Jocaca
About
artist, curator, spiritual companion, and tia. My work lives at the intersection of art, inquiry, community and spirit.
Through Jocaca, I create embodied-art inquiries: works that are part research, part ritual, part reflection, part creation. My practice asks how identity, memory, grief, joy, ancestors and transformation live in the body. how art can become a mirror of those truths.
My Work
Over the years, my art has taken many forms:
Obstructed Landscapes explored what it means to see — and not see — the places that shape us.
Transitions: A Series of Self-Portraits is an ongoing inquiry into identity, change, and resilience.
Zines, journals, and collaborative projects carry voices beyond my own, weaving community and story together.
Each project is both personal and communal: a record of my own becoming and an offering to others who are also navigating thresholds.
Spiritual Direction
Alongside my art, I offer spiritual direction. This practice is about listening deeply — noticing the movements of Spirit, holding sacred space, and walking with others in their own unfolding. It is another form of art-making: one where the medium is presence, compassion, and care.
Vision
My work spirals outward from the studio into the world. It is art, yes, but also more: a resource for connection, for healing, for imagining new futures together.
I believe art and spirit belong not only in galleries and sanctuaries, but also in the heart of community — where they can seed generosity, creativity, and transformation.
This is the path of JoCaCa: to create, to question, to connect — and to grow toward the collective good.
Toni Rose Castañeda Carrera
Toni Rose Castañeda Carrera, child of Yolanda—who delighted in radical laughter—and George—who created intimate, Chicano-rooted music—knows there are always more reasons to dance than to cry. She carries forward this inheritance of joy with curiosity, humor, and a deep desire for connection.
As a creator, curator, and cultural organizer, Toni Rose weaves together people, ancestors, and future possibilities through painting, fiber work, and storytelling. Her practice explores how bodies and materials fall apart and return to wholeness, nurturing sacred joy, inclusion, diversity, and compassion.
With over 20 years of experience in organizational leadership, program management, and arts-based initiatives, she has built spaces for learning, healing, connection, artistic collaboration, and selah. She has exhibited her artwork, curated shows, and facilitated community-based programs. Her leadership has extended to founding ADORE LA, a queer BIPOC community of faith; consulting in diversity, equity, and inclusion; and serving in management roles at the Southwest California Synod and El Centrito Family Learning Centers.
Toni Rose holds a Master of Public Policy from California State University, Northridge and a Bachelor of Arts in English & Political Science from UCLA. She brings together strategic vision, relationship cultivation, and high-quality change programming. As a traveler and pilgrim—serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ecuador and an international ethics scholar in England—she believes deeply in cultural responsiveness and the kaleidoscope of human diversity.
Rooted in Santa Paula, she carries the spirit of Southern California into all endeavors, holding in her heart the hope of a more just, creative, and connected future.
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It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world.
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It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world.
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It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world.