Joann Quiñones

Bio

Joann Quiñones (they/ them) is a Mixed Media artist who creates figurative work in order to explore Afro-Latinx identity. They were selected as an Emerging Artist of 2020 by Ceramics Monthly, was a Manifest Gallery Annual Prize Finalist, and received an Honorable Mention for the James Renwick Alliance Chrysalis Award. Their work has been shown nationally, including in the 2020 NCECA Annual Exhibition, “The Burdens of History”. Quiñones has an MFA in Studio Art from Indiana University, Bloomington, and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Iowa. They are currently an Assistant Professor of Sculpture at Alfred University, NY.

Artist Statement:

La Gruta - The Grotto

Grotto - An artificial structure made to resemble a natural cave; a place for sanctuary and devotion.

When I was a child, my family visited a place in the Bronx called Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto at St. Lucy’s Church.  My family went to “La Gruta” often. It was a place where statues of martyrs and saints were placed in caves, and the faithful lit candles, said prayers, and collected water from a waterfall for healing. I remember being fascinated by these figures and how lovely they were even though they met tragic fates. The cost of their faith was paid for literally with their own bodies. In this work, I use life-casting, mold-making, and found objects, along with a focus on ceramics and fibers as a way to explore the historical absence of queer, Afro-Latinx identity. The figures here are both human and doll-like, life-like and imaginary. They consist of hybrid forms and memories, carefully alluding to what it means to be both and neither – Black, Puerto Rican, a citizen, a woman. 

Exhibitions: