After initial announcement that the 2020 fellowship was cancelled, the annual Artist Trust Fellowship was reinstated earlier this year. I was one of nine creatives from across the state awarded the unrestricted $10,000 award. The others include: visual artists Dan Friday, Mary Ann Peters, and Anthony White; performing artist Benjamin Hunter; multidisciplinary artists Jaleesa Johnston and Chris E. Vargas; and literary artists Rena Priest and Sharma Shields.
I am so grateful to receive this award for a second time!!!
I broke into tears when I was notified. There is so much talent and dedication in our communities. Our cultural ecology is so diverse and gifted, how difficult it must have been for the jurors to choose among the countless deserving creatives!
I am so humbled by this fellowship, its generosity and support, by the validation that comes from knowing that my work was chosen by other art professionals who get what I am putting out into the world. The money is meaningful too.  It goes without saying, Covid19 has affected all of us in punishing ways and without this funding I wouldn’t be able to take the next step in my practice. I’ve been painting over all my old canvases because I ran out of materials, limiting the scale of my work with understandable thrift.  The Artist Fellowship grants me the support to keep on making an impactful dialogue in the language of art and in the language of feminist revisionism, without the bridle of narrow commercial concerns. My heart just overflows with gratitude to every single donor, every sponsor, every cultural worker who contributes to Artist Trust and its many programs. Thank you!
Inherent Visions opens November 1st at Cornish Playhouse Gallery
The group exhibition of Neddy at Cornish finalists and winners is without a doubt going to be spectacular! Curated by Juan Franco Ricardo, my work joins that of J
Split Lip Magazine features Alchemical Bride 4
So honored to be the featured artist in their October issue. I love this painting, which commemorates Marie Curie, the ultimate alchemist! She won not one, but two Nobel
Parentheses International Literary Arts Journal features my art on the cover!
Last year, on top of my documentary series, I devoted my studio to activating Puer, Jung’s Eternal Man Child in the studio. No Uncommon Destination 2 sailed it’s way to the cover of Parentheses.
I couldn’t be more excited!!
Mourning Embroideries from The Lamentations are included in Threaded, MCC Art Gallery
Three of the Lamentations are included in Threaded, an exhibit of new works by 34 artists from across the USA who are engaging with fibers in new ways. Hosted by the MCC Art Gallery, the show runs September 3 – November 7, 2019.
My three pieces feature veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan posing as martyrs, saints, demons, and dead from Michelangelo’s masterpiece, The Last Judgement. Embroidered from hair and tears onto military netting, the small clusters of hair define soldiers and join single strands to create explosive debris, dust clouds, and lyrics. No matter how full the composition, the embroidered contours are practically invisible from a distance– a visual parallel to private yet communal sorrow. Pure, simple, restrained.
Juried by MarÃa-Elisa Heg, curatorial fellow at Houston Center for Contemporary Craft and Mark Newport, fibers artist and Head of Fiber at Cranbrook Academy of Art.
My work is included in the new Vastarien!
Three Book of Hours collages are featured in Vastarien Vol 2 Issue 2 on pages ii, 96, 150. Get a copy at your local bookstore, or buy it online!
Shadow Boxing Premieres at The High Wall at Inscape Aug 1-4, 2019
My animation Shadowboxing makes its premiere at Inscape’s The High Wall just in time for the Seattle Art Fair. There will be a reception after sundown tomorrow, Sunday August 4th, 9pm – midnight. Reception includes a cashier, my film and another by There’s a $10 donation at the entrance to support Shunpike and The High Wall. Get in for free with the code “High Wall 2019”. Yeah, I got you covered.
Opening Reception For Re:Definition 2019 The Latinx Diaspora is Sunday July 28, 2019, doors open at 5pm
Don’t miss the chance to taste bites by Master Chef Tariq Abdullah, listen to music by DJ J-Nasty and MISSGUCCI, and of course, see amazing art! Selections from my Migrations series join the work of fellow Cubano, Hugo Moro, and Mexican artist, Arturo Arturez. The exhibit continues through January 20, 2020, so if you miss the opening, you do have time to sample the visuals.
Paramount Theatre
911 Pine St, Seattle, WA 98101
206-682-1414
Root & Star to Publish Interior Castle
The international journal is a winner of the Parent’s Gold Choice Award, so it’s only natural that Puer, the Eternal Man Child, wanted to share his dreamy home with other eternal children.
Just like me, Puer likes to paint and draw, and listen to the rain from an open window. Lucky for both of us that it rains here about 9 months of the year! Look for the new volume in September.
Parenthesis Journal to Publish Five Puer Paintings in their Fall Edition!
The international journal contacted me and asked me to submit images for their 7th volume. The seventh volume? How could I resist? I had just finished painting Seven Veils of Koi pictured above. Puer is always busy!
Four of My Paintings Are Published In Magic Tricks!
Four paintings from the Puer series have been included in Magic Tricks, a Literary and Visual Art Anthology published by Havik.
Concrete & Adrift Catalog Is Now Available For Free Download
This catalog documents the Concrete & Adrift: On the Poverty Line exhibition March 1 – June 22, 2019. Curated by Megan Valentine, Curator & Registrar Co-Juried by AMoA Staff Members Designed by Gar Pickering Published by the Alexandria Museum of Art 933 Second Street, Alexandria, LA 71301 318.443.3458 Download the catalog here: https://issuu.com/alexandriamuseumofart/docs/c_acatalogproof
Epic 102 (Rickety Isms Failing Us All will be published in the Raven Chronicles Press Anthology
The anthology entitled, Take A Stand: Art Against Hate will be published in the fall, 2019. The book will also include another of my drawings. I am so honored to have my work included. The labor of sowing peace and unity in a time of divisiveness, hate, and nationalism is an ongoing effort for all culture workers with a conscience and a heart.
Havik Anthology is publishing four pieces from the Puer series
oil on canvas
12″ x 12″
While I have been busy getting up to speed at the college after a 9-month sabbatical, my alter ego Puer has been busy. Havik Anthology, an arts and literature publication is featuring four pieces from the Puer series in their next volume. I am so excited and grateful to be included by this prestigious anthology published by Las Positas College from California!
Alchemical Bride at Cornish Playhouse
Alchemists of old called the furnaces where base matter was transmuted into gold the House of Chick, because symbolically, this incubator is a metaphor for the human body, and our physical metabolism is the fuel that transforms matter into the sought after body of light.
Five paintings from my new series, Alchemical Bride, are on display at the Cornish Playhouse in an Artists Up group show.
The show is up through May 15th, 2019 at the Cornish Playhouse, 201 Mercer, on the grounds of the Seattle Center.
Up The Stairs Quarterly to feature Through The Aleph from the Puer series
oils on canvas
36″ x 24″
Seven pieces from the Puer series will appear in Up The Staircase Quarterly. The pieces as a group are titled Through The Aleph, because my alter-ego, Puer, that eternal Man-child, travels through one to experience different landscapes. He’s my very own transcendentalist, with an exuberant point of view!
Spring and Jump Into Green
This piece is my contribution to this year’s EGGS-plore Lynwood Egg Hunt. The EGG hunt city wide is on!! After the egg hunt, the eggs will be on display at Lynwood City Hall and auctioned off to support local nonprofits. The auction is on June 14th. I Love nothing more than to be able to give back to my community!
One of the most awesome memories from a youth spent in the tropics is the sight of bright tree frogs latched onto a window. I could inspect them up close and they wouldn’t try to flee. They knew there was glass between us. Maybe the frogs wanted to get a closer look at the humans too! Frogs usually herald springtime with their croaking and chirping choruses, but sadly populations in the US and abroad are declining. Amphibians are the first to suffer when contaminants enter the environment and so I am hoping these colorful frogs will help bring awareness to how we all can spring a little more into green. Every little action by every single one of us adds up to one big greening effort!
My New Animation Titled Shadow Boxing
I embarked on this hand-drawn animation as a kind of ritual, paralleling the tedium of drawing each individual cell with the daily battle against the Othering our bodies are subject to, most critically in this historical moment. I was thinking of epigenetics also, how we inherit the bruises of our ancestors in this fight as old as patriarchy and colonialism. Calling upon the archetypal warrior, Ogun, the repeating call in Yoruba, oh Ogun o mogba mogba, is an homage to the resilience of the Africans brought to my homeland of Cuba (and USA) who were able to maintain their faith and persist despite unspeakable cruelties and enslavement. A Lucumi song from my youth, when I was consecrated Iyalocha into the faith. And while I don’t practice the religion anymore, that ashé lives on in me, and I consider myself fortunate to have come to understand the wisdoms of those who survived the unthinkable with their souls intact.
Making It, A Life In Art
Making It, A Life in Art, single channel video, 54m39s, 2019
No Hiding Place Down Here in Concrete & Adrift: On The Poverty Line at the Alexandria Museum of Art from March 1 – June 22, 2019
I am so honored to have my multi-media installation, No Hiding Place Down Here, included in this critical exhibition. Curated by Megan Valentine, the show examines the too often ignored subjects of poverty and homelessness. On view in conjunction with Sordid and Sacred: The Beggars in Rembrandt’s Etchings, Concrete & Adrift features work by regional and national contemporary artists working in a variety of media. The Alexandria Museum of Art is committed to fostering a culturally rich community through innovative art experiences.
Alexandria Museum of Art
933 Second Street | Alexandria, LA 71301
(318) 443-3458
Gallery Hours
10 AM – 5 PM | Tuesday – Friday
10 AM – 4 PM | Saturday
Closed on Sunday, Monday, and Major Holidays
Admission Prices
$5 | Adults
$4 | Senior Citizens/Students/Military
FREE | Children under 4 years of age
I am happy to announce that The Three Joses, a triple portrait of the patriarchs in my family, offers a counter point to the stereotypical image we have of latinos in Bridging The Gap: Machismo In Latinx Culture & Community. Rather, the work explores what happens when that father figure is removed from the fabric of family life. In this triptych, I drew a portrait of my grandfather, father, and brother…all named Jose… on delicate linen handkerchiefs. Each handkerchief portrait also bears the text to personal letters written to them. Cutting and pulling on horizontal threads to partially distress each, I physically eroded the textiles, illustrating the dissolution of intergenerational ties when a member of the family is forcibly removed by the state.
The first portrait tells of the lost familial connection when my grandfather fled to the USA and left us behind. The second portrait tells the story of what happened to my father when he was taken by the G-2 Cuban Secret Police and tortured. He died at 36. The third portrait tells the story of my brother whose son is the first in many generations to break the tradition of naming the first born Jose. A reception will be help Jan. 18th 5:30-7pm at SAA, in Salem, Oregon. Read more about the show here: https://salemart.org/16993-2/
Gideon’s Call, My DPD Mural at the Dexter Horton Building
Mural Celebrates the Work of The Public Defender’s Office
I am so grateful to 4Culture for project managing and helping me serve the dedicated and hard working lawyers, investigators, and staff of the Department for Public Defense with the mural design, Gideon’s Call. I envisioned the members of the DPD as freerunners pivoting, vaulting, and leaping over columns and a stylized city scape– a visual metaphor for the maneuvering they preform everyday in helping clients navigate complex legal challenges. This is my first mural art commission in Seattle and I am deeply honored that it was for these hard-working folks. I painted on the weekends so as to not disrupt the office life overly, but sure enough, plenty of lawyers worked the same long hours on Saturdays and Sundays! The mural is situated in the mezzanine of the historic Dexter Horton Building, downtown Seattle.
Migrations series is published in Lunch Ticket
Wake Up Screaming online journal, Issue #16, Numbers
They published a selection of my Books Of Hours Series! This was such a thrill…you can’t imagine. As some of you know, my mission is to change hearts and minds through art, and this unique journal intersects so beautifully with my own vision. Wake up Screaming is an online arts magazine, a window to the soul based in Glastonbury U.K. The first article is by Tom Bree, who is currently writing a book about sacred geometry in the Well’s Cathedral. Visit the journal and see my work here: Book of Hours at Vol #16, NUMBERS
New Video Shorts For My Documentary, A Life In Art
featuring Philippe Hyojung Kim
featuring Brian McGuigan, Programs Director for Artist Trust
So if you’ve been wondering why you haven’t been seeing new artwork on the Puer or Migrations series, it is because I have been neck deep in writing, directing, editing, and producing a documentary…um, with only my husband to help me! I’ve got five more shorts in the pipeline before I embark on the long documentary piece. So yup, this is a no-budget, bring your heart and soul to the community kind of film-making project. oxox
Center on Contemporary Art show closed on Saturday
Exhibition: October 4 – November 17, 2018
Reception: Thursday, October 4, 6pm – 9pm
Reception: Thursday, November 1, 6pm – 9pm
Center on Contemporary Art (CoCA) presents the group show, (Where) Do We Belong? This exhibit shares the realities and challenges surrounding immigration and includes artworks that are a response to Trump’s “Zero-Tolerance Immigration Policiesâ€â€”amplifying diverse artistic voices with direct experience. A wide range of media including installation and textile to video and paintings will present artworks from Humaira Abid, Hawo Ali, Tatiana Garmendia, Hiba Jameel, Rohena Alam Khan, Jake Prendez, Marcia Santos, and Judy Shintani.
Center on Contemporary Art
114 3rd Avenue South
Seattle, WA, 98104
Phone (206) 728-1980
Email info@cocaseattle.org
Centers Of Gravity Shoreline City Hall
‘Neath The Sugar Moon, 2018
Shoreline City Hall
17500 Midvale Avenue N
Shoreline, Washington 98133
Monday – Friday 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Last chance to catch the Kent Summer Show
Kent June 6- August 22, 2018A painting from Puer, a new archetype I’ve been exploring in the studio, is on display at the Centennial Center Gallery’s summer group show. My Puer really does dance to the beat of a different drum. He titles his own series (this one is from his Aleph series) and goes places where I as a woman might never go unaccompanied. He gets around. He’s even showing elsewhere under a different name! Not sure if he’s a rascal or a transcendentalist. Want to see more? Click here Puer Centennial Center Gallery
400 West Gowe Street Kent, WA 98032
Monday – Friday, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m., closed holidays
Faculty Group Show
February 5-28, 2018
I’ll be showing films, and other new work from the Migration series.
The Unraveling, single channel video, 6:54, 2017
M. Rosetta Hunter Art Gallery
1701 Broadway, BE 2116 (by the Atrium), Seattle, WA 98122
(206) 934 – 4379
Internalized Borders
February 14 – April 13, 2018
I’ll be debuting For What It’s Worth and showing three other films and a new drawing from the Migration series. Other artists in the show include Alva Mooses, Edel Rodriguez, Deborah Faye Lawrence, Ricardo Gomez, Felipe Baeza, Mauricio Cortez Ortega, Shahrzad Changalvaee, and Maria de Los Angeles.
Shiva Gallery
899 Tenth Avenue, 6th Floor New York, NY 10019
(212) 237-1439
Zhi LIN’s drawing, Chinese Reconciliation Park, 2017. Chinese ink on paper, 8¾ × 12 inches. Courtesy of the artist and Koplin Del Rio Gallery, Seattle.
Immigration Panel Speaker at Tacoma Art Museum- in conjunction with Zhi LIN’s exhibit.
February 15, 2018
I have been invited by Tacoma Art Museum to comment on the relationship of art and activism, particularly as these relate to the hot-button topic of immigration. The panel and community activities support the current exhibit/installation by Zhi LIN at the museum (see drawing above). The artist will be joined by Humaira Abid, Fulgencio Lazo, and myself to converse with Dr. Susan Platt and museum patrons.
TACOMA ART MUSEUM
1701 Pacific Avenue, Tacoma, WA 98402
T: 253-272-4258 x3062
Our Daily Armor lll – The Virago in Contemporary Art and Adornment
November 16th – December 31st, 2017
Come on by to support and celebrate the righteous art and artists this show!
Virago Gallery
4306 SW Alaska St., Seattle, WA 98116
(206) 933 – 2444
October 11, 2017 through November 28, 2017
Lynnwood City Hall, 19100 44th Ave W
Lynwood, WA 98036
No Hiding Place Down Here at Seattle Presents Gallery
Seattle Municipal Tower, 700 Fifth Avenue, Seattle, WA 98104
Through October 14, 2017
Commissioned by Seattle Office of Arts & Culture
Everything Passes Everything Stays at Steele Gallery
Gage Academy, 1501 10th Ave E., Third Floor, Seattle, WA 98102
Open September 13 – October 4, 2017