¡Que Bonita Bandera!: The Puerto Rican Flag in Folk Art Exhibit at Hostos Community College
DateApril-June 2003
Mediumslides
ClassificationsGraphics
Credit LineConnecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program collections
CopyrightIn Copyright
Object number2015.196.294.1-.10
DescriptionSlides of the displays of art work in the exhibit "¡Que Bonita Bandera!: The Puerto Rican Flag in Folk Art" at Hostos Community College in the Bronx, New York.
NotesSubject Note: The exhibit, "¡Que Bonita Bandera!: The Puerto Rican Flag in Folk Art," was on display at the Institute for Community Research Gallery in Hartford from July 10 - September 12, 2003. Featuring depictions of the beloved flag image in a variety of folk art forms, the multimedia exhibit included musical instruments, mundillo lace, paintings, masks, posters, murals, and clothing. The powerful symbol of the flag, and its ability to identify and uplift the Puerto Rican community, inspired the exhibit and associated programming. The opening event featured música típica, bomba dance, and Taino music to illustrate the three cultural strands in Puerto Rico. The project’s goal was to use art to inform audiences about the vibrant cultural expressions and the values of Puerto Rican neighbors in Hartford and Connecticut.CCHAP convened a local advisory team for the project: Alfred Rivera of the music group Amor y Cultura, Joel Sanchez of SINA, Josè Rodriguez of the Hartford Economic Development Commission, Kelvin Roldan of the Mayor’s Office, Ana Alfaro of Northeast Utilities, Calixto Torres of the Connecticut Puerto Rican Forum, student Yedalis Ruiz, and artists Graciela Quiñones Rodriguez, Victor Pacheco, Glaisma Pérez Silva, Ilka Robles, Hector Vallines, and Felix Delgado. In addition to their planning advice, team members were actively involved in helping with exhibit installation, promotional materials design and distribution, public relations, and performances.
The exhibit was developed and circulated by City Lore, a longstanding community arts organization in New York City whose mission is to foster New York’s and America’s living cultural heritage. Curated by folklorist Elena Martinez and artist George Zavala, ¡Que Bonita Bandera! opened at the Hostos Center for Arts and Culture at Hostos Community College in the Bronx. After the Hartford showing - the only New England venue - the exhibit traveled to the New Jersey Historical Society and the New York Historical Society. Original funding for the exhibit came from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, the Scherman Foundation, and the Lily Auchincloss Foundation. ICR’s Connecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program collaborated with City Lore in the planning and scheduling of ¡Que Bonita Bandera! from the beginning of the project. Hartford project funders were the Institute for Community Research, the Greater Hartford Arts Council and the City of Hartford, Connecticut Light and Power Co., the Connecticut Commission on the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
The exhibit featured traditional Puerto Rican mundillo lace, carnival vejigante masks, photographs and samples of murals and urban memorial wall art, and assemblages that use the imagery of the flag in public parades and festivals as well as private spaces and altars in the home. Framed photographs by Martha Cooper and Carlos Ortíz depicted contemporary urban expressions of the flag symbol, and black and white framed photographs from the CUNY Centro de Estudios Puertorriqueños documented historical contexts and uses of the flag. Further information on Puerto Rican history was provided through bilingual signage and a video.
In addition to the art included with the exhibit, CCHAP added Connecticut-based artists’ depictions of the flag in photographs by Juan Fuentes; in a poster by master printmaker Samuel Lind for the New Haven Puerto Rican Day Parade; on cuatros made by Edwin Rios and Graciela Quiñones-Rodriquez, ceramics by Victor Pacheco, cakes decorated with the flag design, car decorations, and other local folk and popular art works. CCHAP augmented the signage, in English and Spanish. A banner was produced for the exhibit, with an image of artist Victor Pacheco’s mural from Park Street, and this was hung on the side of the building facing Wyllys Street.
Additional materials and information on the exhibit and artists exists in the CCHAP archive
Cataloging Note: This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services MA-245929-OMS-20.
Status
Not on view
Ilka Robles
July-September 2003
Ilka Robles
June-August 2003
2000-2001 December-March
Graciela Quiñones-Rodriguez
1999; 2000-2001