At Clemente Soto Educational Center

Borimix is the art festival that I have been working for my internship. I am part of the artists
participating in the exhibition and I am also will conduct a performance of my painting concept with a dancer.

SOCIETY OF THE EDUCATIONAL ARTS, INC (SEA) presents Veuve Cucaracha: A contemporary art hommage to Pura Belpre Veuve Cucaracha is a contemporary art exhibition that honors the tremendous literary legacy of Pura Belpré (circa 1899-1982) through specific pieces dwelling on the timeless love story between Pérez the Mouse and Martina the Roach. Concurrently, Pura Belpré in Her Own Words, is an exhibition curated by the Center for Puerto Rican Studies based on its archival collections. It highlights Belpré's life and work as The New York Public Library's first Spanish speaking children's librarian. Other visual arts exhibitions featured in the festival include: Canto Boricua, a painting exhibition by Eli S. Alvarado at La Casa de la Herencia Culural Puertorriqueña, and Nueva York, an exhibition at El Museo del Barrio showcasing the myriad Latino contributions to a diverse and culturally vibrant New York. Artists Vincenzo Amato Luis Carle Ana Cristina Collazo Silvio de la Cruz Maria Domínguez Eseohe Arhebamen/ EdoHeart Mia Hernández Jonás Hidalgo Alí Irizarry Malika Tania Marmolejo Christian Montalvo Lucrecia Novoa Rafael Rosario Laguna Keith Saari Phyllis Sanfiorenzo Lina Sarrapochiello Rafael Tufinyo José López Alemán Amy Westpfahl *Curated by Miguel Trelles Place & Date November 5 - November 30 LES & Abrazo Interno Gallery at Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural & Educational Center 107 Suffolk St., 1st & 2nd floor, NYC "OPENING NOVEMBER 5 @ 6PM" **Special Performance by Eseohe Arkhebamen/ EdoHeart, 8PM More Information For more Information call:(212) 529-1545 or visit: www.borimix.com - www.teatrosea.org

At Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop

                                Ana Cristina Collazo, Devraj Dakoji, Catalina Chervin

My first set of prints

Turmoil
24" x 36"

Reef
24" x 48"

Cascade
19.5" x 16"

Working with Divraj Dakoji

At Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop I met Divraj Dakoji, a printmaking master. It is interesting that last night Divraj came to my studio to see my portfolio of paintings. He was delighted on my concept of painting through the body movements. He wanted me to learn a new technique by using regular litho aluminum plate but making the traces with Xerox Toner. We were working at my studio creating three lithos then we did the process of setting the toner through heat at the printmaking workshop and this is what it came up.

The litho  plates measure 24" x 30". The next step is preparing the litho plates for printing. My experience working with Divraj was fantastic. Working with a master it is something not to forget.

Dia Foundation at Beacon

Recent Installations: Robert Ryman, Agnes Martin, John Chamberlain, Walter De Maria, Imi Knoebel
Permanent Collection: Gerhard Richter's "Six Gray Mirrors", Richard Serra's "Torqued Ellipse II", Dan Flabin's "monuments to V. Tatlin", Donald Judd's boxes (Untitled), Fred Sandback's glass installation, Sol LeWitt's Drawing Series, Michael Heizer's "North, East, South, West". .

My best photo inside Serra's Torqued Ellipse II. It was about two inches wide of iron.

Is all about movement of the body in time and space. The material used in his work is very important.

At Ink 48 EFA's Closing Reception

Kathy Caraccio at her studio

Open Studio Exhibition

Long Weekend at EFA Studio Open Exhibitions

Lots of artists and wonderful projects. Here are a few.

 Joan Giordano

 Cui Fei

Danielle Tegeder

Working back with Miguel Trelles

The Sociedad Educativa de las Artes (SEA) a department of  Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural and Educational Center is organizing  an artist festival called Borimix. This festival is dedicated to a Puerto Rican Author, Storyteller and Puppeteer, Pura Belpré. SEA is inviting visual artists to submit work to be considered for inclusion in Veuve Cucaracha, a visual art exhibit curated by Miguel Trelles. As a student doing my internship with Mr. Trelles I am in charge in curating also and evaluating all the work submitted. Mr. Trelles is also a member of the Board of Clemente Soto Educational Center.  I was involved to participate and take notes from the first meeting. The meeting was all about sharing ideas for fund raising for the Center. It was very interesting the experience.

MoMA

Jasper Johns

 Pollock

 I have to go back to MoMA. It was full of people because of Matisse last days at the museum. The best of Matisse for me was the sculpture relief of  "Woman's Back". He abstracted the woman in such a way that created a landscape like with a subtle texture flowing through the composition. From the Expressionists artists the only thing I can say, by looking at Pollock's paintings I felt his physical movement through out his paintings. It is very related to the body and his intention. It is amazing, I love it!

Assisting Kathy Caraccio in her studio

It is interesting that Kathy Caraccio, the print maker artist, invited me to assist her in preparing the materials that will be used for her class on Saturday, October 9. I worked from 3:00 to 8:30 pm learning about the material to be used for the Silk Aquatint Class, which it is styrene covered with black acrylic paint and silk screen fabric. She was also training me in order to assist her with the class on Saturday which was another invitation that she made to me.  I was delighted to learn the technique and be invited to assist her in preparing the class materials and assist in her class.

Conversation with Kathy Caraccio

Just had a long conversation with Kathy Caraccio, a master printer and teacher at New York University. She has taught silk aquatint which is a form of Collagraph for many years. Deborah Oden, one of our print-making teachers at SCAD gave me her information and I made contact with her as a SCAD Student Resident in New York. She was interested in my work and wanted to see my portfolio which it was the beginning of a very productive conversation and critic of my body of work that lasted four hours. I am just prepared to start a new journey by taking a class with her in Silk Aquatint to take my project concept  further. Before starting this journey I have  a homework to be completed at MoMa. I  have to watch Dali's movie created around the 1940's about the way he produced his work "Dali Atomicus". It was the way he painted the water introducing a surreal way and the meaning of leaving the bodies and other artifacts in the air. I will make a research of the use of photography at that time in order to create frozen scenes with bodies that are moving down responding to gravity. In the conversation we were also analyzing Trisha Brown's Dancing Company and making a relation with the control that a dancer needs when confronts gravity.  How is this related to my work? I have to find out and write an essay of it.

Working with Miguel Trelles Exhibition

At Teatro Círculo in Lower East Manhattan I was helping the artist Miguel Trelles on the organization for his exhibition. The open reception for the exhibition will be this Thursday starting at 5:00 pm. I was assisting him in curating and  hanging his work for the presentation.

Whitney and Guggenheim Museums

I was impressed of Frank Lloyd Wright architectural design of the Guggenheim Museum. The concept in realizing an almost spiral like for people's circulation inside the building by connecting each floor in a subtle way demonstrates how ingenious  this architect was. I also enjoy very much the museum's collection from artists that produced paintings after WWI. It includes examples of Cubism, Cubo-Futurism, Expressionism and other avant-garde movements. I should mention artists such as Mark Chagall, Robert Delaunay, Franz Marc, Picasso, Paul Klee, Kandinsky and others. From the non permanent collection invited artists I enjoyed so much  Julie Mehretu's large format paintings. It is interesting the way she develops a sense of pictorial space created in layers and contrasts that from distance is an abstract, when you get close to the painting is full of details.

Visiting the Whitney Museum was an exiting experience watching Trisha Brown's Dance Company. The Company's approach in dancing has a challenge to traditional notions of gravity and space by moving the body according to the surface. They made three presentations with dancers, which the most amazing one was walking on the wall by hanging themselves with sophisticated cables. The challenge is the way they control their bodies confronting gravity.

It was also presented outside the building with a dancer fastened to the cables from the top roof.

Believe me the day ended in a very productive way.

Organizing my studio at EFA

It was not easy to organize my art material in the studio. I missed my studio shelves in Savannah.

Press Preview at Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts

Working at the studio is difficult to get to know the other artists at EFA, because everyone is working in their projects. Bill Carroll, the EFA Studios Director, needed help with the Press Preview for the  Members at EFA that are going to have their Open Studio Exhibit on October 14-16. Bill invited me to help by serving refreshments at the activity. It was a great experience to meet the Artists and the Press as well. I feel that I am not alone at the building anymore.

Robert Blackburn Print-Making Workshop

I had the opportunity to have Jennifer Melby as a  professor for Multiple Etching Plates. Melby is a well known print maker that has created prints for artists. She also is a professor at Parsons School of Design. Melby gave me orientation on how to make prints from copper plate etching. She also gave me instructions on how to use different colors in a composition by using various copper plates. I was at my studio mixing soup, oil and white pigment to create the ground for etching on copper plate. I am very proud of the results.

China or New York?

Learning to know New York at night

Broadway is amazing. I felt that I was looking at a movie screen.