse’s recent artwork includes paintings and roadside murals of farmworkers in the Salinas Valley, along with a mural painted on a CSUMB building that depicts Monterey County scenes.

In his Last Chance Mercantile studio, Villarruel painted scenes and workers from ReGen Monterey’s Materials Recovery Facility and the natural landscapes that surround the site. He graduated with a B.A. in Visual and Public Art from CSU Monterey Bay in May, and he also received art training at Southwestern College in Chula Vista, California.

“I’m excited about the opportunity to make sustainable art from recycled and salvaged materials. After learning about the roles ReGen Monterey and Last Chance Mercantile play in improving our community and environment, I wanted to be able to educate and inspire my audience to reduce and reuse their own excess materials in order to protect our environment.”

– Jesse Villarruel, 2023 ReGen Monterey Artist-in-Residence

“Jesse has a special eye for illustrating the beauty of our region and the hard work of essential workers in Monterey County. He is an excellent choice for inspiring people to protect the environment and celebrate our community.”

– Felipe Melchor, ReGen Monterey general manager

View “A Microcosm of Hope,” Jesse Villarruel’s 2023 Artist-in-Residence installation portfolio

Spring 2022 Student Artist

Taylor Paige Prentiss

My name is Taylor Paige, and I am a mixed media artist from Los Angeles. I work with digital art, photography, illustration, sculpture, and anything I can get my hands on. The unique and ever changing L.A environment influenced my work to include urban imagery, bright colors, diversity in culture, and community.

I use my art to display and challenge social issues among other things. Critical thinking, reflection and education play a large role in the dialogue I am creating with imagery ranging from playful to serious. The purpose of my work is to navigate my own experiences, help others navigate their experiences. As well as evoke emotion and bring awareness with the use of surrealism, escapism, and nature.

During my time at the residency, I will create a series of works exploring the idea of home, metamorphosis and how they are one of the same. This series will also be tied into my senior capstone, which is exploring metamorphosis in people and the mind.

Home is different for each person and is constantly changing. These pieces are meant to challenge the audience’s idea of home, while connecting to individuals who don’t have traditional homes.

View “Home: The Things We Carry,” Taylor Paige Prentiss’ 2022 Artist-in-Residence installation portfolio.

Spring 2020 Student Artists

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 Artists-in-Residence did not have the opportunity to complete their projects, hold their annual exhibit at ReGen or present their final project to the ReGen Board. Still, we are happy to share details about their backgrounds, their project concepts and their in-progress works. Please enjoy exploring the work of these amazing, strong, expressive artists.

Adam Gota

Monterey and the complex history of my Japanese American heritage here, has deeply shaped my identity and so shaped my work. Four generations deep, I am rooted here like the cypress’ that line the coastline. People may have tried to push us out, but we persevered. Inspired by the breathtaking beauty of the peninsula, the charm of its inhabitants, the nature, people, and social issues of the past and present are my muse.

I create mixed media paintings and collages that float in between abstract and realism, using impasto strokes, heavy medium and personal experience. My subjects tend to gaze back at the viewer and tell a narrative though woven symbolism. My work regularly consists of collaging materials that carry deep personal meaning. The use of layers in my work is very important. With each additional layer of paint, medium, fabric or wax, builds up layer by layer to create both a physical and metaphorical representation of the effect of time and meaning.

Anthony Jimenez

I work with sculpture, acrylic on canvas, illustration, and digital painting. My goal is to create dialogue about environmentalism, social issues, human condition, and vulnerability, by exploring themes of nature, politics, self-reflection & imagination.

For the past year I have been exploring a series that I named Inheritors, which involves young men and women wearing ancient dinosaur skulls worn as crowns and headdresses; the skull crowns representing how the new generation is inheriting the throne of responsibility from the old—hence the bones. This shows them inheriting positions of power—being governmental/legislative, as well as the power which a leader of social change holds. These people, my generation, are leading the way to solve issues about climate change, poverty, and social injustice. They will be wearing the crowns now.

Kelsey Ferry

I’m a multidisciplinary artist who focuses on recycling and upcycling materials which I then turn into fashion as sculpture tableaus. I’m inspired by the texture of John Bramblitt, color palette of Thomas Deir and construction of Iris Van Herpen.

The goal of my artwork is to create a conversation around how people can recycle more in their daily lives and hopefully I’ll inspire some to start upcycling their furniture & clothing themselves. Recycling material has always been a theme in my artwork.

This residency (the CSUMB/MRWMD Artist in Residence), was an amazing opportunity for me to create new work on a much larger scale and to continue to do what I’ve always done, which is upcycle furniture & fabrics. The Last Chance Mercantile is one of my favorite secondhand stores that I shop at on a weekly basis to find the materials I use for my artwork. The incorporation of passion and topical issues are relevant throughout my body of work.

Spring 2019 Student Artists

Gabrielle Arballo

I am interested in repurposing the materials found at the Monterey Regional Waste Management District in my art. I am especially interested in how using the materials that is someone’s trash can be converted into art that someone else might enjoy. I am curious how using the materials in my own art practice create the natural background in an image. I would like to explore how waste that is not such an afterthought after it is thrown in a trash bin can be used for a natural background that is an element of a piece that is sometimes overlooked but is necessary to bring a work together. Creating a natural landscape, something we are all striving to preserve and bring attention to through projects and programs like this one, out of trash, is a beautiful irony I would like to be a part of. Using material from the Waste Management District in artwork that would essentially be preserved made from waste that will change and not keep its present form.

I am interested in using waste materials to make scenes that normally have no relation to human waste to bring attention that we create waste in every aspect of our lives and to be more mindful of our actions. The specific work I want to create involves imagery of angels and the places these events take place are primarily seen as clean and holy, never involving waste. I want to explore the relation of creating holy, clean images with material found at a waste management district and how to create something beautiful and pure out of the impure.

Jacqueline Marquez

The Monterey Regional Waste Management District offers various services that interest me. The first one is the Last Chance Mercantile. It is a wonderful and resourceful business because it gives materials that are not seen as valuable anymore a chance to be upcycled. This is an environment I aspire to be a part of because it is important to know, firsthand, how our landfills are being affected by waste, and learn how reusing materials helps our environment. Which leads me to my second interest, the Household Hazardous Waste Collection Program. I want to learn about hazardous waste and how to reuse it. As an artist, I create with materials such as spray paint, acrylic paint, and oil paint and my main concern is how to properly dispose of it or reuse it.

For my capstone project, I plan to create a body of work that represents the beauty of the Central Coast and the ugliness that man creates. I plan to do this by recycling hazardous waste, salvaging materials, and incorporating them into my project. This opportunity will lead me in the right direction because I will learn how to find reusable materials and how to work with them, as well as become a conscious creator and disposer. Through this experience, I will learn to adapt to new environments, as well as become informed about our landfills, thus being able to inform others. Working with a new community will develop my communication skills and environmental knowledge, which I hope will enlarge my capstone audience.

Beau Thomas

I have been interested in environmental issues ever since I was little, and my parents showed me the impact you can make in this world with your art. They were both practicing artist and teachers in San Jose, California who incorporated the environmental impact we make as humans into their artwork and classrooms in the 80’s, 90’s, and 2000’s. After my mother passed away when I was 15, I  really dedicated my time to making art that was directed towards recycling and preserving the oceans because I felt like I was continuing the tradition my mother left behind of being environmentally conscious and showcasing it in every aspect of our life.

I recently created a sculpture titled “Plastic Legacy” for CSUMB’S Site Specific Six Exhibition where I collected plastic that I had found on the beaches of Monterey and sculpted it into a Godzillaesque creature. I was trying to symbolize the monster of a problem we are creating in our oceans with our single use, consumer lifestyles. I also made a video projection, which included footage of actual environmental disasters (BP oil spill, Garbage Patch in oceans), as well as performance pieces that I recorded of myself and my family showing how we contribute to these environmental issues in our everyday lives. I truly loved making that piece and enjoyed the whole process of creating it. My fingers/arms were scratched/cut while constructing it, my eyes swelled up when part of it got broken during transportation and I was running around sweating during the installment making sure everything was perfect. I had put my blood, sweat and tears into this creation and I never have had such a rewarding experience. I truly enjoyed explaining my sculpture and my passion for preserving the planet to the students and fellow artists who saw it at the exhibition.

I would love to continue this concept and make a sculpture of a broken world with a face on it. I am a black and white 35mm photographer and I would like to document the MRWMD facility and print my picture onto fabric that I will use to create a “space” where people can walk into and see my sculpture and video projection. I really enjoyed making the video performance and would like to incorporate another video projection.

Spring 2018 Student Artists

Richard Sotelo

My name is Richard J Sotelo Jr and I am a Visual & Public Arts Senior Capstone Student attending Cal State Monterey Bay. I will be graduating this Spring and moving forward towards my MFA while simultaneously making art for the public realm that has far more emotional value than monetary.

My goal as an artist, and for my Capstone Project, is to produce work that engages my audience’s emotions so that they are able to accept hard truths about our society and/or aspects of themselves that they had not been able to realize beforehand. My life prior to college had been filled with an array of adversities that made the human experience seem very bleak. Even with all the trouble that occurred to me though, I cannot argue that fact that it didn’t teach me that most people want to help others who are experiencing turmoil, but don’t know how, who, with what, or even when.

I aim to induce epiphanies through my paintings and installations that ease people into realizing their effect on the lives of others. I want my audience to project themselves into the shoes of another so that they themselves can establish a form of empathetic understanding between someone else’s human experience in relation to their own. Some of these lifestyles are easier to traverse, some of them are far more difficult, but my work’s ultimate goal is to build bridges between people that would have never interacted beforehand because of fear of the unknown, a vast economic gap, or sheer ignorance. Once those walls that blind us are taken down then we can progress into helping one another in a much more efficient and humanizing way.

Ashley Vaughan

Hello. I am Ashley Vaughan. I was born and raised in Santa Cruz, California on the shores of this beautiful coast. I am a mother, a partner, a daughter and a friend. My practice includes painting, charcoal, mixed media, and collage. I enjoy experimentation in varied media, but most often I work within the realm of photography.

My practice is interested in time and its connection to place. My work is diverse in intention and subject, ranging from historical and documentation based work, such as the photocopy art book and mixed media pieces I have made in dedication to my families legacy, to surreal dreamscape analog photography, such as my Holy Cross and Homecoming photo series. The bulk of my work uses the photograph to explore emotions surrounding my own experience with mental health, and the processing of loss. I also explore the topics of race, class, and gender both from historical and contemporary perspectives. Typically working with 35mm black and white film, I create beautiful dark dreamscapes, which represent these explorations.

Spring 2017 Student Artists

Katie Savage

Katie Savage is a local mixed media artist with a passion for nature and   community. Her art focuses on many mediums, however she primarily creates sculptural installations. By mixing natural materials with found objects, the environment has become her muse. Katie’s art often highlights the relationship we have with nature and our planet. She has a degree in Visual Communications and will graduate with a degree in Visual and Public Art in May. Katie is the art director of an event production company called Luvlab Productions, and produces a three day music and art festival called Big Surreal.

Victoria Adrianna Osoria

Victoria Adrianna Osoria is a Transfeminine artist, activist, and poet. She mainly creates Mixed Media 2-D and 3-D works that encompasses gender, mental illness, the body, horror, politics and a vast array of other topics.  She is graduating from CSUMB, spends a lot of time volunteering in Salinas with LGBT youth as well as creating a community there and is a huge advocate for radical politics.

This current work is an Installation called Altares to my Person that uses material from Last Chance Mercantile and Waste Management Facility as well as traditional art materials, such as clay, acrylic paint, to create my own personal journey into reconciling, my Mexican, religious, and gender identity into a work that reclaims the Altar and Trans peoples places in Post-Colonial American Society.”

Spring 2016 Student Artists

Alberto Araujo

I’m a conceptual artist who enjoys challenges both mentally and physically. My works of art mainly consist of paintings, but I also enjoy sculpting. Although I mainly work with these mediums, I feel that my true talent is in drawing with pencils & markers, as well as photography and installation. With photography, I feel that I can truly capture the moment itself without adding in my own emotions. With painting, I feel the most creative only being limited to the amount of paint I have. Mixing the actual objects with my creativity of organizing the objects I get installation. With installation, I can move the captured moments around to fit my own personal creativity to get the most of each item while creating a larger picture. Although I am a conceptual artist, I feel that talking about the simple things, depicting what everyone can relate to, which has a bigger impact on the audience as a whole, rather than trying to present a huge complicated piece. In my mind, less is more when trying to communicate with others. With art I can express that simplicity, while at the same time adding as much detail into each individual section of the work as I can. I do all this through patience, for I know in the end it will be worth all the time I spent into it.

Ben Ward

The artist in residency program would be a fantastic opportunity for me and fits well with my art style. I like to create art using the same object many times and creating a sense of movement from an object that is immobile. If I am selected for the residency program I will explore the Waste Management Facility for an object (preferably in large quantities) and piece them all together in an organic way. My idea for the site is to create abstract “plants” that are made out of organic and inorganic materials to follow a theme of a forced evolution, in which the plants around us have to become stronger and less organic just to survive in a world that humans are slowly destroying. What I make will depend on the objects I find at the waste management facility but they should have the ability to work together with the same type of style as the sculpture next to them.

After I graduate I want to pursue a career in art and apply to other artist in residency opportunities. Being selected to be in residency at the Waste Management facility would aid me as I apply for other art commissions and residencies. As a Visual and Public Art student I am thrilled at the idea of being to create art out of “trash” and show the community that some of the things that they discard have far more artistic potential than they may have thought.  This can bring light to the problem of excessive waste in the United States and the rest of the world. Thank you for the opportunity to apply.

Jessica Lara

As an artist I feel the urge to create. The Artist Residency at Monterey Regional Waste Management District (MRWMD) would give me the opportunity to crate art beyond the ordinary. The kind of art that could be appreciated after it has been transformed. Art work that will make a statement. Transforming disposed items and giving them a new identity. I want to learn more about environmental issues as well educate others. I don’t see a better way of doing it than through Art. My goal will be to make visible what is overlooked.

As a member of Monterey County, this partnership will help me to incorporate myself in the community and build strong relationships. This residency would be a new challenge for me. Pushing my mind to see things in a different perspective. It would allow me to build on my artistic abilities in working with 3D art and Mixed Media. I want to take my personal identity and community as inspiration and use it to create a unique body of work. The MRWMD residency would help me build my career as a professional artist. This partnership can provide me with the opportunity to enhance my own personal artistic style, as I create artwork that will speak for itself. I would like to take the skills I have learned throughout my undergraduate education and put them to work in the field. I realize it will be a difficult task but I know that I have the potential to succeed, all I need is the opportunity.