"Women of the world want and deserve an equal future free from stigma, stereotypes, and violence; a future that’s sustainable, peaceful, with equal rights and opportunities for all. To get us there, the world needs women at every table where decisions are being made." - UN Women
Dedication
La Peña would like to dedicate the 2021 International Women's Day exhibit to Ingrid Washinawatok el-Issa and Maria Jimenez.
Ingrid Washinawatok el-Issa was born in 1957 in the Menominee Nation in Wisconsin. El-Issa was an astounding individual who dedicated her life to being a positive force on others. She lived a life full of service, and worked with many organizations nationally and internationally on behalf of women, indigenous peoples, and Native Americans. Ingrid helped in spreading awareness for issues affecting indigenous people, including concerns about their economic, social and environmental status and rights. She is known for her influence as the Chair of the NGO Committee on the United Nations International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, and worked with many organizations to promote indigenous people's cultures and rights. As executive director of the Fund for Four Directions in New York City, she worked in particular to revitalize indigenous languages
Ingrid Washinawatok el-Issa was born in 1957 in the Menominee Nation in Wisconsin. El-Issa was an astounding individual who dedicated her life to being a positive force on others. She lived a life full of service, and worked with many organizations nationally and internationally on behalf of women, indigenous peoples, and Native Americans. Ingrid helped in spreading awareness for issues affecting indigenous people, including concerns about their economic, social and environmental status and rights. She is known for her influence as the Chair of the NGO Committee on the United Nations International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, and worked with many organizations to promote indigenous people's cultures and rights. As executive director of the Fund for Four Directions in New York City, she worked in particular to revitalize indigenous languages
Alondra Acosta (AGAM)
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Soul
Pencil on paper $400 "My artistic name is AGAM. My purpose is to create consciousness through my art.Hoping that the seed of the truth will blossom as you see, observe, and feel my art with all your senses." |
Alejandra Almuelle
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FORM, 2020
Ceramic and 22k gold luster 24"h x 12"w x 6"d $3,000 each |
"I made this series based on a vintage children tailor's form. I fell in love with the shape. But I wanted it to be a visual commentary about mass production and mass consumption in a system where ALL life has been commodified, a prevalent and entrenched aspect of our society."
alejandra.almuelle @gmail.com |
Ana Borne
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Tree of Life Redux, 2021
Mixed-media using gold leaf, paint, repurposed bustier, dress form, and handmade glass tiles $425 "Women are givers and nurturers of Life. This piece symbolizes the female form and celebrates her feminine powers. The design on the front was inspired by Klimt’s Tree of Life piece." "My life journey continues to take me down new and interesting creative paths. Born in Guatemala to a family of folk artists I’ve been a maker/creator since a young child. Utilizing a wide range of materials I enjoy experimenting and incorporating various techniques in my pieces. Collaborating with other artists on public art projects has also been extremely rewarding. But most importantly, as I mature as an artist and woman, I feel a strong sense of urgency and responsibility to use my art to bring attention to important issues in the world and to be a voice for victims and survivors of abuse, violence and injustices. Currently I teach art classes at The Contemporary’s Art School at Laguna Gloria and continue to explore the world of mixed-media, collage, jewelry fabrication, painting, printmaking, as well as non-traditional mediums." |
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Neena Buxani
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Warmth of a Bouquet, 2021
Acrylic on Canvas 30” x 40” $1,450 "Homage to International Women’s Day 2021, I painted this piece to celebrate color and life. This work was created using a painterly style, which allowed me to be in the moment and feel a true state of flow. Neena’s work encourages the viewer to stay in the present, celebrate the moment and embrace a positive outlook. She currently works with alcohol inks, acrylics, and mixed media to create magical abstracts, abstract expressionistic pieces inspired by nature, and joyful realistic paintings. She attempts to encourage the viewer to stop, look and embrace the artwork by offering various looking points. Her use of inviting textures, varying styles, differing line depths, and strong color helps to achieve her purpose. Neena’s final intention being that her work continues to convey positive energy and inspire viewers and collectors daily." |
Neena Buxani is an Indian-American artist who was raised on the border of Mexico in Brownsville, Texas. She currently resides in Austin, Texas with her husband and two boys. Neena's educational and professional background is diverse. She has a B.S. in Advertising and Speech Communications, M.S. in Social Work from the University of Texas at Austin as well as a Gemological Certification from GIA. She has worked as a Substance Abuse Counselor,
Jewelry Buyer, Loan Officer, Jewelry Store Owner, and General Manager for a Hotel. Her multi-faceted background has helped to shape her vision as a self-taught artist.
"Art is a form of expression that allows me to spread positivity through the use of vibrant colors and uplifting themes and subject matter. When I am immersed in the creative process, it brings me joy by not only allowing me to express my authentic self but to inspire others to do the same."
Jewelry Buyer, Loan Officer, Jewelry Store Owner, and General Manager for a Hotel. Her multi-faceted background has helped to shape her vision as a self-taught artist.
"Art is a form of expression that allows me to spread positivity through the use of vibrant colors and uplifting themes and subject matter. When I am immersed in the creative process, it brings me joy by not only allowing me to express my authentic self but to inspire others to do the same."
Constanza Cameron
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Untitled Woman, 2021
Pencil and acrylic on paper $70 "This drawing was inspired by photographs of women that were trying to be anything but themselves. No makeup or poses. No filters or enhancements." |
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Cecilia Colomé
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ATLANTICS, 2021
Oil on canvas (2020) 40” x 40” $2,000 |
"It is always an honor for me to be invited to participate in events that celebrate International Women’s Day at La Peña Gallery. In previous years, I have painted women and other female living organisms that I admire. This year, actually since the past year, all lives have been stirred, and everything seemed upside down, fragmented, broken.
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"This year I am presenting a painting that gave me a soothing routine during 2020. It started a bit before. At the end of 2019, I saw a movie titled “Atlantics”. It is a surreal and sad love story. At some point in the movie, the whole screen became the blue ocean. It is a long scene of just water waves, gently pulsating as if the ocean were breathing. It is that mesmerizing image that I tried to transfer on my painting “Atlantics”. It took me about a year to finish it.
It has about six layers of paint, with the last two done with very small brushes. “Atlantics” was my main company during 2020, and I am honored to have the opportunity to present it during this year’s celebration of Women’s Day."
Cecilia Colomé is a painter and printmaker who has made Austin her home since 1988. Cecilia was a student of the late painter Amalia Baquedano in Mérida, México, and studied printmaking with the late Juan José Beltrán in México City. Cecilia holds a B.Sc. in physics from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and a Ph.D. in astrophysics from UT-Austin. As a printmaker, Cecilia works on linoleum plates, and on zinc plates using dry point, engraving, aquatint etching, mezzotint, as well as intaglio and solar etching techniques. As a painter, Cecilia works with oil paints on canvas, and watercolor and gouache on paper and aquabord.
It has about six layers of paint, with the last two done with very small brushes. “Atlantics” was my main company during 2020, and I am honored to have the opportunity to present it during this year’s celebration of Women’s Day."
Cecilia Colomé is a painter and printmaker who has made Austin her home since 1988. Cecilia was a student of the late painter Amalia Baquedano in Mérida, México, and studied printmaking with the late Juan José Beltrán in México City. Cecilia holds a B.Sc. in physics from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and a Ph.D. in astrophysics from UT-Austin. As a printmaker, Cecilia works on linoleum plates, and on zinc plates using dry point, engraving, aquatint etching, mezzotint, as well as intaglio and solar etching techniques. As a painter, Cecilia works with oil paints on canvas, and watercolor and gouache on paper and aquabord.
Celeste DeLuna
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Between Jays, 2021
Color reduction linocut on paper 8” x 8” $100 "This work is about navigating the realities of two different landscapes. In one place there is a green jay and in the other a blue jay and both there are palm trees and stars. Who am I now? the woman asks herself, the birds, the sky, the trees. What will she find out?" Celeste De Luna is an artist/printmaker from the lower Rio Grande Valley of South Texas. Her work seeks to articulate and document personal and collective experiences in the material, spiritual, and supernatural world. Rooted in a Chicana feminist perspective, she seeks to tease out the intricacies of living in and along the borderlands in her art as well as envisioning a fantastical, futuristic frontera. De Luna is a self-taught printmaker whose work includes large-scale woodcut prints and installation. De Luna is a cofounder of the socially engaged art collective Las Imaginistas, an accomplished home cook, and cultural advocate. |
Her recipes appear in the book “Don’t Count the Tortillas” by Adan Medrano and she also appears in his film Truly Texas Mexican advocating for traditional food, street vendors, and cultural ways. Currently, she lives in San Antonio, Texas with her family and works out of her home studio, Metzli Press, and teaches Mexican-American Studies for Northwest Vista College.
Rebecca Fitzpatrick
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The Walk
Oil on canvas board, framed 11” x 14” $100 "Though I didn't know what this painting signified in the moments while creating it, now, while on a walk through the sunsetting woods, the answer was able to be realized. Patience. Calmness. Stillness. Optimistically walking the path in front of you all the while subconsciously knowing what's to come. You create your reality, and great peace comes from knowing yourself without anybody else. Painting and dancing are two art forms that allow me to easily get into a flow state. I'm currently experimenting with my style of painting, I'm working on a painting without so much planning and referencing - painting from the soul you could call it. Upon moving to Austin I started to focus on painting more than ever before. I didn't know anyone in the city, but I had my paintings - they gave me a sense of comfort. I quickly realized that the paintings I made stored very vivid memories. Looking at them allowed me to go back in time, to the moment when I was creating the piece. Paintings are little time capsules." |
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Emily Galüsha
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Melancholia 1, 2017
Artist’s proof Monoprint $395 |
Melancholia 1 focuses on the residual emotions of extreme despair and guilt that derive from unresolved feelings created within a past abusive relationship. Choreographing dancers for a photoshoot, I was able to draw from the human form selecting those positions that best fit the emotion, in this case, my personal relationship history and melancholia.
Created during my residency at La Romita School of Art in Terni, Italy. "Melancholia 1" is a piece from my "Undercurrents" series, which is an ongoing physical, psychological, philosophical, creative study. The work is inspired and motivated by my experience as a dancer as well as a human being moving through life. It is a reminder for us to inhabit our bodies. emilygalusha.com facebook.com/emilygalushacreative instagram: @emilyegalusha |
Marsha Gomez
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Marsha Gomez (1951-1998), a woman of Choctaw/ Chicana descent, was born in New Orleans in 1951. She grew up in Arkansas where she learned Native American Pottery techniques. After earning a degree in art education, she moved to Austin in 1982 and immediately plunged into community service. Marsha used art to explore her heritage and create social change. Convinced that creativity lies within every person, she was a popular artist-in-residence in Austin schools and taught art to seniors in community centers. She co-founded the Indigenous Women's Network and Director of the Alma de Mujer Center for Social Change.
Marsha created pottery in the style of women artists from Oaxaca and New Mexico. She is best known for her sculpture "Madre del Mundo," an indigenous woman gazing contemplatively at a globe cradled in her lap. The work was commissioned for a Mother's Day peace protest at the Nevada Nuclear Test Site. Federal agents confiscated the statue but later returned it, and Marsha placed it atop a knoll at Alma de Mujer. More commissions followed. She produced a second Madre del Mundo for the Peace Farm in the Texas Panhandle, across the road from the Pantex nuclear weapons plant. She made a third for Casa de Colores, an indigenous resource center and cooperative farm in Brownsville. Marsha was also a herbalist and enjoyed working in the organic garden at Alma. She developed a great deal of expertise over the years and used the medicines from the garden to create many healing medicines. |
Naxieli Gomez
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Pera, Ajo, Granada, Lima, 2020
Oil on wood panel 5” x 5” each $150 each. |
"My work is an exploration of the quiddity of the form, textures and colors of the ingredients of Mexican cuisine. During my painting process, I abandon my present as a Latin immigrant woman and transport myself to my childhood, to the smells, the flavors, and the chanting sounds of the Zapotec language at my grandmother's house in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec."
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Naxieli, or 'Nax' as she is known is a painter and designer from Mexico City, born to a Zapotec mother. Her work is heavily influenced by the family and food culture of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. She currently lives in Austin, TX with her son, husband and three cats.
naxfineart.com
instagram @naxdesign
naxfineart.com
instagram @naxdesign
Cliona Gunter
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Don’t Believe The Lie - Original Bad Press, 2021
Digital image created in Paint (software) on a computer; printed on cardstock $75 |
"I was meditating this week when an image came to me, a snake, a woman, and an apple. I thought of all the insanity, violence, misogyny, racism, and hatred that has become standard behavior in the US. While drawing the image, I thought “Eve, the garden of Eden, the snake and the tree of knowledge, that is original bad press.” Hang the blame on women.
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We are bad and the bible tells everyone so. Geez. And as a former catholic, I know my saying anything to the contrary qualifies as heresy. So here is to International Women’s Day, Cynthia, Libby, and Liliana, and saying love all women. Be brave. Be bold. Break the rules. Love all women."
Sonia Karimi Bridges
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Untitled
Water based Monotype 27” x 32” $300 "I enjoy creating art that is loose and unconstrained. If I can feel free to make marks and use color without inhibition I find childlike joy in the process and the work feels more energetic. I strive to show physical and spiritual characteristics of a person through a portrait with loose artist techniques and mediums. With printmaking I am able to use various mediums in a loose manner and then precisely print them with technique. This piece is a water based monotype print." Sonia Karimi Bridges is a native Kentuckian who now calls Austin, Texas home. She works full time in Deaf children’s outreach and enjoys creating artwork during her free time. She graduated from the University of Kentucky with a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Art and Art Education. Her art displays narratives that visually record her personal experience and of the world around her as she perceives it. Through various mediums she learns new meanings of expression. |
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Yleana Martinez
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For Mami, 2021
Black carbon steel hand-formed flowers in a handmade carbon steel vase $300 "These flowers are for my mom, Alicia, in honor of what would have been her 100th birthday in 2020. She died in 2014 at age 93. Her younger sister, Imelda, died August 2020 at the age of 93, and her older sister, Delia, died January 2021, aged 103. These three women worked for the federal government their entire adult lives, Their mother, Juanita, ran a home-based plant nursery business for 30 years in Laredo, Texas. As a child, I believed women and girls could do anything they set their minds to, but as a young adult, I quickly learned of the many obstacles women face in the workplace. These flowers come from my grandmother's imaginary garden as an offering to her daughters, and especially for my Mami." [email protected] |
Felicia Morin
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Quest for Wisdom
Gouache and Colored Pencils on Paper, Framed 18”x 24” $325 |
"Expresses a woman’s journey for self-discovery through wisdom and being one with the universe.
As an artist, creating images from my dreams and imagination, inner realms are discovered. I enjoy capturing the natural world. Sometimes expressed by channeling my intuition. My work is produced under multiple mediums from water-based paints, pencils to pens." |
Felicia Morin is an artist born and based in South Texas. Her journey began as a child instinctively drawing on multiple surfaces. Being self-taught throughout childhood, she was driven to reconnect with art and her identity.
She studied drawing and painting at Texas A&M University - Kingsville where she received a Bachelor’s in Fine Art. After exhibiting in Oaxaca, Mexico, this is where she first explored mystic beliefs and ancient cultures. Her art reflects concepts and messages from surreal moments in time.
www.feliciamorin.com
IG: @felicidad_99
FB: Felicia Morin
She studied drawing and painting at Texas A&M University - Kingsville where she received a Bachelor’s in Fine Art. After exhibiting in Oaxaca, Mexico, this is where she first explored mystic beliefs and ancient cultures. Her art reflects concepts and messages from surreal moments in time.
www.feliciamorin.com
IG: @felicidad_99
FB: Felicia Morin
Leticia Mosqueda
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Benita, 2021
Óleo sobre tela 90 x 70 cms "Culture, people, and their traditions. This is basically what is reflected in the series “My People and their landscapes”. The great love and pride she feels for her country Mexico, led her to want to express through her work, the rich, fascinating diversity of its inhabitants. She is curious to know the stories behind each person. Why do they have that job? Why do they wear these fabrics and wear those colors? What traditions do they follow and what are their dreams? By translating them onto canvas, She can show the world these traditions and this way leave her legacy." Instagram: @leticiamosqueda_artist |
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Angela Navarro
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Between Seasons, 2019
Mix media on canvas 36” x 48” $1,700 |
I completed this painting in October 2019. It is called "between seasons" and it represents a stylized view of the colors of the vegetation in Austin changing from the dry brown summer tones to blue rain and the green grass. Because of the change of weather, the usually blue sky shows up turquoise in the morning. After being soaked up by the rain, the colors turn deep and intense; some green leaves start to show up but most of the plants are still bonny and dry from the Summer heat.
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Angela Navarro is an artist based in Austin TX.
She has a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Art from the Facultad de Bellas Artes de San Carlos in Valencia, Spain. During different periods in her life, either studying or working, Angela has lived in Spain, Portugal, Germany, and the UK. She has created her signature style from her passion for patterns, architecture, graphic design, and color.
Her paintings are a colorful abstract allegory of nature with distinctive botanical references with dynamic compositions and rich use of color.
www.angelanavarroart.com
She has a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Art from the Facultad de Bellas Artes de San Carlos in Valencia, Spain. During different periods in her life, either studying or working, Angela has lived in Spain, Portugal, Germany, and the UK. She has created her signature style from her passion for patterns, architecture, graphic design, and color.
Her paintings are a colorful abstract allegory of nature with distinctive botanical references with dynamic compositions and rich use of color.
www.angelanavarroart.com
Kelly Daniela Norris
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Circus Femmelephant
Paper collage Size: 8x10 $100 Kelly Daniela Norris is a Mexican-American filmmaker and co-founder of Rasquaché Film Productions. She shot her first feature, Sombras de Azul, on-location in Cuba, weaving together memory, travelogue, and narrative as a tribute to her late brother. Her 2nd feature, Nakom, was shot on-location in a remote farming village in northeastern Ghana. Nakom premiered at Berlinale in 2016 and was nominated for a 2017 Film Independent Spirit Award. When sans camera, she collages using old photographs and discarded materials, frequently centering her pieces on femininity, matriarchies, and family mythology. |
Gaby Rico
Our Lady of the Inner Garden
Mixed media on canvas 18” x 24” $490 |
Fleur Du Desert
Mixed media on canvas 16” x 20” $470 |
Born on January 2, 1979, in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico and currently living in Edinburg, Texas. A self taught artist. Painter since 2006. She have always marveled by the diversity and the beauty of all things around her. Music lover, intrigued at human behaviors.
“I love creating. When I paint, I forget who I am, is not about me, it is about being what I feel. Is about naturally flowing with the endless universe. My intention is to manifest and share all kind of inspirations that I perceive and make me be who I am.”
Her work is a document sort, a social self-portrait, where all of her pieces form part of her interpretation of her own reality. Her ability develops through personal diligence, and the manner she tends to execute her paintings can fit well from Abstract to Expressionism, despite transcending the established rules, intending to provoke visual pleasure no-boundaries. Gaby loves the mixed technique, because the sense of absolute freedom, and the endless richness from materials and perceptions, nourishing the eyes and the soul.
“Because we all are part of the beauty of the universe." www.gabyrico.com
“I love creating. When I paint, I forget who I am, is not about me, it is about being what I feel. Is about naturally flowing with the endless universe. My intention is to manifest and share all kind of inspirations that I perceive and make me be who I am.”
Her work is a document sort, a social self-portrait, where all of her pieces form part of her interpretation of her own reality. Her ability develops through personal diligence, and the manner she tends to execute her paintings can fit well from Abstract to Expressionism, despite transcending the established rules, intending to provoke visual pleasure no-boundaries. Gaby loves the mixed technique, because the sense of absolute freedom, and the endless richness from materials and perceptions, nourishing the eyes and the soul.
“Because we all are part of the beauty of the universe." www.gabyrico.com
Lili Rose
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What I want to see, 2021
Mixed media 32” x 19” $500 |
"A printer’s drawer made of wood. It includes paint, paper, photos and seeds (colorines).The small boxes have items and shapes that I treasure. The sceneries are places I wish I could visit.
I come from a family of visual artists. My grandfather and father were professional artists and five of my siblings paint or sculpt. My father’s abstract expressionist paintings greatly influenced my work, as did living in central Mexico for a decade. In Mexico I was exposed to artists and craftsmen who used vivid colors and made pieces out of whatever was available to them. |
My art reflects who I am -a lover of color, and a collector of discarded objects. I have found things in the street, secondhand shops and empty houses. The challenge is to make a whole out of the small ordinary things accumulated over time. Many times the collected items determined how the artwork came together.
My process includes cutting, sanding, painting, arranging and rearranging items to construct something new. I draw inspiration from the works of Louise Nevelson, Joseph Cornell, Alexander Calder, and my late father Kirby Rogère."
My process includes cutting, sanding, painting, arranging and rearranging items to construct something new. I draw inspiration from the works of Louise Nevelson, Joseph Cornell, Alexander Calder, and my late father Kirby Rogère."
Mary Agnes Rodriguez
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Resistencia/Resistance
Acrylic on canvas $250 "Our art has power. Art can heal. Art can save lives and can bring us together even while we are apart. It helps us through the storm. Public art can empower and build our communities. To bring awareness, prevention, protection as well as beauty, history, cultural, traditions and keeping it alive. By the people." Mary Agnes Rodriguez is an established multimedia artist based in her hometown, San Antonio, Texas. Her work documents political events, while empowering all segments of the community, especially young people. Her work showcases depictions of the Westside, the city’s historically Mexican quadrant, include overarching themes of activism, peace and social justice, and includes portraits of iconic figures that embody these principles. |
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Emily Socolov
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Founding Father?, 2021
Mixed Media 16" w, 16"d, 25" h Not For Sale The insurrection at the US Capitol exposed alleged hyper-patriotism for what it is. While our monuments were defiled on January 6, 2021, they are also being reassessed for their symbolic role in reaffirming power structures, patriarchy and white supremacy in our country. I found this US Capitol plate at a thrift shop before the pandemic kept me out of thrift shops (my favorite form of recreation and cultural investigation). Then something fell on the plate in my studio and it broke (well before the breaching of the Capitol). I make many mosaics – but I somehow couldn’t touch this broken plate. Then with the pandemic, my Buy Nothing Facebook group became my thrift shop and my opportunity to give. I got this lamp from one of my “Buy Nothing” neighbors. The group became our primary form of mutual aid during the pandemic and especially during the ice storm. So this piece joins together several themes for me. It may be curious to have such a male image for International Women's Day. But please be assured, it speaks of struggle. " Emily Socolov is a visual artist and folklorist based in Austin and New York City with a deep interest in life history and cultural imaginaries. She works with found and repurposed objects. She was founding Executive Director of Mano a Mano: Mexican Culture Without Borders, an arts and culture organization serving the Mexican immigrant community in New York and has frequently collaborated with the Smithsonian Institution’s Division of Folklife and Cultural Studies. Artmaking has been a constant in her life. Her assemblages are infused with a cultural and political sensibility. She has participated in the Long Island City Open and exhibited at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Women and Their Work Gallery (Austin, Texas) and the Prince Street Gallery (New York City), among others venues. Emily originated and teaches in the visual arts program at KlezKanada: A Festival of Jewish/Yiddish Arts and Culture. emilysocolov.com |
Rama Tiru
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Hunger and Satisfaction.
Archival Photo Print, Acid Free matt 16” x 20” framed $150 |
"This is a photograph of an old woman enjoying her food, oblivious to her surroundings in Siam Reap Market in Cambodia"
www.tirugallery.com |
Rama Tiru is a fine art photographer, travelled around the world and has showcased Nationally and Internationally. She uses image transfer techniques to create images on wood, silk, paper, metal and foils. She paints using multimedia techniques. Her passion is to paint “abstracts”.
Rama has successfully published a photo documentary Coffee Table book – “Austin East of I-35” with images and interviews of the people of East Austin. She continues to give lecture presentations of her work to various associations around Texas.
Rama has successfully published a photo documentary Coffee Table book – “Austin East of I-35” with images and interviews of the people of East Austin. She continues to give lecture presentations of her work to various associations around Texas.
Maria Vara Ibarra
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Rapture, 2021
Acrylic on canvas $165 "A woman bursting from the water, enjoying the moment in a feeling of rapture." Maria Vara is an artist from Mexico, living in Austin. She loves to paint and is always looking to improve and grow in her practice. Through her art she seeks to express her deepest self and to evoke those same feelings in others. |
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