Alexandria Canchola

Alexandria Canchola illustrates immersive large-scale installations inspired by narrative, color, letterforms, and filmmaking. Her personal approach to design stems from her ambition to influence and empower people with engaging and meaningful work. "Playing with color is my favorite part of the process. It is exciting to see how others react to the use of bold color," says Canchola.

Canchola's approach to color comes from her interest in color relationships as they are layered, a process she learned by pursuing a 100-Day Project in the Spring of 2016. 

"I would illustrate a historical painting created before 1900, every day, as a creative exercise. Through this project, I was allowed to experiment further with color, shape, composition, and details and eliminate the anxiety I often felt when starting a new project. This project gave me the confidence to continue working as an illustrator and deeply informed my stylistic choices in art. The process is very intuitive," says Canchola. 

Currently an Assistant Professor for the Graphic Design program at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Canchola eagerly works to aid her students in their quest for knowledge. Guiding them to fully understand the power they wield as designers in communicating ideas that can change everything. She has worked for publications, small businesses, and non-profits in many roles, creatively solving problems and bringing ideas to life. 

Her print collection features a series of works initially created with gouache paint on paper – a medium Canchola appreciates for its matte velvety appearance. The pieces have all been scanned at a high resolution and sent to a local print shop for reproductions.

Most of the pieces in her collection are of the beach, combining a sense of whimsy while also playing with Canchola's thoughts surrounding body image. 

"As a fairly shy person, I've always held conflicting feelings about the beach. On the one hand, it's freeing – the smell of the ocean, the feeling of the sand on your body, the weightlessness you feel in the water. But there's also this crippling feeling of self-consciousness. With the silent judgment and uncomfortable comparison, one feels half-naked," Canchola says poetically. "This work has allowed me to come face-to-face with these feelings and questions I have about the concept of being the watched while simultaneously being the watcher. Voyeurism is a pleasure to paint."