Daughter of an immigrant mother, Conchi Sanford’s work reflects her own cultural diversity and calls into question social constructs that pertain to identity. Her interest is not so much in the experience, but in the psychological impact that the experience has on the individual and how that manifests itself in the individual’s psyche. While Conchi’s concentration is on sculpture, she creates pieces in a variety of mediums, which allows for much freedom. Conchi holds a Master in Fine Arts from Claremont Graduate University conferred in December of 2011.

Los Angeles-based artists Beck and Col Stafford use humor and chaos to examine the crisis of human exceptionalism. Through costume-based performance and video, their work explores alternate universes populated with monsters who obsess over humanity and emulate its dominant attributes. Within these universes, Beck and Col analyze humanity’s construction of sexualized, racialized and naturalized others.

Sasha de Koninck is an artist and researcher from Santa Monica, CA. She decided to leave the west coast and all of its wonderful weather to explore the city of Baltimore and the greater east coast to complete her undergraduate education at the Maryland Institute College of Art. She graduated in 2013 with a B.F.A. in fibers, a minor in creative writing and a concentration in sound art. The next leg of her journey led her to the Windy City, where she graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago with an MFA in Fiber and Material Studies.

Gretchen Potts is a Los Angeles based multi-media artist focusing on interactive installations and performance art. Her work revolves around the themes of memory and personal experiences. Educated at California State Fullerton and Northridge, she had the pleasure of working with artists like Naoh Purifoy, Kim Abeles, and Jim Jinkins. She relished in the knowledge of each artist and heeded their advice to stay true to her vision and skills.

Rosalie M. López is an LA based artist whose artwork involves reforming cultural iconography using photographs gathered from her family and community. Her content often highlights influential figures or places to recognize the strength and influence of Los Angeles communities while also speaking about cultural and social expressions. She primarily uses printmaking, papel-picado, installation, and the altar/offering to relay experiences of survival, loss, and hope.

Olga Lah is a site-specific installation artist based in Long Beach. She constructs monumental works using the accumulation and repetition of materials. Her work points to ideas on memory, time and transcendence.

Aqueous is an immersive installation made from hundreds of yards of mylar. The work invites viewers to descend into a sensory space and to rise from the experience with a renewed perspective and awareness.

Karena Massengill is an artist working with steel in innovative and unique ways creating personal statements while addressing universal experiences. Her artworks are abstract but still accessible through their visual interpretations.

The installation Ambient Sounds references work Massengill did after first hearing John Cage speak when in art school in Philadelphia at Tyler School of Fine Art, Temple University. His randomness of sounds, used to create music first inspired her Visual Sounds art installations in 1980-81.

Timber/Timbre is the collaborative effort between Long Beach resident artists Katie Stubblefield, Jennifer Gunlock and Hilary Norcliffe. Having known one another and admired each other’s work since their time in CSULB’s graduate Drawing & Painting program in the early 2000’s, this project created an opportunity for the three to combine their unique approaches to art-making and interests into a single thematic installation. Each artist brings an inherent curiosity and whimsy to her work, and explores ways to convey her subject using non-traditional methods and materials.

Brittany Mojo was born and raised in New Jersey. She received her BFA in Ceramics from California State University, Long Beach and received her MFA from UCLA in 2016. Brittany is a founding member of Grab Bag Studio in Long Beach as well as an active member of the artist collective, Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Los Angeles.

Yoon Chung Han participates in PUMP 2017 as both an artist-in-residence and exhibiting artist.