Zaadia Colón
Zaadia Colón is an experimental artist living in Queens, New York. She was raised in Prospect Park South in Brooklyn and spent her teenage years in Williamsburg. . Her artwork has appeared in the magazine And Then and in YouTube collaborations with Hendrik Van Oordt and Robert Roth. Her paintings have been exhibited at the Manhattan Neighborhood Network (MNN), Taller Boricua, Artspace PS 109, Boricua College, and she also had a one person show at the Puerto Rican Traveling Theater in Manhattan in 2019. Zaadia studied at Stony Brook (SUNY) where she received a BS in Mathematics with a minor in Anthropology. She also studied at The Parsons School for Fashion Design. Zaadia obtained a Master’s Degree in TESOL at Boricua College in 2015. For several years, she worked in the fashion industry as a Business Analyst for Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger. Zaadia is a member of the collective of women artists 7 Women in Movement and a Math teacher at a high school in Queens, New York.
Elsie Deliz
Elsie Deliz is a Puerto Rican born mixed media artist and jewelry designer. She gets her artistic influences from nature and the environment. Her use of mixed media techniques allows her to experiment and create a variety of free form art pieces. Elsie graduated from the High School of Art and Design and studied at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Her work has been exhibited at various galleries, such as the Boricua College Bronx Art Gallery, The Bronx Library Center, Artspace PS 109 in Manhattan and the Museo de la Historia de Ponce in Puerto Rico. She is an Artist in Residence at The Red Oak Seniors Center in New York. Elsie is a member of PRIDA and the Taller Boricua Printmaking Workshop.
Rafael Colón Morales
Rafael Colón Morales is a master painter whose work is characterized by its constant experimentation with a painting technique created by him and the spontaneous flow of images. He has also worked in graphics, photography, murals and sculpture. He was born in Puerto Rico and grew up between two worlds: his native land and New York City. He studied art at the University of Puerto Rico, the American University in Washington D.C., and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando in Spain. His work has been reviewed by newspapers and publications such as The San Juan Star, The Village Voice and The New York Times. In New York, he supported the development of several organizations and institutions, such as El Museo del Barrio, where he was Instructor of Printing and Graphics and Curator. He was also lecturer and tour guide at The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York and offered talks about art and culture at the American Museum of Natural History. Rafael taught art history at the University of Puerto Rico (Arecibo College), Boricua College, Brooklyn Community College and Albany State University (SUNY). Rafael was Artist in Residence at The Institute of Urban Resources in NYC. His art work is included in the books Painting and Sculpture of the Puerto Ricans, the Encyclopedia of Puerto Rico (art volume X), and Puerto Rico: Arte e Identidad. He was an Artist in Residence in the city of Bayamón, Puerto Rico. His artwork is in the permanent collection of the major museums of Puerto Rico, where he currently resides.
Nitza Tufiño
Nitza Tufiño, born in 1949 in Mexico City, raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, is a recognized muralist, public art artist, printmaker and painter based in New York City and resides in New Jersey. She obtained a B.F.A at the Academia San Carlos from the Universidad Autónoma in Mexico City, and a M.S. in Urban Affairs from Hunter College CUNY. She received a HUD Scholarship and is considered an Urban Affairs HUD Fellow. Nitza has helped found community-based organizations and art institutions such as Loisaida, Inc., Taller Boricua, El Museo del Barrio, Friends of Puerto Rico dba Caymán Gallery and the Museum of Contemporary Hispanic Art (MOCHA). She has served as a consultant on Puerto Rican and Caribbean Art for the Brooklyn Museum and the Metropolitan Museum. She developed and created murals for the East 3rd Street Music School, the NYC Board of Education, New York Metropolitan Transit Authority, New York City Health and Hospital Corporations, La Guardia Community College, Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut and the Hospital for Special Care. She also established the Muralism Program at Central Connecticut State University. Nitza was, since 1969, the first female artist of Taller Boricua, where she is presently the Director of the Rafael Tufiño Printmaking Workshop (RTPW).
Awards and recognitions include grants from the National Endowment for the Art, the Donald G. Sullivan Award from the Department of Urban Planning, the Hans Spiegel Award for Urban Affairs, the Mid-Atlantic Endowment for the Arts Regional Award, the New York’s Foundation for the Arts Artist Fellowship; the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund for Outstanding Contribution to the Arts Award in collaboration with Mayor David Dinkins; the Manhattan Borough President’s Excellence and Outstanding Achievement Award given by Manhattan Borough President Ruth Messinger, Proclamation from the New York City Council and Hon. Rosie Méndez for Outstanding Public Artist, and Outstanding Artist from Comité Noviembre.
Minerva González-Suvidad
Minerva González-Suvidad is a visual artist, entrepreneur, educator and cultural promoter. Before her arrival in New York in 1987, she was a model and worked in television commercials in Puerto Rico. As a native handmade jewelry and floral designer, she became affiliated as an artisan of the Institute for Puerto Rican Culture. She was a co-founder of the Campeche Gallery in Old San Juan and the jewelry design Studio 200. Minerva obtained a B.F.A. Cum Laude in Art Education from The City College of the City University of New York. She was a columnist for the newspaper La Voz Hispana. She taught painting, drawing, sculpture and art history in public schools and continued her work in the field of floristry. Minerva is currently a printmaker affiliated with the Rafael Tufiño Printmaking Workshop. She has exhibited her work in many group exhibitions. In 2015, she collaborated with artist Antonio Martorell on the exhibition De aquí pa’lla/ From Here to There, at the Julia de Burgos Cultural Center. She is cofounder of the artist’s collective 7 Women in Movement. Minerva is a cultural promoter in East Harlem and a supporter of La Casa la Herencia Cultural Puertorriqueña, El Taller Boricua, PRIDA and the Fideicomiso de Conservación de Puerto Rico.
George Zavala
George Zavala. Multimedia art worker. He has been exhibiting and creating multi media installations since 1991. (New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Puerto Rico.) A member of the Rafael Tufiño Print Making Workshop at Taller Boricua in Spanish Harlem NYC. BRIO (Bronx Recognizes Its Own) Award for Sculpture 1994. Teaching artist in NYC from 1988-2019. Born in Brooklyn, NY 1958.
***
