A Journey to Awareness When You Least Expect It: Appreciating Latino Culture   by Calvin Schwartz      Jan 14^th 2017

This article title is aptly constructed. You go through life in Central Jersey and it seems sometimes you’re a million miles away from relevance and meaning. But it’s the same everywhere. Five years ago, when I was just beginning my journalism career, I happened upon Tent City, a plot of forest land in Lakewood, New Jersey where up to 100 people (humans) were living in tents for up to ten years, homeless and without electricity or running water. I least expected homelessness 20 miles from my home in comfortable Monmouth County. Ocean County had no provisions for homeless. Spending time there, I was changed irrevocably; I became aware of the devastating hopelessness of homelessness. Awareness is a gift.

The gifts were many as a journalist these past five years. I also learned about hunger, musicians, autism, bipolar and PTSD. Then suddenly last summer, in August, I received an email from Monmouth Museum, actually while I was reclining on a beach chair at the Dead Sea in 111-degree temperature. I was invited to attend the September opening exhibit of an emerging artist, Dion Hitchings. It was mid-September when I found myself at the museum checking out a fascinating exhibit. The artist used Cheerio and donut boxes instead of canvas. When I finished, museum public relations head, Laura Oncea, asked if I’d like to see a new exhibit that was being set-up in the main hall; Neo-Latino: Critical Mass. The curator, Monica Camin and assistant, Nicole Sardone were busy setting up. I walked in, looked to my left and saw Ricardo Fonseca’s “An Act of Love -Trumpet!” It was captivating and riveting and made me think. I love to think.  My wife and I absorbed the exhibit. I was hooked and engrossed but turned down an invitation to attend the exhibit opening reception on September 16^th.

Driving home, perhaps less than a mile from the museum, my friend, epiphany, helped me reverse my decision. I called and accepted the invitation for the reception. Epiphany reminded me that at the reception, there would be a gathering of some of the most prominent Latino artists in the country; some were PhDs and professors; all accomplished and successful. But present, beneath my soft cutaneous surface, were old and new stereotypes, many stuck in the current political climate. I hate stereotypes and falling into traps without being open minded. I’m confronted by my own lack of awareness of Latino (Hispanic) culture and that frustrated that it existed in me. I never want to be on an ignorant bus driving along a Gulf of Mexico highway. I keep seeking understanding, relevance and diversity as I go through the maturation process. In thirty years or so, minorities in America will be a majority. Isn’t it a good time to absorb, appreciate new vistas of culture?  Challenge your own assumptions.

The exhibit at Monmouth Museum,’ Neo Latino: Critical Mass’ was conceived at this pivotal time for the Latino voice, in the midst of an historic election and would stress the Latino cultural and socio-political experience. A collective of diverse artists was created to express a Latino voice in this new century. For me, that time has arrived; long overdue. Artists with roots or ties to Argentina, Columbia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, Portugal and Spain were represented.  Before the reception, I sat in the garden (It was a late summer warm night) with the collective creators and curators, Raul Villareal, Dr. Jose Rodeiros, Monica Camin and Olga Mercedes Bautista. And then my favorite lightbulb went on; their energy lit my fire and I suggested doing an NJ Discover LIVE TV Show to further bring awareness to their work, culture and art. It was agreed and we did the show in October. Here is the link to “Neo Latino Artists Come to NJ Discover Live TV.” Please check it out. You’ll get a chance to see and hear about some of the representative art.  It was a great show. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMzmocQpu5s

A few weeks later artist (his work combines design, digital manipulation, digital art illustration, photography and sometimes animation and sound) Ricardo Fonseca invited me to attend the ‘We Are You Project’ Poetry Anthology Reading on October 27^th at New York’s Nuyorican Café on the lower East Side. Another evening, this time with some of the country’s most prolific, prominent Latino poets. For me, it was a continuance of my recent journey to Latino cultural awareness. A commitment to mind expansiveness and learning. This notion securely etched in the stone of my determination. I let Woodstock in 1969 and Dr. King’s March on Washington and “I Have a Dream” speech in August, 1963 pass me by. No more moments in life would be unattended. Even though that night produced a cold heavy rain storm, I trained into the city with Monica Camin, curator of the “Neo Latino-Critical Mass” exhibit.

Indeed, so well worth the drenching trip. The café was alive with Latino artists and poets, dramatically reading some of their works. I had a chance to meet and chat with Dr. Carlos Hernandez, former President of New Jersey City University, Mario Tapia, President of the Latino Center on Aging and Duda Penteado, artist, poet and Brazilian-American. All three, so instrumental in putting this night together and more importantly, developing new, transcultural tools to help the emerging modern Hispanic population. Represented this night was work from the Beat Generation with George Nelson Preston. I was a happy guy. It brought me home to where/when I came from. There was so much more words/works that harvested emotion, diversity, passion, freedom and justice. I could write pages now about what I absorbed. I felt so elevated being there. I was alive again. I love the feeling of input and knowledge and involvement. Best if you all catch a flavor of the individual works that night, Go to:

http://www.weareyouproject.org/

and visually journey into the culture. Their culture is part of our American culture. It’s who we are; a nation of immigrants and a melting pot of diversity and creativity. I marvel at the universe for lighting my fire and bringing me here to awareness. There is a purpose to things; an order in the universe. Earlier this summer, I had a chance to interview Laurie Hernandez, a 16-year-old American- Latino gymnast just before she left for the Olympics where she won a Gold and Silver Medal. A few months ago, she dazzled America winning ‘Dancing with the Stars.’ Then in November, I went to an evening of Comedy at the Headliner in Neptune Township featuring Peaches Rodriguez, a well-known Latino comedian.

My journey these past few months has been very special absorbing Latino culture as part of the promise of America. I’ve also done serious work with education and the promise it affords our future. I feel like I’m on that mountain top, looking down, beyond my long white beard which touches my knees. I understand things better now. I know education is what can help so many problems of the world. It’s a gift we need to share. I’m on a wonderful path. I love awareness and Latino culture. For me, it’s all a wondrous beginning; a new world; and an expected lot of miles yet to travel. And so it goes.

The Evolution of October 17^th Show,  “NEO-LATINO ARTISTS COME TO NJ DISCOVER LIVE TV”  TUNE IN  8 PM.  Monday October 17th   Hint: “NOT to be Missed. Hugely RELEVANT”    by Calvin Schwartz  October 9, 2016

TUNE IN MONDAY OCTOBER 17^th  njdiscover.com  8 PM to 9 PM with your hosts Tara-Jean Vitale and Calvin Schwartz

ALSO SEEN on YOU TUBE TV, LONG BRANCH COMMUNITY ACCESS TV CHANNEL 20, RUTGERS UNIVERSITY TV, MONMOUTH COUNTY CABLEVISION CHANNEL 77, MONMOUTH COUNTY FIOS CHANNEL 44

Evolution means how it came about. With our upcoming special Neo-Latino artist themed show, it was a few blinks of an eye, a gaze to a painting on a wall followed by a conversation with the curator, Monica Camin, of the exhibit Neo-Latino: Critical Mass now showing at Monmouth Museum (Brookdale College) until November 6^th.

When I was at the Monmouth Museum researching emerging artist, Dion Hitchings, Laura Alexander, museum public relations, suggested I glance at the setting up of their new feature exhibit “Neo Latino: Critical Mass.”  As I walked into the exhibit, I first saw artist Ricardo Fonseca’s “An Act of Love-Trumpet.”  It was mesmerizing, relevant, cerebral and fascinating. I was captivated with all the art in the exhibit. Then I accepted an invitation to attend the opening reception on September 16^th.  I love saying, “the rest is history.”

Prior to the reception, I sat down, as an interviewing journalist, in the museum garden, for an hour, with four of the artists, Raul Villarreal, who coined the term ‘Neo-Latino,” Monica Camin, exhibit curator, Olga Bautista and Professor Jose Rodeiro. The collective of artists representing at this exhibit is ground-breaking. It was explained that 2016 is a crucial year for the Latino voice, especially in this year’s ‘relevant’ election.  The art in the exhibit is so expressive of the cultural and socio/political Latino experience. The artists featured have roots or ties to Argentina, Columbia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, Portugal and Spain.

That light bulb of clarity, relevant and grasp suddenly went off in my vision. I’ve been on this mission to explore the exigencies of educating people. I was on that mountain top, seeing clearly, but not quite forever, and knew N J Discover could get involved in telling their story and exploring their art. The moment I suggested doing an NJ Discover TV LIVE TV Show, it was one of those simultaneous group moments of clarified vision. We all saw the light and possibilities to further bring awareness/ presence and voice of Latinos in the arts to mainstream. It’s a journey to education and understanding.

Come TUNE IN to the experience with a very special group of Latino artists on October 17^th 8 PM. Of note, I’ve mentioned the word, “relevant” often in this opening.

TUNE IN MONDAY OCTOBER 17^th  njdiscover.com  8 PM to 9 PM with your hosts Tara-Jean Vitale and Calvin Schwartz

ALSO SEEN on YOU TUBE TV, LONG BRANCH COMMUNITY ACCESS TV CHANNEL 20, RUTGERS UNIVERSITY TV, MONMOUTH COUNTY CABLEVISION CHANNEL 77, MONMOUTH COUNTY FIOS CHANNEL 44

BIOS & RELEVANT INFORMATION ON APPEARING ARTIST GUESTS!!!

MONICA S. CAMIN

As an Argentine born, New Jersey and Texas-based artist, I experienced my upbringing in Latin America as a first generation Argentine. In the work presented here I examine my roots as the daughter of German-Jews who escaped the worst years of the Holocaust and found refuge in Argentina. The questions I explore in much of my work straddle the experiences of being brought up as the daughter of immigrants in Latin America and the experiences of personal immigration and identity in my adulthood as I emigrated to Israel and then the United States.

While the catalysts for the movement between countries differ vastly, the commonality that ensues is that the culture and communities that so strongly shape our identity and understanding of the world in which we live are uprooted, causing us to seek out and reinvent the stories that make us whole. I sift through my ancestral stories in order to connect to those roots that have been torn from their origins and to remember and pass on the stories of a living history whose survivors are aging.

DESCRIPTION OF REPRESENTED ART: Between the years of 1976 and 1983, Argentina was governed by military rule steeped in austerity and cultural genocide. Leaders of the military dictatorship called this the “National Reorganization Process,” but the people called it “The Dirty War.”

During this time, the economy was in chaos, jobs were not available, poverty was growing, and human rights were ignored. Individuals who were considered a political or ideological threat to the military- largely young people fighting for social change- were abducted, imprisoned, tortured, and killed. One method of torture was called the “Flight of Death”- victims were injected with a fatal substance and thrown from an airplane.

30,000 people- known as los desaparecidos- disappeared during this war. An estimated 500 babies born in captivity were given up for adoption, and left with no real identity.

PERPETUALLY SETTLING DUST (EL REZO) is both a meditation on the repeated atrocities of state terrorism and a prayer for a different future.

The piece was created in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The embroidery of the names was a call to the community, a call which was responded to immediately by the young people in the community and by the relatives of the desaparecidos.

JOSE RODEIRO

Contact Info:  jrodeiro@aol.com    Relevant Websites:  http://www.duendeart.org/#!jose-rodeiro/c1x0m

http://www.rodeiro-art.com/

Jose Rodeiro was born in February, 1949 and was raised in Ybor City, Tampa, Florida.  Rodeiro’s ancestry is Cuban-American.  Rodeiro received his BA in Studio Art from the University of Tampa; and his M.F.A from the Pratt Institute in New York City (NY) and his Ph.D. from the College of Fine Arts at Ohio University, Athens (Ohio).  Rodeiro is a former Professor of Art and Art History and a former-Coordinator of Art History at New Jersey City University. Jersey City, NJ.  His academic/artistic awards include a Visual Artist’s Fellowship in Painting from the National Endowment for the Arts (1986-1987), a Fulbright Fellowship (as a Fulbright Scholar in Nicaragua) (1995), and a Cintas Fellowship in Painting (1982). Rodeiro has received major public art (mural) commissions from Tampa Arts Councils, Tampa, FL, and Maryland State Arts Council, Baltimore, MD.  He has lived and worked in Spain and Central America.  Nationally and internationally, he has exhibited in scores of acclaimed art exhibitions and his art is included within significant art museums, art institutions, and art collections.

DESCRIPTION OF REPRESENTED ART: José Rodeiro.  “Picnic at Bath Beach.”     

Oil-on-canvas.   30” w  x  40”h.    2016.

ICONOLOGY:                                                                     

In early fall, 1890, during a friendly Bath Beach, Brooklyn, NY, excursion, José Martí entertained his goddaughter María Mantilla and her mother, Mrs. Carmen Miyares de Mantilla. Clearly visible, in the distance, are Admiral Giovanni da Verrazano’s “Narrows” (which were first discovered by the Florentine in 1524). However, because it was not completed until 1964, missing from the background’s calm Neo-Luminist seascape is the Verrazano Narrows Bridge.  Meanwhile in the forefront, all three figures and their picnic luncheon are shielded from Bath Beach’s sandy-dirt by a woven brown Dutch carpet, symbolizing Jan Rodrigues’s 1613 first Dutch settlement in the area, which became New Amsterdam (eventually New York City).   Held by Martí is the young child María Mantilla (a US-born citizen), who waves undersized Cuban and American flags that catch a brisk headwind, causing straw hats to be held tightly.  With a Masonic pin on his lapel, Martí sits on a portable metallic stool, dutifully embracing his goddaughter Maria Mantilla, who is the future mother of Cesar Romero Jr., the acclaimed Hollywood actor, who played the iconic DC Comics’ role of “The Joker” (from 1966-68) on the “Batman” television show.   Via Amnesis aesthetic theory, hiding behind a picnic basket, between two Cuban breads, a string-puppet of “The Joker” is held by Mrs. Carmen Miyares de Mantilla (the grandmother of Cesar Romero Jr. aka “The Joker”).  Carmen Miyares de Mantilla wears a lace mantilla, a visual-pun on her late-husband’s name: Manuel Mantilla, who had died in 1885.  Her mantilla is clasped by a cameo-broach depicting a white rose signifying Martí’s famous poem about friendship “Cultivo una rosa blanca.”

Around and in the picnic basket are typical Cuban foods as well as a bottle of dark Cuban rum. The mysterious and menacing Atlantic Ocean connects Bath Beach to Cuba, as does the blue rubber kickball on which Carmen Miyares de Mantilla rests her right-elbow, which contains a green geographical image of Cuba.

TUNE IN MONDAY OCTOBER 17^th  njdiscover.com  8 PM to 9 PM with your hosts Tara-Jean Vitale and Calvin Schwartz

ALSO SEEN on YOU TUBE TV, LONG BRANCH COMMUNITY ACCESS TV CHANNEL 20, RUTGERS UNIVERSITY TV, MONMOUTH COUNTY CABLEVISION CHANNEL 77, MONMOUTH COUNTY FIOS CHANNEL 44

RICARDO FONSECA

Contact Info:  rick@ricardofonseca.com    www.RicardoFonseca.com

Ricardo Fonseca has been a graphic designer for more than 20 years. He earned his MFA from New Jersey City University (Jersey City, NJ) and his BFA from William Paterson University (Wayne, NJ). He has been a graphic/web designer and photographer at Kean University (Union, NJ) for more than 12 years. He received design awards from the Arts Directors Club of New Jersey (ADCNJ) in 2010, 2011 and 2012. As a freelancer, he provides artistic consulting and creative solutions in design, fine art and photography.

DESCRIPTION OF REPRESENTED ART: RICARDO FONSECA   “GREEN CARD”  Digital Manipulation.

Green Card is an artwork that explores the topic of identity, and how that identity relates to the individual and mass society in the United States. The artwork is a reflection of this most precious legal document, which has been reproduced to a colossal size, and easily appropriated with the use of a smartphone camera, to be replicated effortlessly, infinitely, and in real time; and possibly shareable through very public means, such as social media. Each person that steps up to the mirror in Green Card, is actually reflecting back his or her own situation and journey. But, it’s also an artwork of empathy, perseverance, and opportunity.

OLGA MERCEDES BAUTISTA

Contact Info: http://www.olgamercedesbautista.com

.Colombian-American sculptor Olga Mercedes Bautista has been awarded several certificates of appreciation from the mayors of Newark, Jersey City and Perth Amboy. She worked for the city of Perth Amboy as a Founder-Director of the Perth Amboy Gallery, as a curator of art exhibitions, organizer of the Festival of the Andes and art shows in the city for which she was in charge in securing grants. After receiving a Master in Fine Arts Education from Kean University, she became an art teacher at the Perth Amboy Education Center. Bautista has held this position for the past 17 years. Currently she is candidate for a Fine Arts Master degree from New Jersey City University

REPRESENTED ART: OLGA MERCEDES  BAUTISTA  “EL DORADO PROJECT”

“More than 113,000 trees were damaged or destroyed in the state of New Jersey two years ago due to severe winds and waves from Hurricane Sandy. Small branches, roots, and leaves among other debris were found scattered around through out the coastal area. Once the storm strong winds dissipated, organic materials could be found all around. They were laying on the beach sand after all the devastation.

A Colombian-American artist got inspired to make good use of those organic materials which although detached from their roots by mother nature were still blending in their new environment. She would assure us that those organic materials continued their own transformational process long after. In her own sculptures the artist tried to bring about an acute sensibility to the nature of the materials with which she worked. She wanted to show each minimal detail as if viewed under a microscope. Respecting their natural forms as she blended them together to combine raw materials of a variety of sources.

The viewer may recognize patterns and compositional elements in a new familiar form. Her sculptures intent to generate an appreciation and respect for a natural balance of nature”

TUNE IN MONDAY OCTOBER 17^th  njdiscover.com  8 PM to 9 PM with your hosts Tara-Jean Vitale and Calvin Schwartz

ALSO SEEN on YOU TUBE TV, LONG BRANCH COMMUNITY ACCESS TV CHANNEL 20, RUTGERS UNIVERSITY TV, MONMOUTH COUNTY CABLEVISION CHANNEL 77, MONMOUTH COUNTY FIOS CHANNEL 44

LISETTE MOREL

Dominican-American artist born 1974 in Manhattan, NY.

In October Ms. Morel will participate in “Raw Forms Forum” curated by Artist Dominique Duroseau, Newark Museum, Newark NJ and exhibit in the group show “Accumulating Experience” curated by Betty Jarvis, Newark NJ 2016. Currently her work is included in the Neo-Latino group exhibit ”Critical Mass” Monmouth Museum, NJ. This past summer, Ms. Morel was awarded the First Sustainable Arts Fellow Residency, Gallery Aferro, Newark, NJ, 2016 and participated in the “Perspectives3” exhibits and workshops at Nurture Nature Center Easton, PA. She also co performed “Run to Your Friend Until You Can’t Anymore” an endurance performance with performance artist Ayana Evans 2016. Ms. Morel exhibited in the “I Kan Do Dat” exhibit curated by Daniel Simmons and Oshune Layne, Skylight gallery Brooklyn, NY.  In 2012 /2013 she was invited by artist Gregory Coates of Fuse Art Infrastructure to participate in experimental installations in Allentown, PA.

Ms. Morel was awarded the Artist in Residence at Soho20 Chelsea Gallery, NY in 2012. She was also invited to participate in the Aljira Emerge10 Program and at El Museo del Barrio Fifth Biennial: The (S) Files. She is a recipient of the prestigious Joan Mitchell Foundation MFA Grant. Lisette Morel received her Master in Fine Arts at the Tyler School of Art, Temple University and her Bachelor of Arts at Rutgers University.

REPRESENTED ART: LISETTE MOREL “STILLNESS AND SILENCE HANDS HELD IN HE DEEP BLACK”

“This art is an opportunity to think about space and time…what would happen if I mixed certain materials together and experiment….Pieces have been chaotic…my response to the world…How I am as a female, supposed to be viewed, act, or taking a cue….It translates to a variety of surfaces……the use of limitations…….What happens if I push my body.”  Lisette Morel in an Interview at Opening Reception, Neo Latino: Critical Mass September 167, 2016

HUGO X BASTIDAS

I am a painter/digital artist working in New York City. I received a state scholarship to attend Rutgers University where I was awarded a bachelors degree. I completed my graduate studies in fine art at Hunter College in Manhattan. I received a Robert Smithson Scholarship to attend the Brooklyn Museum School of Art where I studied sculpture in between obtaining my degrees. I am a Fulbright Fellow, a recipient of numerous awards. The Nohra Haime Gallery in NYC has represented my paintings for fourteen years now and recently I have began to show my digital work at the Gallery Boreas in Brooklyn. My artwork is in numerous shows yearly throughout the world and is in public and private collections worldwide. And it has been widely written about frequently in magazines, newspapers and stock literature including for example The New York Times, Art in America and Nexus Art. I am an Associate Professor at New Jersey City University and a painting instructor at The Art                                                                                             Students League of New York.