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Juan William Chávez

@jwchavez

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Social Practice Artist @northside_workshop STL+🇵🇪 @guggfellows @creative_capital
Wallace Herndon Smith Visiting Artist @washusamfoxschool

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Watch the full video in the link in bio.

Kiersten Torrez and I want to thank everyone who joined us last Saturday at Laumeier Sculpture Park to celebrate our commission Wak’a Garden. This project is the second installment in Laumeier’s Begin Again series, which highlights the Park’s 50-year history of collaborating with artists and supporting new commissions and exhibitions, curated by the talented Dana Turkovic. A big thank you to the thoughtful and creative performers who helped us activate the Wak’a’a Garden: Lyn McClain Tess Angelica Losada-Tindall), and Aida Lizalde. Many Thanks to Bobby Best for your exceptional video. Your ability to capture our story with empathy, a sense of community, and creativity is truly the BEST!

Wak’a Garden - Laumeier Sculpture Park
Video description: Wak’a Garden is a Laumeier Sculpture Park commission by 2026 Visiting Artist in Residence Juan William Chávez and 2026 Kranzberg Exhibition Series Artist Kiersten Torrez.
Curated by Dana Turkovic and filmed by A Broadys Work Films

Performers:

Saundra L. McClain-Kloeckener
Native Women’s Care Circle
Educational Consultant - Teacher-Storyteller

Tess Angelica Losada-Tindall
Dancer, choreographer, and scholar

Aida Lizalde
Artist, sculptor by @jwchavez

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6 months ago

🌿✨ Join us for the debut of “Begin Again: Wak’a Garden” this Saturday, April 18 from 11 a.m.–2 p.m.

This organic, amphitheater-shaped sculpture serves as a place for reflection, educational workshops, and performances. “Wak’a Garden” artists Juan William Chávez and Kiersten Torrez, joined by Saundi McClain-Kloeckener, Aida Lizalde and Tess Angelica Losada-Tindall will activate the space with a planting performance from noon–12:30 p.m.

Presented alongside Art & Nature Day, enjoy free, art- and nature-inspired activities for the whole family.

Come enjoy a day at the Park! Link in bio to plan your day. by @jwchavez

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This has been one of my favorite workshops we’ve ever developed .

Thank you to all my collaborators that made this workshop possible.

LIVE AT THE OAK: POETRY, PERFORMANCE, AND POLLINATION

Live at the Oak: Poetry, Performance, and Pollination is a collaboration at the "Mayor's Tree," a 300-year-old live oak. This event is part of the Art Pollination series, a public art project supported by the City of Orlando and Bloomberg Philanthropies Public Art Challenge.

Visit link in bio for more information

SOUND PERFORMANCE BY JUAN WILLIAM CHÁVEZ

SPOKEN WORD BY SHAWN WELCOME, POET LAUREATE EMERITUS, CITY OF ORLANDO PERFORMANCES BY ART POLLINATION FOOD JUSTICE SLAM POETS O MAJOR, CAMARA GAITHER, & MARQUIS LEE

PERFORMANCE & QUILTING BY RENOWNED CHOREOGRAPHER AND COMMUNITY ACTIVIST
EMILY JOHNSON / CATALYST AND FASHION DESIGNER KORINA EMMERICH.

ARTIST CONVERSATION WITH LUCA MOLNAR, ART POLLINTION ARTIST ABOUT HER NEW MURAL, WORKER BEE IN THE MUSEUM GARDEN.

NATIVE PLANT WORKSHOP BY KIERSTEN TORREZ AND FLEET FARMING.

ART POLLINATION ICE CREAM BY SMILE ICE CREAM & BLACK BEE HONEY.

#bloombergphilanthropies #artpollination #bloombergpublicartchallenge #orlando taken in Mennello Museum of American Art by @jwchavez

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a year ago

Thank you everyone for joining us last Thursday for Wak’a Garden Sound Pollination

Presented by Counterpublic and Tulsa Artist Fellowship in partnership with Laumeier Sculpture Park.

Sound Artist
Juan William Chávez
Kole Galbraith (Sinixt/Peoria)
Warren Realrider (Pawnee/Crow)
Josh Levi (Cherokee)

Poem by Galen Gritts (Cherokee)

Sound Pollination is Collaboration with Artist Gavin Kroeber

Wak’a Garden Sound Pollination is part of Four Days in the Illinois Country; or “L’Esprit de L’Escalier,” an event series exploring land-based approaches to art and artistic approaches to territory presented by Counterpublic and Tulsa Artist Fellowship at locations around the St. Louis region and is organized by Tulsa Artist Fellowship Awardee Gavin Kroeber.

Wak’a Garden is a commission with 2026 Visiting Artist in Residence Juan William Chávez and 2026 Kranzberg Exhibition Series Artist Kiersten Torrez.

Dana Turkovic
Curator

Currently on display at Laumeier Sculpture Park
April 18, 2026–April 15, 2029 by @jwchavez

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5 days ago

Thank you everyone for joining us last Thursday for Wak’a Garden Sound Pollination

Wak’a Garden Sound Pollination was a “sonic conversation” around the fire with @jwchavez and @kiertor ’s monumental installation Wak’a Garden. Visiting sound artists Kole Galbraith (Sinixt/Peoria) and Warren Realrider (Pawnee/Crow) joined Chávez and St. Louis musician Josh Levi (Cherokee) to collectively improvise a noise and sound composition in response to Wak’a Garden and the wider landscape. The evening began with an introductory poem by Galen Gritts (Cherokee)

Presented by @counterpublic and @tulsaartistfellowship in partnership with Laumeier Sculpture Park.

Sound Artist
Juan William Chávez
Kole Galbraith (Sinixt/Peoria)
Warren Realrider (Pawnee/Crow)
Josh Levi (Cherokee)

Poem by Galen Gritts (Cherokee)

Sound Pollination is Collaboration with Artist Gavin Kroeber

Wak’a Garden Sound Pollination is part of Four Days in the Illinois Country; or “L’Esprit de L’Escalier,” an event series exploring land-based approaches to art and artistic approaches to territory presented by Counterpublic and Tulsa Artist Fellowship at locations around the St. Louis region and is organized by Tulsa Artist Fellowship Awardee Gavin Kroeber.

Wak’a Garden is a commission with 2026 Visiting Artist in Residence Juan William Chávez and 2026 Kranzberg Exhibition Series Artist Kiersten Torrez.

Dana Turkovic
Curator

Currently on display at Laumeier Sculpture Park
April 18, 2026–April 15, 2029 by @jwchavez

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5 days ago

Join us for “Campfire Chat: Wak’a Garden Sound Pollination,” a “sonic conversation” around the fire in Juan William Chávez and Kiersten Torrez’s monumental installation “Wak’a Garden.”

Visiting sound artists Kole Galbraith (Sinixt/Peoria) and Warren Realrider (Pawnee/Crow) will join Chávez and St. Louis musician Josh Levi (Cherokee) to collectively improvise an ambient sound composition in response to “Wak’a Garden” and the wider landscape. With an introduction by Galen Gritts (Cherokee).

Thursday, October 8 | 6:30–8 p.m.
Laumeier Sculpture Park Outdoor Galleries: South Lawn @ “Wak’a Garden”
Free | No Registration Required

“Wak’a Garden Sound Pollination” is part of Four Days in the Illinois Country; or “L’Esprit de L’Escalier,” an event series exploring land-based approaches to art and artistic approaches to territory presented by @counterpublic and @tulsaartistfellowship at locations around the St. Louis region, from October 8-11.

For information about other public programs in the series, please visit counterpublic.org/event/four-days-in-the-illinois-country.

Images:
+Photos by Gavin Kroeber.
+Juan William Chávez and Kiersten Torrez, “Wak’a Garden,” 2026. Laumeier Sculpture Park Commission. Photo by Wil Driscoll.
+@jwchavez, @klglbrth, @touchfreak, @w_a_realrider taken in Laumeier Sculpture Park by @jwchavez

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12 days ago

by @jwchavez

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23 days ago

On the Mississippi with STL Indigenous Working Group, 3-hour paddle — it was a great float with good friends! by @jwchavez

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25 days ago

Took my nephew to witness greatness — what an amazing concert at @dissonantworks

Heart Trio Residency
William Parker — doson ngoni, shakuhachi, bass dudek, Serbian flute, ney flute
Hamid Drake — frame drum, drum kit
Cooper-Moore — hand-built ashimba, hoe-handle harp by @jwchavez

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a month ago

Wak’a Garden - native bees and plants by @jwchavez

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2 months ago

Online Course through @ecoartspace

October 24, 2026 - January 2, 2027
DEADLINE TO REGISTER: October 1, 2025

The first half of the course includes lectures, guest artist talks, resource offerings, and group discussion, as we explore the implications of a justice-oriented art practice and investigate the function of art today. In the second half of the course, each student will work on their own research project, informed by course content (this may include a project already in progress). They will receive feedback from Anna and the class before a final presentation, open to the public.

All classes will be held on Saturdays from 2-4pm ET. The first three sessions will take place over three consecutive weeks, beginning on October 24th. The final two classes will take place over two months, giving students time to execute a creative project of their own inspired by course content.

This online course is taught by Anna Chapman @owl_and_apple with guest artists Juan William Chávez @jwchavez , and Beverly Naidus @utopias4all

Cost is $375 per member, membership fee can be waved if needed. Approximately 12 participants max. Scholarships available.

Email info@ecoartspace to sign up! by @jwchavez

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2 months ago

NON STNDRD will host a closing program for Phantom Frame next Saturday, July 18, from 1:00–4:00 p.m.

As part of that program, exhibiting artist Juan William Chávez will present Mounds and Stones at 3:15 p.m.

Combining recordings of stone and soil with Peruvian psychedelic cumbia, Andean percussion, wind instruments, modular synthesis, and video imagery from the Mounds and Stones zine, the performance reflects on Indigenous and colonial building materials as carriers of memory, labor, ecological knowledge, and cosmology.

Phantom Frame will remain on view throughout the closing program and features work by Alberto Aguilar, Conrad Bakker, Sarah and Joseph Belknap, Danny Bracken, Juan William Chávez, Robert Chase Heishman, and Marina Peng.

Juan William Chávez is a Guggenheim Fellow, artist, activist, educator, and beekeeper whose interdisciplinary practice centers community building, environmental stewardship, food sovereignty, and decolonization. His work has been featured in major exhibitions including Counterpublic 2023 and Estamos Bien: La Trienal 20/21 at El Museo del Barrio.

This program is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council. by @jwchavez

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