Studio Milagros is founded by multi-disciplinary artist, Angélica M. Garcia. In 2023, she graduated with an MFA in Studio Arts with a focus on photography and multimedia storytelling. Angélica is a studio and teaching artist based out of Long Beach, California. Her professional life also focuses on advocacy for human equity—particularly in underserved communities and for women and children of color.
Born in East Los Angeles to Salvadoreño and Mexican parents, Angélica spent a large part of her childhood performing on stages and television on the Televisa network studios in Mexico City. Part of her musical accomplishments include being an award-winning recording artist with solo CDs titled, Angel Baby (Quality Records) and Angelica (Arista Records). Her first production was a mariachi album recorded at the age of 15 in Mexico City with the famous Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán, and produced by the mariachi Vargas' musical director, Pepe Martinez.
Angélica is also an advocate for social justice. From 2011 to 2019 she spent years working with the migrant farmworker and immigrant communities of rural Virginia where she co-founded the non-profit, Dos Santos Food Pantry. Her advocacy work in the areas of immigrant rights and food justice led her to become close with the Latino communities she served in rural Virginia. Through this community work she obtained a new understanding of what the working-poor endure in this country and how there are so many misconceptions of how food is grown and harvested. Angélica stood with many farmworkers, food factory workers, house cleaners, and other immigrants who couldn't afford to purchase fresh produce or make ends meet with their low wages, yet they faced constant racial discrimination for taking grueling jobs that not many people wanted. This work transformed her. Both of her parents were once migrant farmworkers and she made a commitment to shed light on these issues of injustice.
At the same time that she was working as an immigrant advocate in rural Virginia, she was also studying photography at the University of Maryland, Eastern Shore (UMES) where she later received her Bachelor's degree in design and photography. Her lens sometimes became a way to tell stories of the people she was working with and of issues of social justice. To continue the work of human equity, Angélica chose to apply to a graduate program at a tribal college—to further advance her studies of indigenous peoples and to learn of the history not taught in schools. She graduated from the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She hopes to continue to advocate and raise awareness of her own culture, and that of black, indigenous people of color (BIPOC) in this country.
Born in East Los Angeles to Salvadoreño and Mexican parents, Angélica spent a large part of her childhood performing on stages and television on the Televisa network studios in Mexico City. Part of her musical accomplishments include being an award-winning recording artist with solo CDs titled, Angel Baby (Quality Records) and Angelica (Arista Records). Her first production was a mariachi album recorded at the age of 15 in Mexico City with the famous Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán, and produced by the mariachi Vargas' musical director, Pepe Martinez.
Angélica is also an advocate for social justice. From 2011 to 2019 she spent years working with the migrant farmworker and immigrant communities of rural Virginia where she co-founded the non-profit, Dos Santos Food Pantry. Her advocacy work in the areas of immigrant rights and food justice led her to become close with the Latino communities she served in rural Virginia. Through this community work she obtained a new understanding of what the working-poor endure in this country and how there are so many misconceptions of how food is grown and harvested. Angélica stood with many farmworkers, food factory workers, house cleaners, and other immigrants who couldn't afford to purchase fresh produce or make ends meet with their low wages, yet they faced constant racial discrimination for taking grueling jobs that not many people wanted. This work transformed her. Both of her parents were once migrant farmworkers and she made a commitment to shed light on these issues of injustice.
At the same time that she was working as an immigrant advocate in rural Virginia, she was also studying photography at the University of Maryland, Eastern Shore (UMES) where she later received her Bachelor's degree in design and photography. Her lens sometimes became a way to tell stories of the people she was working with and of issues of social justice. To continue the work of human equity, Angélica chose to apply to a graduate program at a tribal college—to further advance her studies of indigenous peoples and to learn of the history not taught in schools. She graduated from the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She hopes to continue to advocate and raise awareness of her own culture, and that of black, indigenous people of color (BIPOC) in this country.