Alumni

Alumna Johari Fields Invites Grad Sasha Swedlund To Participate in Lancaster Museum of Art Mural Project

Textile Design and B.A. Design Graduate Johari Fields leads the marketing department for the Lancaster Museum of Art and History (MOAH) and is a key player on the museum's curatorial team. Every two years the museum hosts a mural painting event called Antelope Valley Walls in association with a larger organization called Worldwide Walls. "As our team started planning the event and looking for muralists, I figured my former FIDM instructor and B.A. Design Department Chair Anne Bennion may have someone she could recommend."

Anne Bennion put Johari in touch with Sasha Swedlund, a muralist and graduate of FIDM's Textile Design and Advanced Fashion Design programs, and the rest was history. "Together with her friend Nikila (MamaWisdom)," Johari said, "Sasha put together the piece [pictured here] which received great reviews from the community."

Mural painting began on September 12, with artists putting their first strokes to the wall for the week-long endeavor. The event returned for its fourth installment as international and local talent adorned the community with vibrant murals throughout the Antelope Valley in Southern California. These new murals accompany previous murals painted in 2016, 2018, and 2020, adding 16 new murals for the Antelope Valley community.

Born in Chicago, Illinois, and raised in Santa Rosa, California, Sasha was immersed in the world of art from a young age. Her mother collected fabrics from all over the world, and Sasha developed a love of painting, prints, color, textiles, and fashion, which ultimately led her to FIDM. As a student at Santa Rosa High School, she participated in the ArtQuest Fine Arts program, a magnet program for the Visual and Performing Arts. She attended CalArts where she earned her Bachelor's in Fine Art, then participated in the study abroad program at Parsons Paris. Over the last decade, she's worked as a muralist and sign painter, and was accepted into the prestigious Advanced Fashion Design program at FIDM. Incorporating silhouettes inspired by natural hairstyles including afro puffs and Bantu knots, Sasha showed her DEBUT collection at FIDM’s Annual DEBUT Runway Show event on August 18, 2022. See her collection here.

Southern California native, Johari Fields studied Textile Design at FIDM, and later received a B.A. in Design. She is the founder of Shifted Design Group, a marketing company that works with clients to build their brands, broaden their reach, and strengthen customer relationships. "The B.A. Design program gave me an opportunity for self-discovery that was honestly life changing," Johari said. "The design classes and studio classes gave an opportunity to discover and explore textiles more in depth than the A.A. program, and the core classes included in the program, such as theory and philosophy, also had a huge impact on my understanding of 'self' relative to the universe and opened opportunity for truly valuable abstract discussion with instructors and classmates."

The Lancaster Museum of Art and History is dedicated to strengthening awareness, enhancing accessibility, and igniting the appreciation of art, history, and culture in the Antelope Valley through dynamic exhibitions, innovative educational programs, creative community engagement, and a vibrant collection that celebrates the richness of the region. 

For more information about Antelope Valley Walls, visit lancastermoah.org/antelope-valley-walls.

Categories:  Advanced Fashion Design Design Alumni