Art-Based Community Engagement on the Southeast Greenway
The Southeast Greenway project strives to break the mold when it comes to traditional community outreach. While classic workshops and surveys remain valuable, providing avenues for creative expression can unlock deeper insights into what the future park may become. Led by local artists, in partnership with Kimzin Creative, the creative teams will design engagements utilizing visual art, multimedia practices, and spoken word as ways to invite community members to share their experiences, hopes, and priorities for the Greenway. To design and facilitate nine upcoming workshops, Kimzin Creative selected three outstanding local artists.
Jessica Martin– A multi-disciplinary artist based in Northern California, her work explores our continual process of growth and healing, and the ways we find joy and strength through connections with nature, one another, and ourselves. She studied anthropology at Vassar College and received her MA at California College of the Arts. She has been Artist in Residence for Google, and had her work shown in exhibitions across the Bay Area and abroad. She has been a guest on Full Expression Podcast and co-hosted the Headspace Podcast to talk about creativity as a tool for life. Her work has been awarded grants from the NAEA, Creative Sonoma, and California Arts Council. In 2022, she co-created “Peptoc,” the viral hotline of encouragement featuring life advice from elementary students. She’s also the founder and director of Roving Venue (RV), an itinerant gallery that produces innovative community-based public art projects in rural Sonoma County. Martin also serves as lead teaching artist and arts program curator for West Side Elementary in Healdsburg.
Jessica will collaborate with Kimzin Creative to lead multimedia park-building workshops that invite participants to imagine, design, and build their dream park. Current workshops are being presented in partnership with the Children’s Museum of Sonoma County, Chop’s Teen Club, and Becoming Independent, engaging participants through hands-on creative activities that help bring their ideas for the Southeast Greenway to life.
Follow her on Instagram @jessicamartinart
Kayatta– An American rapper, poet, producer and educator who grew up in West Oakland, she was recently crowned best Hip Hop artist in Sonoma County. Kayatta continues to push the envelope socially, creatively, and dutifully by effortlessly fusing poetry with drums and bass to create sonic goodness that seethes with audacious honey. Her sound is hers alone and rooted in telling a story that is authentic, reflective, black, queer, joyous, engaging, and inspiring. Currently residing in Berkeley, California, she has found a refreshing way to utilize poetry that centers youth voices and impacts social and communal change through musical compositions that are relatable, uplifting, and thought provoking.
Kayatta will be working with Kimzin Creative to lead poetry/spoken world workshops in collaboration with Latino Service Providers, and other community organizations to be announced.
Follow her on Instagram @kayattamusic
Blanca Molina– An award-winning graphic designer, illustrator, and muralist based in Sonoma County. Blanca was raised in Northern California after moving here from Guadalajara, Mexico when she was five. Her creative practice is shaped by both her Mexican heritage and her California upbringing. She holds a B.S. in Graphic Design from Sacramento State University and brings over a decade of expertise in visual storytelling, packaging design, and brand identity. Her work has been recognized by the Anthem Awards, Graphic Design USA, and the Wine Packaging Conference. Alongside her client work, Blanca creates illustrations and artwork inspired by Mexican culture and iconography, blending traditional influences with the color, energy, and spirit of growing up in California. Whether designing a brand, creating an illustration, or painting a mural, her work is rooted in joy and connection—designed to evoke happiness, nostalgia, and creativity while encouraging people to connect with one another. Notably, Blanca is also the designer behind the Southeast Greenway’s new logo!
Blanca will be working with Kimzin Creative to design large-scale bilingual graphics inviting community to “Dream With Us,” along with Lotería-inspired conversation cards exploring park values, amenities, and community ideas.
Follow her on Instagram @blancacreative
