In fall 2023, I was approached by Kathy Dinges, the Artist Resources and Outreach Coordinator at Salem Art Association to participate in Salem Reads 2024. 

Salem Reads is a collaboration of the Salem Public Library Foundation and the Salem Public Library. The Foundation’s mission is to fund enhancements to the Salem Public Library. Salem Reads is the foundation’s largest and most visible annual event.

Artist participation includes creating original works reflecting on this year’s selected book, The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina by Zoraida Córdova. Work is displayed in the Salem Library, and then in local regional libraries. My art can be seen alongside work by other local artists, Ryan Hopper, Stephanie Juanillo, Carlos Marquez, and Victoria Timm.

Inspired by Book Magic

Ever inspired by what I read, creating this work was a truly blissful challenge for me. Since being a bookish kid, reading sparks my passion to create, especially fantasy, mythology or poetry. The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina, is a perfect source of inspiration: filled with magic and rich visual imagery, it’s a story about a family with secrets and deep resounding love. 

The Montoyas are used to a life without explanations. They know better than to ask why the pantry never seems to run low or empty, or why their matriarch won’t ever leave their home in Four Rivers—even for graduations, weddings, or baptisms. But when Orquídea Divina invites them to her funeral and to collect their inheritance, they hope to learn the secrets that she has held onto so tightly their whole lives. Instead, Orquídea is transformed, leaving them with more questions than answers.

From Goodreads

Creactive challenges

One of my biggest artistic goals is to create artwork for stories. More than anything, I want to create work that tells stories, that can be related across diverse lived experiences. For this project, I decided to work with gouache and ink. These are also my largest ever paintings. Each piece is 18” x 24” on watercolor paper.

My two paintings, La Sirena and La Estrella Viviente are intended to look like show posters. They are inspired by the carnivalesque elements of the story’s setting and characters’ experiences. Each represents one of the main characters as a circus act. I referenced vintage circus posters as well as flora and portraiture from Ecuador, the location of the family’s origins.

You can hear more about my work, as well as the work of my cohort of artists in this interview by Joel Zak of Talking About Art on KMUZ. (note, one of my cohort, Victoria Timm is incorrectly identified as “Veronica”).