LARGO – Creative Pinellas is excited to announce their newest exhibition, Keepers of Heritage: Hidden Tales / Custodios de la Herencia: Cuentos Ocultos, which will feature Puerto Rican artists and focus on bringing to light stories and ideas that may have seldom been as broadly told.
An opening reception with live music and art will be held on Saturday, Aug. 5, from 6-8 p.m. The exhibition is on view now through Sunday, Oct. 15.
“We are always seeking opportunities to expand what we have to offer at the gallery, to explore new voices, to bring visitors and tourists new, exciting and valuable experiences, and to make high-quality arts experiences available to everybody,” said Barbara St. Clair, CEO of Creative Pinellas. “With Keepers of Heritage, we have the opportunity to introduce our community to artists from Puerto Rico and other areas that have been influential in terms of the history and culture of Florida.”
Embracing the exploration of old and new ideas, artists play a vital role in expanding boundaries and ways of seeing and creating a space for conversations on important topics. Keepers of Heritage examines and reflects on diverse subjects, beliefs and stories that encourage visitors to reflect on how narratives and perspectives evolve.
“Keepers of Heritage: Hidden Tales / Custodios de la Herencia: Cuentos Ocultos provides the chance to produce a platform for those overshadowed stories and storytellers, awarding a distinctive perspective, where the question is more important than the answer,” said Yasir Nieves, curator for the Keepers of Heritage collective.
Yasir Nieves curate the exhibition and showcases original work in various mediums, including painting, sculpture, drawing, and engraving by renowned artists from Puerto Rico, Florida and New York. The artists are Brenda Cruz, Alejandro De Jesús, Jose Feliciano Bonilla, Carmelo Fontanez Cortijo, Domingo García, Francisco García Burgos, Martin García Rivera, Michael Irrizary Pagán, Yasir Nieves, Juan Nieves Burgos, Angel Rivera Morales, Rafael Rivera Rosa, Carmen Rojas Gines, Pablo Rubio, Aby Ruiz, Gilbert Salinas, Joan Emanuelli Sánchez, Luis Soto, Valentín Tirado Barreto and Rigoberto Torres.
“We are very proud to bring work by this amazing collective of award-winning Puerto Rican artists to Pinellas County,” said Beth Gelman, Senior Director of Arts and Cultural Programming. “The Gallery at Creative Pinellas is continually looking for new opportunities to use the visual and performing arts to explore our cultural universe and to expand our notions of community and identity.”
Keepers of Heritage: Hidden Tales / Custodios de la Herencia: Cuentos Ocultos will be on display with artworks for sale through the closing at the Gallery at Creative Pinellas, 12211 Walsingham Road, Largo, FL 33778. The Gallery is open Wednesdays through Sundays with new hours from 10–5 p.m. The reception, talks and exhibition are free and open to the public. Artworks will also be available to view and purchase in a virtual gallery at Creative Pinellas.org/KOHHT.
About Keepers of Heritage – Custodios de la Herencia
Keepers of Heritage is an extended collaborative effort whose purpose is to document, present and promote the contributions of Puerto Rican artists in the Caribbean archipelago and abroad.
Its roots go back to 2015 with the presentation of the “La Diaspora” exhibition at the Terrace Gallery in Orlando City Hall. Since then, the collective has expanded and traveled to institutions such as the National Museum for Puerto Rican Arts and Culture in Chicago, the Appleton Museum of Art in Ocala, and the Albin Polasek Museum in Winter Park.
Over eight years, the collective has documented and presented the work of nearly 30 artists whose artistic practices include a diversity of mediums such as painting, drawing, sculpture, engraving, multimedia, and photography.
Keepers of Heritage: Hidden Tales / Custodios de la Herencia: Cuentos Ocultos
Opening reception: Saturday, Aug. 5, 2023, 6-8 p.m.
Gallery Times: Wednesday-Sunday, 10-5 p.m. (NEW GALLERY HOURS)
For additional details on this exhibition, visit Creative Pinellas.org/KOHHT.
