Art Exhibit ~ Angela Soliz

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Kirk-Bear Canyon Library invites you to view the works of local artist Angela Soliz. The exhibit will be on display through February 2024.

Angela Soliz is a Chicana designer, educator and artist. She has practiced design and art for many years, alongside studying approaches to liberation and narrative in anthropology, sociology, psychology, spiritual traditions, entrepreneurship, art history, social work, communications, marketing, philosophy, social justice and economics. As an artist, her paintings contribute to the project of human dignity through the exploration of self-liberation. Her focus is on creating vibrant energetic work that celebrates life, nature and imagination. She runs a boutique graphic design and illustration studio, serves as adjunct faculty at Pima Community College and is a Teaching Artist at The Drawing Studio. She lives in Tucson, AZ with her family and spends her free time rock climbing.

Artist Statement:

What is the value of abstract art and beauty?
Art speaks to the soul and beauty reminds us of our freedom. Through art we can safely experience a feeling of overwhelming ecstatic happiness. Often, we know what it is to feel profound extreme despair, grief, loss, heartbreak, shame and apathy but we do not know their opposites.
 
Why is each painting named ‘Practice’?
Just like it's about the journey and not the destination, the practice is often the final piece and the process is one and the same. Exploration and experimentation require practice. To consider life anything other than a constant practice is to live outside of the present moment. It feels more honest to call these works by what they were for me- the practice of building a habit and exploring creative expression.
 
Artist process:
 
“Color is my love language. With every stroke of thick acrylic paint, the goal is to capture the essence and the energy of ecstatic joy.
I find that to feel ecstatically safe, joyful and happy takes courage. They are the feelings of liberation, after all, and when we imagine, even for a moment, that we are free and boundless, that wide open expanse can be scary. Scarcity and limitation are familiar. What I feared most was letting out all this bright color, this bliss, these outrageous inner landscapes and surrealist flowers- how dare I speak of happiness in the midst of devastation, poverty, hate and all the other awful things the news reminds us of. Yet how dare I not? How dare I know what the feeling of ecstatic joy is and not share it? Not help people remember it for themselves?
And so I began to face wonder, joy, radical acceptance and all the intense high sensation emotions that are often avoided and subjugated, with as much courage as I could find.
I don't pre-plan my paintings, it’s more about what develops as I get lost in a delicious sea of color and thick acrylic paint. My aesthetic is heavily influenced by my Chicano heritage, my design education, and the genre of magical realism.
I start with a blank canvas and a selection of colors that have chosen to be there. Then I follow my intuition, I follow the color with anticipation. The composition is revealed one stroke at a time. I am always asking inward for each next choice and placement and shape. There is no wrong answer, no wrong move. Instead, it is a constant practice of staying curious, delighted, and full of wonder in the present moment.

I like to think each painting carries the energetic vibration of this joy and I hope that my paintings may remind you (the viewer) of your own child-like wonder, courage, inner divinity, and your right to dignity. So often social justice centers around winning rights and stopping discrimination, but I think we also need to remember the freedom we already have inside of us.”


Photos courtesy of the artist

 

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