Thomas (Mac) MacGregor
Thomas (Mac) MacGregor, graduated Edinburgh college in 1999 of Art with plenty of enthusiasm and bad sense of direction. In August of 2005 he met an amazing girl (Miranda) who was planning a stay in Cochabamba for fieldwork so Mac decided to go too. He landed on his feet, found Erik and sustainable Bolivia, then a studio and Gallery space in Caja Verde; through this he got to know Orlando and Alejandra. Mac and Miranda bought Boris, the dog, and our life was complete. Nearly two years down the line Mac says his life is so much richer. He has three decent Solo exhibitions under his belt, a huge number of friends and contacts and the memory of the experience of a lifetime. Its not the end either... as Mac continues to work with Erik and the team on new Arts residency project and, as soon as humanly possible, Mac will be back for another exhibition and to continue Orlando's search for the best Guts in town. Through SB Mac has a network of friends across the globe and plans to be sleeping on their sofas soon.
Mirka Farabegoli
Mirka Farabegoli enrolled in the ArtEZ Academy (Arnhem, the Netherlands) in 2005. As a fine-arts student she explored several disciplines, including audiovisual art, photography, drawing and printmaking. In 2008 she spent three months studying at the fine arts department of the Universidad Castilla la Mancha in Cuenca, Spain, focusing mainly on etching. She graduated from the ArtEZ academy in 2009, specializing in drawing and printmaking. After her graduation she was nominated for several “new talent” awards, including the ArtOlive award in Amsterdam and the ‘Aanzet! Award’. She’s currently preparing for her solo exhibition in which the experience of living and working as a volunteer in Bolivia will have a significant role. She’s been volunteering at Martadero, a Cochabamba based cultural and arts centre, working alongside two Artists from La Paz, on a large mural.
Karolina Magnusson-Murray
Karolina Magnusson-Murray graduated in 2008 from Nottingham Trent University with a BA Hons in Fine Art. After university she moved to London where she has been based for the last 2 years. As well as being actively involved in the Guerrilla Gardening movement Karolina has taken part in many different art events in and around London, inside and outside the gallery walls. Karolina creates ephemeral work using organic material, mixed media and paint to create small installations. The work that she creates is always transient and her work deals with various issues, the most prominent being society’s difficulty in accepting change, decay and death. While she was at Sustainable Bolivia, she created a sculpture out of sugar for her first solo Exhibition here. She developed a keen interest in the indigenous culture and their traditions, especially in their textiles which you could see influenced her work. She also spent 3 days a week working at Pai Tarpuy, making an environmentally conscious mural with the children there and she misses them very much. Karolina enjoyed her time immensely and was sad to leave, not only the friends at Sustainable but also the Bolivian friends she made.
Nicole Kircher
Nicole Kircher graduated with a BFA from Montserrat College of Art in Beverly, Massachusetts, USA in 2001 and with a MA from Johnson State College in Johnson, Vermont, USA in 2007. Nicole works primarily as a painter, printmaker, and photographer. She has exhibited mostly in New England and has been awarded grants and fellowships to attend residencies at the Vermont Studio Center and at Sustainable Bolivia. She has spent the past few years working as an art educator and has had the great fortune to help cultivate the visual expression of her students ranging in age from Pre-Kindergarten to adult. Nicole has thoroughly enjoyed her time as an art resident in the fantastic city of Cochabamba, Bolivia and will greatly miss the food, the lovely vegetation, and most of all the Cochabambinos and the inspirational crew at Sustainable Bolivia.