The Hispanic Heritage Month Art Show is at the Klein Auditorium starting Thursday, Sept. 7.
Stop in, enjoy a glass of wine and support Latino artists while you get an early jump on Hispanic Heritage Month.
The Klein Memorial Auditorium's art exhibit features one specially selected work from eight Latino artists. The show opens with a reception 6-8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 7, at 910 Fairfield Ave., and remains on view for a month.
GBLN is proud to be the sponsor of this show.
Here are the artists participating, beginning with the show's curator.
Benjamin Casiano
Native New Yorker Benjamin Casiano, who curated this show, is an accomplished creative director, designer, curator and painter. He received his BFA from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. His art is collected by corporate and private collectors in the U.S. and abroad. Many describe his art as a form of cubism or fauvism.
Ben began his artistic endeavors at a young age. Art was always a form of self expression or communication long before finding his voice in his infancy. His goal is simply to add something beautiful to our unique, modern day culture, one painting at a time, and one exhibition at a time.
Yolanda Vasquez Petrocelli
Yolanda Vasquez Petrocelli is a contemporary artist living in Read's Artspace in Bridgeport. Originally from Mexico City, Ms. Vasquez Petrocelli explores subconscious mental landscapes, creating images that celebrate the spirit of women and nature. She has had over 15 solo shows and more than 40 group exhibitions since 1995.
"The women photographic series are geographical interior maps of experiences and feelings. Through these images, I try to deconstruct 'the woman' - the path she has traveled and through memory. I try to unfold the strata of a distant past that becomes more elusive as the present takes over."
Ricky Mestre
Ricky Mestre is a painter, illustrator, cartoonist, photographer, caricature artist, has painted sets and acted for local theatrical productions, produced, edited, directed and starred in the award-winning TV program "The Ricky Mestre Show" and has curated three art exhibitions.
Ricky has won six Tommy Awards for "The Ricky Mestre Show" for its entertainment, technical and visual effects at Sound View Community Media. Other awards include Most Outstanding Puerto Rican in the Arts at the Fairfield County Puerto Rican Day Parade Banquet, Best Media Station Supervisor from the Matt Jones Foundation, and First Runner Up in the Mr. & Ms. CT Latino United States Pageant.
Sandra Rossini
A third-generation artist from Buenos Aires, Argentina, Sandra Rossini has exhibited paintings at venues including the Sheraton Hotel in Stamford and the Stamford Government Center. She specializes in color and cubism, inspired by Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali. Sandra studied Fine Arts at Norwalk Community College but has found that her art-driven family has been the most influential and guiding throughout her self-taught artistic career. She began painting at 15 years old and has since established her own approach.
From 2009-2010 Sandra hosted art, writing, and music events at the Sundance Cafe and Wine bar appealing to the local artists and enthusiasts in the community. She has participated and co-hosted fundraising events such as Haiti relief funds from the 2010 earthquake to aiding local residents in time of need, such as financial support in health crisis.
Ruben Marroquin
Born in the U.S., of Venezuelan and Guatemalan parents, Bridgeport fiber artist and weaver Ruben Marroquin moved back to Venezuela as a child. He studied painting at the Armando Reverón Institute of the Arts, Caracas. There, he discovered a strong connection with textiles, which he furthered, traveling around Guatemala, making art from textiles and yarns found in the markets. Ruben studied textile and surface design at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City and the National Textile Workshop in Paris. He has collaborated with the Metropolitan Museum in creating educational programs incorporating weaving. His fiber art and his work has been included in group shows at the Minnesota Museum of American Art, the Rijswijk Museum's Textile Biennial in the Netherlands, the Fuller Craft Museum in Massachusetts and the Hudgens Center for the Arts in Duluth, GA. He has also participated in numerous gallery shows including at the Ann Street Gallery, Newburgh, NY, and the Nikki Diana Marquardt Gallery in Paris.
For the past three years, Ruben has operated an art and weaving studio out of a storefront in the Arcade Mall, with ambitions to build a sustainable business offering weaving workshops.
Rene Soto
Rene Soto was born in La Libertad Peten, Guatemala in 1986. His passion for art emerged early on, but would only find the way to express this sentiment upon his arrival to the United States in 2011. While in the U.S., he taught art at King School in Stamford, worked with students on the World Window and taught art at Studio Arte in Norwalk. Rene also worked with various international artists, including the Embracing Art Volunteer Team: Angel Meries from Venezuela; Colombian artist Favio Meza; Marta Beltrano, from Argentina, among others. Rene was awarded a scholarship in 2014 and 2015 to attend the Greenwich Art Society.
Rene Soto created a citywide project, “Guatemala Everywhere," which opened the door for many artists from Guatemala to exhibit their art throughout Stamford.
Ana Ruiz-Castillo
Having held the position as the Director of the Visual Arts Department at Harlem School of the Arts from 2012-2015, Ana Ruiz-Castillo counts 16 years of teaching visual arts intensively to children.
In 2015 Ana moved to Bridgeport and where she opened a new arts venue, starting her own after-school program where she taught art to children from the South End at Hope School for a year. Now, back in New York City, Ana is a teaching artist for Marquis Studios and teaches through out the city’s Public schools. A native of Spain, Ana firmly believes that exposing children to the arts is crucial in their development as productive, creative happy human beings.
Mercedes Arensberg
Starting as a fashion designer with her own line in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Mercedes Arensberg's path changed with the death of her brother, an accomplished artist. In grief, she went back to school, graduating from Columbia University in New York with a degree in Visual Arts.
Now based in Westport, Mercedes has been creating paintings, sculptures and installations of different types—video and sculptural. Her style is stripped bare to convey a thought or emotion in a simple and immediate manner. As a member of the Art Collective at the Westport Arts Center, she often participates in their pop-up art shows.
