University of Advancing Technology (UAT) is rated the #1 Best College in Arizona for Design by NICHE and during the April 15th Art Walk celebrating World Art Day at UAT's campus, students, community members and local artists flexed their design and art expertise.
There’s something uniquely electric about watching a space transform—not through noise or flash, but through the presence of art. At this year’s Community Art Walk, art took center stage. Each piece invited a different kind of conversation.
Some whispered—like Professor Dapzury Valenzuela’s Avant-Garde Wedding Collection, where satin, tulle, and feathers looked like sculptural grace, suggesting not just a walk down the aisle, but a runway into something unknown. It was bridalwear reimagined as future folklore.
Some exclaimed like Ashley LaRae and Ciera Holston's “A Mystical Wandering Through Poetry As Protest”, a video experience that blended the unique images, textiles, poems and kaleidoscopic verve. It dazzled in UAT's Theater as the audience watched obsessed with the visuals. Ashley LaRae is a gem in the valley, owner of StylePHX, and multi-hyphenate artist. Ciera, a renowned artist herself and notable athlete, has been featured in a plethora of events in the valley including at the Phoenix Art Museum.
There were bursts of memory and hometown pride through works like K-Love, Throwback Hornets, AI, and The Shot by @thezayproject, where nostalgia was pixelated and framed like a mixtape for the culture.
Samantha Peck painted floral warmth into the room with Breeze and Blooms, an acrylic cascade of life on canvas as told through the view of a hummingbird.
Annie Lee offered a more intimate rhythm through pieces like Jazzy, Control, Spirits, and Rehearsal—snapshots of internal symphonies rendered still brought by UAT's very own, Janice Stanford.
Erato the Muse by The Black Muse Affect, vibrated with beauty and grandeur with it's powerful imagery and key lime textiles.
Larry Hernandez Iriarte’s “Dancing Petroglyphs” and "Cyndrilic Sphere", were notable student showcases and his use of mixed mediums quickly became a crowd favorite.
Sara Ayoub wove vulnerability and defiance into a breathtaking visual series—"all out of magic," breathe," "moth to a flame," "saw you in sepia," among others and pictured below, "hind sight is 2020" —each one a timestamp of emotion, elegantly framed by her signature style @dazed.digital.
The event featured poetry as well with "The Hero Hauntings - Book of Poetry (Stacy Renee Eden, Ciera Holston, Theresa Lovely, a.LaRae and graphics from Amy Robinson)"
UAT Professor and Award Winning Author, Sharon Lynn, showcased and had excerpts from her award winning novel, "Death Takes a Bath."
UAT Professor, Jorge Portillo, who teaches UAT's #1 design courses, showcased his stellar digital capping off an event to remember.
UAT’s Art Walk wasn’t just a showcase. It was a statement.One that invited students, faculty, artists, and the wider community into a shared space of inspiration, imagination, and dialogue. Even the music was curated by Phoenix Artists with Notes II Enlightenment: The Gift [Sound Set #2] (producers: Phil Gillespie, Ashley LaRae; co-producer: Ciera Holston), permeating campus. Tones of rain hitting the ground and instrumental acoustics filled the air.
To those who donated their art for the day —thank you.
To those discovering it now—welcome.
And to those already dreaming up next year’s work… get ready.
We’re doing this again in 2026. Bigger, bolder, and even more beautiful.