Colombia
Magical Places Series: A Tribute to Earth Matters
My purpose as an artist is creating art with an intention that speaks in an intuitive way. These pieces are narative collages, made with hand made printed papers with acrylics and also images from magazines that I cut into forms and glue them to reveal the image of these Magical Places that the Ancestors of America had created. Framed into a commemorative flag case.
The idea of using a commemorative flag case came to me after my father in law, World War II veterans, Raul V. Esquivel, passed away and the marines gave us the United State flag folded on an angled. I knew this flag was special, so I needed to find a box and I found them and I repurpuse them to make these narative collages called "Magical Places". The esssence of life, the love of traveling to places here in the Americas where cultures had express symbolically have influence and reflect my work. And at same time my personal search and finding Native America and African in my DNA had a profound influence on my art. Knowing today that I am a vesell which contributes to remind all, that Life on Earth Matters.
Bio:
I am a native of Cali, Colombia. I was 9 years old when my family moved to Bergenfield, New Jersey. On weekends our parents took us to the New York City museums. My father, the poet Alfredo Ocampo Z., taught me a lot about the arts and an appreciation of art. For me the museum is always a fun place to go. That is where I learned to love art. Museums are magical places.
In 1969 when I was 12, my art teacher at Washington School in Bergenfield entered a monoprint of mine in "Bloomingdale's Annual Clothesline Art Exhibit." I still have the award.
We moved back to Cali, and in 1993 I took an etching workshop hosted by my good friend and artist Maria Valencia, and then another by artist Luis Kammizer.
Living in New Orleans in 2005 I attended artist John T. Scott's mono-printing workshop. The mono-print quickly became my passion. I then attended a tips-and-techniques workshop by Christine Sauer to help me recognize my personal style. I began printing papers and cutting them to create narrative collages.
My art is in a variety of media. Some of my monoprints, wood icons, shrine boxes, slate tiles and textiles have been shown in group exhibits in galleries and Art Centers in Cali, and here in Louisiana, and California. I have had solo exhibits at the New Orleans Waiting Room Gallery and the Southern University in New Orleans Gallery. In 2008 some of my mixed media textile quilts were chosen to be part of a one-year tour: "A Patchwork of Cultures: Traveling Exhibit from Louisiana to France," which showed in Paris and seven other cities throughout France. In 2010 I was invited to participate in the DAR Museum exhibit "Honoring Lafayette; Contemporary Quilts from France and America," in Washington D.C..
In 2011 I was invited to show in "The Arts of Survival: Folk Expression in the Face of Disaster," exhibit at the Museum of International Folk Art, at Santa Fe New Mexico. That same year I was invited to show at the Jazz and Heritage Festival, and the Essence Festival in New Orleans. Some of my creations are now in collectors' homes and a museum.
Living in New Orleans I have became a member of the Latina Artists’ Group, the Beecher's Memorial Church Quilt Group, Women's Caucus for Art of Louisiana, and a member of the Board of Directors of the Carl G. Jung Society of New Orleans. And for 12 years I was a volunteer quilt teacher at the Shepherd Senior Center at Carrolton, New Orleans.
Please see some of my art on social media Facebook, "Natural Weavings" and Fineartamerica.com, "Beatriz Soco Ocampo"