NCHC Portz Grant Will Further Support Franke Honors Students in the Arts and Humanities

W.A. Franke Honors Faculty and Assistant Director of Learning Development and Community Involvement Dr. Nadia Alvarez Mexia, along with staff members Kat Reising and Tere Weiler, recently acquired a $1,500 Grant from The National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC), which will contribute to the continuation of "Bridging Borders: Honoring Interdisciplinary Student Talent."  

Bridging Borders began as a seed grant from the Confluencenter Director’s Fund last spring semester, and resulted in impactful student-led exhibitions at the W.A. Franke Honors College. The first event was a collaborative tortilla press printmaking workshop, planned by University of Arizona School of Art students Ana Paula Monobe and Linda Garcia Escobar.

"The tortilla printmaking workshop was a perfect opportunity to use my art practice as a means of creating community through an educational moment," said Ana. "The goal was for people to make prints with their own designs without the need for previous experience. Collaborating with Linda allowed the project to switch the narrative from 'community-based art making' to art-based community making. I’m grateful for the opportunity to share my passion and culture with others, as well as for what I learned in the process of organizing the experience."

Ana and Linda's community workshop resulted in a patchwork tapestry made of individual participants prints, which is now currently on display in the Honors Village Offices. 

Funding from the grant also supported Past and Present: a solo exhibition by Weston Lane. Lane is a Franke Honors photography student whose work discusses the colonization of Native Americans by showing the effects of assimilation on his grandmother, as well as the history of oppression of the Navajo people. His exhibition included archival images of his grandmother, enhanced with the interactivity of augmented reality that recreated parts of his grandmother’s story, bringing together the past and the present.  

Continuing this project with additional funding from NCHC will offer more opportunities for Franke Honors Arts and Humanities students to develop their own unique events in showcasing their work and ideas. Stay tuned for updates as Bridging Borders continues throughout this fall and spring!