cristina gonzález

Consulting

I am a practicing artist, arts educator and arts administrator with more than twenty years of commitment to individual and community empowerment through creative public programs.   

As an educator and administrator, I specialize in art education program design, management, and administration. I help both established and start-up organizations build their programs, strategize and implement growth or reorganization, and cultivate talent.  

I am especially interested in working with projects, organizations, and people who have the ambition and potential to transform lives. 

I enjoy building partnerships and networks among individual artists, communities, and organizations. As the founder of the Visual Arts Department at New Mexico School for the Arts, I learned the value of listening and collaboration. One of the most exciting aspects of my career at NMSA was working alongside a wide range of arts practitioners and leaders in Santa Fe, New Mexico; from gifted artist-colleagues to museum directors, from art students to world-renowned art collectors. 

Artistic and educational collaboration is the essence of my work: listening to others, reflecting, synthesizing, generating possibilities, and bringing all my experience as an artist, teacher, and/or administrator to address complex, creative challenges. 

Me identifico como Chicana y soy completamente bilingue y bicultural; I welcome opportunities to collaborate within diverse or underserved communities. 

Teaching

I am in my twentieth year as a teacher, primarily at the college and high school level. My studio instruction—be it private or group/classroom—revolves around clarifying intention and offering structured lessons to cultivate technical skills, critical thinking, and risk-taking. 

I provide students with the skills and vocabulary to participate in art-making, art-thinking, and/or the arts economy, as per their interests and passion. Culturally and historically relevant art, architecture, and design history is a frequent component of my instruction. 

I strive to create a studio environment of engaged and serious focus, authentic passion, and honest, collaborative critique. In additional to my administrative skills, I love working directly with students and artists!

LINKS

In 2016, my work with New Mexico School for the Arts was profiled by Edutopia.org.  Check it out:

•  On guiding students from "dependent" to "independent" learners

•  On the importance of taking risks and embracing failure