Hispanic Heritage art exhibition opens at Shoreline City Hall Oct 26

Oso Celoso
Gabriel Marquez

In celebration of National Hispanic Heritage Month, the City of Shoreline Public Art Program is proud to welcome PUZZLE OUT: 9 ACROSS, a group exhibition that gives visible presence to Latinex culture arts-workers, with a free, opening reception event on Thursday, October 26, 2017, 6:30 – 8:30pm. (Art Gallery at Shoreline City Hall, 4th Floor, 17500 Midvale Ave N, Shoreline 98133). 

Guest curated by Prof. Tatiana Garmendia (Seattle Central College), the exhibition includes nine artists: Tracy Carrera, Juan Franco, Gabriel Marquez, Rene Julio, Ettie Wahl, Ulises Mariscal, Xavier Lopez, Hugo Moro, Kristen T. Ramirez.

Poetry during the opening reception will be read by Anna Bálint, Maiah Alicia Merino, and Raúl Sanchez, with music performance by Eden Page. Puzzle Out features a variety of media, from drawing to painting to stencil spray, mixed media conceptual, video, sculpture, and photography. Thematically the work is also wide-ranging, with focal points on portraiture, landscape, and the politics of representation. 

Wounds
Rene Julio

As Garmendia explains, “To ‘puzzle out’ is to find a solution, understand the meaning of, or work out a problem. 

"Just like clues to a crossword puzzle, the nine artists… help resolve the galvanizing language and racist rhetoric that mark the historic election of 2016 and its aftermath. 

"By celebrating the contributions of Latino/a/x creatives, this exhibit challenges racial stereotypes that deny just how vital to our thought leadership and cultural landscape is the varied voice of the Hispanic community. 

"The divergent thinking, aesthetic interventions, and activism present in Puzzle Out: 9 Across demonstrate a cultural agency that reaches far beyond the Latino/a/x demographic.”