Puerto Rican Folk Artists at Park Branch of Hartford Public Library
SubjectPortrait of
Glaisma Pérez Silva
(Puerto Rican)
SubjectPortrait of
Angel Sánchez Ortíz
(Puerto Rican)
SubjectPortrait of
Marta Soledad
Date2012 March 2
MediumBorn digital images
ClassificationsGraphics
Credit LineConnecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program collections
CopyrightIn Copyright
Object number2015.196.313.1-.12
DescriptionPhotographs of Puerto Rican folk artists at the Park Branch of the Hartford Public Library on March 2, 2012.
(.1) Glaisma Perez Silva with Ivelisse Pabón with vejigante masks in the background.
(.2-.8) Angel Ortiz with his vejigante masks.
(.9-.11) Ivelisse Pabón’s dolls, one labeled “La Negra Tomasa” and one labeled “Jibaro.”
(.12) Angel Ortiz with Marta Soledad looking at Victor Pacheco's mural on display at the Library (see 2015.196.311.1).
NotesSubject Note: The Park Street Branch of the Hartford Public Library specializes in service to the area's Latino heritage by offering Spanish language books, programming, and support services in addition to other library functions. (.1) Glaisma Perez Silva with Ivelisse Pabón with vejigante masks in the background.
(.2-.8) Angel Ortiz with his vejigante masks.
(.9-.11) Ivelisse Pabón’s dolls, one labeled “La Negra Tomasa” and one labeled “Jibaro.”
(.12) Angel Ortiz with Marta Soledad looking at Victor Pacheco's mural on display at the Library (see 2015.196.311.1).
Biographical Note: Angel Sánchez Ortiz, based in Holyoke, Massachusetts, is a maker of traditional Puerto Rican vejigante masks made of painted paper maché that are worn by costumed dancers representing demons and playfully scary figures at celebrations including Carnival and the St. James de Campostela Festival held in Ponce and Loiza, Puerto Rico. This festival has also been held in several cities around New England, including New Haven for some years in the 1990s. Today’s Puerto Rican masks are the result of a blend of the African, Spanish, and native Táíno cultures. Africans, who were forced to come to the island as slaves, brought with them a rich and ancient tradition of wearing masks during rituals. Angel taught the process of Puerto Rican vejigante-making to Lydia Perez in the Southern New England Traditional Arts Program in 2006-2007.
Angel Sánchez Ortíz was born in Ponce and raised in Barrio San Antón in Puerto Rico. He grew up living the traditional Carnival festivities in February each year. During this time, family and friends were immersed in the celebration heralding the beginning of Lent. These festivities are more vibrant in the poorer areas of Ponce. He participated in the making of masks and costumes as they got ready for the Carnival in the Calle Cuatro, Bélgica, Cantera and Playa de Ponce. These masks are made out of papier-maché and depict animals with fantastic imagery. Angel Sánchez Ortíz made his own masks at the age of seven after observing artisans such as Mariano, Geño and others. By the time he was nine years old he had completed several other masks with vivid splashes of color and curved horns with the encouragement of his art teacher. Sánchez Ortíz continued his craft after immigrating to the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts in 1989, teaching children and adolescents this cultural tradition through workshops and other activities. He has exhibited his work at the Puerto Rican Cultural Center, the Spanish American Union, Worcester Art Museum, Wheeler Gallery at Umass, Holyoke Community College, at Hartford Public Library, at Lowell Folk Festival, and many other events around southern New England. Angel is a strong advocate for transmission of Puerto Rican culture through mask-making and other paper crafts.
Biographical Note: Glaisma Pérez Silva is a Puerto Rican educator, professor, and Spanish-language poet who held teaching and administrative positions in the Hartford area from 1988 and now in Massachusetts. She holds a masters degree from the InterAmerican University of Puerto Rico and has received certificates of study and awards from several organizations. She is the founder of Coloquio, a poetry reading group for Latino writers in Spanish, and has been published in a number of anthologies. She produced and hosted the weekly radio program De Mujer a Mujer con Glaisma Pérez Silva on WRYM 840 AM, and a Spanish-language program broadcast on WFCR in Amherst, Massachusetts. Glaisma has been selected as a Master Teaching Artist by the Connecticut Commission on the Arts. She presented her poetry at many events, including some organized by CCHAP, in Hartford and around New England. A dynamic presenter, she often incorporates music into her poetry events.
Biographical Note: Ivelisse Pabón de Landrón, the founder of Soy Negra Productions, is a textile artist who crafts dolls featuring characters from Puerto Rican folklore, especially Jibaro figures (farmers and other Puerto Ricans living in the countryside). She is the great-great-granddaughter of a woman who was brought to Puerto Rico in 1834 from Africa to work in the sugar plantation in Vega Alta. Ivelisse grew up in the barrio of the Lower East Side, where her mother was a community organizer. As an adult, Ivelisse relocated to Massachusetts, but then moved to Puerto Rico for a few years. “I wanted to know about my heritage. I wanted to understand the culture, because my dad was black and my mom was white. I wanted to know why the culture was the way it was — the music, the food, the dancing.” Having learned doll making from her mother, Ivelisse went on to do extensive research on the Puerto Rican black doll, and sought out older doll makers in Puerto Rico to learn from them. She marketed her dolls at the Plaza in Old San Juan. Ivelisse is passionate about preserving the history of the black doll as a way of honoring Puerto Rican women of African descent and their contribution to Puerto Rican cultural history. A skilled educator, Ivelisse presented her work at a cultural event held at the Park St. Library in Hartford in 2012 and at the Lowell Folk Festival crafts area. She taught the process of Puerto Rican doll-making to Amanda Mercado in the Southern New England Traditional Arts Program in 2012-2013. Ivelisse taught Amanda the entire process of doll-making, from the cultural background to design to selection of materials, shaping the body, embroidering or painting the face and dressing the doll in jibaro clothes. The experience was very useful to Amanda in her career as a social worker with a strong interest in art therapy. Their curriculum/teaching plan is in the institutional archive. Ivelisse also created a power point that she presented at their final exhibition at the Mi Casa community educational center on Park St. in Hartford. Ivelisse relocated to New Jersey around 2018.
Additional archive materials exist for this event and 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
Glaisma Pérez Silva
July 1999
