Women Who Dare

I was honored to have my Seer and Hand Talker pieces included in the Women Who Dare exhibition at the Carver Cultural Center in November. This show was curated by Sarah Castillo and Anel Flores.

Women Who Dare

How Dare You: A Multi-Media Exhibition

Opening Reception from 5-8 pm at the Carver Community Cultural Center. Thursday, November 5th.

There is art in everything. Our home, our phone, our car, and even something as complex as our physical body. And, in the rat race that is life, there tends to be very little art that causes us to stop and implore the lines, functions, and story that lie within it. How Dare You? will exhibit works of art by San Antonio women artists who stimulate, provoke, and capture her viewers; allowing space for the movement and speed of the competing world to fall away.

Thirteen artists will be featured in this show - Claudia Zapata, Leticia Rocha Živadinović, Audrya Flores, Raquel Zawrotny, Linda Arredondo, Kristel Puente, Kat Shevchenko, Stephanie Torres, Adriana Garcia, Maria Vasconcellos, Amanda Bartlett and Ashley Mireles.

Curated by Anel I. Flores and Sarah Castillo.

Exhibition Dates: Thurs, November 5 - Friday,November 27
Monday-Friday - 7:45am-4:30pm @ 226 N. Hackberry, 78202.

Hand Talker

Hand Talker
2015
fabric, leather, lace, yarn, pins, cactus
28" x 40"

Years of battling anxiety have taught me this truth:  I possess the ability to harm or heal myself. The choice is mine. Often, my anxiety manifests itself in my hands through fist clenching, fidgeting, or sweating. And still, I choose to purpose these hands for cultivating, for mothering, and for making.

This self-portrait is part of a series of assemblage work that seeks to explain my artistic process. I create tactile representations of my dream symbols as a way to decode their meanings and resolve the conflicts they represent.

Seer

Seer
2015
fabric, lace, ribbon, pins, wire, seedpod, paper
45" x 20"

I find the dream world liberating. Free from my physical body, I am able to navigate my own fear, shame, bliss, sadness, and pleasure without witnesses. Without time. Without weight. These feelings present themselves as images: vivid and haunting. I can see them. I can name name them. And they are me.

This self-portrait is part of a series of assemblage work that seeks to explain my artistic process. I create tactile representations of my dream symbols as a way to decode their meanings and resolve the conflicts they represent.

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.

Protection Ritual

Protection Ritual

cactus, yarn

2014

This bouquet of multiple hands is a symbol of protection created for my home. The use of this difficult (and painful) medium is meant to emphasize my devotion to my family.