52nd Annual Juried UW Student Exhibition

Juror

Fonda Portales joined Boise State University in 2016 as University Art Curator and Collections Manager and now serves as Director of University Art. In this role, she manages the University’s permanent art collection, curates Student Union galleries, and directs public art commissions. As Chair of the University Art Collection Committee and Student Union Fine Arts Advisory Board, she collaborates with faculty, researchers, students, and community leaders on acquisitions, exhibitions, and visual arts policy. She also established Idaho’s first and only print study room, where the community of the curious can research works on paper from the 15th to the 21st century.

A passionate educator, Fonda previously taught art history at Boise State and has held positions with the ACLU of Idaho, the City of Los Angeles’ Department of Cultural Affairs, and the archaeological site of Urkesh in Syria, where she established an on-site museum. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English Education from Northwest Nazarene College and a master’s degree in Art History from California State University, Los Angeles. Her research focuses on the transcultural iconography of Mesoamerican and Spanish influence, and her drawings of Aztec and colonial works appear in the Oxford University Press Handbook to Life in the Aztec World.