Finally, I have taken the time to sit and post the results of the exhibit “Dream Givers”, which was in November of last year. The project for this exhibit was very simple from the start; students at the art club from my college came up with the idea of having an exhibit as donation for a group of kids that live in a far mountain in the town of Llalla, Peru, where is hard to get school supplies among other things. The plan was to donate our work to the exhibit in hopes that it would sell and accumulate as much money as possible so that the person in charge of traveling to Peru would be able to take enough school supplies for every kid. This person happened to be a contact of one of the students in the art club, and traveling to Peru is something he does on his own time. He offered his restaurant as gallery, and the students gathered all the materials to make the gallery presentable enough for the night of the exhibit. Me? I just happened to tag along.
I was interested in the idea because as an “artist in the making” I want to get my work out there as much as possible. I’m not looking to get paid, I just want to start promoting my work so that I can get recognize. Sadly, none of the art works sold. This happened due to a lack of professionalism. Everything was done last-minute, there was not enough time to organized and build a strong presentation, and there was not enough advertisement. However, I’m happy I went through this, I see it as an experience and hopefully next time it will all turn out better.
I will share pictures of some of the art works, and of friends. We had a good time and overall the atmosphere was of excitement and happiness since for most of the students involved it was their first time being exhibit publicly.
Soya E Pomodoro, Downtown Miami, where the exhibit took place.
Family and friends where there to support me!
Ingrid, the artist in charged of the exhibition.
My aunt Rebecca and one of the musicians.
My dear friend Johan was my number one fan at the exhibit.
(The Kite Dreamer, Ink) The art work I donated to the exhibit. In fact, I created the illustrated tale based on the theme “Dream Givers”
(Tolerancia, Charcoal) This is my good friend Carolina Gonzalez’s work. She is an amazing artist. I’m very happy to have met her, thanks to her I have become more dedicated to my art.
(Untitled, Graphite) This is a self-portrait of Michael Sanchez, the artist of this piece. Michael is another student with great talent. He was praised for his ability to deliver an outstanding likeness. I think he did an awesome job!
Unfortunately I was not the one with a camera, but my friends. I tried to get as many pictures as I could, but these were all I could gather… here is to another exhibit with better results!
I heard someone once ask another person, what was so important about art. I was younger at the time, and didn’t quite know how to put my words together in a way that would make others understand what I was saying (okay I still have trouble doing that, but never mind) I can’t remember how the conversation started, even less how it ended. I do remember though, thinking about what art was for me, and how others perceive it. I never really thought that there were other people with a different perception of art, and that some even think its meaningless. Well, today I have an answer for them, for the ones who think less of art. I would say, without art we are nonexistent, as art is everything that is creation, and so are we.
Art is the most wonderful thing out there. Of course I would be saying this, I am an artist. But rather than to see it this way, I prefer to give myself a little more credit and think that even if I weren’t an artist, I would love art as much as I do being an artist. I would enjoy it, appreciate it, and promote it, just as much. I would let myself get sucked into it, and see that life is not as complicated as we make it, yet it is complicated because we make it. I know it might sound like I’m babbling about something I don’t quite know myself, however, I do feel this way when I come in contact with anything that is art.
Recently I have discovered, thanks to a dear friend, one of the most touching animated-short films that tells the world of Maria, an autistic teenager. I have to say, up until now I didn’t really know much about Autism. I have family that suffer from this disease and, I respect a great deal the parents that have to raise a child with autism, but I really never got much involvement in it. Well, thanks to art, the Orange Foundation, and the incredible, talented cartoonist behind the short “El Viaje de Maria” (I would translate it as “Maria’s Voyage”) I have become more aware of autism and the children suffering from it.
I see things like this animated-short and I tell myself; This is what makes art so important. Because we can communicate, so clearly, the hardest things to understand.
The author of this short is in fact the father of Maria, Miguel Gallardo. I don’t know much about him, just that he is from Barcelona, Spain. Also, the short has been nominated for the Goya awards under the category for best documentary. I hope it wins, its and excellent sweet story, beautifully told.
Here is the short “El Viaje de Maria” by, Miguel Gallardo ( I will translate for those that don’t speak Spanish, hopefully it would be a good translation)
Here is the translation by, Laura V. Padron
Maria’s Voyage
Maria was not delivered by a stork. Maria came from a far away planet, like Superman. It took her nine months to get home; and when she finally did, she fell right asleep. Right away, Maria became the joy of the house. But soon enough, we realized something was happening to her. She did not seem to notice her surroundings, nor hear us. She would not reciprocate our gestures of affection; it was as if she lived in a world of her own… without a link to ours. Instead of playing with her toys, she would lined them up, like in a parade. Just like the Doctors that started visiting her, each one with their own opinion; each one with a different diagnosis. We too, traveled far in search of answers that came after so much time (AUTISM). In that journey, we had as partners the other parents. With whom we shared sadness, happiness, and experiences.
Maria now lives in Canarias, she is fifth-teen and a solete (could mean she is brilliant, or that she is lovable. I’m not too sure as it seems to be a slang word from Canarias) Our world keeps being too difficult for her, so she needs to organize it to live in it. In her head, everything is classified. In very good order! A box for every single thing! Unforeseen situations, make her very anxious, and too help her in those moments, we use pictograms that help her establish the routines.
For example, a common day: 8hrs15 wake up; 8hrs30 dress up; 8hrs45 breakfast; at 9:00, go to school; 14 hours, come back home; 17hrs to the park; 18hrs30 a snack; 19hrs30 play with her little pieces of papers; 20hrs shower; 20hrs30 dine; 21hrs brush her teeth and to bed until next day. Also, Maria has difficulty accomplishing the simplest things (book’s title: Life, User Manual); like tying her shoes; or zipping her jacket; showering by herself; making a phone call; or simply opening a can of anchovies; turning on the TV; or putting the emergency jacket on, well… not even I know that one. But she also has super powers, like Superman. Super-concentration to eat! Super-charisma to hypnotize people with a smile! Super-vision to tear paper into very small pieces! And must of all, Super-memory! In her head, there is space for the names of people she has once met, those names always go with her and are her world map. Is the list she repeats over and over again, and make of the world a safe place.
In real life, a lot of things happen in an instant, people talk all the time, and move too fast. Their faces express emotions that for Maria are hard to understand. She accepts everything at once in an aggressive and confusing way. The only way to defend herself, is to take refuge in her universe. A place to where only she may enter, and exit. Well, as well as her imaginary friends, those with whom she laughs when no one is watching her. In that special place, Maria finds protection in her repetitive games, with sand or with the small pieces of paper; Or simply by watching the water fall. Thanks to those moments, Maria calms the anguish provoked by the rules she can’t understand.
When we are with Maria, we try not to think much of the future, just live by the moment. We want to see her happy; that she learns little by little to become independent; and that she keeps remembering the name of every person. When Maria is with us, she makes of the world a better place. THE END.
Back in 1990, I was just a child; I had no idea of where I would be standing now. But of course, nobody ever knows that! Every Saturday, the music that use to sound and blast through the windows of that big modern house just around the corner from my tiny bit of home, in where we would be dancing and checking the new hot guy, was hysterical; passionate; crazy; cool ROCK.
We would move our heads up and down in frenzy, often competing whom would last longer without getting a headache. We thought we were as cool as Malmsteen; Coverdale; Bon Jovi; Joey Tempest –oh man, there is just too many to mention- in reality all we were doing was infesting each other with lice. My mom did not know what else to do with my hair. I remember she used to say my blood was like wine for those evil suckers… mind you, I’m cure now. As soon as I came to America I was free, it was like they new the game was over… first-world was too scary for a bunch of third-world little seed-looking vampires.
Laura Pausini (an Italian singer) was one of the favorites back then, although her music was more pop and she is not exactly from the same time as all those 80s rock bands. On the American side there was Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, and my favorite from that time, Guns and Roses.
Looking back now, I had fun in my childhood, it was the best time of my life. I can’t let the ignorance of others get to me. But for the sake of my pride (which is heavy) and just to really mess with “those” people, I will keep posting just rock this month, or what’s left of it. 😉
Here is “Sweet Child O’ Mine” my favorite Guns and Roses song.
Between New Years, birthday, and holidays, I have been lazing off a lot. I have only been to work about four to five days this month. It has been awesome, but there was always room for the common animosities between co-workers, and I got my share of letdowns. Today was my official “back to work” day, since I won’t be getting a vacation in a while. Even though is a Saturday, is actually my Monday since I start my week. Yep! It sucks. While many are enjoying their weekend, I’m going back to work from my weekend (Thurs/Fri)
Today was not an easy day for me. I won’t get into details (yeah, the juicy stuff will be left out this time) I will just say the whole issue started because of music and I will end it (unofficially) here, with music. I was very stressed out and The Eagles have brighten what is left of my day! Yay! And it has made me see, that even when defending good music has put me in an awkward situation, I can’t regret it. This is for the ones that think rock is not music…
The Eagles; “Take it Easy”
Oh, no! I found this in the comments left on the video. It is so true, I couldn’t have said it better myself (I don’t know who came up with this originally, but the commentator is vitty crk. Please know that I am not trying to take any credits for other people’s words):
“you say lady gaga, i say Led Zeppelin
you say hannah montana, i say AC\DC
you say owl city, i say Deep Purple
you say jonas brothers, i say The Rolling Stones
you say justin bieber, i say The Beatles
you say taylor swift, i say guns & roses.
95% of teens these days listen to the same crappy pop songs over and over. if your one of the 5% left who still listen to real music, thunb this up, then copy and paste it to At least 5 video’s.”
If you actually do copy and paste to other 5 videos, I would love to know which videos… for me, it would be any video from Luna Sea; Rolling Stones; The Eagles; The Police; REM (there is nothing particular about the order)
What is the worst enemy of an enthusiastic mind? A procrastinator. Yep, that is me, a full-proud-to-say-it procrastinator. There is nothing great about it, I’m just too self centered to let it worry me… maybe I really do worry about it, much more than I think. Nevertheless this is not the reason for why I’m here this lovely afternoon. I wish to share my latest drawing, although not the official first drawing of the year (that one is sort of a private matter… a secret between two) but it is my first attempt of Oz in ink.
I decided to draw Oz this time with ink only. I wanted to try my skills beyond the pencil. I don’t think is good, in fact, I believe it needs lots of work. However, I do enjoy looking at it. The feeling it gives me is exactly what I wanted from it; A mixture of loneliness and automaton beauty. Although the story has nothing of androids in it, I still like the science fiction look. I do well with drapery still life, but I don’t do well when it comes to incorporating it to a body. Ink is hard to master… (SIGH)
Interesting bit of information: Drapery is a word derived from the Latin Drappus. I have been learning the English language for fourteen years now, I’m never bore of it. There are so many words derived from Latin. I wonder how and when languages decided to mix and part, if we all come from one place. I know that is called EVOLUTION, however, I think it hold so many mysteries and that is what’s so wonderful about it.
Sine Cera 