Origin

Crop Collective was founded by Paola Gil, Carolina Ibarra-Mendoza, and Chelo Montoya, alumni of the MFA program in Graphic Design at Otis College of Art and Design. The trio initiated their collaboration in the program’s immersive design-week where they worked alongside April Greiman and Laurie Haycock Makela. They each have unique design skills that make the collective a generative space for both client and collective projects.

The collective has since expanded to include additional designers and artists according to the project and creative direction of the group.

We are designers who make art and artists who design.

Chelo Montoya

Chelo Montoya is an artist, educator, and event producer specializing in community engagement strategies. She is the Assistant Vice President of Adult Education and Public Programs at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art where she oversees the music, film, docent and public programs. She previously served as Director of Education and Public Programs at the California African American Museum and is the co-founder of Crop Collective, a design and consulting company. She was the founding program administrator and faculty in the Master of Public Practice program at Otis College of Art and Design where she worked for a decade developing the program alongside Suzanne Lacy the program Chair. Montoya received her undergraduate degree in Fine Art from the University of California, Santa Cruz; Masters Degree in Public Art Studies from the University of Southern California and a second Masters of Fine Arts in Graphic Design from Otis College of Art and Design. She sits on the Board of Trustees executive committee of the Vincent Price Art Museum and was appointed to the California Arts Council by the Speaker of the Assembly, Anthony Rendon in April of 2020.

Carolina Ibarra-Mendoza

Carolina has a Bachelor’s of Arts degree from the University of California, Davis with an emphasis in Visual Communication and Women’s Studies. Carolina is particularly adept at transforming complex conceptual problems into formal visual solutions. She has traveled to England to study British exhibition design and the Netherlands to tour several design studios - where she was introduced to Dutch aesthetic and practices. Since then, she has successfully applied the critical thinking used in her Women’s Studies background towards a conceptually rich application of Graphic Design & the Visual Arts. These influences have folded into an aesthetic that is minimal, clever, crafted for the project, and speaks on multiple planes. Her strengths include the conceptual development of projects and image based communication.

Paola Gil

Paola received her bachelors in Design from Loyola Marymount University where she mastered the fundamentals of design and has since specialized in typographic details. She has worked with studio Dumbar from Rotterdam, in the Netherlands in addition to a variety of commercial clients including Crowne Plaza Anaheim, Renaissance Palms Springs, and the Hilton.  She exercises a modern approach to design aesthetics. In her personal projects, she has often been inspired by her own multicultural experiences of being a first-generation American from Colombia. Her warm spirit and attention to detail has resulted in poetically powerful work that speaks at multiple levels.  

Nathalie Sánchez

Raised and rooted in Los Angeles, Nathalie Sanchez is an interdisciplinary artist, illustrator, social justice arts educator, and arts advocate. She graduated with her B.A. in Art History and Studio Arts with an emphasis in education from Loyola Marymount University and received her M.F.A. in Public Practice from Otis College of Art and Design. In 2016, Nathalie founded the Art Education + Social Justice Book Club. She also enjoys listening to audiobooks and crocheting. Her mediums range from illustration, calligraphy and printmaking to engagement and museum education.

Special thanks to Civic Center Studios and our clients for supporting our work.