2016 Holiday Mixer Recap
Andrea Carlson (b. 1979) is an indigenous artist whose work interrogates access, denial, art historical narratives, Mondo films, repetition, indigenous knowledge, and repatriation. In October 2025, the first museum survey of Carlson’s work opened at the Denver Art Museum. This exhibit brought together an incredible breadth of work spanning the last twenty years of her career, and culminating with a new work commissioned for the museum, The Constant Sky, for which the exhibit is named. I had the chance to connect with Carlson, who told me to not to quit architecture when I joked that she inspired me to become a visual artist instead. As a compromise, I asked for an interview about her work, and how to contend with museum architecture.
Aryana Leland
In the short time that Antoni Gaudí had to devote his life’s work to Sagrada Família, he undoubtedly earned himself a place in the architectural canon. Despite meeting God via public transit, Gaudí could not have predicted that a viewer’s first impression of the church might be emerging from a dark Metro station, squinting at Google Maps in front of the Passion Façade. Today, the neighborhood surrounding Basilica de la Sagrada Família is entirely obsessed with Antoni Gaudí, lined with shops like “Sweet Gaudí” and “Gaudí Shopping.” In its century-long construction phase, it seems that Sagrada Família has had two distinct lives: one under the watchful eye of Gaudí, and one with the city of Barcelona.
Aryana Leland
In October 2022, Frida Escobedo gave the first of a series of talks on “Designing Tomorrow’s Met” in New York. At the museum, her studio had recently won the commission to design the Oscar L.Tang and H.M. Agnes Hsu-Tang Wing for Modern and Contemporary Art. With a practice based in Mexico City, Escobedo’s first lecture gave patrons a glimpse into her design process. Earlier this year, Escobedo’s vision for the Tang Wing was unveiled, expertly navigating the museum’s stakeholders, a challenging set of existing conditions, and its users
Some new faces and new goals - get to know our incoming 2025-2026 AWA+D Executive Board through a Q+A, and what to look forward to!
Aryana Leland
Ashley Morales and I had the immense privilege of sitting down with two (very) busy third-year architecture students in the middle of a deadline, Aleena Hussain and Elizabeth Mayen. As we chatted, Aleena and Ellie joined us with the telltale signs of studio chaos happening in the background - models in different states of completion, bleary eyed students passing by, lots of coffee. They are in the middle of their tower project - a grueling hazing ritual that Ashley and I remember well - and we are lucky to be meeting with them during daylight hours.
While balancing their studio work, Aleena and Ellie are the Cofounders of an ambitious, promising new venture at Cal Poly Pomona: Stable Magazine.
