We were lucky to catch up with Dina Perlasca recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Dina, thanks for joining us today. I’m sure there have been days where the challenges of being an artist or creative force you to think about what it would be like to just have a regular job. When’s the last time you felt that way? Did you have any insights from the experience?

I am extremely happy being an artist and a ceramics professor. I have had other jobs in my life before being a full time artist and ceramics professor. I have been a secretary and a ranch manager among other things, but being an artist and teaching are my two biggest passions and something that feels purposeful and honorable. Being an artist was not a choice for me, I truly believe that I was born an artist. And teaching is something that makes me very happy, I am a researcher at heart as well, and teaching allows you to be in constant flux and to be a good teacher you must be humble enough to be open to constantly be learning as well. I recently had my first solo show Force Fields / Campos de Fuerza at the Roswell Museum, and I am currently a full time Assistant Professor of Instruction at the University of Texas at El Paso in El Paso TX. I am blessed to have the life I have, I of course am always looking to move forward and to a higher Tenured position as a Professor, that hopefully come soon, but I can definitely see myself continuing to be an artist until the day I die.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am a Mexican American artist from The Paso del Norte Region, where I grew up on the Border of Mexico and the U.S. in El Paso TX and Cd. Juarez Mexico. I live in El Paso Texas with my 3 children. I obtained my BFA in Ceramics form The University of Texas at El Paso and my MFA at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces NM. I am currently teaching undergraduate ceramics at The University of Texas at El Paso and at Eastern New Mexico University in Portales, NM. I continuously exhibits her work regionally, nationally, and internationally with my most recent solo exhibition Campos de Fureza /Force Field at the Roswell Museum and an invitation from the Cd. Juarez Chih. Mexico, INBAL Museum of Art 60thAnniversary Exhibition celebrating 60 years of contemporary Mexican art. Fostering community, research and collaboration are of upmost importance to me as I have dedicated time, leadership, and support to the ceramic field in various ways. I recently came out of her 2021-2023 term as Student Director At Large board of directors position for the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts, I am part of The Virtual Clay Collective, an emerging artist collective with members from all over the United States, co-leader in Bravo Studios, a research organization hosted by the Interdisciplinary Research Building at The University of Texas at El Paso and now honored to be one of the new board of directors members of Artaxis holding the Communication and Member Liaison position.

My artistic practice is motivated by the need to articulate what I carry forth from my ancestral past and what I create from my own contemporary desire, as I generate a custom-made future of my own design.
The work is for my people, for future generations and for those that can find comfort in the familial aspects of the visual aesthetics of my designs. My practice is greatly inspired by my personal Mexican upbringing; equally influenced by the folk art of central Mexico where my grandparents settled, and the domestic aesthetics of borderland living between Mexico and the United States. Generated from these experiences, my work possesses encoded knowledge that creates an in-between, surreal environment birthing a *culture of its own*. In my installations, Mexican brutalist architecture confronts domestic interior design aesthetics, and creates familiar, uncanny spaces where the viewer can observe the psychological connections between the disparate elements of the artworks.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I consider to be older than most in my career or at the point that I am at presently. I am 37 years and recently graduated from my Masters Degree in Mixed Media Fine Arts from the New Mexico State University. Most people are going thought their masters in their 20s. I however am a single mother of 3 children and I have had challenging times in my life. I started college in 2004 taking 2 classes each semester as I had a little one to take care of and little to no support. I started in Mechanical Engineering, as suggested by my family. there are a lot more jobs and higher paying jobs a an engineer than as an artist in my family’s opinion. And of course being raised to be a people pleaser I complied. After 2 years of having a hard time with depression in engineering I decided to change my degree to Art. It has taken me a long long time to get myself thought college, grad school and working hard to get a full time job as a Professor, and I am still on a journey to achieving more and a higher paying job in a prestigious institution with a Tenured track position as a Ceramic Professor. I has been challenging to me to keep my head high, and there is much shame in my past that drags me down at times, not being enough and having a hard time financially has always been difficult and embarrassing for me. But I am trying my hardest to be resilient and to change my language into a more positive and dignifying one. like instead of saying the word problem, I am now trying to say the word challenging, and instead of saying I feel alone, I am saying, my heart is open to love and new opportunities. It is a balance between being an artist, being a professor, tying my best to be a good mother and having the courage to want and seek better and higher opportunities to have a better and more stable financial life. I have faith in myself and will continue to keep my head high in this journey to a better life.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

The goal and driving mission of my creative journey is to be able to attain a better life for me, my loved ones and my children and to be able to reach a secure and peaceful and abundant life full of the resources I need to make and create what my soul is constantly needing to manifest into this world. I have the need to share all that is inside of me with the world and the people that surround me. I am creative in many ways, I have the need to create a home for , I have the need to make art, I have the need to write my thoughts, to create films to express my view and experiences of the life I live and what I envision for my future generations.

Contact Info:

• Website: dinaperlasca.com
• Instagram: @dinaperlasca
• Facebook: dinaperlasca