Analee Fuentes grew up in San Diego amongst a family of artists and a strong Mexican Indigenous heritage. As a child, her mother dragged her to the San Diego Museum of Art and the streets of Tijuana where folk artisans sold delicately crafted objects. Her teenage years coincided with the Chicano movement in Southern California and the protest art that accompanied the civil rights era. That cause greatly inspired her, as did seeing historical murals by Rivera, Siqueiros, and Orozco and how their work inspired artists like Judith Baca, Juana Alicia, and Patricia Rodríguez. This awareness of the very public and very social function of art later informed her teaching platform: to teach about ALL the arts, not just European art. Returning from a recent trip to southern Mexico, her mind’s eye is FULL of color, pattern, and light.