Big Life Artist: Truckee Artist Lofts Residents

Big Life Artist: Truckee Artist Lofts Residents

June 28, 2022

This week at Truckee Thursdays, our Truckee Big Life Artist will be three artist residents of Truckee Artist Lofts. The booth celebrates and highlights our creative community of Truckee Cultural District in collaboration with Truckee Arts Alliance and Truckee Public Arts Commission (TPAC). Stop by the booth and meet artists Sonia Breuch, Ella de Buck, and Cori Elba, this Thursday, June 30.

Truckee Artist Lofts (TAL)  is a new mixed-use, affordable housing community for artists and the local workforce, located at the Truckee Railyard Project in downtown Truckee. The community includes 76 income-restricted rental apartments, ranging from studios to three-bedroom units, and ground floor commercial/retail space.  

TAL is a place for creative individuals and households to live, work, learn and collaborate with one another. The building and units include features specifically designed for Truckee-area artists. TAL’s common areas include an Art Room, Band Room, and outdoor common terrace with a BBQ picnic area overlooking gorgeous views of the Truckee mountains. On-site parking, laundry facilities, along with a unique mix of ground-floor commercial/retail space will make TAL a truly unique live/work/play environment. 

Sonia Breuch

Sonia is a pen and ink artist who also dabbles in the digital realm (above left image). In addition to canvas and paper, she uses repurposed materials such as used frames, maps, and thrifted furniture to create whimsical and unique pieces. When thinking up a new idea, or just doodling and practicing technique, she is inspired by retro-fantasy folk art as well as the worlds around them.

Some of Sonia’s recent pieces include studies of dragons and surreal, dreamlike landscapes. When not drawing and painting, Sonia listens to podcasts, talks to plants, cooks food for money, and hangs out with her cat. You can find her on Instagram: @sbreuchart

Ella de Buck

​​Ella (pictured above, center) is a video artist, tattoo artist, and stand-up comedian. She collects, dismantles, and synthesizes stories to then build feeling through humor, image, performance, ink, and body modification. Dreaming of radical futures, she shares humor and joyful ritual with others in order to help people process the challenges of daily life during late-stage capitalism. She often asks, “How can we find personal fulfillment in our lives while also working towards collective healing? How can we decolonize our wellness practices and have fun at the same time? How can I gently insult that white man in a way that simultaneously inspires him and empowers him to take part in meaningful change?” 

With a massive toolset of jokes, mediums, modes, and questions, Ella is in search of long-term solutions at the intersections of joy, spirituality, and human rights.  You can learn more about her here: https://cargocollective.com/elladebuck and find her on Instagram, @dekbek.

Cori Elba

Cori was raised in “hot and sweaty” South Florida around really creative people. Her dad was in a punk band and music was her life, but when she was younger, she saw music as her dad’s creative outlet, so she shifted toward drawing. Years later, she moved to California and started sketching, sculpting, cartooning, and creating zines (above, right). Cori has been creating art extensively for about 7 years now, having presented and sold her artwork as far away as Tokyo, Japan. Sketching in daily journals is how she processes her emotions throughout her busy life of creating art and working full-time as a flight attendant. 

During the transition of a major life change, she realized the importance that music and musicians had in her life. So, when she moved into Truckee Artist Lofts, she bought a drum set and began taking lessons at Split Rock Music Co. in Downtown Truckee. Now, just ten months into her drumming, she has played in public multiple times and gained confidence daily. She is super grateful for the Truckee community, which allows her to be her authentic self so that she can easily stay focused on all of her hobbies when balancing interests in yoga, bike riding, and daily river trips. You can find her on Instagram: @onplanetweird