The Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History has announced a year-long residency featuring Watsonville-based artist Joshua Moreno. During the MAH’s milestone 30th Anniversary Year, Moreno will complete two major projects at the museum.
The first project will take place at the MAH’s offsite location, the historic Davenport Jail.
Over the course of 365 days, Moreno will trace the movement of light through the decommissioned jail. This site-specific installation is composed of graphite tracings made directly on the walls of the jail, marking fleeting reflections cast by the surrounding environment.
Concurrently, Moreno will be spending time mining the MAH Archives to create a site-specific installation for the museum’s 30th Anniversary. Using found objects and collected materials from the surrounding outdoors, woodshop, storage closets, archives, library, and offices, Moreno will question how these objects serve as a portrait of the MAH and its work over the last 30 years.
This new artwork will reference the MAH’s architecture and history through a place-based and time-specific multi-media installation. The finished work will be on public display at the MAH in Spring 2026.
Moreno was born and raised in Watsonville. He holds a BFA in Art Practice from the University of California San Diego and an MFA in Studio Art from Stanford University.
Since 2012 he has been working in art education, teaching courses in art history, filmmaking and art, and he currently teaches at Stanford and San Jose State University.
Moreno’s work examines the overlapping relationship between the natural and the human-made environment, highlighting patterns and systems of efficiency that exist within them.
Through installation, drawing, and film, he re-evaluates the everyday spaces and objects that surround us, with added attention to elemental phenomena.
TOP PHOTO: Joshua Moreno’s “Bread to Ice” made from found objects.