We had the good fortune of connecting with Jose Luis Garcia and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jose Luis, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
I pursued my career as an artist primarily due to the support and guidance from influential local artists and teachers – Tom Virgin, Ania Moussawel, Rose Miller, Maria Martinez-Cañas, Kathleen Hudspeth, Carol Todaro, Joseph Tamargo, Mirta Gomez del Valle, William Maguire, Peggy Nolan, Pip Brant, and Bill Burke.

When I received my Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Art from New World School of the Arts with University of Florida and my Master of Fine Arts in Studio Art from Florida International University, I aspired that I would be able to continue the legacy of my teachers and foster an appreciation for artmaking like the communities that I learned from.

I am proud to share that I taught various K-12 educational residencies as a Teaching Artist with Arts for Learning Miami, led workshops with Miami Dade Public Libraries’ The Vasari Project, and teach as an Adjunct Professor at Miami Dade College Wolfson Campus, Broward College North Campus, and New World School of the Arts in the Highschool Division.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I create artworks that reflect on the passage of time by re-imagining my family archive of photographs to investigate nostalgia, family, home, place, loss, and trauma. My work approaches image-making through poetic gestures that blend the printmaking process, time-based performance, and installation. Through my artwork, I deconstruct notions of memory, question traditional gender norms, and investigate the ways images can memorialize a person.

My artistic practice is informed by one event in my life: the death of my mother when I was an infant. This passing is what began my exploration of memory through photography. I would not remember my mother if not for the photographs she left behind in a small box. These snapshots allowed me to establish a connection that was otherwise forgotten or erased. The poetic gestures that arise in my practice mimic the act of recalling, forgetting, and constructing.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I am a current Artist-in-Residence at Laundromat Art Space in Little Haiti, FL and I will be opening my studio this month starting from Miami Art Week until the end of December. Feel free to reach out to me if you are interested in visiting the studio. We currently have an Artist-In-Residence exhibition in addition to Deconstructing the Sameness, an exhibition curated by Ronald Sanchez. Learn more here: www.laundromatartspace.com

Special shout out to my studio mates – Claudio Marcotulli, Denise Treizman, Devora Perez, Donna Ruff, Juan Henriquez, Julia Zurilla, Lisu Vega, Nick Mahshie, Pablo Contrisciani, and Roxana Barba!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I’m excited to share that I received a Teachers Travel Grant from #TheEllies! Thank you to Oolite Arts for granting me the opportunity to travel to New York to visit museums and archives and attend photography workshops that will help spark his students’ interest in black and white darkroom photography and other non-digital photographic processes. I can’t wait to share my experience and new skills with my high school students at New World School of the Arts.

The Ellies are offered in four categories to support Miami-Dade working and emerging artists, art educators, and established, professionally accomplished artists.

Teacher Travel Grants provide K-12 art teachers with $5,000 in funds for travel that will ultimately enrich their classroom curriculum. By encouraging teachers to explore and share art experiences with their students, these grants will help create the audiences that our museums and arts organizations need to thrive.

Congratulations to my fellow teacher grant recipients Silvana Soriano, Juan Alejandro Landaverde, Mark Russel, and to all the other 2022 #TheEllies award winners.

To see the full list of winners and learn more about the awards visit www.theEllies.org

Website: www.avantgarci.com

Instagram: @avantgarci

Image Credits
Pedro Wazzan

Nominate Someone: ShoutoutMiami is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.