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Jaer Medina

@jaermedina

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Holland, MI
SCA Artist-in-Residence 2026
HDL Maker-in-Residence 2026
(⅓) @creaholland

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✨2026 NFA: Individuals and Ensembles Meet the Moment Grantee: Jaer Medina is a Chicano artist and educator based in Holland, Michigan. A graduate of Grand Valley State University’s Department of Visual and Media Arts, his practice spans photography, collage, sculpture, and social practice, using accessible materials and everyday tools to explore Mexican American identity, place, and community.

His work challenges urban-centered narratives of cultural production by foregrounding the creative traditions and space-making practices of Midwestern Mexican-American communities. Outside of his visual art practice, Medina runs CREA, an artist-centered project space that explores how art can shape community, thought, and place.

🔗Click the link in our bio to learn more about Jaer and all our 2026 NFA Grantees. taken in Holland, Michigan by @jaermedina

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17 days ago

Now on display: Afterparty, by SCA Artist in Residence Jaer Medina.

Jaer Medina's uncle was a sonidero here in West Michigan. You could spot him hauling a sound system up and down the lakeshore, hosting a baile most months. Jaer was formed in that world before he was even born into it: bass, cumbia, his mother's dancing feet.
Years later, he found an old video from one of those parties, filmed in Grand Rapids in the early 2000s. Family. Friends. Faces he half-recognized. A question that wouldn't leave him alone: where did it go?

Afterparty is his answer, featuring stills from that footage run through a tabletop laser printer and enlarged to wall size. The grain, the blur, the loss of resolution: it's what the memories actually feel like. Jaer calls them paper portals, and they're a way to time travel back into a party that now exists only in recollection.

Step through Jaer's final exhibition with us, September 25 – January 8.

Always free and open to the public. by @jaermedina

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23 days ago

It’s a tremendous honor to share that I’ve been selected for an Individual and Ensembles Meet the Moment Grant from the National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures (NALAC).

This award supports the work I do at CREA and comes by way of increasing our publishing infrastructure, expanding access to our risograph, and supporting artists to make editions that explore Midwestern Latiné identity.

This support arrives at a crucial time in my practice and not only financially supports CREA, but also provides the encouragement and morale that comes with being part of the NALAC (@nalac_arts) community.

About the NALAC Fund for the Arts:
For over 20 years, the NALAC Fund for the Arts (NFA) has provided critical funds to Latinx/é artists, cultural workers, and ensembles to further develop their artistic vision and creative capital. Established in 2005, the NFA was developed in partnership with the Ford Foundation and guided by artists and community leaders who saw the need for more resources for Latinx/é creatives in the United States, including Puerto Rico. by @jaermedina

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a month ago

Come visit us during @grzinefest on August 8th!

We’ll be launching four new publications alongside various prints, cards, and other studio material we’ve made over the past year and a half. Our offerings range from photobooks, local history, art theory, and weird art books/zines. Keep an eye out for an upcoming book launch event in tandem with the release of these publications… 🖨️⚡️ by @jaermedina

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3 months ago

Sound. Color. Food. Conversation. The sensory language of a Mexican open-air market — reimagined at the SCA for one day only.

On Friday, July 24, artist-in-residence Jaer Medina joins artists Jaxon Zavala and Hugo Claudin for a Tianguis Pop-Up during our weekly SCA Farmers Market. This collaborative, temporary installation explores how markets have long served as sites of gathering, exchange, and belonging.

Come for the typical Friday market produce, stay for the installation. Enjoy tlacoyos, a traditional pre-Hispanic street food, served during the event.

Friday, July 24 | 9 AM – 2 PM

Free and open to the public. by @jaermedina

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3 months ago

Post MdW Fair Haul -

I’ve tried to tag all the publishers but some aren’t on IG. If you’re interested, shoot me a msg and I can link you. I’ve also got a stack of approx. 250-350 prints to redistribute for free from artists all across the Midwest! All of these things will be living at @creaholland. Wanna thumb through some books or pick up a free print? LMK! by @jaermedina

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4 months ago

Dear friends - I’m extremely happy to be showing in @mdw.coalition’s exhibition, “Facing Present Dangers,” hosted at the Boyer Campbell Building in Detroit, MI.

Attending the MdW Summit 2024 in Kansas City was such a pivotal moment in my “career” as an artist and artist-organizer. Learning about the complex and tightly woven arts ecosystem of the Midwest was mind-boggling and continues to be a tremendous source of inspiration for me. Being able to participate in another Summit means the world to me.

The image presented is composed of 12 legal-size Riso prints (approx. 39” x 29”) and comes from an upcoming photo zine entitled “El Sonido,” featuring stills from video of a baile sonidero my uncle recorded (and hosted) in the early 2000’s in Grand Rapids, MI. Over the course of the week, the paper may curl, fall from the wall, or drift away, rendering the distant memory of baile sonideros and my own family’s history fleeting and impermanent—a brief reflection on the complexity of Brown life in the United States. This piece is so fresh that I’m still unpacking what it means (or if it has any meaning at all).

If you’d like to see the piece (as well as all the other lovely work on display), please join us during the opening reception this Friday from 7-10 PM. Address below.

6540 St. Antoine St, Detroit, MI
48202 taken in Detroit Design District by @jaermedina

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4 months ago

Friends - I’ve got two collages in a group exhibition opening this weekend in Chicago. I’m grateful to be included in a show tracing the movement of cumbia across borders, communities, and artistic practices.

Big thanks to folks at @ruidosa.artcollective for organizing and @evokegallerychicago for hosting. Excited to be showing at a polish comedy club turned art gallery 🕺🏻 by @jaermedina

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5 months ago

I recently came across this video my uncle recorded of a Baile Sonidero he organized sometime in the early 2000s. Some of the folks dancing are my family members. Others are family friends. Some are friends of family friends.

Hearing that El Grito, Cinco de Mayo, and other celebrations are being cancelled across the nation continues unease me. I understanding minimizing visibility is a survival tactic. It’s one employed to such great lengths that we’ve become an invisible child of this nation. There during its inception, living through its present, and, I suspect, will continue after its fall.

However, how can partying also be a survival tactic? Must we have boisterous visibility or no visibility at all? I can’t help but think about the importance of leisure at this time. Leisure for, not only myself, but ourselves. Our community.

We can still revel during distressing times. After all, there’s no revolution without a party. Might cumbia be the soundtrack to a new future? Or reggaeton? Perhaps it’s something else entirely. Something not yet invented. Now I’m thinking about a conversation I had with Hugo (@mexicains_sans_frontieres) in which he reminded me that we’ve gotta continue doing what we’re doing, pero con gusto.

Resistir, con gusto.
Fiestear, con gusto.
Llorar, con gusto.
Sanar, con gusto.
Y bailar, con gusto. by @jaermedina

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6 months ago

Love working with scissors, glue, and other materials to create collage art?

Join SCA Artist in Residence Jaer Medina for a fun night of creating layered collages using various creative techniques, including copiers and printers. This evening of creativity requires no prior experience. Getting your hands moving, cutting, layering, and experimenting is one of the simplest ways to quiet your mind and reset. And if you don’t consider yourself “an artist,” this is exactly the kind of space to start. No pressure, just creating!

Registration link in bio! by @jaermedina

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6 months ago

🖨️PRINTER PLAY🖨️
April 29th | 6:00 - 8:00 PM
Tickets - $35.00

Join the Saugatuck Center for the Arts and artist Jaer Medina for an evening of play, exploring the creative potential of copiers and printers together. By combining techniques such as cutting, layering, and pasting, you will create layered collages inspired by Jaer's current exhibition, El Punto de Reposo. No prior art-making experience is required!

Limited spaces available - registration link in our bio! by @jaermedina

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6 months ago

New exhibition handouts for my show at @saugatuck_arts ! These were printed down in Kalamazoo at the lovely @radriso . I’ve gotta thank Rory and Qynce for putting up with the tons of questions I had about the RISO!

The two larger posters feature a series of prose developed as an initial world-building exercise and are free, take away prints as part of the exhibition.
Throughout the duration of the show, these handouts will be slowly rolled out, coinciding with each act. The postcard is a two-color RISO print edition of 20 and is for sale at SC4A.

Here are some words that populate my mind while trying to explain the show: BRANCHES, CACTI, WAVES, INDUSTRY, TRAINS, SMOKE, SAND, WATER, PLIGHT, BRASS, and DECAY.

It’s been great to have the time and space to use my imagination. It feels like everyday it becomes harder to dream, but I’m keeping my hopes up. 🧊 melts. taken in Holland, Michigan by @jaermedina

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8 months ago