GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Soraida Garcia-Godinez is an artist who goes by the name of SoSo-Akalesh, from Grand Rapids by way of Texas. She says she got in trouble regularly as a child for drawing on the walls. Soon she found a more traditional canvas in elementary and high school, and started a different track for her undergraduate work. But she says she always wanted to have art and creativity in her life. Today she's a graduate student working on her MFA at Kendall College of Art and Design at Ferris State University.
Right now, she's practicing pyrography, a medium that's thousands of years old using woodburnings. Instead of a canvas, she creates patterns and pictures on a block of wood. But she also loves mixed media, digital, acrylic, fashion and jewelry. She's inspired by her Indigenous roots and makes sure her culture is a part of the story. She feels engaged with Mother Nature, the four elements and the energy that surrounds us.
SoSo-Akalesh hopes to inspire others through her work to find harmony, peace and connection - and to perhaps find their own creativity within the universe. You can find her work on her website or on Instagram.
