Oct. 5, 2007 — Puerto Rican artist Arroyo Rivas will explore Taino Indian culture, and Taino artifacts will be on display during "Taino Culture and Mythology Art Program" at the Caribbean Museum Center for the Arts in Frederiksted Oct. 12 through Nov. 12.
"We are excited to bring Arroyo Rivas to St. Croix as an Artist-In-Residence at the Caribbean Museum Center. We are offering a month full of exciting programs and activities, and look forward to sharing this important historical and cultural programming with the community," said CMCArts Development Director Emily Graci.
The three-week program offers an array of art projects related to Taino culture and mythology. Students, adults and art collectors, as well as those desiring to learn more about the legacy and heritage of the indigenous Taino people, are invited to experience this artistic and cultural exchange.
Rivas' artwork highlights her impressions of the sacred Taino myths of creation, fire, the sun and moon and other cultural mythology, according to a press release issued Friday.
Rivas was born in Puerto Rico and migrated to the United States with her family when she was a child. She attended Moore College of Art in Philadelphia and the California College of Arts where she apprenticed with Hilda Pertha, a master colorist and painter. She is a St. Thomas resident.
Rivas' work has been exhibited in the Museum of Our National Heritage, Lexington, Mass.; Institute of Contemporary Art and the Hynes Convention Center in Boston, Mass.; as well as the Centro Ceremonial Indigena de Tibes and the Museo Fuerte Conde de Mirasol in Puerto Rico, among others.
Rivas developed an interest in Taino life, culture and mythology:
"Taino mythology was a part of a belief system that reinforces for the community an active role in determining the forces of nature, as well as life and death," Rivas said.
"The sun and the moon, for example, were considered sacred.. Death was also sacred. One myth relates how bones inside a gourd transformed into fish and created the sea — a type of symbiosis between living and dying. In the same way that we can look at the earth today and wonder about the various forms of life that have died or decomposed over millions of years to give new life to a seed that will one day nourish us," he said.
The program includes a display of Taino artifacts courtesy of the St. Croix Archaeological Museum and an archeologically significant large-scale map identifying Taino sites on St. Croix. Youth pottery workshops will introduce students aged eight to 15 to Taino artifacts such as the zemi and clay vessels. The pottery pieces produced will be on display at the student artwork presentation and Taino wall-hanging dedication ceremony.
Students, as well as the general public can participate in in-house guided tours of the exhibition. Following the tours students and teachers will participate in an on-site art project using Taino symbols to create a series of canvas wall hangings. One wall hanging will be donated to the newly dedicated Spanish wing of the Florence Williams Public Library according to the release.
Here is the "Taino Culture and Mythology Art Program" schedule of events:
— Exhibition opening ceremony, 7 p.m. Oct. 12 at CMCArts # 10 Strand Street, Frederiksted
— Guided museum tours of the exhibition for students, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oct. 17-19; 24-26; 31 and Nov. 1-2
— Guided museum tours of the exhibition for the public, 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Oct. 17-19; 24-26; 31 and Nov. 1-2
— Meet and Greet with Arroyo Rivas during Sunset Jazz, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., Oct. 19
— Public discussion (in Spanish) 6 p.m., Oct 18
— Public discussion (in English) 6 p.m., Oct. 25
— Pottery classes for youth, 10 a.m. and noon, Oct. 13 and Oct. 20
— Student artwork presentation and Taino wall hanging dedication ceremony, 10 a.m., Nov. 5
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