Opening This Thursday at Bronx Art Space

Join us in Albuquerque

I know it sounds a little over the top, but I am inviting YOU to join Raquel and I in Albuquerque this year, July 18-19, 2014. What for?

• Friday, July 18: I will be at Bright Rain Gallery with a selection of my handmade objects and a poetry reading from Sophia's Light, my latest handmade book. It is so tiny you can wear in close to your heart! Join me at Bright Rain Gallery in the evening. More information to come!

Sophia's Light, an edition of 100 handmade miniature books.

•Saturday, July 19: We are gathering at El Chante Casa de Cultura for our Mary Magdalene Celebration. We will have a ceremony and you will make your very own mini-pendant book:

And as we make it, we will talk about Mary Magdalene, our stories, discoveries, ideas, inspirations, culminating with Raquel Z. Rivera's 7 Songs of Praise for the Magdalene

and the opening to the exhibition of my Magdalenes in the space of El Chante.

The events are free and you can bring your whole tribe with you. For the workshop, please let me know that you will participate so I can have your materials ready. And Raquel is asking everyone to join her in singing the songs. It will be magical!

Mary Magdalene of the Light, Oil on Canvas Board, 20" x 16", 2010. Also called "my modigliani".

•And… it will be Frida Kahlo Weekend in Albuquerque! Sounds fun, doesn't it? Bring your eyebrows and ribbons!

One of my Frida tiles, 2014. Have you seen this.  Not is you are not part of my VIP list! Sign up here: http://form.jotform.co/form/33406914001846? 

Will you come?

Free Miniature Book Pendant Workshop at El Chante, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Join us in this celebration of our muse, Mary Magdalene, and take home a little book full of inspiration made by you! It will be worth the trip to New Mexico!

Mary Magdalene Celebration 2014

Saturday, July 19, 2014 

at 

El Chante Gallery in Albuquerque, New Mexico

Free, RSVP is Required: tanyaetorres@yahoo.com

 Please share with a friend who lives in New Mexico!

Gifts of Art and Life

Cacibayagua, Interpretation by student in my friend's Evelyn Velez Suarez art class.

Mary Magdalene of the Tears, Interpretation by Anamiah Fortuna, a student in my friend's Evelyn Velez Suarez art class.

Am I a blessed artist or what? I think these are so cute that I want to cry. Thank you Evelyn and students for sharing these with me!!!

The Oracle

Description: A series of individually designed cards featuring words that the artists uses to create her own reality of peace, love and joy in an effort to give the world these qualities through the interaction of the public with her work. Going beyond identity as national identification, gender, class or other means of labeling humans, she seeks to create identity through a direct connection to the human soul. Oracles have been a means to foretell the future throughout history, and are currently a popular tool for meditation and enjoyment of beauty. By creating her own oracle, the artist becomes the oracle and art becomes the voice of the Divine.

When Yolanda Rodríguez invited me to participate in an exhibition she and Josué Guarionex Colón are organizing, titled Language is Identity, I thought about what exactly is my identity, in my own mind, at this point, and what parts of language represent that idea of myself. I often hear words in my mind, and hold them as I work. They are the starting point of many pieces. Although for this piece, I got help. My Facebook friends offered many words some months ago, when I posted a call for help with my future "oracle". I would say all these words lead to "artist," the identity I began creating in 2005 with my "secret" blog Hoy, Artista. I don't even remember how I came up with that title, but it was an affirmation. And little by little, one step at a time, one word at a time, I have transformed into my own kind of artist. I have so far collected about 100 words, and am working on the images for the oracle cards that I will be presenting in the exhibition. The images in the cards are my associations to the words, what comes to mind first and what I can find to fit that idea. My inner being slowly emerges at I create, very quickly, each card. In the end, they will all hang together as an invitation to the viewer to find the words and associations that connect with his or her own soul. Language is Identity  
June 26-July 19
at Bronx Art Space
Co-curated by Yolanda L. Rodríguez y Josue Guarionex Colon-Rosado. 
Join us on June 26 to get your own art-guided oracle card: https://www.facebook.com/events/1430366973878143/