Former Vandal returns to share his art

Mar. 30—Miguel Almeida, a former University of Idaho student who now lives in Boise, returned to Moscow after eight years to share his journey and inspire others with his story of farmworking, triumph and error, and the transformative power of art.

Almeida, who graduated from UI with a bachelor's degree in virtual technology and design in 2015, spoke Tuesday evening at the Clearwater and Whitewater rooms in the UI Student Union Building, about his recent success as an artist and the stories that led to his work.

He has most recently worked with Poder of Idaho for the Manejando Sin Miedo (Driving Without Fear) campaign, which would allow undocumented folks to legally get a driver's license. He also has worked with various other nonprofit organizations like ACLU Idaho, providing artwork. He went through a time struggling to identify what he wanted his art to represent.

"During this time, I was still searching for that voice," said Almeida, showing work from a few years ago that dabbled in representation of Mexican-American culture.

His first art show was when things clicked for him.

"In this piece, I really started to think about what I wanted to do as a body of work," said Almeida, who held the art show at Push and Pour coffee shop in Garden City, Idaho. "I ended up just thinking about farmworkers and street vendors and just kind of the hard work that they do that kind of goes underappreciated."

Now, at age 30, he's embraced his voice as a first-generation Mexican-American through his artwork and recommends students who are interested in pursuing a similar path to "be patient" and realizing that it's "worth the journey."

"My parents had a hard time wrapping their heads around it," Almeida said. "But I'm glad I didn't give up."

Almeida is a muralist and was a keynote speaker during the annual Farmworker Awareness Week at UI.

Carrillo-Casas can be contacted at mcarrillo@dnews.com