Must See: Beatriz Vasquez’s New Show, “Feminine Bloodlines, Mexican Womanhood: Erasing Submissiveness”

INDYMAVEN.COM 
By Bekah Pollard

In looking through Vasquez’s Instagram, you can see one piece, in particular, that she’ll be showcasing in the exhibit, and showing in public for the last time, “La Virgin Morena”.

Imagine a gallery full of portraits of strong women. Imagine these portraits are huge—at least ten feet by five feet. Imagine these portraits are all precisely made out of delicate cut paper. Indianapolis-based artist Beatriz Vasquez creates just that. Vasquez is a papel picado artist, creating her work using the Mexican folk art tradition of cut paper. Vasquez traveled to Matamonos in 2009 to spark this reinvention and to connect with her family and study Mexican crafts. Here she rediscovered papel picado and decided to dedicate her art practice to the medium. Traditionally, papel picado is done using chisels and mallets to cut layers of colorful tissue paper. Using this technique as her inspiration, Vasquez has made it her own. [More]

RELIGIOUS ART | NEWS OF WEEK -- Beatriz Vasquez

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By Gregory & Ernest Disney-Britton

Beatriz Vásquez poses in front of her oversized cut-paper portraits during Friday night's solo show opening at the Arts Council of Indianapolis. Image courtesy of the artist's Instagram account.

We emerged from the emotional uplift of the kick-off to Art & Soul and went into Krash Krew's birthday celebration for Keesha Dixon, a standing ovation for Okara Imani, a tribute to Nina Simone by Manon Voice; and a gallery opening for Beatriz Vásquez. Today, we engrave their names onto our Sacred Heart. A Sacred Heart is a Christian symbol of God's boundless and passionate love, a symbol that, when displayed in a home, includes the engraved names of dear ones. That's why Beatriz Vásquez's cut paper sacred heart is our art of the week.

Feminine Bloodlines, Mexican Womanhood: Erasing Submissiveness, Beatriz Vásquez

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS

"Sacred Heart" by Beatriz Vásquez

Indianapolis-based Beatriz Vásquez' Mexican heritage is firmly entrenched in her art practice. Her imagery of flowing colorfully patterned clothing and cultural symbols coupled with her use of the traditional Mexican technique of papel picado (cut paper) reflect the rich history of her family and her childhood growing up in the border town of Brownsville, Texas. Those memories and narratives converge tonight in the Arts Council of Indianapolis Gallery 924. For "Feminine Bloodlines," Vásquez has created larger than life figures to visualize and create space for an empowered and strong female presence in the 21st century. The exhibition runs through March 27, 2020.

RELIGIOUS ART | NEWS OF WEEK

ALPHA OMEGA ARTS
By Gregory & Ernest Disney-Britton

Courtesy of Instagram account of the artist, Beatrice Vasquez. Background: “Immigrant Family” 5ftx5ft. 2019

Did you know that Monarch butterflies cross the border each year to migrate between Mexico and the U.S.? We didn't. Mexican-American artist Beatrice Vasquez carved a series of portraits of immigrants with migrating butterflies that were on view this past Friday at Start with Art, a celebration of the arts in Indianapolis. Her modern approach to using traditional "papel picado" (cut paper), seductively makes a case for open borders. The Indy-based artist created this year's ARTI Awards, and that's why Beatrice Vasquez is our artist of the week.