Alejandra “Allie” Rojas Gaytan is a visual artist based in North Carolina. Born in Charlotte and now living in Boone, she completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts at Appalachian State University. Beginning as a painter and drawing artist, she discovered a deep passion for ceramics and sculptural work often incorporating intuitive mark-making and social engagement into her practice.
Her work explores themes of identity, belonging, and personal narrative. As the child of Mexican immigrants, Alejandra navigates the duality of being from the U.S. while remaining rooted in her cultural heritage. This duality shapes the forms she builds, the surfaces she creates, and the stories she chooses to tell, often blending humor, whimsy, vulnerability, and surreal elements to create objects that feel both intimate and bold. When it is not about identity, Allie enjoys making art related to social issues and finds the natural process of experimentation in art to be a catalyst for creation.
Support for her work includes the Penland School of Craft Work Study Program (2023), the ACCESS Scholarship Program (2020–2025), and studies at Appalachian State University. Her work has been exhibited at the ASU Portrait Gallery Show (2022), Penland Workshop and Concentration Exhibitions (2023), ASU Art Expo (2023 and 2024), the collaborative installation In Dreams at the ASU Looking Glass Gallery (2024), the Nth Gallery Annual Halloween Show (2025), and The ASU Annual Leading Legacy Exhibition (2024 and 2025). Her Moral B Toothbrush sculpture is currently on display at Huzzah Bookstore, Boone, NC (2026), the giant Holding Hairbrush is currently on display at the Rat King Studios hair salon, Boone, NC (2026), and other sculptures including the toothbrush and hairbrush from the On Borders series was displayed in the Walling Wey Hall during her BFA Senior Exhibition in December 2025.
My work focuses on my identity as a Mexican American living in the United States, the experiences I have had, and its connection to larger social issues. Through semi-functional sculptures of everyday objects made of clay, I aim to balance humor and conceptual weight.
I choose familiar objects that are nearly universal but often overlooked. Objects hold histories, tensions, and personal narratives. The ones I sculpt serve as markers of existence, within and around systems of care and neglect.