Unfiltered SA Feature

I discussed the symbol as a serpent in my most recent work with Deliasofia Zacarias and Casie Lomeli of Unfiltered SA. Please read to learn more about the significance of serpent energy in my healing process.

An Ongoing Relationship With Serpent Energy - Unfiltered SA

SAPL Podcast - Digging

I enjoyed discussing my solo exhibition, Digging with J.D. Elizondo and Raquel Reyes of the San Antonio Public Library Podcast, Tuned In. Listen here to learn more about the meaning behind my most recent work:

SAPL Podcast - Digging

LINDA ON MY MIND

Here are some process shots of Texas Bindweed helping me pay tribute to Linda Ronstadt and her eerie, heartbreaking song, Blue Bayou.

Tejana

I am working with Texas bindweed (a native Texan flowering vine in the morning glory family) to create some jewelry meant to adorn my Tejana body and show reverence for the land of my birth.

Tex-Mex

Tejana

Texas Bindweed

I have been gathering cuttings of vines native to Texas to use in a new series of work. Among my favorites, is Texas bindweed. It's in the morning glory family and produces tiny white blooms with red centers. I found this particular vine thriving in a concrete-asphalt seam.

As I explore my own identity as a Tejana, I am working with this vine to create a few pieces meant to be worn, to adorn. I'm interested in how our bodies are forever linked to the place of our birth as well as our ability to flourish in new and challenging environments. As I work with this plant and learn more about its characteristics, I am also examining my own body: a soft body, a large body, a strong body, a body that's housed another body, a fat body, a powerful body, a body that takes up space, a Tejana body, a body that creates, an aging body, an abused body, a loved body, a sexual body, a body that has survived, a living body, a woman's body.

Texas bindweed 

Convolvulus equitans

Click on the link below to learn more about Texas bindweed

www.wildflower.org

Life and Death in the Garden

It has been a struggle lately to force my artwork into rectangles that hang flat on a wall. I feel a strong pull to create bodies that stand on their own. As I reflect on this, rethink previous boundaries, and open myself up to new ideas, I am also clearing out my garden to prepare for new growth. Spring cleaning all around! And right on cue, the garden provides (like always). As I cleared out old dead plant matter, these two forms emerged. I plan to experiment with them as the skeletons for sculptural work. I'm looking forward to a new direction.

philodendron trunk and roots

Texas bleeding heart vine and roots

Common Currents

I was invited to participate in the Common Currents exhibition at the Carver Community Cultural Center opening this Thursday, March 15th. Join us at the opening reception from 6-8pm. Please read below for more information about Common Currents.

Opening reception for Common Currents: 1918-1967 is an official San Antonio Tricentennial event. Opening night events will include visual art and performance works in the Jo Long Theatre. 


ABOUT COMMON CURRENTS
In celebration of San Antonio’s Tricentennial year, six downtown artist-centric organizations: Artpace San Antonio, Blue Star Contemporary, Carver Community Cultural Center, the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, the Mexican Cultural Institute, and Southwest School of Art, will partner to present an exhibition that will illuminate the 300 years of their hometown’s history. Common Currents is a diverse, encyclopedic showcase of San Antonio’s history as told and rewritten by more than 300 visual and performing artists, invited to participate by their peers, and presented over 6 venues.

Drawing on the connections or currents that run through San Antonio’s vibrant creative community, each of the organizing partners began by inviting two artists. These initial 12 artists were then asked to invite two peer artists, until more than 300 were amassed. All of the participating artists were assigned one year of San Antonio’s history on which to reflect in the development of their work for Common Currents. This exhibition is presented chronologically through a variety of contemporary media across the six venues.

Common Currents draws a portrait of San Antonio, by San Antonians. With the “chain letter-inspired” framework for the exhibition, each organization takes a backseat, letting the participating artists make decisions that may traditionally be the role of the organization or curator. This provides for an exciting presentation of artistic connections spanning our center city’s art venues. More information at commoncurrents.org



Please click on the link below for the Facebook event page.

Common Currents Opening Reception at the Carver Community Cultural Center

I was assigned the year 1959. The mixed textiles piece I have created focuses on the Tex-Son garment factory strike organized by Sophie Gonzales and the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union - Local 180 in San Antonio, Texas. 

This photograph of Gonzales accompanied an article about the strike in the San Antonio Light newspaper in 1959. Factory workers who opposed the strike threw dolls that resembled strikers at picket lines in an attempt at intimidation.

I created a portrait of Gonzales using bits and pieces of women's clothing and other sewing materials including pins and paper patterns. I look forward to sharing the final product as a part of this exhibition.

Books / Tools

Books are precious. I love to jump from book to book as my interest in a topic waxes and wanes. These gems are on my bedside table at the moment. In my artwork, I am currently exploring the serpent as a symbol in mythology, folklore, and my own dreams.

Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza by Gloria Anzaldua

Literary Witches: A Celebration of Magical Women Writers 

by Taisia Kitaiskaia and illustrated by Katy Horan

The Encyclopedia of Witches & Witchcraft by Rosemary Ellen Guiley

Design Motifs of Ancient Mexico by Jorge Enciso

The Art of Dreaming by Carlos Castaneda

Chicana Art: The Politics of Spiritual and Aesthetic Altarities 

by Laura E. Perez

Laura E. Perez discusses spirituality in Chicana art

Visiting Artist at SAY Si

Yesterday I had the privilege of presenting as a visiting artist for a group of talented young artists at SAY Si. I shared information about my background, artistic process, inspiration, and influences. I was also able to visit their amazing studio space to check out their ongoing visual arts projects. I loved discussing some of the themes in their artwork including peace, acceptance, self-love, and humanity. Thanks for having me! To learn more about the after school arts programs at SAY Si, click on the link below.

saysi.org

Mano de Nopal

My creation of these Mano de Nopal amulets is ongoing. I began making them years ago for my own home and now I am making them for others. They are meant to hang near a doorway in the home to ward off negative energies.

Healing and New Growth

I had a leftover nopal hand after carving and hanging my last batch. It had a substantial root system still attached, so I potted it in some soil. I am blown away by how it has regenerated. New baby pads are emerging! I am in the beginning phases of a new assemblage series about trauma, healing, and transformation. And this little hand inadvertently hit the nail on the head.

Precious Dead Things

I started collecting chicharra shells when I was little. During the summer months here in South Texas, these beautiful morphing insects leave behind little "ghosts" all over the place:  fragile, translucent evidence of transformation. I now feel that same awe as I observe the life cycle of plants within my garden. Some leave behind hollow skeletons after they die. And of course, I collect them. I will be assembling a wreath of these precious dead things. 

chicharra or cicada exuvia

clockwise from top: 

mystery seedpods, calla lilies, pitcher plants, 

magnolia seedpod, devil's trumpet

center: easter lily cactus

Healing

These old family photos of my husband and his maternal grandmother are the inspiration for a new series of work I am doing about healing. My husband's mother documented the healing rituals performed by her mother in Asherton, Texas in 1982.

Ama uses an egg to perform a limpia or cleansing to treat mal de ojo or evil eye. These afflictions often manifested in a fever, stomachache, or lethargy. After rubbing the egg over the body of baby Ariel, she cracks the egg and drops its contents into a bowl of water. A cross made of broom bristles is placed atop the bowl which is then set under the baby's crib. 

Here, Ama uses ruda or common rue/bitterwort to treat susto or fright. With susto, the baby is startled very easily causing him to cry often.

Collage Workshop this Saturday 3/26/16

Join me this Saturday for a collage workshop! Let's make some creepy stuff together....

"Hands are a prominent symbolic element in artist, Audrya Flores' work, and in this workshop, she will share her process for creating a "ghost hand" fabric and paper collage. Participants will be encouraged to explore this imagery by creating their own unique work of art."

Cost: $5 Suggested Donation, includes all materials and light refreshments. 

Space is Limited. 
Email stephtorressa@gmail.com to register.

Click on the link below for more info

Collage Workshop with Audrya Flores

Upcoming Solo Show at Provenance Gallery

I've been pouring all of my efforts of late into an upcoming solo show at Provenance Gallery opening Saturday, March 12th. I am continuing with bizarre, metacognitive work exposing my artistic process of decoding dream symbols. The show is called Devil's Trumpet.

Datura, also known as Devil's Trumpet, is a highly toxic night-blooming flower that, if ingested, causes a state of delirium. Myths exist in multiple cultures in which the personified Datura plant aids people through dreams and visions.

I first became fascinated with this plant after purchasing one from a local flea market. I began to research some basic plant facts to better tend to it and discovered a symbolic connection to my current artwork. Here are some images of my favorite garden creature. You can see why I'm inspired and completely smitten…

 Datura metel aka Devil's Trumpet opening just after sundown

Devil's Trumpet seedpod

Navigating the Dreamworld

I am currently creating a series of self portraits that explore my process of using lucid dreams to create art and address emotional issues. I am experimenting with a variety of materials.

These are the lace cuffs and collar of a vintage blouse I used to create the nightgown below.

The flesh is represented by upcycled leather.

An old pillowcase has turned into a tiny blouse and skirt.

This is a seedpod from a coral bean tree. It will represent an all-seeing eye.

Burns

I created a small piece that reflects the emotional wounds or "burns" that two people in a relationship can inflict on one another over time. Here are a couple of in progress photos. The torsos are made from recycled sewing pattern paper (tissue paper) and the holes were created with freshly extinguished matchsticks. The final product is currently being photographed.

Experiments in LEATHER

Here are a few things I've been working on:

 I've been hoarding all of my leather scraps in this tiny vintage caramel-colored Samsonite suitcase. My mother found it at a flea market in Albuquerque 25 years ago.

I created a Jaguar-Opossum back patch for my denim jacket  using an old leather skirt and some boots.

These white leather hands are the beginning of a collage that will represent another weird dream of mine.

EVIL

When I decided to record family stories for this project, this is one of the first that I thought of.  It is a story that was told to me by a cousin.  The image has haunted me for years.  It is easily one of my favorites of the bunch.

"I was walking to church early one morning. I was an altar boy and we had to get there early. The sun wasn't up yet. I looked up and saw a dog in front of me. Growling at me. Right in the middle of the road. But this dog wasn't no normal dog. It had a long snout. Like really long. Maybe two feet long. And right then, I knew it was evil. There was no other explanation. Dogs just don't look like that. So I made the sign of the cross over myself and picked up a big rock. But when I went to throw it, the dog was gone."