Podcasts and Studio Visit

Due to the pandemic of COVID-19, exhibitions and art events were canceled or postponed. Arts communities around the globe sought new ways to connect and dialogue while in quarantine. It was during this time of isolation, I connected to the podcast PROArtes México, the podcast Fifty Feminist States and a studio visit with Amos Eno Gallery.

PROArtes México is the brainchild of Stephanie Garcia and Peter Hay. Aquí&Allá – Here & There: Conversations with Creators from MX & USA. In this bilingual series, PROArtes México sits down with contemporary artists working in the USA or MX and discusses their work, concepts, ideas, and interests in their preferred language. With translated versions of the interviews available on our website, PROArtesMexico.com.mx. Follow along as they jump the border to connnect artists from Mexico and the USA. Link to podcast and website:

https://anchor.fm/proartes-mex/episodes/Episode-1-1-with-Rosemary-Meza-DesPlas-edhkep

Fifty Feminist States is a podcast hosted by Amelia Hruby, a writer, podcaster and academic living in Chicago. She travels to hear these stories and produces each episode herself. Fifty Feminist States is a roadtripping, storytelling podcast featuring feminist activists and artists from all fifty US states. Each episode focuses on a single state, featuring the work of one or more activists and/or artists there to explore a local issue from the lens of gender justice and queer liberation. Link to podcast and website:

https://www.fiftyfeministstates.com

Studio Visit with Amos Eno Gallery – Founded in 1974, Amos Eno Gallery is one of New York City’s longest operating artist-run gallery spaces. As a registered 501(c)3 organization, Amos Eno Gallery provides a full season of exhibits by emerging and mid-career artists working in visual, performance, installation, interactive, and/or digital media/video. Our season is complemented by a diverse series of performances as well as educational and public programs for the New York area. In Spring 2020, Amos Eno Gallery sat down with Rosemary Meza-DesPlas to discuss her unique artist materials for her hand-sewn hair drawings, the purpose of protest, and turning anger into agency. We also found out more about her newest series and the importance of getting in formation.

Mary Gagler, Amos Eno gallery director visits with artist, Rosemary Meza-DesPlas

Author: rosemarymezadesplas

“I was born and raised in Garland, Texas; a manufacturing-based suburb of Dallas. My parents’ heritage is rooted south of the US border: my mother was born in Allende located in Coahuila, Mexico. My father, born in Santa Maria, Texas, grew up in Tampico situated within Tamaulipas, Mexico. The tenacity of my eight aunts in the face of personal tragedies and adversities was an early inspiration; their narratives contributed to my embrace of feminist ideology.” Rosemary Meza-DesPlas currently lives in Farmington, New Mexico. The cornerstone of her artwork is the female experience within a patriarchal society. As a woman, daily navigation of our world is a precarious tight-rope walk. The use of portraiture to discuss gender-based burdens personalizes the political. Intricate drawings are created by meticulous stitching of human hair. The dichotomy of human hair, depending upon context, is it can be engaging or off-putting: long, luxurious hair is sexy, but a hair in one’s soup is unappealing. Meza-DesPlas seduces the viewer with elegant, sensual marks of hair. Thematically, her artworks advocate for gender equality and women’s empowerment. Through on-site drawing installations and watercolor paintings, Meza-DesPlas evokes intellectual and visceral responses to socio-cultural burdens endured by women; these burdens and their subsequent impact on contemporary culture are interpreted through a global lens. She earned a MFA from Maryland Institute, College of Art (Hoffberger School of Painting) and a BFA from the University of North Texas. Her artwork has been exhibited at numerous galleries and museums throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. Her work has been written about in several publications including the Huffington Post, Dallas Morning News, The Durango Herald, Wall Street International, and Interview Magazine. Ms. Meza-DesPlas parallels the themes in her visual artwork with the written word and spoken word performances.

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