Jacqueline "Jaxx" Gonzalez

Graphic Designer & Photographer

Administration Building at the Redlands campus

BIO

Howdy Howdy! My name is Jacqueline Gonzalez, but you can call me Jaxx! My pronouns are They/Them/She. I'm currently 22, a fourth year First Generation Latinx student at the University of Redlands. I'm from Evanston, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. I'm the oldest out of 5 to my Mexican immigrant parents. With constant rules and pressures, I just wanted to explore and enjoy anything outside of S.T.E.M, which I've found in the arts. And it was through the arts that I enjoy exploring and expanding my skills. I've explored the many forms of art, such as photography, graphic design, digital illustrations/art, digital entertainment content, animation, and video editing.

DESCRIPTION OF WORK

For my senior project I combined the many skills I've learned throughout my career here at the University. On display, at the show case, you will see a series of 9 cyanotype images. I created this series of images that encapsulate my emotions throughout the nine terms I've been here, through the abstraction of photography, and combined it with my enjoyment of the medium of cyanotype. Something about physically putting my photography out there has helped me cope with my mental health issues.

For my entire semester projects, not only is the series of nine images included, but I also have other pieces. I worked to hone into branding and identity skills with the streaming assets I created for mock streamers with different brands and identities. Each set came with 5 panels with functioning stream elements. Each set includes the Starting Soon screen, the Main screen, the Just Chatting screen, the Be Right Back screen, and the Ending screen. Along with the streaming assets, I created 3 magazine covers - 2 made-up covers, and a recreation of a Vogue magazine cover. s

ARTIST STATEMENT

As an artist that enjoys exploring different artistic areas such as photography, graphic design, digital illustration/art, and digital entertainment content, I believe that each form of art that I use changes how I use it as an outlet for my emotions, as well as a form of escape from reality. I say "outlet" for emotions because through the process of creating a piece, it generally helps me relax and I hope that by using art as an outlet to express my emotions and thoughts, I can share with others what I feel. Although my art tends to flow every once in a while, it really is led by my emotional well-being.

With my photography, my works tend to follow a dark theme, and this is due to my upbringing. Growing up I had to struggle with finding who I am and what I want to do, and the pressures from my parents to fit into a mold that I never felt right with, and it is still something I am working through. As dark as that sounds, I want to share these difficulties with others. That people who may be struggling with similar issues know that they are not alone.

Although my physical art tends to follow a darker theme with darker monotone colors, my digital pieces tend to be lighter with bright and vibrant colors. Because I enjoy the digital entertainment content, and I partake in it, too, in my spare time I try to create pieces for that. Online, the cute, brights, and pastels tend to capture people's attention quite a bit and so I try to fee the people of the internet by sharing my works online. I believe that by doing this, it gives people something that they can focus and enjoy. Almost like a place to escape to for a bit. I hope to give a little something to people, and continue to learn new forms of expression through the many forms of art.