I’ve always had this thing, this impulse to create in service of the common good. I am other-oriented, motivated and inspired by the world around me, driven to create and help others create.
I remember being a young girl with a tape recorder in my bedroom. I would record my favorite songs off the radio and talk between them - like a radio DJ (if you’re old enough to remember those). I’d play it back for my sister or my stuffed animals. Whoever would listen.
I’m driven by the same things today: artistry, connection, making this place a little bit better. From running an indie record label, to teaching art to kids out of my garage, to content marketing for startups — I want to bring more beauty into the world. More fun.
And I’m driven by this idea of our innate, creative genius. We all - each and every one of us - have been given a manifestation tool of inestimable value. As a creator and as a person who has walked alongside many creators, I know that the more we open to our genius, the more we are drawn to the places and people who can bring our vision into the world.
The arts (visual art, writing, music) have saved me, time and time again. What is it that’s saved you? I want us to push into life, into the places we are afraid, into both the mystery and the things that feel most at home—and get curious. What are we here to learn? To do? To leave behind?
Your life is a work of art. You are a work of art. And don’t you dare forget it. Every relationship, every experience, every dream, every project come to life, all the hurts and hard stuff — it’s building up a picture of you. A beautifully woven tapestry. A masterpiece. And you are ever-unfolding. Never done.
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Joce Aucoin is a multimedia artist and writer working mainly in collage and poetry. She graduated from Westmont College with a BA in Art History. She is the creator of MULTITUDES mini comic, author of digital newsletter, Jump + Pray, former owner of indie record label, Lujo Records, and the founder of Ojai Creatives. She currently lives and works in Ojai, CA.
// Email: hi@joceaucoin.com
// Instagram: @joceaucoin
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LINKS/HONORS:
2023 77th Annual Ojai Music Festival Program Cover Artist
2022 Contemporary Collage Magazine Issue #13 Feature
2022 Ojai Studio Artists Welcome 17 New Members
EDUCATION:
2001 BA Art History, Westmont College, Santa Barbara
GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
2024 Salon, Beatrice Woods Center for the Arts, CA
2023 Turning Corners, Ojai Valley Museum, CA
2022 Persistent and Perception, Ojai Valley Museum, CA
2017 Tough Love, Space B, San Jose, CA
2016 ME/dium, Space B, San Jose, CA