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La Voz, cultura y noticias hispanas del Valle de Hudson, is an award-winning free Spanish language magazine serving the 150,000. Latinos living in the Mid-Hudson Valley across the five counties we distribute to, out of which approximately 120,000 prefer to speak Spanish at home. Thanks mostly to volunteers, this magazine (that was founded in 2004 as a TLS student project at Bard College by Emily Schmall and Mariel Fiori) is a highly respected local publication, winning awards for its overall design and cultural content from the New York Community Media Alliance and from the Dutchess County Executive.
Joan Belmar: time, change and movement
The American artist Joan Belmar was born in Chile and immigrated to the United States in 1999. Currently he lives in Upstate New York and works between New York and Washington DC.
Interview
By Elisa Pritzker
About Elisa:
"The Corner of the Arts" renowned Argentinian-American visual artist and independent curator.
She exhibited at MoMA, Queens Museum, Skirball Museum-Jerusalem, Dorsky Museum, Espronceda-Barcelona, K-Salon-Berlin Germany, in group exhibits. Among solo exhibits, her art was shown at HVMOCA [formerly HVCCA Museum], Hammond Museum, Saletta Kinzica Art Gallery-Pisa Italy, Casa Argentina-Jerusalem Israel, Galeria ArtexArte/Luz & Alfonso Castillo Foundation, Buenos Aires Argentina. Pritzker was featured at PBS Channel, CNN-in Spanish, Huffpost [Huffington Post], Chronogram Magazine, Hyperallergic and her "Eclectica Store" was showcased in the New York Times.
Comments and contact:
EP:Do you remember how we met?
JB: You came recently to my attention at the Dorsky museum while the Curator Anna Conlan was discussing your work--A trunk with a zipper. Then I remembered that a collector had mentioned your work when I was living in Washington DC. We actually first met at an art opening for Penny Dell and Basha Ruth Nelson, on February 21,
2020, at the Trolley Barn in Poughkeepsie, New York.
EP: When and how did you start your career?
JB: I started it in 1995 in Ibiza, Spain after I graduated as a student in graphic design and drawing in Santiago, Chile.
EP: How much influence has your Chilean roots had on your art?
JB: My work is the compilation and simplification of personal experiences and emotions that I express in painting and 3D construction. Chile runs in my veins. I hold very close the memories of its people, food, landscape, and of course my dear family.
EP: Can you tell me about the ideas behind your work?
JB: I work on a series of paintings at a time. Throughout my work, the elements of time, change, and movement are crucial. I explore the properties of contemporary materials, such as plastic, paper, acetate, vinyl, fabric and Mylar. During the past 25 years I have created a visual vocabulary and techniques that allow me to express, execute and enjoy these ideas using simple shapes, such as the circle. Also, I play with light, transparencies and the sculptural qualities of these elements in order to evoke the concepts of time, change and movement.
In particular in my 3D works, and in some of my paintings and drawings, I have become intrigued by maps, especially as I have researched some ethnic groups who were exterminated in Chile. In this research, I encountered symbols, colors, drawings, grids, dots and lines. Using these, I explore the psychological and cultural divisions that affect the various ways in which we see the world. The different qualities of the elements--the clash and contradictions of the materials--create a dialogue. On my webpage you can see my work. www.joanbelmar.com
EP: What is you next project?
JB: Many things are on standby because of the Coronavirus. I work each day in my studio unless I am traveling. I sometimes work on several series simultaneously. Also I should mention that 2 of my 3-D pieces will be in the Washington Project for the Arts (WPA) Auction Gala, a DC tradition, now COLLECTORS' NIGHT. WPA has been very important for me and has helped many other artists for generations in the national capital.
Photo credits by Sara Belisle [University Of Maine Museum Of Art. Septiembre 2019]
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