I have drawn and painted since childhood, and pursued this through my undergraduate studies, graduating with a BA degree in Art with a concentration in painting from the University of Alabama. After moving to New York, I turned in my brushes for a garden trowel and a camera, and paint landscapes with plants and then photograph them, as well as events and cityscapes. I organized arts events-dealing with performance and visual arts in the community gardens of the Lower East Side, most often in La Plaza Cultural such as the ¡Viva! La Plaza Performance Festival in the fall of 1996-2003. It featured dance, music, drama and the visual arts from May though October in la Plaza Cultural. I am the Project Director for several grants, including the NYFA Community Assets 2000 for the ¡Viva! La Plaza Performance Festival, The 1999 NEAP and MCAF Awards for Artistas de Loisaida for the production of a booklet and multi-media presentation on the history of community managed open green space in New York City, and The NEAP2000 award for the New 600 BC E. 9th Street Block & Neighborhood Association public forum on ground water and construction-its impact on housing in the Lower East Side. All of these projects involved a blending of special talents of artists-writers, graphic designers, gardeners, painters, editors, photographers, and musicians to create unique documentaries that point to need to preserve and protect our natural environment.
Artistas de Loisaida was a creation of mine along with two friends; Robert Slaughter and Mario Bustamante -we mounted our first show in May of 1995 in conjunction with EARTH CELEBRATIONS’ The Rites of Spring Pageant to show the work of artists of the gardens. Robert has pursued other interests, Mario owns a successful metal working concern in Brooklyn, still showing with the group, and I have continued to organize the Lincoln Center show and to seek funding with a variety of different art over the past ten years. We are presently incorporating as a New York State nonprofit under the name of Art Loisaida. Mario Bustamante is President, Onno de Jong is Secretary and I am the treasurer of the organization.
Most recently I attended the Milano Graduate School for Management and Urban policy with a concentration in Nonprofit Management at New School, and graduated with a MS in May, 2006. I work as a freelance development consultant for several local nonprofits dealing with music, dance and the visual arts as well as serve on Manhattan Community Board #3 Parks and Recreation Committee and the Arts & Culture Task Force.