We want to give a special, heartfelt thank you to all of the community artists who contributed to this year’s Mira Mi Corazón. Here is a shout-out to all of the artists!
Ricardo Levins Morales
https://www.rlmartstudio.com/
Ricardo Levins Morales is an artist and organizer based in Minneapolis. He uses his art as a form of political medicine to support individual and collective healing from the injuries and ongoing reality of oppression. Ricardo’s work is widely used by grassroots movements, organizations and communities.
Olivia Levins Holden
https://www.olivialevinsholdenart.com/
Instagram: @olivialevinsholden
Olivia is a queer, mixed Boricua muralist, organizer, artist and arts educator, living on Dakota land in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her work explores many ways that the arts can cell our stories, plant seeds, combat toxic narratives and decolonize through truth-telling. She is influenced and inspired by and grateful to movement artists, tricksters, and healers.
Olinca Acosta
Instagram: @ToltecayotlOlinca
“The road to reconnection with my indigenous roots is complex, so I’m grateful to have beadwork and danza to ground me and provide healing for myself and those who carry my work.” Tlazcamati huan teteochihualiztli- thank you and blessings.
Stefano Rivera
Riverastef2001@gmail.com
Instagram: @riz_ga
612-999-3294
Gretchen Seichrist
https://www.gretchenseichrist.com/
gretchen@gretchenseichrist.com
612-481-2621
Gretchen Seichrist is a – life- long – experienced Painter/Poet/Songwriter. She has survived unimaginable abuse and misogyny on her path to becoming a Woman Artist. Her visual artwork paired with striking words seek to reveal truth. For Seichrist, truth is freedom. There is a humble quality to the bold choices when creating her pieces. They have a way of connecting to the often uncomfortable feelings and spaces found in being human and holding them close as if they were scared children, or ghosts.
Though, most of the richness of her artwork would be missed if not to mention the celebration of life, joy, and resilience that can be felt hand in hand.
Gretchen Seichrist’s work is simply unafraid to utilize the full scale of human emotion.
Painted faces and fragments of stories allow us into a momentary grasp of another individual’s lived experiences. The story is left up to the viewer to fill in the blanks, or to wonder. Where bias or judgement may have been before, curiosity is bound to slip in. Gretchen Seichrist believes in questioning absolutely everything.
Cadex Herrera
https://www.cadexherrera.com/
cadexh@gmail.com
651-235-2403
My aspirations as an artist is that through my art I can bring awareness and dialogue to a small fraction of the many social injustices that are part of my reality. I believe social consciousness and art can be tools to exact positive change, as well as inspire to create and make a difference in our local as well as our global community.
Puksikal – Mayan for Heart
Yucatec is the closest living language to the original Mayan language, Proto-Mayan, that was spoken when Maya peoples first began to emerge. It began diverging from Proto-Mayan around 3,500 years ago. It is the most widely spoken Mayan language in Mexico, Belize and parts of Guatemala. In this piece each segment represents a syllable that forms the word (Pu)(ku)(si)(kal). The syllables were arrange in the Mayan Hieroglyphic order using the emblems or characters that represent each syllable from left to right and top to bottom. Medium: Plywood, watercolor, acrylic. Size 20”x20”
SARC
SARC is a north Minneapolis based artist and community leader, of Puerto Rican Descent. He has been organizing in the northwest suburbs of the Twin Cities in different capacities for the past 4 years. Most of his work has focused on the intersection of housing and immigration in the metro area and the northwest suburbs. His art specializes in narrative realism, taking personal and community struggles and transforming them into impactful social messages.
SEE MORE PERSPECTIVE
My piece to me is very intuitive, and I mean that in a couple of different ways. This image first came to me when I was a bit younger and seemed to come through me, from my culture and heritage. There’s something here about the sacred that I identify in movement work and how vital art is to la lucha. You see the symbolic heart but also some of the actual biological aspects, which to me speaks to the reality of the symbol, and how the best metaphors are just true. Our hearts shine vividly as gold, but gold is also dense, and makes us heavy. Our figurative fire within, comes from the heart, which keeps us going.
Marisa Xiukuauhtli Martinez and Mateo Tlakuilkoatl Silva Martinez:
The Mira Mi Corazon fundraiser for El Colegio has meant so much to our little familia. Both as a family of artists and as Xicanos here in MN. I myself am first generation on my father’s side and come from a familia of migrant workers, who when I was born, worked the sugar beet and potato fields in Colorado. I was the first to attend college in my family and I couldn’t have done it without having access to scholarships and grants. I am so honored and proud to have been able to participate in this special event with my son Mateo Tlakuilkoatl. Together the hearts we have donated have helped raise combined funds of over $1,000 dollars to support the students at El Colegio. Giving back to the community in this way helps us “close the circle” and give thanks for what the community has done to support us. We believe that when we all do better, we all do better. We look forward to being able to continue to support El Colegio students to reach for the stars in their academic dreams. Infinite gratitude/ Tlazohkamati to all the staff, volunteers, and sponsors that make this event possible for these kids.