2020- The Beautiful Process
The 2019-20 Juvenile Justice art education program exhibition featuring the artwork of students from Cesar Chavez Community Schools and Yolo County's Juvenile Detention Facility
Welcome to our Annual Juvenile Justice Art Program Exhibition where we celebrate another year of The Beautiful Process as explored by students at Cesar Chavez Community Schools (CCCS) and Dan Jacobs School at Yolo County Juvenile Detention Facility (JDF). We are saddened that we are unable to gather as a community this year to host the amazing drawings, paintings, sculptures, films, and digital artworks the students have created this year. We are so proud to share their work with you through a Video Exhibition and Online Gallery.
This artist in residence program supported 50+ students across three campuses with arts engagements in 8+ types of artistic expressions during the 2019-20 academic year. In addition to visual arts, students at CCCS receive instruction in Hip Hop from local artist, Oke Jr, while students at JDF receive a Danza residency from Adelita Serena of Calpuli Tlayotl.
Tomás Montoya, Lead Teaching Artist – Montoya has a Bachelor of Science in Digital Film and Video Productionand exhibition experience in painting, drawing, and photography. Montoya has worked in his community and with at risk populations of youth at the Language Academy of Sacramento, La Familia Counseling Center, Washington Neighborhood Center and YoloArts Juvenile Justice Arts Education Program. In addition to teaching Montoya is a filmmaker in Sacramento.
Montoya provides 2D, Photography, Design, and Digital Media arts instruction at Cesar Chavez Community Schools and Juvenile Detention Center.
Susan Shelton, Ceramics Teaching Artist - A graduate of UC 
Davis, Susan Shelton is a self-taught artist whose work reflects her cultural heritage as a native of Mexico and her affinity for her adopted home of California. She is a great admirer of Mexican folk art and a lover of nature, and these influences are easy to see throughout the body of her work, which includes functional pottery, sculpture, tile, large-scale carved ceramic murals, works cast in bronze, and a variety of landscape and public art installations. Shelton’s public art projects have included works for schools, churches, parks, housing developments, UC Davis, and government buildings, including the California State Capitol and the California History Museum.
Shelton provides Ceramic arts instruction at Cesar Chavez Community Schools.
During March of 2020, Yolo County began shelter-in-place procedures, but programming was able to continue. We transferred to online group and 1:1 lessons and Teaching Artists Tomás Montoya and Susan Shelton packed up existing student projects and all necessary supplies and did contactless deliveries to each student’s home. THANK YOU TOMÁS AND SUSAN!!