» Past Programming
Espejos


    For 3 years Espejos has been an artist mentorship program designed to support the development of new and emerging artists of diverse Latino/a backgrounds living within the counties of Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott and Washington. Mentees were paired with mentors of the same discipline over a period of 3-5 months, provided resources to purchase necessary art materials, received digital media training to create their portfolio on CD or DVD, and were presented in a final exhibition and performance alongside works by their mentors.

     

    Photo by Greg Page Photography

    Espejos 2006 spaned a seven month period where pairs met regularly and as a group monthly to develop their work as guided by mentors who are fluent both in Spanish and who are familiar with artistic resources in the Twin Cities. Mentors were selected by Intermedia Arts staff by speaking directly to Mexican artists, and by selecting a group of established artists who are not only accomplished in their own body of work, but who would also work well together. Mentees were selected based on their commitment to work with a mentor, as well as their interest in developing their work-however raw or new it is. 

    Mentors:                                                                            Mentees:
    Visual/installation artist Patricia Mendoza                   Jovita Francisco-Morales
    performance/visual artist Deborah Ramos                  Jessica Gutierrez
    visual/clown Anselmo Cornejo                                       Ulises Lopez
    http://www.mnartists.org                                                   Alejandro Vargas

                                                                                                                                                 

    Espejos 2007 works in two parts: Espejos In-Progress Exhibit and Espejos Completed Works Exhibit.

    Espejos In-Progress Exhibit allowed the public to interact with the featured artists through constructive critical responses around their works-in-progress as they worked toward fully realizing their finished art. Selected excerpts, sketches, rough drafts, photos and videotaped rehearsals were available for viewing and public feedback in the Sandy Agustín Gallery, while open rehearsals and poetry readings were be held in the theater. Coordinated by Deborah Ramos.

    Mentors:                                             Mentees:
    Anselmo Cornejo                              Ketzaliztli E. Estrada-Hernandez
    Teresa Oritz                                        Elga Negroni
    Sergio Quiroz                                     Itzel Rocio Lopez-Ortiz
    Mary Anne Quiroz                              Ana G. Vite-Melchor
     

    top: Marion Gómez, Cecilia Pino Godoy, Teresa Ortiz, Marienela Molina Rodas
    bottom: Misael Lopez, Roberto Rivera

    Espejos 2008 graffiti art was added based on the mentee’s background and interest in this form of visual arts. This was a timely opportunity because Intermedia Arts had just initiated The G.A.M.E. (Graffiti Art Mentoring and Education). This year’s visual arts mentee had an opportunity to be one of the first emerging graffiti artists to be mentored according to The Rules of The G.A.M.E.

    Collective Literature and Visual Arts: Espejos mentors, mentees and artist interns decided to take the spirit of collaboration to a more inter-disciplinary level.

    The three literary artists – Teresa Ortiz (Coordinator/Literary Mentor), Marienela Molina Rodas (Literary Mentee) and Marion Gómez (Literary Artist Intern) – each wrote a poem which were then interpreted by the visual artists - Cecilia Pino Godoy (Visual Arts Mentor), Misael Lopez (Visual Arts Mentee) and Roberto Rivera (Visual Arts Intern) as three-in-one oil paintings.

    The intention of the participating artists was to work closely together in shaping a narrative and visual representation that could then include the audience’s perspectives. The resulting collaborative work was presented as a collective visual art and literary piece in the Sandy Agustin Gallery. A large video projection in the gallery’s west wall demonstrated the resulting merging of word and image, randomly paired so that gallery visitors and viewers can experience the multiple combinations that can be possible when artists work collectively towards a common purpose. 
     

     

    Espejos was made possible in part by funds provided by the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council through a grant from The McKnight Foundation and an appropriation from the Minnesota Legislature.