Two New exhibits at Irvine Fine Arts Center Span Themes of Love, Loss and Labor

Jessica Peralta
15 hours ago
7 min read

Alisa Ochoa’s intimate solo exhibition ‘Splinters’ and the wide-ranging group show ‘Swing Shift’ explore loss, devotion, routine and the many visible and invisible forms of labor, through Jan. 17.

A woman looks at the time and clock-based work of Stephen Anderson, an Irvine artist in the group show "Swing Shift," on view at the Irvine Fine Arts Center. Photo courtesy of city of Irvine

Costa Mesa artist Alisa Ochoa started conceptualizing “Splinters” after the death of her last living parent – as a way of understanding her grief.

Her father passed away two years ago, months after her mom.

“I began earlier this year, wanting to explore ideas of home,” said Ochoa, whose “Alisa Ochoa: Splinters” is currently at the Irvine Fine Arts Center through Jan. 17. “Pigeons are incredible navigators. I grew up in a neighborhood filled with pigeons, and to this day, their cooing transports me there.”

She reached out to Frank Basurto from a local pigeon club, who allowed her to film his pigeons in flight.

Two attendees watch a video during the "Alisa Ochoa: Splinters" and "Swing Shift" opening reception at the Irvine Fine Arts Center. Photo courtesy of city of Irvine

"He also had a rescue pigeon that had lost its way, and I was struck by the parallel – how in the aftermath of my father’s death, I too felt uncertain of where to return,” she said. “Grief and love also kept circling in my mind – somewhere between devotion and depletion, searching for meaning in ordinary life moments. It took three attempts and countless glaze tests to get the pigeon sculpture just so. A reminder of how much I love the process.”

The exhibition includes ceramic pieces and a video, with motifs like hearts and pigeons across both.

“The most mysterious piece is a wall installation of roughly textured ceramic tiles,” she said. “They were made by pressing wet clay against the stucco exterior of my childhood home. What is visible is the impression left behind, the negative space. And the tile texture looks like the surface of the moon, marked by time and impact. I didn’t know why I felt compelled to do it then, but it has revealed itself as a kind of record or farewell.”

Shown concurrently with “Splinters,” also through Jan. 17 at Irvine Fine Arts Center, is “Swing Shift,” a group show featuring artworks that explore the realities of labor in its many forms. Both exhibits were curated by Virginia Arce, exhibitions program coordinator at Irvine Fine Arts Center.

Malibu-based artist Elise Marks Vazelakis said her involvement in “Swing Shift” began when Arce saw her work in an exhibit and followed her on Instagram.

“When she started shaping the concept for the show, my use of Amazon packaging resonated with the themes she was addressing about materiality, labor and contemporary forms of making,” Vazelakis said. “I am so honored that my work resonated with her and prompted her to invite me to participate in this powerful exhibition.”

She said what’s featured in the exhibit is part of a larger body of work she’s been making for several years.

“The series originally evolved from my interest in mapping my own consumption by collecting single-use plastic I used in my daily life,” she said. “I began integrating and repurposing the raw material into artworks. Over time, that practice expanded into utilizing the Amazon packaging works featured in the show.”

Vazelakis contributed seven sculptures made from Amazon envelopes and one loom-woven photograph.

“For the sculptures, I repurposed the packaging by cutting them into yarn,” she said. “Once in a continuous strip, I would then twine, a traditional basket-weaving technique. It’s a very slow process, which is intentional, because the material itself comes from this world of speed, convenience and instant delivery. I like that juxtaposition, the way something meant to be thrown away in seconds is transformed into something that takes hours of repetitive labor.

“What I love about the exhibition, ‘Swing Shift,’ is how it highlights all the kinds of labor we don’t always see: domestic work, industrial work, creative work and emotional work. My contribution speaks to that by making the labor of transformation visible. These envelopes arrive as evidence of a huge supply chain, but once I start twining them, they turn into a record of touch, time and care.”

Francis Almendárez of San Bernardino said the video work he contributed was made in 2016 and the photograph was shot in 2021, but not actually printed until recently for the exhibition.

“‘Dinner as I remember’ was made while I was studying abroad in London, far from all of L.A.’s comforting food and more specifically, far from my mother’s and grandmother’s cooking,” Almendárez said. “It became a way of honoring them and by extension all the women on both sides of my family who have both fed me and taught me how to cook over the years. It’s also about taking pride in our cuisine that is both distinct and similar to many dishes across the Caribbean and Latin America at large.”

Almendárez said “Denim #4 (Vetted)” was shot during the pandemic and influenced by the sense of loss during a time of uncertainty.

“Fast-forward to 2025, this work hits harder under a vastly different socio-political climate,” Almendárez said. “Essential workers, that were previously celebrated for their bravery and service, and who upheld our economy during that difficult period, are now being kidnapped, incarcerated and/or deported.”

Visitors views pieces from Molly Schulman's “Anec-notes” series, included in the "Swing Shift" exhibit at the Irvine Fine Arts Center. These pieces are a series of blown-up text paintings of handwritten notes to herself. Photos courtesy of city of Irvine

Molly Schulman of East Hollywood said all of the work in the exhibit is from an ongoing body of work called “Anec-notes,” a series of blown-up text paintings of handwritten notes to herself.

“Playing off of the word ‘anecdote,’ each note is from my personal experience, memory, poetry, doodles, thoughts, revelations or whatever I jot down in my notebook or on a scrap of paper,” she said. “In excerpting my private scrawlings into a series of artworks for public consumption, the work serves as a portal from the cerebral experience of being an artist in solitude to the public realm. Three of the pieces I made earlier this year and one piece, ‘do i paint,’ was made in 2022.”

Jessica Pons of Los Angeles said she’s a full-time freelance photographer working mostly in editorial, portraiture and documentary storytelling, with publications including The New York Times and The Guardian.

She contributed a selection of portraits from her "A Lifetime of Service” series, highlighting Los Angeles’ career waiters, to "Swing Shift.”

“I was inspired by an encounter with Antonia Becerra, an 84-year-old waitress I met at Taix French Restaurant,” she said. “Her presence sparked a desire to honor longtime service-industry workers, those often overlooked despite a lifetime of dedication, and to spotlight their stories.”

Visitors look at artworks during the opening reception for "Alisa Ochoa: Splinters" and "Swing Shift" at the Irvine Fine Arts Center. Photos courtesy of city of Irvine

Elena Roznovan of Glendora said much of her work examines the contradictions of motherhood – how it can be simultaneously tender and exhausting, empowering and restrictive.

“I’m drawn to pairing materials and ideas that don’t usually belong together, like concrete with intimate scenes of motherhood or aspirational quotes with BDSM (bondage, discipline or domination, sadism and masochism) elements,” she said. “These juxtapositions invite viewers to reflect on the expectations surrounding care, labor and the body.”

She contributed three wall works: “Love Is Too Close to Hate,” “To Raise a Boy” and “Memory Is the Scribe of the Body.”

“Each includes a watercolor painting depicting intimate postpartum scenes mounted on paper-composite arch forms, all framed in concrete mixed with bodily materials like breast milk or fingernail clippings,” she said. “I also contributed a freestanding sculpture titled ‘To Mother,’ made up of 10 individually cast concrete mugs embossed with aspirational quotes. Each mug sits on a motorized rotating disc atop a table covered in delicate handmade paper that echoes the wall works, with BDSM elements embellishing the table’s edges.”

She said these pieces were inspired by her postpartum experience, “especially the jarring contradictions that surfaced after giving birth.”

Stephen Anderson of Irvine said he’s showing pieces from two ongoing series. He said “Life Cycles” features functioning clocks surrounded by short text that highlights routines, habits and expectations that shape daily life.

Artist Elena Roznovan (center wearing brown jacket) speaks with fellow artist Molly Schulman at the "Swing Shift" exhibit. Photo courtesy of city of Irvine

“For ‘Burned Fingers,’ the exhibit includes a selection from a larger series of 1,000 small works I created daily over five-and-a-half years,” he said. “Each piece is built on small wood panels that I burned with a blowtorch, creating texture and visual depth. The burning is metaphorical: It reflects life’s struggles but also resilience, like rising from the ashes. The series began as a way to stay disciplined in the studio and evolved into a visual journal of reflection, repetition and personal growth.”

He said a lot of his work comes from observing the parts of life that often go unspoken – routine, monotony, the pressure to meet expectations, the struggle to fit into certain roles, and even moments of regret or depression.

“I hope viewers find something familiar in it,” he said. “Labor is something everyone navigates – paid or unpaid, visible or invisible. From a young age we’re told that what we ‘do’ defines our worth, even though not everyone’s time is valued the same. People often tell me that the work makes them pause, laugh or think more deeply about their own routines and the systems we all move through. If the pieces spark that kind of reflection, then they’ve done their job.”

Though “Swing Shift” and “Alisa Ochoa: Splinters” are separate exhibitions, viewers may see a through line.

“I think both exhibitions are connected by rituals of invisible labor, which was pretty cool to see,” Ochoa said.