I am grateful to have the opportunity to be here in France, especially in Provence. Not only because of the history in relation to artists. But also because nature reminds us to live more in touch with nature, and also within oneself. Seeing Provence on the verge of spring, is magical. The air is crisp and cold, with bouts of sunshine, and flowers and leaves start peeking out, waking up from the winter sleep.

Have we forgotten to look?

A day in Paris bringing me back to mindfully Just Be!

Stories of the “Woman Experience” in art … or the lack of it

Today I am reflecting about my ancestry. Last year I discovered so much about myself. Including about the percentage of my genes which are connected to my indigenous heritage. This is something that I am only now starting to actively think about, and which I am looking to explore and learn more over this year and going forward. The challenge in part is that I am not sure where I will begin yet.

Nothing prepares for death…

A celebration of life through paintings.

RIP my sweet grandfather

Wishing that 2025

Questions…

For society and the art world as a whole.

Actively supporting women artists in my life came very early on and naturally as I set up my own practice. This week, I had the pleasure of joining two incredible women in London and Windsor for two unique art exhibitions.

As I started my art career, I was lucky to join an amazing group that was led by Beth Welch in 2020. This was back in 2019, I knew I wanted to be a visual artist, and had been sketching regularly without knowing how to take the leap.  I had 3 kids, my last one only a few months old.  At that time I felt the only way to be an artist was through formal education.  

I organised myself on a whim and left to see this spectacular exhibition at the Thyssen Museum in Madrid. I was lucky to have great insight from a fellow art friend who had attended the exhibition Ellen Holleman. And the exhibition was what I had been longing to see in a museum, (one not dedicated solely to women artists). I have purposely decided to add close ups of many of the images in the exhibition to share the intimate moments I experienced while. navigating the museum. It also will help you get a sense for the grandeur of these paintings.

Our dreams are shaped and largely determined by so many aspects of our upbringing. Additionally and quite certainly if you are born female, there is a big chance that you will be conditioned throughout your life. Most of us will grow up without realising about this conditioning, it runs so deep in our bones by the time we grow up, we can simply see it as part of “adapting” to the social structure around us.

From the stories we are told (fairy tales and traditional cautionary tales), to the images we see portrayed in art, and additionally to the roles the women in our lives take. The narratives around women are ones of conforming to standards and norms that largely limit us and our potential. I realise I was born with a rebellious soul, but my wild spirit was tamed throughout my life.

May this 2024 continue to be a year where I provide more visibility for women artists in bigger and better ways. This applies to women in history as well as to contemporary artists. So much I have learnt over the past year especially is providing me so much encouragement to continue on this path.

I was grateful to end 2023 by going to the ICA on the 31 December. What an inspiring visit it was. On the entry way there was a commission that was unavoidable and which was a clear reminder of the times we live in. Times of war in several countries, times of uncertainty for many women when it comes to our rights, and also to the rights pertaining to our bodies.

My visit to the Museum of Fine Art Boston (MFA), was nothing short of dissapointing. I went as I had learned about the Strong Women in Renaissance Italy Exhibition, the post I saw on instagram had an accompanying image of Sofonisba Anguissola, an artist I so deeply admire and look up in my own art career.

How does one live a life looking to belong, looking for a place to call home? It was 1996 when I left Ecuador. I was 15 years old, I remember that summer well. A warmth and humidity in the air welcomed me to the US. It would be my first time living in a new country, without going back to the life I knew growing up.

A new cycle is beginning for me. After leading a beautiful community of creatives, organising, and curating 20+ wonderful activities related to art in the last two years, I have decided to step down from leading this community.

It is not always easy to make these decisions, but I know that it is the right one for me. I have invested so much time and energy to building the community and to create the events for it, and it is now time for me to look more after myself, my family and to continue to cultivate growth for my own art practice.

As my art practice continues to grow, and I continue to learn to balance my work with family life, I have been offered opportunities, which have made me evaluate how things were serving me and how they were not. I am grateful for each and everyone of the people I have met on this journey and I am excited to continue to be connected to them and to be a part of their art journeys.

I am excited to also announce that I will be launching a magazine with an amazing team in 2024! You can follow our journey closer here: Magazine We Are Here.

The titled above was the opening paragraph of the curatorial statement for a recent exhibition: arms full, where I collaborated in my capacity as the founder of Female Artists Oslo, and also of the FAO art HUB. I enabled this exhibition, I reached out to Shawna Miller to offer her the opportunity to create an exhibition in our space. I did so for several reasons, because I so very deeply admire her work, because I love her as a sister (she is my sister in law), and because her journey to become a painter also enabled my own journey through me watching her finding her own voice, and making that voice into now two stunning body of works, that I have been so very fortunate to experience first hand.