Meet the Artist
Meet the Artist
Bio
Alyssa Narvaez is an artist based in San Antonio, Texas. She grew up in Shreveport, Louisiana which had a big influence on the work she creates. She specializes in printmaking. Her most recent work in progress consists of screen prints on handmade church fans. While creating this body of work, she discovered a passion for paper pulp and the physical labor involved in its creation. This discovery led her to seek out more ways to use a medium that allows her to work directly with texture and meaning.
Currently, she often works with themes of nostalgia and transformation, using pulp to reflect personal and communal histories. Narvaez is expected to graduate with her Bachelor of Fine Arts in May 2026 at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Her work has been shown in group exhibitions, such as Dock Gallery, curated by Rachel Duke. As her practice continues to evolve, she is determined to explore using different materials to reflect her personal experience and practice
Artist Statement
My practice centers on interaction, transformation, and cultural memory through materials such as cardboard, pulp made from discarded paper, and reclaimed wood. I use these materials because they are disposable, and I want my work to age as I do. The short life span of the materials highlights the attachments that form when change eventually comes. By reworking these materials, I am interested in how materials that are often overlooked can still hold meaning, memory, and presence even as they shift, weaken, or eventually disappear.
Much of my work reflects my own history and experiences while also seeking to preserve older traditions and cultural practices that continue to exist within my communities. I am interested in how knowledge is passed through gestures, habits, and repeated actions that often remain present even when their origins are not openly discussed. These traditions hold personal value, but they also connect to larger histories of memory, belief, and survival. By bringing these ideas into my work, I try to create space for both reflection and recognition, allowing personal experiences to connect with broader cultural understanding.
I am inspired by artists such as Betye Saar, David Hammons, the Fluxus movement of the 1960s, and Suzanne Lacy, particularly The Crystal Quilt. Their work influences how I think about materials, public engagement, and the role of lived experience within art. These artists reinforce that my perspective matters and that I have an important role in reflecting both the world around me and my own experiences through art. Their approaches also encourage me to think about how art can exist beyond a single object or fixed space, continuing through audience participation, collective memory, and ongoing dialogue.
As I continue to create, I have become more interested in building stronger relationships between my work and the people who encounter it. Through disposable materials, personal history, and interactive experiences, I aim to create work that holds meaning while accepting change, allowing connection to remain central to my practice.