Zócalo 2020 Artist Residents
Zócalo Artist Residency is proud to present the 2020 artist residents! Congratulations Artists!
Input Output
One- Year Artist Residents
Input Output is a creative lab duo comprised of Billy Baccam and Alex Ramos who each bring innovative approaches to the application of art and technology along with unique human experiences that shape their artistic process. Born out of a collaboration that lit up the inaugural Illectric River Festival in 2017, Input Output researches, designs and develops digital-physical experiences. Together, they bring inanimate structures and spaces to life by combining art, technology, science, and architecture with the creative implementation of light and sound. They work to create stimulating experiences that blur the lines between the digital and the physical.
"We aim to be an anti-disciplinary studio that brings together a variety of mediums and tools to create thought provoking experiences that challenge the ideas of what reality is and what reality could be.” -Input Output
Ever since the duo met, they have worked with a variety of organizations ranging from local artists, nonprofit organizations, city governments, and local businesses across the Houston community and beyond to provide new and innovative approaches in how art can be developed, created, and engaged with.
Billy Baccam, a native of Dallas, Texas, studied fashion design and electrical engineering in Texas before moving to New York to join an entrepreneurial program with a budding tech startup as chief technology officer. Alex Ramos, a Mexican-born artist, studied at The University of Houston and the Art institute of Houston and is a veteran of the Iraq and Afghan wars.
"We want to create an awareness of what’s possible at the intersection of art and technology while showing how the combination can be used to transform the way we understand ourselves as humans in an ever-evolving technological society. By repurposing and creating new forms of technology with the goal of art as the end goal, we can create a conversation that reflects on these ideas." - Input Output
Ronald L. Jones
Six-Month (Round #1) Artist Resident
Ronald Llewellyn Jones is a multidisciplinary artist based in Houston, Texas whose artistic practice incorporates photography, video, drawing, printmaking and sculptural installations. Projects produced by Jones aim to create a compelling dialogue with the viewer by providing a platform for the voice of a particular audience group within society such as artists, storytellers, musicians, creatives and community minded individuals. Through documentation and creative storytelling, these individuals are able to share a unique perspective on issues relating to their life experiences.
In his most recent site-specific yarn sculptures, Jones explores the barriers between artists and audiences by engaging communities through public installations. These works include a guerilla-style sculptural installation titled For Public Consumption. This project transformed an undermaintained green space into a public art exhibition.
"My work explores the idea of an omnipresent fabric which defines us as human beings through an exploration of themes such as loss, connectivity within a community, and perceived normalcy of everyday life." -Ronald Jones
The process of his installations has ultimately become an exercise in community participation in which the involved community members that assisted in restoring the park became conservators of the green space and supporters of public art in their community.
"With my public sculptures, I intend to highlight the pathways and give the residents an alternative view of their surroundings. In the past my installation pieces have served as a creative way to provide a new path around the homes, galleries and parks. Illuminating and connecting the underused with the more frequently utilized areas, these works have the capability to help navigate space and inspire you along your path."
-Ronald Llewellyn Jones
View More Works by Ronald Jones
Theresa Escobedo
Six-Month (Round #2) Artist Resident
Theresa Escobedo is a multi-disciplinary artist, curator, and project manager currently living and working in Houston.
Escobedo is currently the Director of Main Street Projects (now on hiatus), the Resident Curator at MECA, Project Manager for Arts District Houston, and co-founder and curator for MantecaHTX — a public online index of Latinx artists active in the Greater Houston area. Though these roles, Escobedo has curated, coordinated, and executed public programs and projects designed to activate public spaces and to offer artists the opportunity to impact neighborhood experiences through creative place-making and social inquiry.
It is with this dedication to her community that Escobedo continues to work as an independent creative, creating opportunities to support local artists and engage in community initiatives.
Creatively, her interests lie in exploring nuanced relationships between people, objects, time, and the spaces in which humans dwell. Often her work considers paradoxical juxtapositions between the built environment and nature. She is also frequently inspired by ideas of time and change, history and ancestry, and contemporary spiritual practices.
As a curator, Escobedo works to nurture the connections between artists, art, history, and community. As an artist, her foremost goal is to pursue ancestral connection through creative acts and to use my artistic practice for the pursuit of self-discovery.
"My aggregated life experience has suggested that community can be an earnest and effective catalyst for positive human connection and for resonance between artists and their audiences. I’ve learned that a healthy sense of community begets feelings of connectedness, which in turn reinforces both an individual and a collective sense of well-being. This premise is foundational to all of my creative effort, whether it’s as an artist or as an arts organizer." - Theresa Escobedo