Alexandro Arnal, PhD

Casa de Cuadros

Casa de Cuadros began as a way to carry forward a tradition that started with my father's photography studio, a staple near the Ysleta Mission in El Paso, Texas. Growing up, I spent my afterschool hours at his studio, starting with simple tasks like adjusting lights and moving benches, and gradually taking on more responsibilities such as editing photos and covering events. It was more than just a business; it was where I learned the art of photography and its ability to connect people.

As photography shifted from film to digital, the studio eventually closed, and though we continued working as freelance photographers, life got busier, and the business slowed down. But even as calls from old clients came in, I felt a strong urge to do more than just say we weren't available—I wanted to be able to refer them to someone who could help, to be a bridge rather than a dead end.

The pandemic was a turning point for me. Watching the boom in content creation made me realize that photographers are the original content creators, professionals who craft visual stories and connect with people in unique ways. I wanted to create a space where photographers in our community could showcase their work without the clutter of ads or the noise of larger platforms—a place that truly reflects the self-loving and supportive nature of our community.

Casa de Cuadros is my way of keeping that connection alive, of providing a simple, no-fuss platform where local photographers can share their work and where people in the community can find the creative talent they need. It's about keeping the art of photography thriving in El Paso, honoring the legacy of my father, and supporting the next generation of local artists.

Please feel free to visit the site at casacuadros.com and explore the work of our local photographers.

Life Drawings

I was visiting EPCC Valle Verde Campus during the fall semester before the pandemic, when I came across a series of life drawings displayed on the walls. As I walked down the hall, I could feel myself move across the room in the drawings as the perspective of the individual artists changed. Inspired by this experience, I sought to create a GIF that would replicate the sensation of moving through the room. A year later, I reached out to the professor of the course with this idea. Last month, he sent me images from a few series, and these are the results. Also, check out their virtual hall for more student art.

The de Arnal Gallery

I am playing artist's assistant helping my uncle share his work with the world. While I may not be deeply versed in the intricacies of the art world, I have no doubt about his talent. I'm genuinely excited for others to discover the artistry of Eugenio de Arnal and the creative legacy of the Arnal family.

Automatically Parcellating the Rat Brain

We use computer vision to segment rat brain regions from images of tissue sections stained for Nissl substance. Our practical goal is to deploy a method to parcellate brain tissue for neuroscience studies. The theoretical goal is to learn what features are important to a computer when segmenting brain regions. The computer vision methods are optimized by comparing their output with expert–drawn masks that delineate brain region boundaries in accordance with a standardized rat brain atlas, such as Brain Maps 4.0 .

We recently published a paper under this line of work: Effects of scale on segmentation of Nissl–stained rat brain tissue images via convolutional neural networks, Proceedings of FLAIRS-35 2022.

Atlas–Based Mapping

We are exploring methods to visualize and analyze data that has been mapped to a standardized atlas, like Brain Maps 4.0. Often, rigorous benchmark standards to digitally document ground truth, such as atlas–based mapping, do not take full advantage of the digital format of the data. Mapped data such as tracer injections sites, cell body positions, and fiber tracings (as shown above) can be quantified and analyzed in new ways inside the atlas the data is mapped to.