CareerWhen Ailene came back from the Philippines in 2002, Ailene's first job was at Charlotte Russe inside the Serramonte Mall in Daly City, California. From there, her older brother helped her get into a credit consolidation company in downtown San Francisco as the receptionist where she was eventually promoted to credit consolidator. In 2004, she briefly moved to Chandler, Arizona where she has a job at a pet store inside the mall as a veterinary technician. but she missed California and moved to Norwalk where she held several jobs including as a sales rep at KayBee Toys, Halloween City (Year Round Halloween Store), construction company office assistant, and a wireless company accounting assistant. Not the type to stay in one place, she moved to Fresno, California where she once again jumped from job to job. She worked at Nordstrom Rack, WIS Inventory Company, and several casinos as a cage cashier. She was beginning to become burnt out but needed a new direction. In 2005, she finally moved to Las Vegas, Nevada where her brother was already living.
Las Vegas wasn't any kinder to her than any of the other cities she wound up in. She began as a cashier at Albertson's on Cheyenne while living with her brother and his wife. She eventually moved into a house in Henderson with a few of her friends. She worked as a hostess at the late Rainbow Bar & Grill off of Harmon before it shut down for good, then she moved on to being a receptionist for Vince Neil's tattoo shop inside the O'Shea's Casino, Vince Neil Ink. After the tattoo shop, she worked at Ross until she became pregnant with her first child. She then took some time off for her pregnancy only to go back to work a month after she gave birth. From Ross, she moved on to Treasure Island Hotel & Casino as a Hotel Guest Representative. Having her first child around this time gave her a different perspective on life. This inspired her to go back to school and put her working life on hold. Once she graduated UNLV in 2019, she landed a job at the Bellagio Fine Art Gallery as a Docent. Unfortunately, this is when COVID hit and shut down all the casinos. They hired her back in late 2020 when the casinos began opening again. But she didn't stay long until she got a job at the Clark County Public Arts Office as a Recreation Assistant. She was tasked with coordinating and hosting the monthly educational workshop, Full Scope. Eventually, she was given the Empowerment Art! annual community outreach project, the ZAP Utility Box Mural program, and several public art projects to date. Ailene has also served as an evaluator/juror for multiple grant programs, public art projects, and exhibitions. She sits in committee boards such as the Arts + Culture Summit by the City of Las Vegas. Ailene had the pleasure of working with the Art.Dept to create Party in the SubOrbs with the Meow Wolf team inside the Western Hotel for Life is Beautiful in September 2023. While working for the County for over four years, she also juggles her small business and several projects of her own such as the Plastic Earth Project and Liberty Crochet Mural Nevada. Clark County Public Art Office Ailene works part-time for the Clark County Parks & Recreation, Public Art Office as a Recreation Assistant where she hosts a monthly Public Art Education workshop called Full Scope. besides the workshop, she also works as a Public Art Coordinator and has run Clark County's ZAP! Utility Box Mural Program since 2021 (ZAP 11, 13-17, JMMS, Harmon/Jones), two series of Temporary Art Installations at the Wetlands Preserve (PLAY and MIGRATE), and the Empowerment Art! Community Engagement project (on it's 5th year) along with smaller public art projects such as the Maryland Parkway Fence Art in 2022 and the Parkdale Amphitheater Mural in 2024. Currently she is coordinating ZAP 18 - 20, ZAP Rainbow/Blue Diamond, ZAP Parkdale, ZAP 20th Anniversary celebration, Walnut Empowerment Art!, Spring Mountain Youth Camp Empowerment Art, and the Wetlands Park Play Area public art sculpture. Plastic Earth Project Currently, Ailene is working on her project, Plastic Earth, a long-term project which started in 2017. The Plastic Earth project is an on-going environmental project presented through artistic expression and community engagement. This project consists of research, public workshops, educational outcomes and professional feedback. To support this project, you can donate to the fundraiser! She currently creates sculptures using upcycled materials and are being shown at a few exhibitions. Read more about this project. Liberty Crochet Mural NV The latest project Ailene is coordinating is the Liberty Crochet Mural in NV. She began the project in 2023 after she participated in the Liberty Crochet Mural in California. Jen Lamastra, Founder and main coordinator of the Liberty Crochet Mural, is working with Ailene to run the mural for Nevada. The mural is currently traveling around Clark County, Nevada. Learn more about the project through the link below! Current Life Ailene Pasco currently lives in the middle of Paradise Grove near the Arts District of Las Vegas with her partner and her three kids. She is working on two new projects that are scheduled to debut this winter 2025. She was invited to participate in the annual Desert Biennial project dated for October and her new personal project Para Sa Atin / For Us, a cultural research project expressed through the arts projected for December. Ailene is also the Lunar New Year Exhibition 2026 juror for the City of Las Vegas with the call now open and the exhibit set for February 2026. You can find Ailene's work currently at: City of Las Vegas, Pecos and Harris, AMP Utility Box University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Student Union, 2nd Floor, UNLV Collection University of Nevada, Art Department, GRA Building under the Ear Lulu Art House |
BiographyAilene Pasco was born in Imus, Cavite, Philippines in the early 80s and raised in the Bay Area of California, U.S.A. She was adopted by her paternal grandparents for the purpose of giving her a better future in America. Her grandmother is a dressmaker who taught her how to work with her hands, introduced her to fiber art, showed her how to run a business. and instilled in her great works ethics. Her grandfather taught her to appreciate music and art, a passion for photography, how to use curiosity to solve problems, and appreciate nature at a young age. After living as an American since 8 years old, she was culture-shocked when she was sent back to the Philippines to finish high school. From her experiences as a "balikbayan", her curiosity for the Philippine culture grew. This led her to her continuous research of the Philippine history. Her findings are reflected often in her pieces.
She is a mother of three kids whom she has homeschooled since 2014. Her kids inspired her to open her business named after them, Ozzy Olly and Ox, offering design services and creation of custom textile-based works ranging from fine art to merchandise. Ailene Pasco started her art journey at the College of Southern Nevada earning two AAs and received her BA in sculpture with a minor in art history at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 2019. Her work has been shown in galleries throughout Clark County, both in formal galleries and as public art installations. Ailene is a passionate advocate for public art and uses her pieces to raise awareness of pressing issues such as conservation of nature, animal and human rights. Ailene is a Public Art Coordinator for the Public Arts Office of Clark County Parks & Recreation specializing in community outreach projects such as the ZAP Utility Box program and the Empowerment Art project. Ailene is also a Public Art Educator for the Clark County Public Art Workshop Series called Full Scope. Ailene volunteers hours weekly as a Sculpture Yard Monitor for the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Fine Art Department since 2018. Ailene has been invited to sit as a juror and evaluator for projects, grants, and exhibitions through government entities and arts and culture organizations across the country. She has sat in arts and culture committees to represent the arts community. . Ailene Pasco is skilled in fiber art / textile art such as crochet, weaving, and hand sewing. She also creates sculptures using upcycled materials and is known for her interactive art. Ailene is also versed in the process of black & white film photography. She uses art as therapy for her anxiety and stress. Her artistic goal is to create pieces that impact lives and open minds. Her professional goal is to help other artists find their place in the art world. ChildhoodAilene Pasco was born in Imus, Cavite near Manila, Philippines. Her mother is a dressmaker and her father was a mechanical engineer. She is the youngest child out of seven kids. She has three older brothers and three older sisters. Ailene went to a private school for the first few years of her life, Jesus Good Shepherd School. She doesn't remember much of her childhood in the Philippines except for a handful of fading memories. In 1992, her mother's petition to migrate to America was processed and her mother was able to bring her dad, her two older brothers, and her, leaving the four older siblings behind. The petition took 30 years.
Being 8 years old in a new country, Ailene had a lot of adapting to do. Her family lived with her aunt, uncle and cousins in South San Francisco, California. She began school at Skyline Elementary School then eventually moved to Daniel Webster Elementary School in Daly City, California when her family finally moved into their own place. While at Daniel Webster, she learned to play the flute and the clarinet. But her biggest weakness was books. Her brother's girlfriend handed down her Babysitters Club collection and Ailene embraced it. This led to her collection of Sweet Valley High, Archie Comics, Calvin & Hobbes comics, Goosebumps, and the American Girls collections. Ailene spent most of her childhood reading books and playing outdoors in nature. She loved digging in the grass and collecting bugs, lizards, and snails. She fell in love with stickers and had endless collections. Her favorites being Lisa Frank aliens and foods, scratch and sniff stickers, and Sanrio stickers. Like any other 90s kid, she was addicted to Nickelodeon, Garbage Pail Kids, and had numerous Giga Pets who all died before making it to a month. She also lived with her Shih Tzu, Maui Jayne. After graduating elementary school, Ailene's parents decided to put her in a private school once again. She attended a small Baptist school in Pacifica, California where she completed 7th grade. But the private school was not working out and Ailene was transferred back into the public school system the next year. She attended Thomas Pollicita Middle School in Daly City where she fell in love with ceramics during art class. Ailene attended Jefferson High School in 1999 but only stayed for one year until she was sent back to the Philippines to finish High School. This was when she was informed that she was adopted. The people who she thought were her parents were actually her paternal grandparents. Her biological parents had her young and gave permission her paternal grandparents to adopt Ailene. Biologically, she is the oldest child of 7 kids. She has two full-blood siblings and three half-siblings. While attending high school, she took a job as an ice cream jockey at the local mall. Ailene graduated at a private school in Imus, Cavite in 2002 named Imus Institute, a private, non-sectarian, co-educational secondary and higher education institution in the city of Imus before they became Imus Institute of Science and Technology (2016). Higher AcademicsBefore beginning her college life, Ailene Pasco jumped from job to job from California to Arizona to Nevada. She took classes through the community college in San Mateo for IT Tech in 2003 but didn't have the passion for it and dropped out within the first year. She tried to start college life in 2008 but could not focus while juggling her job.
It wasn't until 2013 when Ailene decided she wanted to go back to college. By this time, she had a 3-year-old son and ended her job at Treasure Island Hotel & Casino while living in Las Vegas, Nevada. She enrolled, intending her major to be Veterinary Technician because of her love for animals and a previous job she held in Arizona that gave her experience in the field as one. She took classes at the College of Southern Nevada and found herself enrolling for an Art Appreciation class. The class opened a door that she didn't know existed for her and shortly after, she changed her major to Art. Ailene graduated with an Associate's degree in Arts in 2016 and a second Associate's degree in Art Emphasis in 2017, both from College of Southern Nevada. She did all this while going through two pregnancies (2014 & 2015) and homeschooling her first child (est. 2015, formally 2017). Getting her Associate's Degrees inspired Ailene to not only open a small business (Ozzy Olly and Ox), submit and land her first solo show as an artist (Las Vegas - Clark County Library District), but also enroll to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas for her Bachelor's degree. Ailene decided to major in sculpture when she realized she was not comfortable in 2D art plus she loved building with her hands. She also minored in Art History because of her love of history. During her time at UNLV, she wrote the Renaissance of Philippine Art, showed work in numerous galleries in town, began volunteering time at the Sculpture Yard, learned how to run a gallery, and decided to follow the path of a public art administrator. She had the opportunity to participate in an internship through her Gallery Practices class with the City of Las Vegas Cultural Affairs as a gallery attendant while working as a student worker having the same responsibilities at the Donna Beam Gallery of UNLV. By her last semester, she applied for the BFA program. She was accepted but had to decline the program due to personal reasons. Ailene graduated in August of 2019 with a degree in Sculpture and a minor in Art History. She still volunteers her time at the UNLV Sculpture Yard. |
Ozzy Olly and Ox
Ozzy Olly and Ox is a small business founded by Ailene Pasco. Besides being the owner, Ailene is also the artisan behind the business. Crochet apparel, accessories, toys, and other goods can be found in her store. She occasionally adds embroidery, beadwork, and cross stitch into her pieces. She is currently working on an upcycled clothing line collaborating with her project, Plastic Earth Project.
Ozzy Olly and Ox will be 10 years in 2027!!
Ozzy Olly and Ox is a small business founded by Ailene Pasco. Besides being the owner, Ailene is also the artisan behind the business. Crochet apparel, accessories, toys, and other goods can be found in her store. She occasionally adds embroidery, beadwork, and cross stitch into her pieces. She is currently working on an upcycled clothing line collaborating with her project, Plastic Earth Project.
Ozzy Olly and Ox will be 10 years in 2027!!
