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Meet Your Local Artists
18 Meet your local artists
PRESENTED BY EASTSIDE ARTHOUSE
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WORDS: ALEJANDRA GARCIA PHOTOS: ROSANA ANGUIANO CORTEZ
Rick Garcia aka Save the Panduhs
Meet Rick Garcia, artistically known as Save the Panduhs. He is a father, husband and artist, and Rick has been creating art since grade school. “I’ve been creating as early as I could pick up a crayon,” he said. Creating art has always been a passion for him, and to his luck he was able to nurture his artistic skills at home and at school. As a professional artist, Rick gets to do what he loves while sharing his passion for art with his 8-year-old daughter. “I love creating stuff for her,” he said. “Whenever I paint a mural or I create something, I include something of hers.” Rick describes his art as cartoony, and it is a style he has developed over the years. He has dabbled in different art mediums, such as illustration, digital art and acrylic painting, but his strong point is creating murals with spraypaint cans. Ultimately, his main source of inspiration is his family, his favorite is when he gets to create murals with the help of his daughter and wife. Save the Panduhs was one of the first artists to join the Eastside Arthouse back in September 2021. Although he took a hiatus from utilizing the space, he kept his membership. In the short amount of time he’s been an active member, he has been presented with different opportunities to create and network. “It’s been great. It’s been a lot of fun,” Rick said. “There are so many opportunities for all these artists in Riverside.” When Rick is not at the art studio, he is creating for his business, which is also known as Save The Panduhs. At the moment, he is having pop-up events at the L.A. County Fair for this month of May. His brand carries a wide variety of merchandise, from stickers, enamel pins to T-shirts. “Save the Panduhs is something that I started back in 2008,” said Rick. “It started as a joke … I did this painting of this little kid wearing a panda, and he was holding up a sign saying ‘Save The Panduhs’ and people loved it.”
Stephanie Godoy
Stephanie Godoy has been a member of the Eastside Arthouse since January 2022. She first heard about the art studio after a close friend told her about it, and to her intrigue, she volunteered her skills on a community mural where she met Juan Navarro, the founder of the studio. “Juan gave me a tour,” she said. “and I was down for it because I had done two years of painting by myself, so I was thinking it’s time to work with other people to get the juices flowing.” Stephanie found the studio to be a supportive space where she can
expand her skills and creative energy among her peers. “Having so many supportive people makes being an artist easier,” she said. “Because as an artist, we have to make up our own path, and trading bits and pieces of information is really helpful.” When it comes to Stepahnie’s art, she focuses on color theory, and for her color is a remedy to cure any ailment. Her childhood was quite challenging, as her family is a first-generation of MexicanAmerican immigrants, and assimilating to a new culture was one of those challenges her family faced together. “We were all learning together on how to be American,” Stephanie said. “I had to translate stuff since I was little and it was really hard, so the whole colorful aspect comes from focusing on the brighter stuff.” Stephanie has created an extensive resume for herself. She has worked on a number of murals for “Having so many local and neighboring communities to supportive people music festivals, such makes being an artist easier” as Viva! And Desert Daze, and she has had the opportunity to exhibit her art at The Getty, Riverside Art Museum, Self-Help Graphics and La Plaza de la Raza. As of late, Stephanie will be a teaching artist at The Getty this summer.
EASTSIDE ARTHOUSE 4177 Park Avenue eastsidearthouse.studio @eastsidearthouse
