Round I Projects
PROJECT
I Am San Diego
The campaign “I AM SAN DIEGO" brings awareness to San Diego’s diverse population while offering opportunities for visibility and presence for today’s underrepresented youth. San Diego school students will create a composition of their name and depiction of their affinity to the city. The work of local students will be the basis for multiple vinyl banners that spell out “I AM SAN DIEGO” for temporary display in a prominent public space at Chicano Park. Each banner will have a grid of students’ works with their names and connections with the city or how they see San Diego as their home. The work will be in black and white, resembling a graphic arts novel or cartoon, a nod to the city's annual internationally known multi-genre entertainment event. The words “I AM SAN DIEGO” will be in color. The juxtaposition of the student’s names and the words “I AM SAN DIEGO” creates a presence for our population, historically marginalized in communities that often do not have representation in art.
LEARN ABOUT THE ARTIST + CULTURAL PRACTITIONERS
Cat Chiu Phillips
Cat Chiu Phillips creates installation work in public spaces, often using traditional handicraft methods, including crochet, weaving, and embroidery. She often uses discarded materials, including plastic and electronic waste, to create large-scale installations and public art projects. Growing up in Manila, she was inspired by resilience through tragedy and a sense of resourcefulness. Phillips has received numerous national public art commissions and artwork in the Civic Art Collection of the City of San Diego and Redmond (WA) and has been awarded the California Arts Council's Established Artist Fellowship and National Endowment for the Arts. She received a Master of Fine Arts degree from the San Francisco Art Institute and a Master of Science in Special Education. She has been an educator in public schools for over 23 years, a Filipino-Chinese American, adjunct professor, public artist, USMC veteran wife, and mother.