Students in all CVAD programs are invited to meet former students who once were also planning for a career with a creative future. Presented by CVAD and the UNT Career Center, Career Coaches Marcy Bishop-Lilley and Jill Gower have planned an evening for students to explore career choices in art education, art history, design and visual art that are diverse and unique.
To provide insight to students about what their futures may hold when exploring their career options, six UNT alumni representing the breadth of CVAD's degree programs will speak about their career trajectories. After the panel discussion, there will be time for questions followed by networking, hors d’oeuvres and further discussion.
Meet the Alumni
Wall-E Barraza | Liz Enoch | Jessica Fuentes | Paige Points | Austin Uzor | Giovanni Valderas
Creative Futures Event Sign-up Info
April 18, 5:30–8:30 p.m.
5:30–7:15 p.m.: Panel Discussion, Art Building, Room 223
7:15–8:30 p.m.: Networking, Art Building, Room 464
Let us know! Please use the QR code or a link to the UNT Handshake app to join us!
Walter “Wall-E” Barraza
Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer, WALO, Dallas
B.F.A., 2006, Communication Design
WALO Creative Inc. is a Dallas-based independent idea and design shop. Throughout his career, Barraza has helped build brands such as Fruit of the Loom, Samsung, Sonic Drive-Ins, Miller Lite, and most recently with WALO brands that include Jarritos, 7-Eleven, Reliant Energy and Karbach Brewing’s Ranch Water.
Some of the accolades Barraza has been fortunate to receive throughout his career include several national and international awards and multiple Best Of Shows. But what he is most proud of is creating an agency culture that puts people first and brings diverse minds together for the greater good.
Liz (Elizabeth) Enoch
Technical Design and Production Manager, Westmoor Manufacturing
M.F.A., 2015, Fashion Design
Liz Enoch grew up in Western New York adjacent to the Great Lakes. She completed her bachelor’s degree in Clothing and Textiles, then moved to Dallas to pursue her career. Enoch has been in the apparel industry since 1983 and began as a patternmaker for a manufacturer and evolved into a technical designer as the industry changed to manufacturing overseas. Enoch says she has seen a lot of change in the industry since then.
Throughout her career, the excellence of the UNT CVAD Fashion Design program became clear, and she decided to pursue an advanced degree and completed her M.F.A. As part of this interaction, the faculty added a technical design course to the curriculum, which she developed and taught for three years. As a technical design and production manager for Rock & Roll Denim, Panhandle shirts, and Powder River outerwear, Enoch has the pleasure of mentoring an entire team as they create various Western wear products for men, women and children.
Fun Facts: (Still) married to my high school sweetheart, and I own and use 12 sewing machines and 63 pairs of knitting needles!
Jessica Fuentes
News Editor, Glasstire and Director, Kinfolk House, Studio Artist
M.A., 2013, Art Education
A longtime Fort Worth resident, Jessica Fuentes is an artist, educator, author, and arts administrator. She holds a B.A. in art and performance from the University of Texas at Dallas (2004) and an M.A. in Art Education with an Art Museum Education Graduate Academic Certificate from UNT CVAD.
As an art educator with 15 years of experience, Jessica has taught all ages in formal and informal settings. She has worked in public schools, higher education and museums. At the Dallas Museum of Art, she was manager of gallery interpretation and at the Center for Creative Connections at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Dallas, as manager of School and Community Outreach.
Fuentes has contributed to institutional publications and national blogs through her work in museums. Her first peer-reviewed publication, "The Need for Educators of Color in K-12 Museum Tours," appeared in the Journal of Museum Education, published in June 2021. She also authored the chapter “Representation Matters: Diversifying School Tour Curriculum” in the book "Creating Meaningful Museum Experiences for K-12 Audiences: How to Connect with Teachers and Students," published in October 2021 and edited by Tara Young.
She serves on the Make Art with Purpose board, and the Education Planning Committee for the Smithsonian Latino Center in Washington, D.C. Fuentes is Glasstire online magazine's news editor and Kinfolk House executive director in Dallas.
Fuentes is a former F6 Gallery Collective and 500x Gallery member. In 2016, her solo show "Tree House Divided" was noted as one of the Top 5 Exhibitions of the year by Fort Worth Weekly. In 2018, her work "My Only Homeland" was featured in the Deep Red Press, an online magazine. During the 2019-2020 academic year, she was an artist-in-residence at the Tarrant County College South Campus in Fort Worth, Texas. In 2021, her work was included in the public art exhibition "New Stories: New Futures," curated by Lauren Cross, a multidisciplinary artist, curator and CVAD faculty member.
Paige Points
Supervisor, Discovery Center, City of Frisco, Texas
M.A., 2013, and B.A., 2010, Art History
Paige Points has supervised the Frisco Discovery Center as part of the Cultural Affairs Division with Play Frisco – Parks & Recreation for seven years. Before that, she worked for Frisco Arts as a marketing coordinator for four years and wore many other hats. She holds an M.A. in Art History from the UNT CVAD, is an alum of the Leadership Arts Institute Class of 2019–20 with North Texas Business Council for the Arts, and is a Certified Park and Recreation Professional. When she’s not working, she enjoys cooking, listening to music, exploring the outdoors, taking road trips, going antiquing, creating art, and spending quality time with friends and family, especially her husband Jason and their gray tabby cat named Churchill.
Austin Uzor
Studio Artist, Educator
M.F.A., 2021, Studio Art - Drawing and Painting
Born in the eastern part of Nigeria, Uzor hails from the state of Imo. He received his B.F.A. in 2013 from the University of Nigeria Nsukka, where he majored in drawing and painting. Shortly after graduation, he kickstarted a studio practice, which led to local and international recognition that set the groundwork for his first-ever solo show in 2016 titled “Visitors” at the Rele Gallery Lagos, Nigeria. Uzor, a skilled draftsman and experienced painter, explores the world of the unknown using psychological spaces, feelings, and alternate realities in search of existential truths.
He moved to the U.S. in 2016, and this move is now the subject of his most current body of work and narrative, focusing on the traumas of being displaced. Uzor was a visiting assistant professor at Alfred University New York, teaching painting from 2021 to 2022. Uzor has exhibited locally and internationally and had his works privately collected around Europe, Africa and the U.S. while being published frequently.
Giovanni Valderas
Assistant Professor of Art, Texas Woman’s University, Denton, Texas and Studio Artist
M.F.A., 2012, and B.F.A., 2007, Studio Art: Drawing and Painting
Previously, Valderas managed programming and exhibitions at the Fort Worth Community Arts Center, Kirk Hopper Fine Art, and Mountain View College. Valderas has taught painting and drawing courses at the University of North Texas, Richland, and Mountain View College. A former member of 500x gallery, one of the oldest co-op galleries in Texas, he has had work featured in the 2013 Texas Biennial; New American Paintings Magazine, issues #108 and #132; Impossible Geometries, Field Projects, New York; and 14x48’s temporary billboard public art project.
A Moss/Chumley Award and a microgrant recipient from the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas, Valderas has also served as an appointee by the Dallas City Council as vice chair of the Cultural Affairs Commission. In 2018, he resigned from his reappointment to the Cultural Affairs Commission to run for Dallas City Council to represent the neighborhood where he grew up; he led a grassroots campaign and placed a strong second.
