I’m excited to be working with Local Color on Golden Steps, a new workshop series bringing creative experiences outdoors to older adults 55+ in San José.
For my workshop, I’ll be leading a hands-on botanical art activity at Emma Prusch Farm Park, where participants will create small preserved nature artworks using moss and other botanical elements.
The project grew out of an earlier idea for a moss-art workshop. As I developed the project, I wanted to find ways to make the process more tactile, accessible, and connected to my own reuse-focused practice. The workshop eventually expanded to include elements of pressed moss art, flower pressing, herbarium, and oshibana-inspired botanical collage.
Participants will work with 5 x 5-inch wooden frames, preserved moss, plexiglass, small wooden blocks, and other decorative and botanical materials to create their own pieces. I’m also encouraging participants to bring along a dried leaf, small plant, or flower they may want to incorporate into their artwork.
Much of the material preparation happens before the workshop. I’ll be cutting and preparing the plexiglass and wooden components, painting some of the blocks, and assembling the materials so participants can focus on experimenting and creating during the workshop.
The goal isn’t for everyone to make the same finished object. Instead, participants will have an opportunity to arrange natural materials, experiment with texture and composition, and create something personal that preserves a small moment of nature.
A Meaningful Place
I’m especially excited about where this workshop is happening.
Emma Prusch Farm Park sits at King and Story Roads in East San José — an area that is deeply personal to me. My family lived nearby on Poco Way, and I went to kindergarten at Miller Elementary, now KIPP Heartwood Academy. My family and I moved around different parts of San José while I was growing up, but East San José has remained a constant in my life. I’ve lived near Tully and McLaughlin since 2006, and I still call East San José home today.
My family was part of the Chicano culture that shaped this community. We drove lowrider vehicles, listened to the music, and participated in the culture that was part of everyday life around us. Those experiences became part of my own understanding of San José and continue to influence my work today.
So being here now as an artist leading a community workshop feels pretty special. I’m not really coming back to this community. I’m still here. I’m just showing up in a different way.
There’s also an interesting history embedded in the park itself. Emma Prusch Farm Park was once a working dairy farm. Emma Prusch gave the property to the City of San José in 1962, with the intention that it remain a place where people could enjoy a rural, agricultural setting within a growing city. The park sits at the northwest corner of King and Story Roads and preserves a piece of the agricultural landscape that existed here before the surrounding area developed.
So there are a lot of layers to this location.
A place I knew as a kid.
A neighborhood with its own history and culture.
A former farm preserved in the middle of a growing city.
And now a place where I’ll be bringing people together to make art.
For me, that makes the setting more than just a backdrop for the workshop. It connects where I came from with what I’m creating now.
This project is also another opportunity for me to explore how reuse, nature, and hands-on participation can come together. Rather than treating materials as disposable workshop supplies, I’m building the activity around materials that can be reused, repurposed, or given a second life within a new artwork.
I’m especially interested in the idea of preserving something small and temporary. A leaf, a flower, a piece of moss — things that might otherwise be overlooked — can become part of an artwork and carry a memory of where and when it was made.
Golden Steps is focused on creating opportunities for older adults 55+ in San José to get outside, connect with one another, and participate in creative activities. I’m grateful to Local Color for inviting me to be part of this pilot program and for creating space for artists to work directly with members of our community.
Golden Steps — Preserved Moments: Botanical Workshop
Local Color
Emma Prusch Farm Park
Saturday, September 12, 2026
A little moss, a few botanical pieces, and a blank frame.
Let’s see what grows from there.
