Connecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program collections, 2015.196.694c, Connecticut Historical S ...

Interview with Graciela Quiñones-Rodriguez

IntervieweeInterview with Graciela Quiñones-Rodriguez (Puerto Rican)

InterviewerInterviewed by Ruth Glasser (American)

Date1997 March 25

Mediumreformatted digital file from audio cassette

DimensionsDuration (side 1): 46 Minutes, 27 Seconds Duration (side 2): 5 Minutes, 15 Seconds Duration (total runtime): 51 Minutes, 47 Seconds

ClassificationsInformation Artifacts

Credit LineConnecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program collections

CopyrightIn Copyright

Object number2015.196.694a-d

DescriptionAudio cassette tape recording of an interview with Puerto Rican artist Graciela Quiñones-Rodriguez interviewed by Ruth Glasser on March 25, 1997. The interview was recorded in conjunction with the "Herencia Taina: Legacy and Life" exhibit.

NotesBiographical Note: Graciela Quiñones-Rodriguez is a Puerto Rican educator, social worker, artist, and luthier who apprenticed with William Cumpiano (Easthampton, MA) and has built cuatros, tiples, and bordonuas. Graciela is also a cuatrista and higüera (gourd) and santos carver. She served as an advisory committee and exhibiting artist and workshop leader for CCHAP’s three Puerto Rican projects, starting as a community scholar with Herencia Taina, CCHAP’s 1998 Taino exhibit project, researching the techniques of higüera preparation and decoration for use as household utensils, ornaments with Taino or political iconography, or musical instruments. She also worked as an artist-presenter for the Massachusetts Cultural Council summer institute on Puerto Rican cultural heritage for Springfield, Massachusetts teachers. Graciela is a highly respected arts educator, woodcarver, and singer with the Connecticut Latin music group Tierra Mestiza. She is a Connecticut Commission on the Arts Master Teaching Artist and Artists Fellowship winner. As part of the Southern New England Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program in Year 3 (2000-2001), she worked with master luthier Bill Cumpiano. Together they built cuatros, tiples, and bordonuas, older forms of Puerto Rican stringed instruments. As part of the apprenticeship they built a cuatro on the basis of a photograph of an unusual form from the early 1900's, which has a bent wood body rather than a hollowed-out base. They demonstrated their partnership work at the Lowell Folk Festival in 2000.

Biographical Note: Ruth Glasser, Professor in the Urban and Community Studies Department at the University of Connecticut, was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. She worked as a VISTA volunteer in North Carolina in 1979-1980. She has worked on a variety of academic and community-based endeavors including books, curriculum projects, oral history projects, and exhibits. Her publications include: "My Music is My Flag: Puerto Rican Musicians and Their New York Communities, 1917-1940" (University of California Press, 1995), "Aquí Me Quedo: Puerto Ricans in Connecticut" (Connecticut Humanities Council, 1997), "Aquí Me Quedo K-12 Curriculum Guide" (Mattatuck Museum, 1999), [as co-editor] "Caribbean Connections: Dominican Republic" (Teaching for Change, 2004). She assisted CCHAP with two projects: “Living Legends: Connecticut Master Traditional Artists,” interviewing Puerto Rican lace maker Bernabela Quiñones in 1994; and the “Herencia Taina: Legacy and Life” exhibition project in 1997.

Subject Note: "Herencia Taina: Legacy and Life" was an exhibit and related programs examining the history of Puerto Rico's indigenous people, the Taino through contemporary art expressions and interpretations, on view May 3-November 30, 1997 at the Institute for Community Research.

ICR's Connecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program, in conjunction with project scholar Ruth Glasser and designer Ricardo Mulero, planned an exhibit, workshops, and concert to present a wide range of arts practiced by musicians and visual artists who are inspired by Taino heritage. Participating artists included Imna Arroyo (Eastern Connecticut State University), Graciela Quiñones (West Hartford), Mel Gonzalez (Meriden), and Robert Borrero (New York), who created contemporary interpretations and folk art works illustrating Taino heritage, such as musical instruments, gourd carvings, paintings, and textile art, as well as interpretive information for these. Their works were juxtaposed with Taino artifacts from archaeological collections, along with photographs and posters from the continuing indigenous festival held in Jayuya, Puerto Rico, to show the strong influence that Taino culture still holds for Puerto Ricans. The exhibit project also presented several public events including a concert, a workshop for teachers, and a roundtable discussion. An illustrated brochure in both English and Spanish was produced. The project was supported by the Connecticut Humanities Council, the Connecticut Commission on the Arts, the Edward C. and Ann T. Roberts Foundation, the Greater Hartford Arts Council, and the Institute for Community Research.

The heritage of the Taino Indians is often proudly proclaimed by Puerto Ricans as one of the three strands of their multi-racial society. What that heritage consists of, how much of it has survived, and its relative importance in the overall culture of the island has been a hotly debated topic for centuries. The Tainos, indigenous people living in Puerto Rico when colonists arrived in the late 15th century, provide an example of the politics and complexities of interpreting a culture which has only a small present-day community and no living language, but is both remembered from the recent past and still represented in blood lines, place names, some everyday practices, and spiritual and political inspiration.

Recreated musical instruments made by members of the group Cacibajagua showed how contemporary Puerto Ricans have been both adopting Taino heritage and basing their work on serious study of archaeology and indigenous materials. Cacibajagua demonstrated their music at a concert on May 1, 1997, at Charter Oak Cultural Center in Hartford.

Additional materials exist in the CCHAP archive for this project and this artist.

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