ARTE DE MARTA

I felt very grateful and loved when I was invited to share Cascarones to travelers in the airport(art at the airport) the Woodmere Art Museum. Both of these institutions support and highlight Philadelphia’s rich artist community. Their support gives me the optomisum needed to go forward and make philanthropic art. As an Chicana, activist I shares one of the jewel like traditions of my Mexican culture, AIDS awareness, and the act of kindenss to those in need. For over 30 years communitues like these two make it possible to create our artistic vision. In these troubled times I feel we all need respite. Cascarones bring the joy of my childhood to mind. Eggs, spring, and rebirth, as we see everything beginning to blossom. I wish everyone a blessed Easter, a happy spring and much luck when cracking a cascarone over a loved ones head or being the recipient of an egg cracking. Life is fast and spontaneous just like the cascarone.

I will be selling the Cascarones at the Reading Terminal Market in Center City Philadelpha March 28-30th with funds donated to Camp Dream Catcher. (https://campdreamcatcher.org). Special thanks to The Reading TErminal Market for the donated table and HACE for their ongoing support.

Much love and gratitude.

I started this journey with Norma E.Cantú in 2020! Collaborating from afar and printing this suite at Sam Coronado’s studio in Austin Texas was a rich and memorable time for me. This suite of ten prints has been sold and donated to individuals and institutions throughout the U.S. to serve as a visual and poetic bookmark of the Mexican experience with the train yards. I only have 10 out of the edition of 50 available for sale. Please share with train lovers, Latino Studies scholars and others that may enjoy and benefit from the suite and the book that is included.

Now Open! (re)FOCUS@BWA: Prints by Women, Then and Now

Since its 1972 founding in Philadelphia’s Spring Garden neighborhood, women artists have always been essential to the printmaking community nurtured by Brandywine. (re)FOCUS@BWA: Prints by Women, Then and Now is our contribution to (re)FOCUS, Philadelphia’s extended, citywide celebration of women working in the visual arts not only in Philadelphia, but throughout the world. This amassing of exhibitions and related programs honors and extends the legacy of FOCUS: Philadelphia Focuses on Women in the Visual Arts, a historically significant feminist arts festival presented in 1974.With Marta Sánchez and her print R Cigarro, R Barril (2002) are (left) William Valerio, Director and CEO of the Woodmere Art Museum, and Glen Sacks

(From left) Artist John Dowell, Board member Jeffery Cruse, Executive Director Michele Parchment, (re)FOCUS@BWA curator Ruth Fine, Founder and President Emeritus Allan Edmunds, Board member Patty Smith, Board Chair Jean Woodley, and Board member Ted Agoos with Belkis Ayón’s Untitled II (1999), which was printed by Ms. Smith.

Hester Stinnett with her print Fortune (1987)Celebrated in (re)FOCUS@BWA are internationally acclaimed artists Emma Amos, Tomie Arai, Belkis Ayón, Camille Billops, Elizabeth Catlett, Barbara Chase-Riboud, Sonya Clark, Maya Freelon, Letitia Huckaby, Lois M. Johnson, Jean LaMarr, Samella Lewis, Yong Soon Min, E. J. Montgomery, Vitjitua Ndjiharine (see article below), Howardena Pindell, Betye Saar, Marta Sánchez, Hester Stinnett, Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum, Gayle Tanaka, Kaylynn Sullivan TwoTrees, Sarah Van Keuren, and Deborah Willis.

(re)FOCUS@BWA was inspired by Brandywine’s Executive Director, Michele A. Parchment. It was organized by Ruth Fine with Gustavo Garcia, Brandywine’s Associate Director for Artist Residencies & Media Projects. Now an independent curator and artist, Ms. Fine served as a curator with the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, for more than 30 years. She was a BWA Visiting Artist in 1982.

Encuentro, DC Gallery and Studio, Millvelle,NJ

I am happy to share my particpation in the re(Focus) exhibition at the Brandywine Workshop and Archive. Thank you Ruth Fine and Gustavo Garcia for including my work in this rich exhibition.This one of many exhibits city wide exhibitions highlighting women artists. re(Focus) in the city  runs from January 27 to May 31st.  

(re)FOCUS@BWA: Prints by Women, Then and Now Lois M. Johnson, Site: North Dakota, 1982 Women artists have always been essential to the printmaking community nurtured by Brandywine Workshop and Archives since it was founded in 1972 by Allan L. Edmunds. (re)FOCUS@BWA presents two dozen prints, one each by 24 of nearly 200 women artists who have had residencies at Brandywine. Celebrated in (re)FOCUS@BWA are internationally acclaimed artists Emma Amos, Tomie Arai, Belkis Ayón, Camille Billops, Elizabeth Catlett, Barbara Chase-Riboud, Sonya Clark, Maya Freelon, Letitia Huckaby, Lois M. Johnson, Jean LaMarr, Samella Lewis, Yong Soon Min, E. J. Montgomery, Vitjitua Ndjiharine, Howardena Pindell, Betty Saar, Marta Sanchez, Hester Stinnett, Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum, Gayle Tanaka, Kaylynn Sullivan TwoTrees, Sarah Van Keuren, and Deborah Willis. Yong Soon Min, Crossings, 1992 Belkis Ayón-Manso, Untitled II, 1999 (re)FOCUS@BWA is Brandywine’s contribution to (re)FOCUS, Philadelphia’s extended, citywide celebration of women working in the visual arts not only in Philadelphia, but throughout the world. This amassing of exhibitions and related programs honors and extends the legacy of FOCUS: Philadelphia Focuses on Women in the Visual Arts, a historically significant feminist arts festival presented in 1974.(re)FOCUS@BWA was inspired by Brandywine’s Executive Director, Michele A. Parchment. It was organized by Ruth Fine with Gustavo Garcia, BWA’s Associate Director for Artist Residencies & Media Projects. Ms. Fine is an independent curator and artist who, from 1972 to 1980, was Curator of Lessing J. Rosenwald’s Alverthorpe Gallery in suburban Philadelphia, which was administered by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; was the NGA’s Curator of Modern Prints and Drawings from 1980 to 2002; and from 2003 to 2012 was the NGA’s Curator of Special Projects in Modern Art. She was a BWA Visiting Artist in 1982.

Exciting news to share! Cheech Marin recently purchased my painting Retablo for Uvalde, a piece that took me a year to complete. It was created as a tribute to the 21 lives lost due to gun violence, and the emotions and grief that come with it. I am grateful that this painting will now be part of the Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art and Culture at the Riverside Museum, where it will be shared with the community. Thank you, Cheech Marin, for recognizing the importance of this piece and for supporting its place in the collection.

https://riversideartmuseum.org/…/the-cheech-marin…/

Please join us at the Ruiz-Healy Art reception September 28th from 6-8 PM the exhibition. This exhibition is from the 28th to the 30th of October and is in conjunction with the New York Print Fair .

https://www.fineartprintfair.org

I had the pleasure of participating in this poignant exhibition at MexicArte Museum in Austin Texas. The exhibition covers artists that worked in the Chicano/a movement from the 60’s-80’s in Austin, Texas. I was an undergrad art student attending the University of Texas at Austin in the 80’s and participated in many group exhibitions with the Chicano/a artists in the area. We made our own galleries and artistic venues when the the institutional art scene was not available. The photos and literature offer insight to the social, and artistic community. I will share their catalog and links if your interested in sharing this with artists, educators, and community interested in social change. Chicanismo is alive and well my friends.

Panel discussions with artists and curator.

I want to thank The Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy for this wonderful support. The grant will cover expenses in art making, and studio repairs. This summer a tree limb fell and damaged my studio chimney.

So much has happened in the past year isolation. I taught online while making a public art piece for HACE’s Casa Indiana. In my studio I dove into painting using as much as my old supplies as possible to describe the world around me. I cleaned house in the event that I may move to Texas or to heaven(I hope).

I am working on archiving my old works creating a page on the website to store them. While doing so plans to update of all work in also in the works.

Cascarones Por La Vida is working on an online Cascarones project that will create an a new fund in addition to assisting families affected by HIV/AIDS. This new fund is Cascarones Art and Philanthropy, offering artists seed money to create an art event to support an organization close to their heart such as health, environment, and social justice.

Raising money by selling textiles, books, and other Cascarones inspired items with half the proceeds to go to this fund. I hope you support this effort with me.