Raquel Figueiredo at Aid to Artisans Gathering
SubjectPortrait of
Raquel Figueiredo
(Cape Verdean)
Date1999 November 6
Mediumslides, positive color film images
ClassificationsGraphics
Credit LineConnecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program collections
CopyrightIn Copyright
Object number2015.196.377.1-.3
DescriptionPhotographs from the Aid to Artisans Gathering held at the Institute for Community Research Gallery on November 6, 1999.
2015.196.377.1-.2: Images showing Raquel Figueiredo holding a Cape Verdean doll.
2015.196.377.3: Image of a Cape Verdean doll made by Raquel Figueiredo.
NotesSubject Note: On November 6, 1999, CCHAP hosted Aid to Artisans (ATA), a Farmington-based arts marketing organization, at a gathering of Connecticut artists working in folk and traditional art forms. The goal of the event was to introduce ATA to 20+ folk and traditional artists working in Connecticut and with CCHAP in various communities across the state. Other goals were to increase awareness and appreciation of hand crafted ethnic and heritage art forms and to provide an opportunity for artisans to develop strategies for marketing, promotion, and cultural tourism. The event was hoped to be a way to support the planning and implementation of a heritage artisans enterprise development project for and with Connecticut traditional artists/craftspeople. Activities held during the day included informal, roundtable discussions among all the artists; an exhibition of artists’ work in ICR’s gallery; professional photography of the artists’ work by Phillip Fortune; and a pot luck supper. The collaboration with ATA did not develop into a larger marketing project, largely because the artists could not commit to full-time work creating and producing enough items for the scale of sales that ATA required – most folk and traditional artists work other jobs and typically do not have enough resources for uncertain arts production. Also, the design concepts required by ATA’s markets were non-traditional, whereas CCHAP’s focus is on sustaining traditional art forms. However, introducing concepts of marketing and presentation of work were very valuable to the artists, and the inspiration for the event led to CCHAP’s Sewing Circle Project and its strong marketing component, some years later.2015.196.377.1-.2: Images showing Raquel Figueiredo holding a Cape Verdean doll.
2015.196.377.3: Image of a Cape Verdean doll made by Raquel Figueiredo.
Biographical Note: After arriving from Sao Vicente in 1989, Raquel Figueiredo formed Waterbury's young dance group Warm Heart, teaching them funana and tchabeta and making new dance outfits. She always loved the colorful celebration of Carnival in Cape Verde, so she started a program at the Cape Verdean Social Club in February 1998 to showcase Carnival costumes and dances. Raquel admired the nature of Cape Verdean culture in Santiago, where island traditions are "homegrown" and less influenced by other cultures. She has been strongly committed to teaching Cape Verdean-American children about their heritage. Raquel also writes poetry and drama focusing on the mid-1980s, a troubled time of intense emigration to America, and she makes traditional Cape Verdean dolls dressed in island costumes. Her dolls were exhibited in CCHAP’s "Hidden Treasures" exhibit at the Office of the Arts Gallery in Hartford in 2001. Raquel participated in the urban Artists Initiative run by the Institute for Community Research and the Connecticut Office of the Arts in 1998-2003. Her dance group Warm Heart performed at several Waterbury festivals, at Cape Verdean events, and participated in the Southern New England Traditional Arts Apprenticeship program from 1999-2001 to work with musicians Joao Cerilo and Eurico Semedo.
Subject Note: Aid to Artisans, began its work in 1976 to strengthen and develop craft based enterprises as a vital means to creating jobs, increasing incomes, and preserving the traditions of artisans worldwide. These efforts proved economically viable not only for the artisans but also for national economies. In 1986, ATA moved to Farmington, Connecticut led by Clare Brett Smith. In the 1990s, ATA began to take advantage of lessons learned from their work overseas to assist artisans in the United States to participate more successfully in the U.S. marketplace. The organization moved to Washington, DC and later joined CreativeLearning.org as a program division.
Additional materials for this artist and this event exist 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
