Join us Thursday, March 4, 7-9pm
(Dis)empowerment:  Addressing Controversial Subjects in Contemporary Latino Art

On Thursday, March 4, 7-9pm, the Taller Boricua will be hosting "(Dis)empowerment:  Addressing Controversial Subjects in Contemporary Latino Art," an artist panel on the topic of the use of the racial epithet "spic" in the arts. This event is in direct response to the discussions sparked by Melissa A. Calderon's sculpture "'Round the Way Girl" on the opening night of her exhibition currently on view at the Taller Boricua. The piece, a 6' high, gold bamboo earring with the word "spic" written across the center, provoked a complex dialogue between Nuyorican artists that required a larger forum to give voice to the opposing views expressed.

Language, like the culture it defines, is in constant flux. Dialects, vernacular and slang are all examples of the transitory state of the spoken word. Can a racial epithet such as "spic" have the same malleability? Does re-appropriation automatically infer empowerment and provoke change or does it deny the experiences of earlier generations and reinforce the negative stereotype? What is the responsibility of the artists who incorporate it into their work?

The panel will consist of the following artists and poets: Melissa A. Calderon, Marcos Dimas, Caridad de la Luz, Jesus Papoleto Meléndez, Miguel Luciano, Wanda Ortiz and Nitza Tufiño. Each of who will present their point-of-view on the use of the word "spic" in the context of their own work and/or in the art world followed by a roundtable discussion on specific surrounding issues of re-appropriation, stereotypes and identity.

Please RSVP if possible (requested but not mandatory for attendance): contact@tallerboricua.org

ABOUT THE PANEL:
Melissa A. Calderon incorporates installation, photography, sculpture and video in her work. She received her B.A. in Art History from CUNY Lehman College and lives and works in the Bronx, New York City. Calderon has exhibited at El Museo del Barrio (New York), The Portland Museum of Art, Affirmation Arts (New York), BBBP / Bronx Blue Bedroom Project (New York), Jersey City Museum, Haven Arts Space (Bronx), Arte Americas (Fresno), Longwood Arts Project (New York) and The Bronx Museum of the Arts (New York). Recently, she was awarded a 2010 NALAC Fund for the Arts grant and the 2009/2010 UAI/Urban Artist Initiative fellowship. www.melissacalderon.com
 
Caridad De La Luz is a Bronx-born poet/actor/activist known as LA BRUJA, considered one of America's leading spoken word artists.  She is a renaissance woman, The New York Times called her "a Juggernaut" after a sold out run of her musical "Boogie Rican Blvd."  Her music has crossed over internationally and her debut album "Brujalicious" can be found on iTunes. The hit 
"Keep It Movin' Like" ranked in the top 100 in Germany and London for over a year.  Known for her captivating performance on Russell Simmons' "HBO Def Poetry Jam," she continues to use her power of word to create positive change in the lives of countless inner-city youth.  She has created a movement called "Latinas 4 Life" and travels to countless schools teaching poetry, art and self-expression. www.labrujamusic.com

Marcos Dimas combines Pre-Columbian Taino symbols with contemporary modes of abstraction and figuration to create a fusion between past and present ways of seeing. Dimas received a BFA degree from the School of Visual Arts in 1970. He has shown nationally and internationally in numerous exhibitions including the New Museum (New York), Mexic-Arte Museum (Austin), 2nd Havana Biennial (Cuba), 13th Biennial of Caribbean and Latin American Printmaking (Puerto Rico) and the 9th Annual Seoul International Art Festival (South Korea). Dimas was the recipient of the 1995 and 1999 BRIO painting fellowship awards, the 1977 CAPS filmmaking fellowship and the Longwood Art Center's Cyber Gallery Residency in 2000/01. He is the Artistic Director and one of the original founders of the Taller Boricua / The Puerto Rican Workshop. Dimas has been the curator of more than 300 exhibitions.
 
Wanda Ortiz received her MFA Rutgers University in 2008 and an AAS from the Fashion Institute of Technology in 1998. Ortiz has won numerous awards and recognition of her work: 2009 Bronx River Alliance Cultural Preservation, 2008 El Diario/La Prensa Mujeres Destacada Honoree, Ralph Bunche Fellow (2008), BRIO Award (2002, 2006), Artist In the Marketplace fellow (2004), Longwood Cyber resident (2004) and FIT Outstanding Alumni (2001). She has shown nationally and internationally at the Centro Cultural de España, "Aqui y Ahora: Transcultura/Here and Now: Transculture" (El Salvador); El Museo, "The S Files 05" and "No Lo Llames Performance/Don't Call It Performance" (New York); The Bronx Museum of the Arts, "Artist in the Marketplace 25" (New York); Longwood Art Gallery at Hostos, "Mercury/Mercurio" (New York); and Exit Art, "The L Factor" (New York).

Miguel Luciano is a contemporary artist who received his MFA from the University of Florida. His work has been exhibited internationally at the Grande Halle de la Villette (Paris), The Ljubljana Biennial (Slovenia), The San Juan Triennial (Puerto Rico) and Zverev Center for Contemporary Art (Moscow). Luciano has shown nationally at The Smithsonian Institution (District of Columbia), The Brooklyn Museum (New York), El Museo del Barrio (New York), Bronx Museum of Art (New York), Exit Art (New York), Ronald Feldman Fine Arts, Inc. (New York), The Chelsea Art Museum (New York), The Newark Museum (New Jersey) and The Jersey City Museum. He is the recipient of numerous awards and grants such as the NYFA Award for Painting, the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation's Artists and Communities grant and the Joan Mitchell Painters and Sculptors Award. His work is featured in the permanent collections of The Brooklyn Museum (New York), El Museo del Barrio (New York), and the Newark Museum (New Jersey). www.miguelluciano.com

Jesús Papoleto Meléndez is a performance-poet in New York City and one of the original founders of the Nuyorican Poets' Movement. His publications include "Message To Urban Sightseers" in Talking About Us (1969), Casting Long Shadows (1970), Street Poetry & Other Poems (1972) and his play The Junkies Stole the Clock (1974). Meléndez received the "The Louis Reyes Rivera Lifetime Achievement Award" from Amherst College in 2004, the 2001 NYFA (New York Foundation for the Arts) Fellowship in Poetry, the Artist for Community Enrichment (ACE) Award from the Bronx Council on the Arts in 1995 and a COMBO (Combined Arts of San Diego) NEA Fellowship in Literature.

Nitza Tufiño received her BFA from the Academia San Carlos, Universidad Autonoma de Mexico in 1983. She has exhibited nationally and internationally at El Museo del Barrio (New York), 13th Biennial of Caribbean and Latin American Printmaking (Puerto Rico), Trinity College (Hartford), The Hudson River Museum (Yonkers) and the United Nations (Vienna). In addition to her prints, Tufiño has been commissioned to create public ceramic murals for the Third Street Music School Settlement (New York), Uptown and Downtown East 103rd Street #6 subway line (New York), PS 12 Library (New York), Metropolitan Hospital (New York) and for the Hospital for Special Care (New Britain).

About Taller Boricua:
The Taller Boricua / The Puerto Rican Workshop is a 40-year old artist-run nonprofit art gallery and multi-disciplinary cultural space in El Barrio. Our mission is to be a proactive institution for the community in East Harlem by offering programs that stimulate its social, cultural and economic development through the promotion of the arts.

Taller Boricua is an artist-run 501(c)3 non-profit art gallery Taller Boricua Galleries 1680 Lexington Avenue, NYC, N.Y. 10029

Telephone: 212.831.4333 f: 212.831.6274
Email: contact@tallerboricua.org
Website: tallerboricua.org
Directions: 6 Train to 103 Street / Free admission / Center is accessible for individuals with disabilities