Meet the Teens
The MOCA Teen Program brings high school juniors and seniors behind the scenes to learn about the museum, contemporary art, artists, and other creative careers. The program is an academic-year-long, paid position teaching teens about the work of the museum by directly involving them in it. This diverse group meets at MOCA on Thursday nights and some weekends to work with museum professionals, investigate current exhibitions, make art, plan Teen Night and support each other on a journey of self-discovery.
Arlene Campa is a senior at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts. Arlene is a textile artist who is interested in exploring and manifesting communities that are centered in joy, justice, and empathy. They are the 2020-21 Los Angeles Youth Poet Laureate, a fierce advocate for arts education equity, and arguably Bad Bunny’s biggest fan. They are also the founder of The Art Hour, a student-led, student-run nonprofit on a mission to alleviate art inequities in schools by providing free, virtual, one-hour art lessons to K-12 students.
Hello! My name is Alanna Camorlinga, I’m a senior at Warren high school in Downey and a 1st gen Mexican-American. My favorite artists are joji (I bought a joji spoon and have not opened it, I’m obsessed) and the strokes. I have been drawing since the 4th grade and I love to create new characters using either markers or going digital. My goal is to become an animator and bring characters for people to cherish to life. I also love to draw super bad renditions of my friends to make them laugh. I love to play the flute and I joined the band program at my school and I’m super involved and have been a section leader for 2 years. During my freshman year we broke school records and won gold for the very first time in the SCSBOA circuit (we won gold the next year and bronze last year)
Visit Alanna’s Instagram here.
Hi! My name is Daniel Anthony Figueroa and I’m a student at Harbor Teacher Preparation Academy! My friends often refer to me by my first name, Fig, or Figgy, but I don’t have a specific preference as to what you choose to call me! My pronouns are he/him/his. When I’m not doing schoolwork or working, I like to spend my time drawing fantasy/sci-fi characters, mystical landscapes, and drawing comics. I also have an interest in engineering, woodworking, and gardening. Since I was a kid, I watched TV and played video games with hopes that I would one day see my work on a screen, alive and known. It wasn’t until recently that I got serious about chasing a career in Concept Art, and shifted my sights towards becoming a Lead Concept Designer. I like to explore places that are unknown to fuel my creativity!
Visit Daniel’s Instagram here.
Djuna Appel-Riehle is a poet, student, and community organizer from Los Angeles, CA. They are a senior at Alexander Hamilton Senior High School, and (hopefully) will be going to college next year to study art history. Djuna is a graduate of the Iowa Young Writers’ Studio and the Found Family fellowship. They published a book of poetry called Damnatio Memoriae this year, and can generally be found teaching, writing, and performing poetry. They love goth music, horror movies, and sugary energy drinks.
Visit Djuna’s Instagram here.
Iris Epstein is a junior at La Canada High School. She has been infatuated with photography and loves to document her family on every occasion. Her favorite artists are the photographer Nan Goldin and sculptor Jeff Koons. Iris is also very interested in history and the use of art throughout different eras. Last year she worked on preserving testimony and increasing awareness of genocides with the USC Shoah Foundation. Outside of MOCA, she participates in Speech and Debate which is her favorite acronym for an activity (SAD).
Visit Iris’ Instagram here.
LENA HO likes shows/movies because the storyline is longer. A person who thinks about life deeply, but jumps into the deep end of any situation she feels in her heart is right for her. She likes to paint, listen to SZA and Giveon, and doodle. A person intrigued by the world, she holds its hand gingerly as she guides it towards her imagination of tomorrow. She thinks life is taken too seriously and should be enjoyed through the laughter that makes your stomach hurt, and the foods that turn your smile upside down. She enjoys having discourse about public policy and engaging in community work towards social justice.
Visit Lena’s Instagram here.
Hi! My name is Maxine Trujillo, and I am a senior at Zoo Magnet High School. I like to spend my time learning about myself, the world I live in, and all the curious phenomena that exist here. I love taking photos of the beautiful moments and things that I encounter using both digital and analog photography. Photography is my main medium of choice because I enjoy seeking out the beauty in everything and using a camera to immortalize that beauty. Some hobbies of mine are thrift shopping, being with friends, rearranging my bedroom, and rollerskating. I also love listening to music and dancing in my room, watching movies with my older sister, and planning different creative projects!
Visit Maxine’s Instagram here.
Milo Woods was born in downtown L.A. and is a lifelong Highland Park resident. He is a senior at Polytechnic School where he channels his passion for politics and social justice into his work as Opinion Editor of The Paw Print, the student newspaper, and the Global Scholars Program, which allows him to explore his interest in the role of art in transnational community resistance and solidarity. He served on the 2019-2020 inaugural Youth Committee of Self-Help Graphics & Art, which was an especially formative experience for deepening his convictions about equity in youth arts access and education as well as commitment to racial justice and immigrant rights.
Nyzell Guzman is a part of the Mayor's Youth Council on Climate Action and CHIRLA (Coalition of Human Immigrant Rights in LA). She is a social and environmental activist, an artist, and a senior at John Marshall high school. She designs clothing,creates ink over watercolor pieces, poems, and collages. Nyzell is a daughter of immigrants so she is very passionate about giving back and being involved in her LatinX community. She created a teen run group called Art for Equity. T-shirts and art are made to then be sold and proceeds go to homeless folks, organizations, and meals for community refrigerators. She is inspired by graffiti/street art, LatinX culture, spirituality, and fashion. Art has allowed Nyzell to express herself and communicate with others even if there is a language barrier.
Visit Nyzell’s Instagram here.
Hi, my name is Raine Torres. I’m 17 years old and a senior at Van Nuys High School. Like many Angeleno teens, I’ve grown up in a bilingual and bicultural household (American and Japanese). Because of this, I’ve had the amazing experience of going to public school in Japan over the summers throughout my schooling. I also grew up in a musical household, my parents and grandparents all working in music. I’ve been playing trumpet for almost 7 years and also write and produce my own music. Some of my favorite musicians are Moses Sumney, Billie Marten, and Stevie Wonder. While not an artist, I love art history and want to pursue a degree in it in college. I am also passionate about the environment and child care. I like to spend my days hanging out with friends or with my adorable dog, Bubbles
Visit Raine’s Instagram here.
Siena Taylor is currently a senior at Fusion Academy Pasadena. She loves writing, sifting through critical theory (and pretending she understands it), comedy, theatre, and niche '80s films (think Videodrome or the Peanut Butter Solution). She also enjoys playing Just Dance with her grandma even if neither of them can accurately replicate the dance moves. The most notable award she has received is the participation trophy she earned in 2009 for T-ball. Siena values community and strives to make space for her marginalized peers and loved ones. Because of that mission, she co-founded a Multicultural Student Union during her sophomore year.
Visit Siena’s Instagram here.
STEPHANIE CASTELLANOS
“We never talked about men or clothes or other such inconsequential things when we got together. It was always Marx, Lenin, and revolution — real girls’ talk.” -Nina Simone
Hello! I'm a senior at UPVHS. Some of my hobbies include listening to music, reviewing films, and recently I've started exploring the world of journalism. I’d like to pursue many things: attend a prestigious university, become a successful female and Hispanic architect, and live a happy life with people I love. I would name some of my favorite artists yet I’ve fallen in love with way too many that naming some seems unfair. Art means inclusivity. Art is all around us and it’s one of the few things that still holds us together- free from judgment. One of my earliest memories is attending MOCA with my loving parents, and now becoming part of the MOCA team seems surreal.
Visit Stephanie’s Instagram here.
Taylor Watson is a senior at Campbell Hall High School and a first-year MOCA Teen. She has studied painting and sketching from a young age and is an avid art fan. She’s the student who always wants to stay longer at the museum or sculpture garden to observe every brushstroke, pencil mark, or textural detail. Art isn’t just a passion for her, but a personal expression that has shaped her aesthetic character. Her own paintings vary between depictions of African American figures either experiencing daily life or in extremely high social positions (one is an oil painting of two African American females standing next to each other dressed as royalty with jeweled headbands) and dark abstract figures whose race is indeterminable emerging out of bright colors. She paints this way to remind people (and herself) that Black people are worthy of being showcased.
Tessa Bandouveris is a first-year MOCA teen and a senior at John Marshall High School. She loves making art, traveling, drinking coffee, spending time at the beach, and exploring little pockets around LA. Her typical medium is black and white film photography but recently she has been exploring pen on paper, paper mache sculptures, and sewing, especially masks. Going forward, Tessa wants to explore crochet and embroidery work and screenprinting. In her free time, she gives back to the community through the organization Paint4Peace that works to provide unhoused youth in LA with art supplies. As an artist and art appreciator, she hopes to be able to safely visit museums and see art in person again soon.
Visit Tessa’s Instagram here.
Victoria Aguilar is a 16 year old Mexican-Salvadorian Junior at El Camino Real Charter High School, who has recently joined the MOCA Teen program. Her favorite art medium to work with is embroidery, as it connects her to her cultural roots while being able to draw a parallel to contemporary art. She also enjoys photography (35mm film), writing, sewing, playing guitar, listening to music, and exploring Los Angeles. Empowered by Mexican female artists that surround her, she strives to create a safe environment at her school in which she actively advocates for social justice in the classroom in hopes that change can start in our schooling system.
Visit Victoria’s Instagram here.