LOS ANGELES, CA.- Craft in America is focusing on the work of three individual artists who use craft to articulate messages about American culture, personal experiences, Latino identity and the ever-mutating socio-political tensions that exist in Los Angeles and California as a whole.

The first of three exhibitions presents the powerful work of Los Angeles native artist Jaime Guerrero. Jaime is one of the few and first artists in the world to sculpt life size figures in glass. Jaime takes glass into new realms with his remarkable ability to imbue his medium with palpable emotion and spirit. He is known for manipulating glass in an unusual technique of working inside and outside hot glass to sculpt a piece. In addition to Jaime’s singular process of hand shaping the glass, he animates his figures by occasionally applying highlights of color to the surface of these otherwise clear forms. The inherent nature of glass in its duality of strength, yet fragility, mirrors the nature of the human body and gives his work added impact.

In addition to his studio practice, Jaime has dedicated himself to teaching his craft to younger artists in Watts, Boyle Heights and other underserved communities. He hopes to extend access and promote diversity in the glass field by creating a studio to serve these students.

For the exhibition at the Craft in America Center, Jaime has filled the gallery with an installation of a group of blown glass life size children that represent children who are being detained at the border each day. These glass children are batting at a suspended glass piñata that has been embellished with vivid papier mache streamers. His hope is that the installation will humanize and universalize the experience of these young immigrants, and initiate discussion about the critical challenges they face. Jaime is a graduate of California College of the Arts in Oakland, CA.

Jaime will be featured in Craft in America’s 2017 episode, BORDERS. This episode is an introduction to the vast interrelationships in the craft practices of Mexico and the United States.

This exhibition is part of Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA. PST: LA/LA is an initiative of the Getty with art institution across Southern California. The presenting sponsor is Bank of America.