The Latino Arts of NE Ohio pay tribute to HHM

By Antonio Barrios, La Prensa Correspondent

Braving the dark skies and the deluge of rain, the public came out to support local Latino artists of Lorain and Cuyahoga Counties. On Oct 5, 2013, the Lorain Arts Council celebrated Hispanic Heritage Month with a Hispanic Art Exhibit that not only had the visual arts on display but also the musical comment of superstar DJ Vic Santana, who always amazes his fans with his collection of music videos.

The excitement intensified when the Peruvian dance troupe Raices del Perú took center stage, dancing the traditional folkloric dance of their native Perú. Wearing their original folk wear the young, beautiful girls danced and swayed the crowd to enthusiastic applauses at the end of each dance. Led by Mary Vargas of Cleveland, the middle school aged girls smiled warmly at the audience as they whirled around the Lorain Arts Council Gallery floor.

The art that was exhibited in the gallery was of a great variety of mediums, from the incredible  South Lorain native Carmelo Alvarez’s wooden and stone sculptures (some weighing almost 80lbs.) to the light and seductive fine-line drawings of Cleveland’s Mari Borrero.

One of the show favorites was the SC Jiménez expressionist drawings with bold strokes and geometrical angles; Jiménez captured the gaze of all that had to stop and gaze at his paintings.

Another interesting body of work was the art brought to the Lorain Arts Council’s 737 Gallery, produced with the help of Cleveland artist and mentor Martínez “EB” Garcias, which was the workshop experiment of the Esperanza Leadership Youth Team.

Her first time at an art gallery Angelita Rivera’s Caribbean primitive art drew many compliments and 12-year-old Osorio was all but entranced by her first glimpse of the art world but she shared her promising talent along with the accomplished artist who exhibited their pride in their culture in beautiful art.

The  visual and performing arts were not the only attractions at the 737 Gallery—the authentic Puerto Rican cuisine prepared by Lorain Arts Council’s own Miriam Rosa, whose succulent roastpork “Pernil”  was a perfect match for her Arroz con Gandules (saffron rice with winter peas), which brought as many “oohs and aahhs” as the beautiful artwork.

The next project on the agenda for the Lorain Arts Council is the High School Design Contest coming up this month. This contest will be for local high school students that will be given a theme, some text, that must appear in a finished product—an original work of art created and executed entirely by the student.  The prize will be a $200 scholarship for the student and a $50 gift card for the teacher. 

The Lorain Arts Council is dedicated to helping bring back the arts for all children in schools. The LAC holds its Lorain Lighthouse Coloring Contest for 1st, 2nd and 3rd grades and now the addition of an art contest for high school students is in its second year. Another project is in the works for middle school.
 

Copyright © 1989 to 2013 by [LaPrensa Publications Inc.]. All rights reserved.
Revised: 10/08/13 19:17:26 -0700.