Sacred Healers, Spirit Women
Gallery opening:
Gallery Exhibit, Friday, May 9 – Sunday, June 29, 2014
Sacred Healers, Spirit Women is our current gallery show featuring the artwork of Tanya Torres, Laura James, and Elizabeth Rossi and will be focusing on portrayal of women as sacred and spiritual figures in art. The artwork explores the positive impact of women in culture and as individuals. With the use of vibrant colors, religious icons, and themes of womanhood in everyday life each artist expresses humanity and healing in their work.
Opening event for Sacred Healers, Spirit Women will take place on Friday, May 9, 2014 from 6:00-8:00pm.
Meet the artists and enjoy live music from Wendy DeCarmen and Joe Falcon of Grupo Guayason.
About the artists:
Elizabeth Rossi
Elizabeth Rossi is multi-dimensional visual artist working with paint, photography, poetry, and sculpture. Her focus is to highlight to the humanity and complexities in the experiences of women. She uses arts as a tool for activism, working on issues such as the leadership for girls, community organizing, the prison industrial complex, and ending rape culture. She is also responsible for a number of large murals. Elizabeth has obtained her Masters in Social Work through the Community Organization, Planning, and Development method at Hunter College. Currently she is working as a teaching artist, community organizer, and gallery curator at La Casa Azul Bookstore. Elizabeth can be contacted at elizabethrossi.art@gmail.com .
Laura James
Laura James has been working as a professional artist and illustrator for over twenty years. In addition to painting sacred images from various religions, she portrays women, families, and scenes of everyday life; blending intricate patterns, text, vibrant colors and sometimes surreal imagery into what she calls “art for the people.”
Laura is best known for her illustrations in The Book of the Gospels published in 2000 by Liturgy Training Publications, Chicago, Illinois. An award winning edition of the four gospels, it includes 34 paintings rendered in the Ethiopian Christian Art style which over the years Ms. James has made her own. The book is used worldwide by numerous Christian denominations and her religious art is at the forefront of the movement toward a more inclusive representation of Biblical figures. Ms. James has recently expanded her repertoire to include sacred images from other traditions including Buddhism, Yoruba, ancient Egyptian themes and Islam.
Ms. James recently completed a commission to illustrate a children’s picture book titled Anna Carries Water by Jamaican-Canadian writer Olive Senior. Published by Tradewind Books in February 2014, her first attempt at this genre has received many favorable reviews including a Kirkus star, and is already in its second printing.
She lives and works in the Bronx, NY. View more of her work at http://laurajamesart.com/.
Tanya Torres
Tanya Torres is a Puerto Rican artist and writer living in El Barrio, New York City. After obtaining her M.F.A. in Printmaking and Painting in 1995 at the City College of New York, she set out to explore ways in which art can make a positive impact on the world. Some years later, while her body and soul regenerated after a stem cell transplant, she realized that art not only helped her survive cancer, but also helped heal the world by providing a restful space for the human soul to grow and expand.
Nature, literature, poetry, religious icons, and the memories of her childhood in Puerto Rico are constant sources of inspiration in Tanya’s work. She believes that art-making is a form of prayer, and this is why she creates both fine art and functional pieces inspired by the idea that harmony of line and color vibrancy speak directly to the soul. She considers her work to be painted sigils, or magical symbols that contain the energy of a person’s thoughts and wishes. She creates these sigils, often in the form of idealized faces, with the conscious intention of sending love, peace and joy into the world. View more of her artwork at www.tanyatorres.com.
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Sacred Healers, Spirit Women is in conjunction with a series of events at La Casa Azul Bookstore that focus on women in the arts. Please view our calendar for more details.
La Casa Azul Bookstore is an independent bookstore located in East Harlem that strives to provide cultural and educational programs to foster public awareness and appreciation of the arts.
For information about La Casa Azul Bookstore you can view our website at www.lacasaazulbookstore.com.
Contact: Elizabeth Rossi, Gallery Curator