Painting on Silk Workshop with Ilka Robles
SubjectPortrait of
Ilka Robles
(Puerto Rican, born 1953)
SubjectPortrait of
Glaisma Pérez Silva
(Puerto Rican)
Date2002 June 15
Mediumphotograph
ClassificationsGraphics
Credit LineConnecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program collections
CopyrightIn Copyright
Object number2015.196.305.1-.15
DescriptionOn June 15, 2002, Ilka Celeste Robles-Torres instructed participants in painting on silk using traditional Taíno designs from Puerto Rico as part of CCHAP’s Traditional Arts Workshops for Adults and Older Teens.
(.1) Photo of a workshop participant painting Atabey, the Taíno goddess of water and fertility.
(.2) Photo of teacher Ilka Robles showing an example of a Taíno figure design.
(.3-.4) Photos of a workshop participant painting a Taíno figure design.
(.5) Photo of workshop participants sketching a Taíno design.
(.6) Photo of two finshed pieces of Taíno artwork on silk.
(.7) Photo of workshop participants working on their silk designs.
(.8-.9) Photos of Ilka Robles instructing students.
(.10) Photo of workshop participants sketching a Taíno design.
(.11) Photo of workshop participant Glaisma Perez Silva working on her painting.
(.12) Photo of workshop participants working on their silk designs.
(.13) Photo of Ilka Robles instructing students.
(.14-.15) Photos of workshop participants sketching a Taíno design.
NotesSubject Note: The Connecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program presented four traditional arts workshops during 2002 under the Traditional Arts Workshops for Adults and Older Teens program: African American quilting led by Laura Hudson; Caribbean dance, drumming, hair braiding, and carnival headdresses led by Leon Phillip, Rachel Hall, and Selwyn Coppin of Cashiboo Folk Performers (in collaboration with Sankofa Kuumba); Puerto Rican painting on silk with Ilka Robles; and Lithuanian straw ornaments with Aldona Saimininkas.(.1) Photo of a workshop participant painting Atabey, the Taíno goddess of water and fertility.
(.2) Photo of teacher Ilka Robles showing an example of a Taíno figure design.
(.3-.4) Photos of a workshop participant painting a Taíno figure design.
(.5) Photo of workshop participants sketching a Taíno design.
(.6) Photo of two finshed pieces of Taíno artwork on silk.
(.7) Photo of workshop participants working on their silk designs.
(.8-.9) Photos of Ilka Robles instructing students.
(.10) Photo of workshop participants sketching a Taíno design.
(.11) Photo of workshop participant Glaisma Perez Silva working on her painting.
(.12) Photo of workshop participants working on their silk designs.
(.13) Photo of Ilka Robles instructing students.
(.14-.15) Photos of workshop participants sketching a Taíno design.
Building on the success of the 1999 workshops featuring master traditional artists from Puerto Rico, CCHAP produced four more workshops from a broad variety of cultures important to the Greater Hartford area. Artists/Teachers were prominent traditional artists from the area who are well-respected in their communities and skilled in demonstrating and teaching their ethnic art forms. The artists were located, trained, and presented through ICR’s Connecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program, a statewide folk and traditional arts initiative. This new workshop project was developed in response to requests from previous participants and many other older teens and adults wanting to learn new artistic skills especially in traditional forms. CCHAP collaborated with the Cashiboo artists from Trinidad who were visiting Hartford through the Sankofa Kuumba dance group.
The goal of the workshops was to provide artistic training in and appreciation for traditional arts which are sometimes considered to be easy or unimportant as art forms. For many members of ethnic communities, their artistic traditions have deep roots in history and culture, and are an important source of cultural identity and knowledge. These art forms are usually learned under the tutelage of a mentor artist, and are rigorous in quality. The workshops, which were open to all Greater Hartford residents, featured information, stories, and experiences from each of the groups represented, led by the artist/teachers in addition to the artistic training.
The workshops culminated in a First Thursday open house at ICR’s Gallery on March 7, 2003, with artists and students showcasing the results of their learning in an exhibition with demonstrations, sales of art works, and ethnic foods.
The workshop series was supported by the Greater Hartford Arts Council, the Connecticut Commission on the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Institute for Community Research.
Biographical Note: Ilka Celeste Robles-Torres is a Puerto Rican educator, poet, and versatile artist living in Hartford at the time of the exhibits and now based in Puerto Rico. She trained in visual arts, special education, and clay sculpture in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic and has traveled extensively through Europe, Central America, and the Caribbean. Ilka has been an art teacher in the Hartford School system for many years. She is a skilled ceramicist, and specializes in pottery plaques with painted and glazed scenes of Puerto Rican life, and casitas, little houses made of pottery. She was a central advisor on CCHAP’s Herencia Taina exhibit project, the Que Bonita Bandera exhibit project, as well as the Mano a Mano exhibit project and its five Puerto Rican traditional arts workshops, serving as assistant instructor in the two pottery sessions. In 2002, she was the instructor for a painting on silk workshop as part of CCHAP’s Traditional Arts Workshops for Adults and Older Teens. Ilka donated a clay plaque with a design of the Three Kings to CCHAP, which is now in the CHS collection (2015.197.0).
Additional audio, video, and photographic materials exist in the archive relating to these artists.
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
June-August 2003
Ilka Robles
July-September 2003