UCLA Arts Holiday Gift Guide 2025
Are you ready for the holiday season? Looking for something special for the loved ones in your life? Check out our curated list of gifts created by artists, scholars, makers, and entrepreneurs from across the arts community at UCLA.
ARTWORK
Antonio Rael '86 (Art), creator of Uncle Tony’s House of Art, has hundreds of artistic gift giving items featuring his original artwork. Social justice and equality merchandise designed by Rael is also available. Born and raised in Southern California, Rael is the founder of the nationally recognized Latino Pop Shop and the Latino Pop Art Movement in the USA.
Gage Nguyen ‘14 (Design Media Arts) is a visual designer, activist, and cofounder of All Power Books, a bookstore, community space, and mutual aid hub in Los Angeles. All Power Books produces vibrant prints that fund their 100% volunteer-run mutual aid programs, which include weekly grocery distribution, mobile clinics, and political education.
Tamara Gould ’90 (Art) is the founder of Vex & Delight. Their greeting cards make fine art accessible to everyone. They’re affordable, positive, joyful vignettes intended for any audience—sharing the love and spark of creativity. Each original fine art card is hand-drawn and -painted onto exquisitely crafted papers, with accompanying envelopes. New designs are always being created and commissions are welcome.
CLOTHING AND JEWELRY
Amerjit Ghag ’97 (Design) creates cheerful, 100% cotton, hand-printed sarongs. These are not only great for the beach but also a beautiful textile for your home decor. Try it as a table cloth, a curtain panel, or as an accent layer on your favorite chair. Each sarong is hand stamped using a different carved wooden block for each color. The papaya block print is designed by Ghag and hand carved and printed in India, where she works with local artisans that have been block printing for generations.
Current student Joshua Alexander (Art) designs premium hoodies, t-shirts, and prints. "THE VOID" is a design inspired by the UCLA New Genres landscape, the stark white empty halls that push and pull simultaneously. “The labyrinth of hallways and uncharted floors and rooms have inspired me to pull patterns and prints from my printmaking practice and translate them into wearable artwork and collectable prints,” said Alexander.
MerriJane Morrison ’84 (Design) has created handcrafted jewelry for over 25 years. Morrison’s original free form flower design is cast in bronze, plated in 18k gold, and accented with a fresh water pearl. The pendant comes on a 20” adjustable length gold filled chain and is available in two sizes.
PUBLICATIONS
Alex Ungprateeb Flynn, associate professor in the Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance, has published his second monograph, Pathways to Utopia: Time and Transformation in the Landless Workers Movement of Brazil, from Indiana University Press. Pathways to Utopia explores how Brazil's Landless Workers Movement, against all odds, has endured for forty years as one of the world's largest social movements—while transforming the way we understand the temporality of activism.
Casey Reas, professor in the Department of Design Media Arts, is a writer and featured artist in the Taschen publication On NFTs, edited by Robert Alice. Encompassing the entire NFT ecosystem from algorithmic art to avatars and AI, this first major art historical survey of this field is now available. With 10 academic essays and 111 artists in total, the book offers an extensive insight into digital art on the blockchain today. Refik Anadol M.F.A. ‘14, lecturer in the Department of Design Media Arts, is also a featured artist in On NFTS.
UCLA English Professor Claire McEachern has published a unique essay collection, Coyotes and Culture: Essays from Old Malibu. It offers a gripping exploration of the precarious beauty and peril of California’s iconic coastline. Through essays blending personal narrative, cultural analysis, and history, McEachern takes us behind the scenes of surf and celebrities to paint a vivid portrait of life on the edge—both literally and metaphorically.
Gala Porras-Kim ‘07 (Art) is the subject of the Fowler Museum at UCLA’s publication, The Weight of a Patina of Time. The book focuses on a series of works by Porras-Kim, including her Fowler exhibition of the same name. Her research-based practice looks closely at the layered meaning of ancient objects in the twenty-first-century museum. The essays reflect on Porras-Kim's affinity for fragments, conflicting histories, undeciphered texts, and other instances of uncertainty within the space of the museum.
Justina Blakeney '01 (World Arts and Cultures), founder of lifestyle brand Jungalow, has a new project: Grow: Pathways to Passion, Purpose & Peace, a book and oracle deck co-authored with her mother, developmental psychologist Dr. Ronnie Blakeney. Designed to inspire and support personal growth, Grow is an imaginative deck and guide that combines the wisdom of a self-help book with the magic of oracle cards. Each card, along with the companion 228-page guidebook, offers guidance and nourishing daily practices to ground readers and uplift their spirits.
Lily Spitz ’14 (Art) publishes 24h, an archival zine and curatorial project that explores time, synchronicity, memory, and preservation. Each volume is a compilation of screenshots of photographs Spitz has collected from Instagram stories she wants to remember and give further life to, beyond their 24 hour expiration dates. Each spread in the zine functions as a diptych, aiming to elevate everyday moments and prolong the ephemeral.
Linda Dalal Sawaya '69 (Art) published a cookbook: Alice's Kitchen: Traditional Lebanese Cooking. It includes more than 140 original recipes, from how to pick and cure olives to how to bake pocket bread. In the book, generations of recipes passed down from mother to daughter in the mountain village of Douma were brought to America by Grandmother Dalal and Mother Alice—and then passed on to Linda. In Alice's Kitchen, Linda presents their recipes, along with family stories, as a culinary gift to you.
Siri Kaur, lecturer in the Department of Art, has a new book, Sistermoon. In Sistermoon, Kaur’s images collectively form a freewheeling narrative with recurring family characters growing and transforming as the pages turn. Kaur’s use of landscape and the close relationship of nature embed a sense of magical spirituality in the images. A recurring motif of water and a cast of talismanic creatures—a horse, rabbit, owl, tiny snails, a frog—punctuate the portraits, hinting at fairytale tropes and the uncanny.
Syona Puliady, the Fowler Museum’s curator of textiles of the Eastern Hemisphere, has co-written and -edited the museum's latest publication, Visualizing Devotion: Jain Embroidered Shrine Hangings. This beautifully illustrated volume highlights Jain devotional textiles (choḍs) from the Fowler's collection. These works of velvet and sateen cloth depict Jain mythology, influential spiritual teachers, sacred sites, and ritual traditions. Visualizing Devotion delves into the innovative material approaches taken by the creators of choḍs, the captivating religious stories they convey, and the social lives of these objects in Jain communities.
Teddi Lynn Chichester, UCLA Writing Programs senior continuing lecturer, has written a book for young readers: Wildlife Crossings of Hope. Combining first-person reporting with research and stunning two-color art from illustrator Jamie Green, Wildlife Crossings of Hope takes a personal, in-depth look at wildlife crossings, corridor projects, and dam removal efforts around the world, from an underpass for elephants in Kenya to the Un-Dam the Klamath movement in the U.S. to the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor, which extends from southern Mexico to Panama.
HOMEWARES
Hanna Wittmack ’22, M.Arch. ’25 (Architecture and Urban Design) creates handmade and hand painted ceramics, which means all pieces are one of a kind! Bring a touch of rustic charm to your kitchen with this handcrafted pie dish, made in sunny Southern California. Whether you're serving up your favorite homemade pies or using it as a decorative piece, this durable, high-quality ceramic dish is perfect for any occasion. A taste of homemade love is just a pie dish away.
Kelsey Duff, UCLA’s professional & career development portfolio manager, handmakes ceramics as Every Space A Sound. From cups, vases, sculptures, and more, Duff’s weird, whimsical, and fun ceramics can be yours this holiday season.
Love animals and coffee? Lena Wolek '12 (Art) is a sculptor working in ceramics and the creator of functional pottery objects like mugs and plates. Each piece is unique and features one of Lena’s drawings of animals like cats, horses, and dogs to reflect on the imperfection of human nature. The mugs are beautiful, humorous, and available on her website.
Mary Huang ’09 (Design Media Arts) founded Color & Craft, a DIY paper plant kit company that creates distinctive designs with high quality materials and step-by-step video tutorials. Craft colorful plants such as begonias and calatheas. These plants, however, won't die. Their stencils and special brush make it easy to paint beautiful, vibrant colors. The kits are friendly for beginners and a unique experience for avid crafters!
UCLA Arts Ceramics Lab Supervisor Shoshi Watanabe M.F.A. ‘14 (Art), together with Michael Dopp M.F.A. ’09 (Art) and Yosei Shibata, co-operates Zakka Bakka, an experimental retail space off Hollywood Boulevard in Thai Town. Part gallery, part workshop, and part stage, the venue hosts events featuring musicians, chefs, vintners, florists, and sells unique ceramics handmade by Shoshi and others.
CELEBRATE CREATIVITY THIS SEASON AT THE FOWLER
This holiday season, give gifts that tell a story. The Fowler Museum Store is filled with globally inspired treasures crafted by artists and makers from around the world! As a special gift to you, the Fowler are offering 25% off all purchases through Sunday, Dec. 21. Unique items include Brave, a picture book written by Indigenous artist and writer Weshoyot Alvitre, and eco-friendly 3D animal puzzles that make whimsical gifts for kids and the young at heart.
EXCLUSIVE MADE IN L.A. 2025 MERCH
Made in L.A. 2025 is the seventh iteration of the Hammer’s signature biennial exhibition that showcases artists practicing throughout the greater Los Angeles area. The Hammer, alongside several artists, has created exclusive Made in L.A. merch such as t-shirts, baby clothes, a sweatshirt designed by Amanda Ross-Ho, an exclusive Patrick Martinez t-shirt and cinder block planters, stickers by Alake Shilling, and a tote bag from Hanna Hur M.F.A. ‘19 (Art). Some items are available online, but others can only be purchased at the Hammer Museum.
GIVE THE GIFT OF MEMBERSHIP TO UCLA ARTS' RENOWNED MUSEUMS AND PERFORMING ARTS PROGRAM
A membership to UCLA's Center for the Art of Performance (CAP UCLA) supports the performing arts and provides access to all CAP UCLA programming for free. Become a partner in the creative process and help support the vitality of contemporary performing arts.
A Fowler Museum membership comes with perks, including curator-led tours of contemporary art exhibitions at the Fowler and other museums; special “behind the scenes” opportunities; and invitations to exclusive events that explore related art, food, theater, film, and dance.
A Hammer Museum membership gives you access to exhibition previews and curator-led tours, priority ticketing at the museum’s renowned public programs, discounts at the Hammer Store and Lulu, and more!
Header image: A completed paper plant kit from Mary Huang's Color & Craft.
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