Making her mark! The artwork of Ms. Marisol Diaz, Art & Design Chair, was recently spotlighted with other professional artists at a gallery exhibit in Manhattan. “For visual artists, exhibiting in New York City is a career-altering experience,” remarked Ms. Diaz, whose early work was showcased at the former 2/20 Gallery in 2008 and 2009 as well as at the Azucarera Gallery in Harlem throughout 2009 and 2010, including for a show, which Ms. Diaz said, “brought attention to the exploitation of youthful beauty ideals” and for a solo exhibit titled “Bestia Fera/Wild Beast.”
More recently, Ms. Diaz has focused on being an art educator and exhibiting at the Nyack Art Collective in Rockland County, New York, and in the Northern New Jersey area.
In 2016, Ms. Diaz connected with a gallery in Orangeburg, NY, called Volition Art. For one group exhibit, titled “Expressions of Women Rising,” Ms. Diaz said the gallery owner, Phyllis Dodge, “had a vision for a group show of women artists working on the theme of female empowerment,” for which Ms. Diaz participated. Volition reconvened this group a decade later for the aforementioned NYC show at the Dacia Gallery, titled “Continuance.”
Ms. Diaz’s artwork for this exhibit—called “Esta Tierra No Se Vende: Invocando al Cemi, Porque las Raíces Fuertes No Se Arrancan,” which translates to “This Land is Not for Sale, Invoking the Cemi, Because Deep Strong Roots Cannot be Entirely Ripped Out”—centers on Indigenous land rights. It’s a mixed-media piece created with rice paper on cut wood panel, watercolor, acrylic, and oil.
“Cemis are archaeological objects/sculptures by the Taino Arawak Natives found in the Caribbean, said to be containers for supernatural spirits—hence, my artwork is depicting something akin to letting a deity or genie out of her bottle,” explained Ms. Diaz.
Congratulations to Ms. Diaz on this esteemed accomplishment!
