Celeste Contreras

Celeste Contreras Skierski is a Xicana – Indigenous artist who works in mixed mediums to share stories of ceremony, palimpsests and memory with reflections of identity. Her work includes illustrations, print, book arts, fiber arts and animation. Contreras is a lecturer at UW-Milwaukee’s Peck School of the Arts where she earned a Master of Fine Art (MFA), in 2022, focused in Print and Narrative Form and holds a BFA from Alverno College, 2018. Contreras was the 2019 Gathering Art, Stories and Place Artist-in-Resident with the Milwaukee Public Library where she published a 200 edition box set of artists’ books, Artist in the Library. From 2022-2023 Contreras was the Community Ambassador for the Milwaukee Women’s Art Library(MWAL), she helped gather artists’ papers helping to build the MWAL archive. She is a board member at Anchor Press, Paper and Print and The CR8TV House. Contreras is a resident artist at The House of RAD, a creative collective of artists and she is managing Studio Tlacuilo + Library which is an artist’s book library established in 2022. Contreras is the Spring 2024 Artist in Resident at the Villa Terrace Art Museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

What energizes you as you consider the future of the arts in Wisconsin?

I’m excited for the youth and the elders. I see the majority of Wisconsin artists who we’ve all know for decades and they are getting the advantages of becoming the Elders in our community which means we can and will be honoring their legacy, hopefully before they pass on to death. This urgency of taking care of our Elders in the arts community is profound. I am interested in seeing how we collect their archive, how we show the new generations about our aging community. After all, if I am lucky enough to make it to elderhood, I hope too, to be honored as one of the Elders in the arts community one day. 

And I am so excited about these next generations that are already changing the landscape of arts communities in Wisconsin and I imagine they will continue to grow and transform. Their energy and inclusivity is overwhelmingly inspirational and nurturing. 

Where can we find your work?

You can find Celeste’s work on her website here: https://www.celestecontreras.com/