Tipping A Cap to Four Local Artists Behind Graduation Glam

EL CENTRO —  Blending into a sea of sameness from the monochromatic ocean of caps and gowns in their schools’ colors, graduation season in the Imperial Valley is increasingly sending seniors searching for that pop of personality — atop their heads — to stand out among their peers.

Artists like Kimberly Alfaro Massey, Alexandra Rosales, Maritza Muniz and Laura Navarette, many of whom can be found on social media and who have been booked months in advance, have been helping seniors and grads of all sorts live out their dreams for years now, cultivating a clientele that is not just in the Valley but out of state in some cases.

Recently, the four busy artists took a break from their projects to speak about the big business of grad cap decorating and how they came to it.

Kimberly Alfaro Massey: All-purpose Artist Added Caps to Repertoire

“Decorating graduation caps means a lot to me because I love to be able to provide the graduates with something they like, something memorable that they will be able to look back on and think, ‘wow, that was a part of me.’ I love being challenged with their ideas and to add a bit of my touch,” said Massey, an Imperial Valley native who co-owns Unwind & Design Creative Studio in El Centro with her husband, Alan Massey.

“I carry a little bit of them and they carry a little bit of me everytime they look at their caps. It’s something that lives on forever, their essence of who they were and how they were able to convey that to me for me to be able to put that on their cap and get it to their satisfaction,” she said.

Massey’s most recent commission was a Spider-Man-themed cap for a pre-K graduate, which she could be seen sketching out on the mortarboard with a white pencil before committing to permanence. Right after she completed that, she started working on her close friend’s cap who will be receiving his high school diploma from a local adult education high school.

“He’s been working at this for a long time and I’m super proud of him. I’m going to paint a portrait of his wife and daughter because he’s been trying to graduate for them,” Massey said.

As Massey explained, she came to decorating caps quite by accident. She focused on fine art first, and then did her first cap at the request of her younger sibling.

“I’ve been an artist since before cell phones were even a thing. I spent a lot of time indoors working on my drawing since I was little. It’s just something I always liked to do, color has always called my attention,” she said.

Massey spent many years selling hand-painted portraits, and about five years ago, her younger sister asked if she could decorate her graduation cap for her.

“Decorating my sister’s cap gave me the confidence to advertise myself and my business on social media to see if I could find other graduates who were interested in having their caps painted by me,” Massey said. “Soon after, I started receiving phone calls and direct messages from people who liked my work and wanted me to decorate their caps.”

Massey has found herself extra busy this time of year, as she’s been hand-painting caps for graduates of all ages, ranging from pre-K to university. She’s also been receiving orders from graduates outside of the Valley and has shipped caps to San Marcos, Irvine, Northern California and even other states.

Alexandra Rosales: Artist Starts Cap Work Early

Before even her own high school graduation, Alexandra Rosales (@work.of.alex on Instagram) was commissioned to do her first mortarboards for two seniors at Calipatria High who were already familiar with her work.

“I remember feeling so honored because I didn’t even know anyone recognized my art. Year and year after that; I felt like word just kind of spread that I decorated caps, so I went with the flow and decided that’s something I love doing,” Rosales said.

She said she looks forward to graduation season every year as she truly enjoys making her clients happy with their decked-out caps. This season in particular has been extremely busy for her, as her business has been growing through social media, and she’s juggling her cap-decorating business while being a grad student.

Rosales said she has had some unlikely points of inspiration in her youth to get to this point, among them a tattoo artist. She decided she wanted to become an artist in the sixth grade, when “my teacher at the time assigned a project where we had to make an object about 10 times bigger than average size. I decided to do a pencil and I couldn’t figure out how to draw the little inscriptions on the pencil just right. My mom had a friend at the time who was a tattoo artist and one day he came to visit and I asked him for help on my project since he knew how to draw. He showed me exactly how to get into drawing and what techniques I should be using,” she said.

“The moment he told me that drawing is all in the mind and it shouldn’t take much mind power; it should rather relax and come with the flow of your hand movements, I began my journey of drawing,” said Rosales, who was born in Brawley and raised in Calipatria.

It’s as if that attitude of mind of matter seems to have carried through into her adult work, even her cap work: Rosales said she’s been receiving and executing a wide range of ideas from her customers, from fully hand-painted artwork to full coverage in gems and rhinestones to cardstock cutout designs.

“I’ve loved every single design and customer I got to work with this year and I truly appreciate everyone who puts their trust into me as a cap designer,” Rosales said. “Although this year has been booked and busy, I hope it continues to be like this every year as it truly is an enjoyment for me.” 

Maritza Muniz: Making the Jump from Leis to Caps

Are decorated caps even a thing? That seems to be the question Maritza Muniz asked herself before diving headlong into the mortarboard-decorating business.

“I would have loved to have this kind of service around when I was a graduate. Times were hard, and I also don’t really think designed caps and leis were ‘in’ at that time either; not a lot of people would really decorate their caps or buy leis,” Muniz said.

She began her business, All Things Personalized, by creating leis for graduations, “the first lei I made was for my son, and it just grew from there. I started getting calls from people asking me to design leis for them,” Muniz said.

“I started teaching myself more skills through watching YouTube videos, joining Cricut groups on Facebook and playing around with all the features on my cricut machine,” she said.

With the confidence she gained after selling a multitude of leis, Muniz decided to expand into decorating graduation caps and has been doing so for almost six years now. 

“The satisfaction of helping others and making their caps look nice feels special to me, as that is their final statement as they are walking across the stage,” said Muniz, who was born in Mexicali and moved to the Imperial Valley 10 years ago.

Muniz said she has found this graduation season in particular to be both hectic and rewarding.

“Sometimes it can be stressful because I ship caps out to different parts of California and even into Texas, and I’ve had a situation where my work got lost in shipment,” she said. “Overall though, it’s been great, business has grown a lot, I’m really grateful to have gained some returning customers.” 

Muniz reminisced on the beginnings of her business in light of its growth from a simple hobby. “This started out as something fun for my son, but it has grown into a lot more. It wasn’t intended for that but it kept growing and I hope to continue growing and even open up my own studio one day,” she said.

Laura Navarette: It Started with Her Daughter’s Cap

Laura Navarette, owner of Alma Creativa, was born in Mexicali and moved to the Imperial Valley after graduating from university and getting married at 23 years old.

Her business journey began about five years ago, when she designed bows for local cheerleaders with their school name and logo.

When the pandemic began, she moved to designing T-shirts for seniors, as her daughter was a 2020 senior at Calexico High School. She also challenged herself to decorate her daughter’s graduation cap and sash for the first time.

“I’ve always liked arts and crafts, and I think that’s why I like to challenge myself to do this type of work,” Navarette said.

“My process starts by making myself and my business known through social media. Once I start receiving ideas from graduates, I prepare myself with materials I may need according to the work they are asking me for. From there, I make the cuts of material in my Cameo machine, and if the design requires flowers I cut paper and roll it into flowers by hand and individually glue them on the cap. Everything takes time and patience,” Navarette said.

This graduation season has been great for Laura and her business, she said. 

“This year I have done several caps, but due to time limitations, it is difficult for me to help everyone. If it was up to me, I would work on this all year round. Doing this is something that relaxes me and makes me forget my problems and stresses for the day,” Navarette said. “It is very comforting for me to know that at the moment the graduates see their cap completed, they smile and see that it was exactly what they wanted.”

Navarette is excited to decorate her daughter’s second graduation cap next December when she graduates from IVC’s nursing program, she said.

Decorated Art from Past Graduations