Art can be manifested in different ways and there are various methods to embue an object with the touch of art. Two UTEP art majors, Briseida Ochoa and Mario Rojo, have teamed up to create art though different techniques.
Senior studio art majors, Ochoa, who focuses on printmaking and painting, along with Rojo, who focuses on printmaking and drawing, are inspired by the geometric and or-ganic patterns that are found in nature when creating their works of art.
“We have a passion for printing in various processes or techniques and we wanted to share that with the people around us,” Ochoa said. “So we started printing our own covers for notebooks, journals, sketchbooks and many other things we could get our hands on.”
Among the handcrafted products that these students have produced are notebooks, postcards and drink coasters.
Through the development of their creativity, skills and their passion for art, both artists want to share their work with the local community through their website, which also serves as their portfolio, called Perpetuaocto.com.
“Perpetuaocto stands for perpetual eight in Spanish,” Ochoa said. “One can see the number eight as just the infinity symbol in a vertical position.”
According to Rojo, the website was named Perpetua due to the meaning of this Latin word.
“Perpetua is Latin for perpetual,” Rojo said. “We liked the sound of the word and it’s meaning to us. We had also given a mathematical meaning to the word right from the beginning of it all.”
The pair have participated in different local events and markets in order to sell their handcrafted art products. Some of the events are the annual Chalk the Block and Shop-walk Night at Montecillo.
For Ochoa and Rojo, having the support of the local community represents a win-win situation that benefits both the artists and the community.
“We believe local support for artists and various types of local businesses is important in the healthy growth of this city,” Rojo said. “We also believe that there are many and great creative minds around this city that need the community support.”
Additionally, both students have collaborated with other artists in various projects such as gallery exhibitions, photo shoots, film and mural work.
“Our mural project, which involved two other artists, one a portrait artist and the other a graffiti artist, and us doing some print-related wheat paste on a tall wall, was a successful one we think,” Ochoa said. “The downtown El Paso mural was featured in the New York Times last year.”
After graduation, both plan to attend graduate school and would like to dedicate themselves to an art residency, which are places creative professionals temporarily stay in order to participate in artist-in-residence programs, and to travel.
Ochoa plans to have her own studio and to keep producing her work as an artist, while Rojo plans to work as an artist on various project.
Fernanda Leon may be reached at [email protected]
