Destellos de Sofía (Shimmers of Sophia)

A Miniature Book by Tanya Torres
Limited edition of 50 handmade books.
8 poems, 11 drawings
Spanish text
$25
English version now available in Miniature Book Pendant Format: Sophia's Light

Ofrenda del Corazón

Ofrenda de luz y hojas nuevas (2011) by Tanya Torres

A few weeks ago, I received an email from Minette Duenas, a teacher in South Texas, asking me if I would be able to contribute to her project by painting a wooden heart for the Ofrendas del Corazon Heart Art Silent Auction. The money is raised in the name of Michael Rutledge, a young man who was Minette's student and in his second year of High School at the time of his death. Michael's parents donated his organs, which in turn saved four people's lives. 100% of the money raised goes into scholarships for bilingual students at Michael's school.

To learn more see @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exOz35lRS6A
and their facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ofrendas-del-Coraz%C3%B3n/235917659765475

I loved so much painting this heart. I hope it helps!

Destellos de Sofía, A New Miniature Book

A pop-up!

Magenta for spirituality, the color of the highest flight of the heart...

It's been a long, but pleasurable process to create this book. First, I wrote the poetry throughout the last two years. Then, I created the drawings, many of them inspired by poetry written by other poets, including Luis A. Rodríguez and Stephen Cipot, whose work was a great inspiration to my own visual work. Next, I created a first version of the book, which did not contain any images and which also was bigger in size. But I felt that I wanted this book to say more about what it means to me, and decided to pair the poems with images. I soon realized that I had almost all the drawings I needed and that they each complimented a particular poem. Since I had chosen to make drawings inspired by poetry that explored the same themes I was exploring, it turned out I was also drawing for my own poems. Some drawings, of course, were created especially for this book.

Poetry Murals

It feels so good to have finally completed all my poetry murals! Here they are, including 4 additional "last minute" murals that Mr. Soto, the school principal, asked me to create 2 months before the biggest day at the school: Mano a Mano, when all the school's creations are presented in a big performance and as exhibitions throughout the building.

The murals are all painted and written on approximately 60 4" x 4" tiles. The project began last year, when the school children asked Mr. Soto to fix the bathrooms. He moved Heaven and Earth to achieve the much needed—and very expensive—renovation of 6 school bathrooms, and thought to integrate poetry and art as a reminder that creativity and dreams are all around us!

Personally, I feel this project integrates a lot of who I am by bringing together word and image. Of course, they are also meant to reflect the principal's vision for the school and the idea for the picassoesque figures came from the children's own work with the schools' art teacher, Ms. Turtle. The poetry is all mine. Here they are!

Girls, First Floor

Boys, First Floor

Girls, Second Floor


Boys, Second Floor


Girls, Third Floor






Boys, Third Floor

Artful Kitchen

My customer, Katherine, asked me to create the the design for her kitchen based on the details of a tile she bought from me from the very first batch of Exotic Ladies tiles I made. She chose the Muse with green hair, which became the centerpiece of this project. The original tile is at the top of the window, by itself. The empty space to the left is for placing a clock. For the story, visit my "secret blog," Hoy, artista.