60 Cove St
Portland, ME 04101
USA
Join Indigo Arts Alliance as we launch a new artist talk series called Voices + Visions! This new program series features our alumni artists in residence, highlighting their similarities, creative intersections and distinct voices.
Our first installment will feature our inaugural David C. Driskell Fellows: Rachel Gloria Adams, Heather Flor Cron, and Veronica Perez. These three incredible artists will discuss their relationship with craft, the land, and their familial histories. Diving deep into their experiences IAA residents and beyond, this artist conversation will shine a light into their process and explore what projects they’re looking forward to.
This event is free, open to all, ages 16+ and takes place at the Indigo Arts Alliance Studio in Portland, ME.
At the heart of Indigo Arts Alliance’s mission is are our Artist Residency programs, which provides Black and Brown artists an environment for the production of artwork in all media across various disciplines. Our Residency aims to connect Black and Brown artists from across the globe to local artists of African descent. We activate our mission by creating opportunities for critical feedback, relationship building and increased awareness of creative practices and resources.
PLEASE NOTE: For the health and safety expectations, all attendees at indoor events and performances are required to provide proof of vaccination against the COVID-19 virus, or a negative PCR test from within the previous 48 hours or a negative ‘Rapid Test’ from the previous 12 hours. It is necessary to also show a legal photo identification along with your vaccination proof, or test result. All proof may be original or digital. Participants are asked to remain masked. There will be extra masks and hand sanitizer stations provided.
Rachel Gloria Adams is a textile designer and painter living in Portland, ME. Inspired greatly by her beloved state of Maine and the beautiful chaos her two daughters bring, Adams has developed a vibrant, graphic pattern-based visual language filled with references to the natural world. An ongoing project and business venture TACHEE utilizes this imagery she developed through painting as textile prints. Rachel is currently developing a body of work that depicts her experience as a black mother and artist through a series of paintings and quilts.
Heather Flor Cron is a queer Peruvian-American farmer, performer & transdisciplinary artist who works with intuitive movement, dirt, installation, printmaking, fiber, and food. From a young age Flor frequently travelled to Peru to visit her maternal family. There, her passion for movement, food and textiles was ignited. Flor lives in Portland, Maine, which is settled on stolen and occupied territory of the Wabanaki Confederacy. Through performance and making with available materials, Flor locates the present moment and the relationship between her two cultures. She explores the defeat and transformation of trauma through the twin powers of vulnerability and forgiveness, and how exposing pain can transcend trauma. Heather is the recipient of awards and residencies such as the Kindling Fund via Space Gallery / Andy Warhol Foundation, David C. Driskell Black Seed Studio Fellowship, Speedwell Projects Residency, Studios at MASS MoCA Fellowship and the Ellis Beauregard Foundation Residency.
Veronica Perez is a multidisciplinary artist living in Maine. They utilizes synthetic hair, discarded objects, and other unconventional materials such as sugar and construction remnants in her sculptural works to conceal and reveal hidden and forgotten parts of ones’ identity. Perez creates intense personal moments by means of material hybridization and challenging ideals of beauty. Their chosen material aims to comments on contemporary Latinx and feminist issues which she explores through notions of loss, time and trauma. In 2020, they were awarded the Ellis-Beauregard Fellowship in the Visual Arts and in 2021 began their residency at the David C. Driskell Black Seed Studio Fellowship in Portland, Maine. In 2022, Perez presented their first solo exhibition at the Center for Maine Contemporary Arts in Rockland, Maine. And 2023 – they will bring their Braiding Circles to the University of Southern Maine as the artist in residence.
Indigo Arts Alliance is a place where freedom of expression and personal transformation through creativity is encouraged. Indigo Arts Alliance embodies a Black-led, multiracial approach to the rich intersections of citizenship, community-building, and creativity. More than ever, our world needs people who can help us imagine more compassionate, generous, and welcoming human societies. Indigo does that work. It is a great gift to the Portland community, to the region, and to our nation!
Indigo Arts Alliance is rooted in two principles:
– Art is a key resource for healthy human communities. It should be cultivated and celebrated.
– Artists play a unique role in strengthening our multiracial democracy. We need their vision and inspiration to help build a more humane, inclusive, and just world.