Alas y Raíces: Princeton Young Achievers
Curated by instructor Veronica Olivares-Weber
On View: July 11 – 31, 2026
Opening Reception: Saturday, July 11, 3-5pm
Like the monarch butterfly, each of us carries a story of where we come from and where we are going. Its migration between Canada, the United States, and Mexico reflects lives shaped by memory, family, change, and return.
Alas y Raíces presents work by students in kindergarten through fifth grade at Princeton Public Schools through papier-mâché monarch butterflies and painted butterfly compositions on canvas. The sculpted works reference the monarch’s distinctive orange, black, and white pattern, while the painted works extend into varied colors and forms, shaped by imagination, freedom, and individual expression.
As students created these works, they explored ideas of family, belonging, kindness, unity, freedom, and hope. Their work reflects how personal experience informs understanding, how difference strengthens community, and how connection and care shape growth.
This exhibition is a part of a collaboration between the Arts Council of Princeton and the YMCA, which together have provided free access to the arts for the Princeton Young Achiever’s after school Program for more than 20 years and lead by teaching artist Verónica Olivares-Weber.
About Veronica Olivares-Weber: Teaching Artist, Cultural Educator & Community Leader
Veronica Olivares-Weber, originally from Mexico, is a teaching artist and community organizer whose work spans more than two decades at the intersection of art, education, and social justice. She studied art history and ceramics classes at Teachers College, Columbia University, where she developed a strong foundation in both theory and practice. Deeply connected to her heritage, her practice is rooted in preserving Latin American art traditions, storytelling, and community empowerment through the arts.
Since 2010, Olivares-Weber has been a faculty member at the Arts Council of Princeton, where she teaches visual arts and leads creative programming for the Princeton Young Achievers after-school initiative, serving students from historically underserved neighborhoods. Her teaching emphasizes traditional and contemporary techniques across a wide range of media, including ceramics, sculpture, papier-mâché, mixed media, and painting. Through culturally immersive classes like Spanish Through Art and The Movement of the Muralist, she fosters creative expression while preserving and celebrating Mexican folk art traditions.
Her workshops often focus on traditional forms such as sugar skull-making, embossed tin (hojalata), papier-mâché, and nichos. These hands-on sessions engage learners of all ages and backgrounds in exploring identity, gratitude, and cultural heritage through meaningful artistic practice.
In addition to her teaching, Olivares-Weber has curated and co-organized numerous exhibitions and public events, including over 15 years of Día de los Muertos programming at the Arts Council of Princeton. She is the founder and main organizer of the Festival Cultural Latino, a celebrated annual event that highlights Latino culture and arts in the Princeton community. Her leadership has also shaped community altars, installations, and collaborative public art projects, including the 2021 Dohm Alley installation. Veronica Olivares-Weber
For the past three years, she served as Artist in Residence at Community Park School, where she worked closely with students to integrate arts into their learning experience, emphasizing cultural history and creative expression.
She works closely with Princeton University across departments such as theLewis Center for the Arts, the Effron Center, the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, the Department of Art & Archaeology, the Program for Community-Engaged Scholarship (ProCES), and the Pace Center for Civic Engagement. Through these collaborations, she facilitates workshops, student-led art projects, lectures, and events that bridge academic and local communities while deepening understanding of Latin American art and immigrant experiences.
Olivares-Weber served as Chair of the Princeton Human Services Commission until 2024 and has served on the boards of the Latin American Legal Defense and Education Fund (LALDEF), Housing Initiatives of Princeton, McCarter, Code Equal, and the Arts Council of Princeton. She currently serves on the Civil Rights Commission of Princeton. Her work reflects a sustained commitment to equity, inclusion, and the preservation of cultural traditions through education and the arts.
