We invite you to view the Heart Unifying Communities Exhibition at the Casa Azafrán Art Gallery between June 24 and August 26.
HEART Unifying Communities is a project that promotes the development of artistic skills and social competencies through the communion of literature and creative writing in Spanish, textile art, and English as a second language. The workshop’s main objective is to generate spaces for expression, empowerment, and recreation for the Latino/LatinX community and, in this way, consolidate its artistic expression.
The workshops were conducted by Elvira Aballí Morell, professor at Vanderbilt University, in the area of creative writing and analysis of canonical texts; Vladimir S. Betancur Bedoya, professor at Tennessee State University, in oral expression and English as a second language; and Marcela Castaño, textile artist, in the learning of techniques, conceptualization, and materialization of their works. The first session of HEART Unifying Communities began in October 2021 and lasted until last May; participants generated various texts that served as the foundation for their final works of art.
From June 24 until August 26, you can see these pieces in the Gallery of Casa Azafrán. You can also download the Heart Unifying Communities Bilingual Anthology at the following link.
The works in the exhibition recreate different techniques, among which stand out the vertical and circular loom, macramé, embroidery, sewing, and thread. We addressed topics such as identity, gender, and race. The exhibit contains a collaborative piece embroidered in “Tenango” —a traditional Mexican technique from the regions of San Nicolás and Tenango de Doria—which was elaborated by its participants, leaders, and collaborators. The exhibition also contains a sculpture created especially for our Program by the guest artist Emmajane Kanter, which supports some of the small pieces developed in the experimentation sessions on textile techniques.
We invite you to get to know the creations developed in the HEART Unifying Communities workshops. If you want to learn more about the Program, visit www.heartuc.org
