Curriculum Vitae 

April 2025

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Roberta Alvarado

Founder of New Bird Studio

Photographer, interdisciplinary installation artist, graphic design, branding, 

creative director, journalist

@RobertaAlvaradoPhotography @NewBirdStudio www.NewBirdStudio.com 

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Media & Publications Features (photojournalism below)

• Guest Feature”We Are Sacramento Podcast”,  2023

• Article for Hispanic Month, Department of Taxes and Fees, California Nov 2022

• “Espiritus Creativos de California”, “Fiesta at Home”,  Artist panel and celebration on YouTube,  The California Museum, Oct 1-Nov 6 2021

• “Dia de Los Muertos Art Chat”  Livestream Ruben Rivales event sponsored by LCAC 2020

• Article, Featured Artist, Voyage LA, Los Angeles, California May 2020

• “Meet the Artist” w/ /Roberta Alvarado and Tomas Montoya, Livestream YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Casa de Espanol April 2020

• Judge, “Frida Kahlo look-a-like contest”, 6th Annual Fiesta de Frida, Latino Center for Arts and Culture 2019

• Artist Interview for “Old Well Cafe” feature in Paramount Picture “The Big Short”, Good Day Sacramento 2015

• Image “Old Well Cafe” featured in award winning Paramount Pictures “The Big Short”  2015

• Model, The Sacramento Bee, Front page feature story insert, Front page, insert in “Scene” section, 1985

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Instruct

• June 2024 - Sept 2024 - UCD EAOP, The Latino Center for Arts and Culture, New Bird Studio: Documentary Photography ages 14-17  

• 2024 - MADE Studio Instructor: product photography

• 2023 - 2024 MAKEHERS Entrepreneur Accelerator Program Instructor of branding, Canva, website design, product photography, headshot photography

• Dec 17, 2024, Jan 27, 2025 - Sacramento City Arts and Culture: Nature Photography Workshop

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Awards & Recognitions

• First Place – NNPA Messenger Awards, 2024Original Photography – The Sacramento Observer. Awarded for “A Girl and Her Horse,” a visual narrative capturing the bond between a young girl and her horse, published in The Sacramento Observer.

• Third Place – California Journalism Awards 2024 (CNPA), 2024. Division 4 – Photography recognized for original photography as part of a visual report on Advanced Peace and community-based efforts to counter gun violence in Sacramento.

• Participant, 5ta Jornada de Artistas I.M.M.E. and Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores

• December 15–17, 2024 – Mexico City, Mexico.  Participated as an invited artist in this international convening hosted by the Instituto de los Mexicanos en el Exterior (I.M.M.E.) and Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The event brought together artists from the Mexican diaspora to share cultural, visual, and multidisciplinary works, fostering global artistic exchange and dialogue.

• 1986 Cal Expo California State Fair Northern California Students Photography Exhibit Contest: 1st Place Landscape- “Drive Inn Swans”, 1st Place Portraiture-“Mother and Child”

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Solo Exhibits

• Del Rio Trail: Sol y Tierra, photography + interdisciplinary installation, Solo Exhibit, Brickhouse Art Gallery, Sacramento, CA, 2023

• Rusted rail fragments hung from brick walls with root-knotted black rope, marking the path of the old rail line into Sacramento. Sixteen feet of river-blue sheer fabric draped from walking sticks through the center of the gallery. Photographic scrolls up to 12 feet long, anchored between bamboo rods and tied with black rope, featured Sacramentans of Maidu, Colombian, Palestinian, Ivorian, Hmong, and East Indian descent. Their shared ceremonies honoring ancestors and Earth reflected interconnected Indigenous traditions. The bare paper’s fragility echoed the vulnerability of division, while its unbroken flow offered a quiet, mindful peace.

• Layers of Life in Death: A Photographer’s Path to Hanal Pixan, Solo Exhibit, Consulate General of Mexico, Sacramento, CA, November 2022

• A photographic installation honoring Mayan burial rituals to the Yucatán’s Hanal Pixan, highlighting layered identities and cultural continuity through visual storytelling and intimate portraiture. Installations: Altar in Mayan tradition, 6 casitas inspired by Yucatán cemetery.

• Layers of Life in Death: Travels through the Yucatán, MX, Solo Exhibit, Brickhouse Arthouse & Gallery, Sacramento, CA, October 1–November 6, 2022

• A photographic solo exhibit exploring themes of ritual, ancestry, and memory through images captured across the Yucatán Peninsula, with layered visuals that reflect spiritual traditions and cultural storytelling.

• Layers of Life in Death, Brickhouse Art Gallery, Sacramento, Oct 2019

• An early iteration of Layers of Life in Death exploring ancestral traditions, memory, and visual storytelling through altar installation and photography.

2025

• Seeded in the Past. Rooted in the Future, photography + interdisciplinary installation.

• Shared exhibit with fellow artist Ruben Ruveles at Consulate General of Mexico, Sacramento, Feb–Mar 2025. Weave installation featured three natural rope braided braids supporting 17x22 mirror photographs, referencing our spine and core strength.Between each of those images, shown like a family wall, connected by red thread representing bloodlines, the nervous system, and our interconnected ancestral timelines  

2024

• Ladybug Journey, 8x12 framed, Yolo Arts group exhibit

• Ofrenda to Lideres Campesinas, Consulate General of Mexico, El Panteon, LCAC

• Ofrenda, Consulate General of Mexico, Sacramento

2023

• Layers of Life in Death: The Warrior Within, photography + installation

• Group exhibit: The Hummingbird Visit, SOMArts, San Francisco, Oct 1–Nov 6

• Concept led by Roberta Alvarado in collaboration with muralist José Lott

• Sol y Tierra, photography + interdisciplinary installation

• Before and Beyond, Twisted Track, City of Sacramento Art Ambassador, Del Rio Trail initiative

• Ofrenda, Consulate General of Mexico, El Panteon, LCAC

• Ofrenda, Consulate General of Mexico, Sacramento

 2022

• “You Are Here”, Weatherstone, Sacramento, California July 9-Aug 11 2021

• “Friendsgiving”, Third Eye Gallery Nov

• Ofrenda, Consulate General of Mexico, El Panteon, LCAC

• Ofrenda, Consulate General of Mexico, Sacramento

2021

• “An Elder Ago” photography, multi-media installation art, and altar for “Espiritus Creativos de California”, 28 ft wall, 18ft case, The California Museum, Oct 1-Nov 6

• “Dia de Los Muertos”, Latino Center for Art & Culture, Oct 31-Nov 2

• “Hot August Nights” Exhibit, Third Eye Gallery, August

• Photography + mixed media, “Wounded Deer”, Third Eye Gallery, Del Paso, California, July

• “Through the Lens”, photography, Washington Center, July 17-30

2020

• “West to East: Travels through Nicaragua”, Biannual Photography Month, Casa-de-Espanol,                   Sacramento, California,  April through May

• “Dia de Los Muertos”, a moonlit slow drive through remembrance,  Latino Center for Art & Culture, Oct-Nov

• “Through the Lens”, Washington Neighborhood Center,  Feb 2020

2018 

• Biannual Photography Month, Brickhouse Gallery April 6-28

• Art Element, Roseville, California  June

• Broadway Coffee, Sacramento May 

2017

• SPCA Fundraiser Art Auction

2016

• “Bodie, California Ghost Town”, The Hideaway, Sacramento, California

2014

• “Study of Cacti”, Raw Artists, Miami Beach Club, Citrus Heights, California

• “Study of Cacti”, Raw Artists, District 30, Sacramento, California

1987

• “Cousins”, Fruitridge Lithograph, Sacramento, California  

• “Little girl” Flemings Photography Gallery, Sacramento, California

1984

• Sunrise Mall Student’s Exhibit 

• Cal Expo State Fair, Northern California Student’s Exhibit 

• Kingsley Inspiration, Crocker Art Museum Student’s Exhibit

 

Instruct

• June 2024 - Sept 2024 - UCD EAOP, The Latino Center for Arts and Culture, New Bird Studio: Documentary Photography ages 14-17  

• 2024 - MADE Studio Instructor: product photography

• 2023 - 2024 MAKEHERS Entrepreneur Accelerator Program Instructor of branding, Canva, website design, product photography, headshot photography

• Dec 17, 2024, Jan 27, 2025 - Sacramento City Arts and Culture: Nature Photography Workshop

• Sunday, December 17, 2023

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Awards & Recognitions

• First Place – NNPA Messenger Awards, 2024

Original Photography – The Sacramento Observer. Awarded for “A Girl and Her Horse,” a visual narrative capturing the bond between a young girl and her horse, published in The Sacramento Observer.

• Third Place – California Journalism Awards (CNPA), 2024. Division 4 – Photography

Recognized for original photography as part of a visual report on Advanced Peace and community-based efforts to counter gun violence in Sacramento.

• Participant, 5ta Jornada de Artistas I.M.M.E. and Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores

December 15–17, 2024 – Mexico City, Mexico.  Participated as an invited artist in this international convening hosted by the Instituto de los Mexicanos en el Exterior (I.M.M.E.) and Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The event brought together artists from the Mexican diaspora to share cultural, visual, and multidisciplinary works, fostering global artistic exchange and dialogue.

• 1986 Cal Expo California State Fair Northern California Students Photography Exhibit Contest: 

• 1st Place Landscape- “Drive Inn Swans”, 1st Place Portraiture-“Mother and Child”