From Their Hands to Ours

December 5, 2025 – March 8, 2026

MACLA / Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana
510 S 1st St, San Jose, CA 95113

MACLA/Movimento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana and Montalvo Arts Center jointly present From Their Hands to Ours, an exhibition on view from December 5, 2025 – March 8, 2026. This exhibition is co-curated by MACLA’s Visual Arts Curator, Alyssarhaye Graciano and Montalvo Arts Center’s Marcus Curatorial Fellow, Olivia Esparza. Debuting new work by Estefania Ajcip, Miguel Arzabe, rafa esparza, Edra Soto, and Arleene Correa Valencia, the exhibition weaves together stories of tradition, trauma, and growth through painting, sculpture, textile art, and video. The exhibition is in MACLA’s gallery at 510 S. First St., San Jose, CA 95113.

Curators: Olivia Esparza, 2024-2025 Marcus Curatorial Fellow, and Alyssarhaye Graciano, MACLA Visual Arts Curator.

From Their Hands to Ours invites visitors to explore the deep and persistent connections between childhood experiences and creative expression. Featuring the work of Estefania Ajcip, Miguel Arzabe, rafa esparza, Edra Soto, and Arleene Correa Valencia, the exhibition honors the narratives embedded in our early lives, showcasing how knowledge, stories, and traditions passed down by parents, elders, and ancestors are reflected in the artworks. These inherited stories shape the artists’ identities and influence how they navigate the world, from the intimacy of personal relationships to the broader political climate.

Each artist weaves personal narrative into their work, using familiar materials to form new expressions and reimagining traditional crafts. Some draw direct inspiration from their childhood environments, while others challenge or reinterpret inherited legacies. Every artwork becomes a dialogue between past and present. Estefania Ajcip draws from her Guatemalan upbringing, touching upon her relationship with her father, to trace a journey of longing, migration, and resilience. Miguel Arzabe deconstructs paintings and reweaves them into new compositions that are inspired by Bolivian textile practice; he reflects on ancestry and memory through space and time. rafa esparza channels his Chicano heritage through adobe, as a nod to his relationship with his father, exploring the themes of family, labor, and home through adobe brick-making. Edra Soto’s practice examines diasporic identity and colonial histories that stem from her Puerto Rican childhood and current Chicago community. Arleene Correa Valencia reflects the experience of migration and displacement, transforming her immigrant narrative into visual explorations of belonging and identity.

Through a wide variety of materials and techniques, the artists in this exhibition reflect on tradition, trauma, and resilience. They grapple with essential questions that are reflected in their works: How do our personal histories bind us to our heritage? How do artists honor their elders while forging pathways for future generations? By linking the intimate experiences of childhood with broader cultural and political narratives, From Their Hands to Ours demonstrates through its featured artworks how early life, memory, and inherited knowledge continue to shape contemporary artistic practice.

Artist Lecture—SJSU Tuesday Night Lecture Series
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 from 5 – 6 PM

As part of SJSU’s Tuesday Night Lecture Series, artist Edra Soto will give a talk co-presented by MACLA and Montalvo Arts Center.
San José State University, Art Building Room 133; Free admission

Opening Reception—South First Friday Artwalk
Friday, December 5, 2025

Celebrate the opening of From Their Hands to Ours during SoFA First Friday festivities.
MACLA/Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana; Free admission

MACLA South First Fridays
February 6 and March 6, 2026, from 5 – 9:30 PM

MACLA will welcome the public during San José’s South First Fridays.
MACLA/Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana; Free admission

From Their Hands to Ours is a collaboration between Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana (MACLA) and Montalvo Arts Center’s Lucas Artists Program. The exhibition is made possible by the George and Judy Marcus Family Foundation, the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences, the Jo and Barry Ariko Fund for Artistic Programs, Heritage Bank, Silicon Valley Creates, and Santa Clara County. It is presented with gratitude and appreciation for the Lucas Artists Program Committee, and the many partners who invest in MACLA and Montalvo Arts Center to ensure the cultural vibrancy of our Bay Area community.

Montalvo’s Sally and Don Lucas Artists Program (LAP) established the Marcus Curatorial Fellowship in 2024 through a generous gift made by the George and Judy Marcus Family Foundation. The fellowship provides emerging Bay Area future thought leaders an opportunity to work with living artists of all disciplines and to create and develop original public programming. Inaugural curatorial fellows, Olivia Esparza and Clara Kamunde, have helped foster various programs during their first year. Each curated their own project in the second year including this exhibition, and the podcast You Can’t Eat Art featuring Lucas Artists Program Fellows and Guest Artists.

MACLA/Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana is an inclusive contemporary arts space grounded in the Latinx experience that incubates new visual, literary and performance art in order to engage people in civic dialogue and community transformation.