“The Artist is Present” is a special series which is being hosted under the Catalyst: A Creative Industries Podcast of the Center for Creative and Cultural Industries at Chapman University. “The Artis is Present” was developed under the direction of the Phyllis and Ross Escalette Permanent Collection of Art’s Director, Fiona Shen, and Collections Manager, Jessica Bocinski, so that a wider audience would have the opportunity to hear directly from the artists in the Escalette Collection at the University. In this episode of The Artists is Present, host Helene Vlok interviews artist Lorena Ochoa - the newest addition to the Escalette Collection family! Lorena is a multi-media artist that draws inspiration from their childhood spent in Santa Ana, CA and addresses topics such as identity, socio-economic status, migration, art accessibility, and cowboy culture in the United States. Research, both historic and locational, is an essential part of Lorena’s creative process, as is the practice of collecting numerous smaller objects, to save for when the perfect opportunity comes along to add it to new artworks. Lorena refers to these objects as “record keepers” and utilizes them in the form that they were originally found, often on construction sites, to share a message of authenticity with viewers. Listen along as Lorena explains how they source their material, the significance of locations in their work, and what advice they have for young artists still navigating their creativity.