Born in the Philippines in 1983, Saul Jerome E. San Juan moved to the USA at age fourteen with his mother and two younger siblings.

After studying art and music as an undergraduate at Loyola in Chicago, San Juan came to Austin in 2007 to complete a graduate degree in architecture at the University of Texas.

In his architecture career, San Juan has specialized in overall architectonic concepts, the art of space, and visualization. San Juan's built work includes residential projects in the Austin area as well as a five-screen art-house cinema in Bentonville, Arkansas. San Juan has worked with a range of architecture offices and construction companies in the Austin area, like Andersson-Wise Architects, Urban Foundry Architecture, Tornbjerg Design, Bercy Chen Studio, and, most recently, Forsite Studio Architecture and Construction.

Working part-time at Forsite since January 2018 has given San Juan both time to develop a rigorous art studio practice and space to build community with fellow Austin artists, as Forsite invited him to form an art gallery in the repurposed 1900s bungalow Forsite shares with Articulated Design Landscape Architecture in East Austin.

Prior to Coronavirus social-distancing measures in March 2020, San Juan organized and curated a total of thirteen art exhibitions at The Gallery at Atelier 1205 within a space of just two years, showcasing Texas contemporary artists including Julia Hart, Laura Caffrey, Dave McClinton, Cindy Stapper, Meena Matocha, Kiley Grantges, Jennifer Schroeder, Erika Huddleston, Amy Scofield, Tammy West, Richard Ashby, B. Shawn Cox, Scott Rolfe, Beck Seitsinger, Cade Bradshaw, Charles Heppner, Madeline Irvine, Rebecca Bennett, Lucy MacQueen, Travis Seeger, Carl Smith, Donna Starnes, Valérie Chaussonnet, David Lamplugh, and Jeffrey Primeaux.

In recognition of his dedication to his art practice and art community, the Contemporary Austin selected San Juan as one of eight artists in its rigorous 2020 Crit Group Program.

San Juan enjoys engaging others, especially school-age children, through participatory art-making, volunteering in endeavors such as the Dell Children’s Medical Center Art of Giving and the Austin Police Department Summer Youth Leadership Program. These community endeavors have inspired San Juan to pursue official Texas educator certification, beginning his new career as an art teacher at Stephen F. Austin High School in August 2020.

As both a classroom educator and an artist with an active art practice, San Juan hopes to contribute holistically to our society today and tomorrow the sublime empathy that art has the potential to inspire in people of all ages and diverse backgrounds.

Artist Statement

“…Saul Jerome E. San Juan wishes to disarm his own preconceptions and others’ presumed preconceptions about self-identity and otherness…”

Curriculum Vitæ

EDUCATION

Texas Educator Certificate, Region 13 Educator Certification Program, 2021

M.Arch, The University of Texas at Austin, 2012

B.A., Loyola University Chicago, 2006

EXHIBITION HISTORY

The Bliss of Solitude
Julia C. Butridge Gallery, Dougherty Arts Center
2022

Crit Group Reunion
The Contemporary Austin
2021

The Contemporary Austin Crit Group 2020 Exhibition
grayDUCK Gallery
2020

The Feast of St. Elmo
Vault Stone Shop
2020

NO OUTLET
Northern-Southern Gallery
2020

The People’s Gallery 2020-2021
Austin City Hall
2020

The Flash Collection
Vault Stone Shop
2020

LIKEsNESS
Northern-Southern Gallery
2019

Austin-Bergstrom International Airport
2018

West Austin Studio Tour
The Neill-Cochran House Museum
2016 to 2018

The People’s Gallery 2018
Austin City Hall
2018

Build Hope Not Walls
Big Medium
2017

Art Hop 2014 and 2017
Georgetown Art Center
Georgetown, Texas
2014 and 2017

Small Works
Georgetown Art Center
Georgetown, Texas
2015

COMMUNITY

Artist-in-Residence
The LINE Artist Residency
The LINE Hotel Austin
2021

Community Artist
Dell Children’s Trust Art of Giving
Dell Children's Medical Center of Central Texas
2015, 2016, 2018, 2021, and 2022

Art Teacher
Art 1, Painting 1, Painting 2, and Painting 3
Stephen F. Austin High School
2020 to present

Visual Art Instructor
MUSIC ALIVE! Online Sacred Music Camp
St. Theresa Catholic Church and School
2020

Co-Founder
Austin Queer Men’s Crit Group
2019 to present

Co-Founder, Media Coordinator, and Performer
American Cheese Fondue
2019 to present

Director and Curator
The Gallery at Atelier 1205
2018 to 2020

Community Artist
Austin Police Department Summer Leadership Program
2016-2017