Artists + Practitioners + Organizations

Meet the artists, practitioners, and organizations! Far South/Border North awarded funding to support artists and cultural practitioners working in disciplines from performing arts, visual arts, music, film and media, and literature to multidisciplinary and socially engaged forms.

Far South/Border North Round I Grant Recipients

Our Round I grant recipients include about 60 artists and cultural practitioners from San Diego and Imperial counties. Round I grant recipients began developing their campaigns in June 2023, and are now implemented those campaigns through May 2024.

Thao French

San Diego County

Thao Huynh French is an artist, muralist, and street photographer. Born in Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam, she lives and works in San Diego. She is best known for co-founding Mindful Murals™, a creative social enterprise with the mission of bringing communities together through the power of art. Since launching it in 2018, she and her husband (and business partner) have painted over 400 interactive murals for schools and public spaces, reaching places as far as Hawaii and Vietnam. French’s artwork explores different varieties of flowers and her Asian American heritage. Her art is an eclectic mixture of abstract and figurative concepts using acrylic and spray paint as primary mediums with no limitation of color. Her work continues to evolve, using years of practice to experiment with more modern ways to create art styles that are uniquely hers.

Natalia Ventura

San Diego County

Natalia Ventura is a Mexican-Cuban-American interdisciplinary artist from the border city of Chula Vista. She leads a dual art practice -studio and social- that reflects the dichotomy of her borderlands consciousness. In her studio practice, Ventura explores her internal and domestic experiences as a border-dwelling woman. She manipulates materials from her everyday life, such as human hair, textiles, and family heirlooms, to understand and present her identity. Ventura also engages in social practice, using art as an organizing tool to fight for a better quality of life for border crossers. Ventura's dual approach grows symbiotically, strengthening her ability to express visualizations of liberation that she holds and shares with her border community. She is a 2022-2023 artist-in-residence with Artists at Work's Borderlands Initiative.

Olivia Quintanilla

San Diego County

Olivia Arlene Quintanilla is a Chamoru educator born and raised in San Diego. Her cultural practice focuses on intergenerational public ethnic studies programming that centers on civic and community engagement. She organizes workshops and events that use culture, such as food, music, dance, poetry, art, and storytelling, as a catalyst for connection, awareness, and social change. A first-generation college student alumni of San Diego community colleges, San Diego State University, and the University of California San Diego, she is now an Ethnic Studies professor at MiraCosta Community College in Oceanside.

Maxx Moses

San Diego County

Maxx Moses, an international muralist, is also known as Pose2, a world-renowned graffiti writer. His distinct style in urban art and corporate commissions and inspiring messages that connect to communities worldwide have garnered him global recognition from South Africa to South America. His projects promote an environment of longevity, growth, wholeness, and spiritual well-being. Awareness centers, therapeutic facilities, and spas embellished with this artist's work have received awards for beautification, experienced increased enrollment, and inspired several published articles. As a professor, his curriculum is innovative, engaging, and geared toward student success. Moses' insightfulness inspires young minds, while his experience motivates people to act. His encouragement sustains the discouraged and guides them toward achievement.

Haydee "Betty Bangs" Juarez

San Diego County

"Betty Bangs is a queer Chicana artist, working with the medium of painting in acrylic and murals, but also sewing and DJ-ing. Bangs paints shapes representing women of all shapes & sizes. She has painted murals in San Diego and Mexico City and assisted in painting four murals in Chicano Park. Of utmost importance to her is representing her cultura & lifestyle through her work.

Debby Kline

San Diego County

Debby Kline, a mixed media artist, is the Joyce Cutler-Shaw Artist in Residence at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine.  Her solo exhibitions notably include Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts, California Center for the Arts, La Casa del Tunel, Southwestern and Mesa College Art Galleries, and La Jolla Athenaeum.  Group exhibitions include the Torrance Art Museum, San Diego Art Institute, and Museum on the Seam, Israel.  Her work is covered in periodicals such as Utne and Orion and books including “The Artists Guide,” and “Design and Ethics: Reflections on Practice.” She was featured in an Emmy Award-winning episode of ArtPulse TV and awarded the Calzona Prize. Grants include Gunk Foundation (NY,) Potrero Nuevo Fund (SF,) Center for Cultural Innovation (LA,) UCIRA (SD,) the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, and the San Diego Art Prize. Past artists residencies include the San Diego Natural History Museum, Torrance Art Museum, and Center for Land Use Interpretation.

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Far South/Border North Round II Grant Recipients

Our Round II grant recipients include 18 San Diego and Imperial County organizations. In fall 2023, they hired artists and cultural practitioners and began working alongside them to develop their campaigns, and implemented them through August 2024.

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