For Which it Stands: A Virtual Town Hall

Session Full

What defines the American experience? What makes a community? Inspired by the exhibition Building a Legacy: The Vibrant Vision Collection of Jonathan Green and Richard Weedman, this three part series invites participants to a town hall-style Zoom with local artists and community stakeholders where we'll address these and other questions as we grapple with the effects of a global pandemic and a renewed reckoning with racial injustice.

Ecos: Arte Urgente, August 29, 12noon

Join in conversation with South Carolina artists featured in Ecos: Arte Urgente, the Charleston Oral History Program at the Citadel’s multimedia exhibit spotlighting the experiences of Latinx immigrants in the Lowcountry, and in the exhibition Building a Legacy.

This event is free and open to the public, but requires registration. It will take place on Zoom. Registrants will receive the link to the Zoom webinar one day prior to the event.

This virtual program is made possible by the generous support of Art Bridges.

About Our Speakers

Diana Farfán was born in Bogotá, Colombia. An independent artist, instructor, cultural agent, and art mentor for Latino artists, Farfán received a BFA at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia in Bogotá and obtained an MFA in Ceramic Sculpture at the University of South Carolina. Her sculptures are a commentary on political and social issues overlaid by a fine layer of humor. In addition to serving as a member at large on the board of directors of Palmetto Luna Arts, an organization that promotes Latino artists and culture in South Carolina, she also serves in animal rescue and advocacy groups. Farfán currently lives and works in Greenville, South Carolina.

Paola Torres-Ruiz was born in 1988 in La Estancia, Colima, México. She is a ceramicist and printmaker who lives in Conway, South Carolina. When she was five years old, she immigrated to the United States, and at the age of nineteen, she married her husband, who after three years of marriage successfully petitioned for her permanent residency. She is the mother of two children, a dedicated foster parent, and the director of the Southern Adventure Society, an organization that connects teens in foster care with the outdoors. Torres-Ruiz studied art at the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities. Her work is inspired by her family’s immigration journey and those of other Mexicans, as well as her experience of growing up in the South.

Reynier Llanes was born in Pinar del Rio, Cuba in 1985. He attended the city’s school of art (Instructores de Arte) for four years and completed his studies in 2004. Llanes was tutored by one of the country’s most recognized realist artists, Juan Miguel Suárez. In 2007 LIanes emigrated from Cuba and moved to the United States, first settling in Naples, FL. In Naples he began to introduce his work in a major exhibition entitled “Strange Visitor” at the Kapo Maestro Gallery. In 2009 he relocated to Charleston, SC where he had the honor of being granted an artist in residency at the Jonathan Green Studios. In 2015 Llanes relocated with his family to Miami where he currently lives. His work is included in the exhibition Building a Legacy and is on permanent exhibition in the Denver Art Museum – Denver, CO, Cornell Fine Arts Museum Rollins College, Snite Museum of Art – South Bend, Indiana, Polk Museum of Art, Lakeland, FL, The Arkansas Arts Center, Museum of Fine Arts – Little Rock, Arkansas, Museum of Art – DeLand’s – DeLand, FL and Museum collection of Franklin G. Burroughs – Simeon B. Chapin Art Museum in Myrtle Beach, SC.