Anita Guerra

Born in 1955

Cuba

http://www.anitaguerra.com/index.php

date of insertion in W.A.D. 06/2023

Biography

I was born in Cuba four years before Fidel Castro entered Havana. My parents, like most Cubans, supported the revolution against the dictator Batista and raised funds for his fighters in the Sierra Maestra.

As a Cuban, politics have always been an integral and intrinsic part of my life and my art. I have vivid memories of the flower beds planted in the shape of Spanish and Russian letters on the neighbor´s lawn welcoming Gagarin, a Russian astronaut and the first human to enter outer space visiting Cuba at the time. I will never forget how armed militiamen, “Los Barbudos” entered our home. They had come down from the mountains still donning overgrown beards and braids, symbols of their long resistance. At the time I was five years old, and I naively let them into the house. They rummaged through my parents’ wardrobe and found a bottle of champagne. It had the label covered with the signatures of people who attended a benefit party to raise money for Castro and his soldiers. “Los Barbudos” suspected that the bottle was a Molotov cocktail. Outraged, my mother scolded them: “This bottle represents the hope of democracy and freedom, principles that you have betrayed! How dare you enter my house by force and without a warrant and accuse us, who helped you in the Sierra!” My mother was known for being outspoken and had a long history of courageously demonstrating both against Batista and years later, against Castro, despite her pregnant state and with several children in tow.

What followed was a rift from our land and culture in 1961, and a long and painful separation from my brothers and sisters. They ended up in an orphanage in Philadelphia with “Operation Peter Pan”. This family trauma marked every cell of my existence and populated canvases, installations, embroideries, drawings, video documentaries and writings throughout my career. These have been exhibited widely in the U.S., in the Caribbean, and in Italy. I have also written an illustrated memoir soon to be published, initially entitled “Tres Patrias”, but currently changed to “Juan y Josefina”, the names of my parents .

Of equal importance to politics, art was omnipresent in my family and saved us in the darkest moments. Both my parents received their degree in Architecture from the Universidad de la Habana. My father was a modernist architect who was renowned in Cuba in the 1950s. In the United States, however, nobody knew him. They arrived with seven small dependent children and no money, (those who left Cuba after the Revolution could only take $5.00 with them to avoid the flight of money from Cuban banks), but my parents instilled in us the value of beauty, culture, education, faith in God, the fight for social justice, and the integrity of one’s values. Money comes and goes, they told us, but no one can take away the inner wealth that comes from upholding principles.

United, safe and sound in our new adopted country, we spent our childhood creatively transforming what appeared ugly into beautiful works of art.  We painted the cracks in our bedroom wall into oriental flowering branches. We would compensate for the long, scorching summers away from the refreshing beaches of Varadero by spraying each other with “hose baths” in our yard. We never threw anything away. Clothes given to us or bought second hand, were handed down to the younger siblings. Similar to Benigni in “La Vita è Bella”, I thank my parents and my older sister, Lourdes, who taught us to give importance to family and to transform simple and seemingly hideous and discarded things into manifestations of beauty.

Perhaps this is why I have always experimented with unusual and recycled surfaces and materials both in my personal works and in my school projects at high school and university. For thirty years, I have supported myself by selling my work and by teaching  sculpture, drawing and painting at Temple University Rome, Tyler School of Art and Architecture, and at the international high school, St. Stephen’s School in Rome. I consider working with my students a valuable contribution to my work as a visual artist. There is a mutual exchange of ideas that inform my canvases, embroideries, sculptures, and installations inspired by the young minds and creators at these schools. I listen and watch, always amazed, at the creativity and inventiveness of my students. They have taught me much.  I hope I have shared my experiences and talents with them with equal merit.

I, in turn, also thank my mentors: Linda Tranter in high school, Julián Amores Mendoza, fellow of the Academy of Fine Arts Sta. Isabel de Hungría in Seville where I continued my studies; Rockie Toner and Corinne Colarusso at university in Rome and in the USA, who with their example and encouragement, inspired me to dedicate my life to this profession. Sadly, not all my female teachers understood that being a woman, wife and mother did not necessarily exclude an artistic career. In the last year of specialization at the university, newly married, we adopted Firas, the son my husband had from a previous relationship. My etching teacher proclaimed my demise, “Your life as an artist is over! You can’t be a mother and an artist at the same time!”

Luckily, I did not believe her!

I had my debut as a painter at the age of 25 in a group show entitled “Women about Woman”, in the prestigious Noël Butcher gallery in Philadelphia. With a career well established before becoming a mother, I always felt that to have something to say as an artist, I had to live my life to the fullest as a woman, mother, daughter, sister, and friend. Why did I have to sacrifice my desire to be a mother? In the name of whom and what? I am happy that I fell in and out of love, married, and had two sons, Nuri and Omar, not without the enormous challenge of juggling my vocation as a mother and artist. The many joyful, frustrating, and painful experiences of trying to do it all are recurring and irreplaceable themes elaborated in my artworks.

When my children were small, and often alone in raising them with their father away for work, I changed my habits and the scale of my works. I reduced the format of my paintings to the time it took to complete them according to the breastfeeding schedule of my infants. I often arrived to pick up my older children from the soccer field or the pool with my hands still smeared with oil paint and with a constant sense of conflict and guilt. Should I offer to be Omar’s class representative, like a good mother, or spend more time inside my studio? Should I go to that important gallery show and skip dinner with my family?  Somehow, and certainly with many mistakes, I kept active as an artist in those early years of my children´s lives while dedicating most of my emotional and material resources to raising them.

My sole human efforts were to prove insufficient.

Omar, my youngest son, tragically died after a devastating illness at the age of 21. If it had not been for my oldest son, Nuri, and my art, I would have died along with him from grief. Immediately after his death, I was invited to exhibit in a series of international group and solo exhibits with Leandro Soto´s C.A.F.É., a group of Cuban artists from the diaspora, and by the Italian Embassy in Havana in a solo exhibition during the week of Italian Culture in Havana in 2016. Was it just fate that aligned the most painful years of my life with the salvific balm of these rewarding milestones in my career as an artist?

It helps me to believe that our Creator, the ultimate artist, can and does turn grief into grace.

The pain of losing my child never really goes away, but I channel his life into every work I create and with every student I mentor.  I still firmly believe in the power of youth and beauty to heal wounds and losses by turning them into hope and joy.

I thank my parents for having given me this inner strength, faith in God, and love for art and belief in the intrinsic goodness in people. To my children, my family, the thousands of students I have taught, and so many others who have helped me along this wonderful journey, thank you. It is a privilege to be able to rebuild, redefine and continue to share my life with you through my art.

Curriculum

Selected Group Exhibits

       2023    “La Gabbia e Il Volo” Aula Consiliare, I Municipio, Rome, Italy

       2023    “&” Faculty  & Guests, Temple Gallery, Temple University Rome, Rome, Italy

       2022    “Remanso” Ex-Cartiera Latina, Parco di Via Appia, Rome, Italy

       2022    “Controvento. Artisti per Pasolini” Villa Guglielmi, Fiumicino, Italy

       2021    “Arteporto Fuori Confine”, Ancient Port of Trajan and Claudius, Fiumicino, Italy

       2021     “Io e Me: Self Portraits During Lockdown” Sala 1, Permanent collection,

                    Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Roma, Rome, Italy

       2021     “50+PontidiConoscenza” https://50piupontidiconoscenze.wordpress.com

       2020     “Cross-Connect: One-to-One interviews with Creatives Around the Globe”

                    Anita Guerra meets Gail Shaw-Clemons, Virtual encounter. IA&A at Hillyer,

                          Washington DC, USA

       2020     “RAW Faculty Exhibit” Rome Art Week, Temple Gallery, Temple University

                 Rome, Rome, Italy

       2019      “Looking at the Trees, Gazing at the Sky” with critical text by Roberta

                 Melasecca, St. Stephen’s Cultural Center, Rome, Italy

       2019      “RAW Faculty Exhibit” Rome Art Week, Temple Gallery, Temple University

                 Rome Rome, Italy

      2018      “Under Another Roof” with Marina Buening, Maria Korporal, Kristien de

                     Neve. IA&A at Hillyer, Washington DC, USA

       2018      “Under the Same Roof” with Marina Buening, Maria Korporal, Kristien de

                     Neve. Sala 1, Rome, Italy

       2017       “50x50x50” 50^th Anniversary Exhibit, Temple Gallery, Temple University

                       Rome, Rome, Italy

       2016       ”Temple University Rome 50 Year Celebration.” Past and Present Faculty

                      Philadelphia, PA, USA Monoprint “At the Top” selected to hang in

                      Office of President of Temple University, Richard M. Englert.

     2015       ”Oltre I Libri: l’arte del presente incontra I libri del passato.” Winner in

                       Sculpture category, Biblioteca Angelica, Rome, Italy

       2012       “Un Cortadito en Calle 8” Cremata Gallery, Miami, Florida, USA

       2011       “Woman.Embodied: Cuban Women’s Art from the Diaspora” In memory of

            Ana Mendieta. Sangre de Cristo Art Center, Pueblo, Colorado, USA

       2011       “Café XII: The Journeys of Writers and Artists of the Cuban Diaspora” In

                       memory of Antonio Benítez-Rojo. Sangre de Cristo Art Center, Pueblo,

                       Colorado, USA

       2010       “Café X :The Journeys of Cuban Artists” A multi-medium symposium the

                       Caribbbean Diaspora, Errol Barrow Center for Creative Imagination

                       Barbados

       2015-98  “Faculty Exhibit”, Temple Gallery, Temple University Rome, Italy

       2008       Participated in the Rome edition of “Café VIII: The Journeys of

                      Cuban Artists”co- curated by Leandro Soto. Temple Gallery, Temple

                      University Rome, Rome, Italy

     2008     “Storie Personali e di Memorie” International Art Exhibition at the Palazzo

                      Rospigliosi, Zagarolo, Italy

       2007    “Café VII: The Journeys of Cuban Artists” Interdisciplinary Art and

                      Performance Gallery, Arizona State University, Phoenix, Arizona, USA

        2007    “Art in the Tropics” sponsored by the Cuban American Bar Association

                     Miami, Florida

        2004     “Basel Art”/Miami Design District at “The Gallery”. Seven paintings in a

                      group show of Cuban artists, Miami, Florida, USA

        2004    “Mimosa” Sala Uno for International Women’s Day, Rome, Italy

        2003    “Studioaperti” artists in Rome open up their studios to the public.

                     Sponsored by the City of Rome, Italy

        2002    “L’Arte Libera” benefit show to support children’s art program at Laje’e

                     Center at the Aida Refugee Camp in Bethlehem. Exhibition organized and

                     Curated by  Anita Guerra; held at Daniel Gregory di Domenico, Rome, Italy

        2001    “A Day of Remembrance and Resistance” Art Show and poetry reading in

                     commemoration of September 11^th. Temple University Rome, Italy

       1999     “Clink, Guerra, Hershey, McNeill” Locke Whitney, New York, NY, USA

       1998     “Vola Napoli” Palazzo Reale, Naples, Italy

       1997     “Past and Present Faculty: Temple University 30^th Anniversary Exhibit”

                     Temple University, Rome, Italy

       1995     “Genesis” Benefit Auction for AIDS patients. The Intercontinental Hotel.

                     Miami, FL, USA

       1994     “Umbria Art Affair”(with Il Polittico Gallery, Rome) Trevi Flash Art Museum,

                     Trevi, Italy

       1992     “Portraits and Landscapes”, St. Stephen’s School, Rome, Italy

       1991     “Presenze: Artisti Stranieri Oggi in Italia”, Perugia, Italy

       1985     “Women about Woman” The Nöel Butcher Gallery, Philadelphia, Pa, USA

Solo Exhibits

     2020     ”Tres Patrias” Temple Gallery, Temple University Rome, Rome, Italy

     2016      “Mi Cuba, La Mia Italia: reliving the past, living the present” Critical text by

                   Manuela De Leonardis Exhibit for Italian Cultural Week, November 20-27,2016

                   Casa de la Obra Pía, Habana Vieja, Havana, Cuba

     2016     “Volver a Cuba” St. Stephen’s Cultural Center, Rome, Italy

• “Ascent”, St. Stephen’s Cultural Center, Rome, Italy

     2010    “Building Bridges of Hope: Success Stories and Strategies for Interfaith

Action” painting chosen as logo and for exhibit during conference at the

Pontifical  Gregorian University, Rome , sponsored by the Embassy of the

United States  of America to the Holy See, Rome, Italy

     2006      Zen Sushi, Rome, Italy

     2000      “Natura e Geometria” Piccolomini Castle, National Museum of Sacred Art,

                   Celano/ Aquila, Italy

     2000      “Mobilnovo Features Anita Guerra”, Fiera di Roma, Rome, Italy

     2000       Sala Gasparri, Populonia,Livorno, Italy

     1999       Bijan, Rome, Italy

     1997      “L’Albero”, St. Stephen’s School Rome, Italy

     1993       The University of Dallas Rome Program, Manziana, Italy

     1990      “Form and Figure”The Aart Vark Gallery, Philadelphia, Pa, USA

     1989       Centre d’Etudes Saint-Louis–de-France, Largo Toniolo, Rome, Italy

     1986      “Un’isola per l’estate” Isola Tiberina, Rome, Italy

Manuela De Leonardis, Roberta Melasecca, Shara Wasserman, Benedetta Dosa, and Marco Di Capua have written about her work.

RAW Rome Art Week Open Studios Participated every year from 2018 to the present

Curatorial Practices

     2015      “An Eternal Love: The Art Student and the Non-Catholic Cemetery in Rome”

                     Organization, selection and installation of exhibit opening June-August 2015

                    Non-Catholic Cemetery in Rome, Rome, Italy

 2013      “The Nest” exhibition of works by young sculptors at the hardware store

               “Abbruzzetti”. Voting on best piece open to public, including customers and

                pedestrians. Prize ceremony attended by the community on Viale Aventino

                (members of F.A.O of the United Nations, St. Stephen’s School)

     2008       Curated and participated in the Rome edition of “Café VIII: The Journeys of

                    Cuban Artists” with Leandro Soto. Temple Gallery, Temple University

                    Rome, Rome, Italy

 2008-06      Curated the Bi-Annual Masqueraded Carnival Ball for the French Embassy at

                    the Palazzo Farnese with the Temple University Painting on Paper students,

              entitled, “Traveling and Travelers” and “Fables and Fairy Tales”, Rome, Italy

     2002      “L’Arte Libera” benefit show to support the children’s art program at the Laje’e

                    Center at the Aida Refugee Camp in Bethlehem. Exhibition organized and

                    Curated by  Anita Guerra; held at Daniel Gregory di Domenico, Rome, Italy

     2019–      Curated hundreds of student shows, at least six a year at both university and

     1982        high school level. In addition, curated the Rome International Schools  

                 Association Annual Art Show at St. Stephen’s School including over 200   

                 artworks, from 1990 to 2012.

T.V. and Radio

2019      “Live Social-By Night” Radio Roma Capitale, Anita Guerra , live radio

              interview. Rome,Italy

     2016      “Vitrales” Cultural Program created by Katia Cárdenas Radio Emisora Cuba.

                    Anita Guerra , live radio interview  about “Mi Cuba, La Mia Italia” exhibit for

                    the XIX Week of Italian Culture, Havana, Cuba

2016      “I Giochi dell’Armonia” Cultural Program created by Alessandra Petitta of

             Vatican Radio. Anita Guerra , live radio interview about exhibit “Volver a Cuba”

              Rome,Italy

              http://it.radiovaticana.va/news/2016/05/27/pagine,_fogli,_parole_sognare/1231447

Publications

     2016      “On Cuba” Claudia García Pérez interviews Anita Guerra about her exhibition,

                   “Mi Cuba, La Mia Italia” at the Museum Casa de la Obra Pía, Havana Cuba

     2012      “Building Bridges of Opportunity: Migration and Diversity” Painting,

                   “Tras-tevere used as logo for conference organized by the US Embassy

                     to the Holy See,  Rome, Italy

     2011        Herrera O’Reilly, Andrea, “CAFE–Cuban Artists Across the Diaspora: Setting 

                     the Tent Against the House” The University of Texas Press, Austin, TX USA

Interior and Theater Design

     2007         Designed and created set designs, props and costumes for the play,“Fish” at

                      the art colony,“Arteaparte” run by Antonella Neri in Todi, Italy

Conferences

    2019         “Autoritratto-Anita Guerra” MACRO ASILO, Museo di Arte Contemporaneo

.                     Rome, Italy

     2018         Six Artist’s Talks at Temple University Rome. Coordinated and hosted

                      evening lectures.

     2015         Artists Talk with Laura Grosso, Serafino Amato, Silvia Stucky and Marcello

                      Sambati at Art Studio, John Cabot University, Rome, Italy

    1998         Participated in the debate entitled “The Philosophy of Art: Past and Present”

                      by Prof. George Dickie at the Centro Studi Americani, Rome, Italy

     1997         Panelist  “A Symposium on Meanings, Values and the Arts.The Concept of

                      Development in the History of Art. Philosophical Perspectives on Painting,

                      Music and Literature”, based on lecture by Jos de Mul and sponsored by the

                      Department of Philosophy, Loyola University, Chicago, Rome Center of 

                      Liberal Arts, Rome, Italy

Commissions

    2020        Watercolors for graduating senior class and departing faculty at St. Stephen’s

                     School, Rome. Two editions of 80 and 50 signed giclée prints with originals.

     2014        Four oil paintings: Angela Wende, John Jett, Max Patton and Debbie Packer

     2013        Tryptich watercolor commission for Molly and Jiri Stejskal of Cetra Language

                   Solutions of Elkins Park of their Wyncote residence.

     2011        Paintings for the Contessa Maria Fede Caproni, Anne Tasca,

     1991        Sandra and Grenville Craig, Patricia Harrison, Alessandra Pisanelli

                     Giuliana Di Marco, Petra and Christian Mcaika, Domenico and Mariolina

                     Carbone, Piera and Claudio Chiapperi, The Feuchtman family and

                     Angelo Filippini

     1996       “Experts and Expats” Poster for a public debate on the U.S. Political

                     Elections held at Loyola University, Rome, Italy

     1996       “Women in Ancient Thought and Society” Poster for lectures sponsored by    

                     the Department of Philosophy of Loyola University of Chicago, Rome, Italy

     1990        Pastel for “Le Querce” Golf Course, Sutri, Viterbo for the designer Jim Fazio

     1988        Painting on the Vision of St. Ignatius of Loyola for the Church of St. Ignatius

                     of Loyola, West Palm Springs, FL, USA

     1986        Double-faced mural painting for interior designer, Carla Piccardi, Rome, Italy

Grants

   2018        Temple University Presidential Humanities and Arts Award. Research                

                    trip to Miami and Havana to work on illustrated memoir.

                    (May 2018-May 2020)

   2016-        Professional Development Fund of Temple University. Research trip to   

    2015         Cuba to work on illustrated memoir.

                    (December 2015-January 2016)

    2015         The Edward C. Carter Award for Innovation at St. Stephen’s School:

                     Funds for autobiography, including research trip to Cuba

    2012         Semester Sabbatical St. Stephen’s School. Illustrated autobiography project 

    2011         Professional Development Fund of Temple University Rome, Italy

    2009         Professional Development Fund of Temple University Rome, Italy

    2001         Professional Development Fund of Temple University Rome, Italy

    2010         Faculty Fund, St. Stephen’s School, Rome, Italy

    1994         Faculty Fund, St. Stephen’s School, Rome, Italy

Teaching Experience

    2022-98   Instructor of Drawing and Painting Temple University Rome, Italy

    2022-89   Sculpture and I.B. Art Teacher ,St. Stephen’s School, Rome, Italy

    2021-03   Instructor of Drawing (Tenured Faculty)

                    St. John’s University, Rome Program Rome, Italy

    2016         Instructor of Drawing. Trinity College, Rome, Italy

    2016         Instructor of Drawing

           Arcadia University at Università degli Studi at Roma Tre, Rome, Italy

    2016,        Visiting Art Critic Rhode Island School of Design,

    1998-89    Rome Program, Rome, Italy

    2014-08    Instructor of Painting and Drawing

                     The American University of Rome, Rome, Italy

   2011         Instructor of Drawing

          Hobart and William Smith Colleges Rome Program.

          Scuola Leonardo da Vinci, Rome, Italy

   2007         Instructor of Drawing

              University of Champlain, Illinois

              La Scuola Leonardo da Vinci, Rome, Italy (Summer Program)

   2001         Instructor of Drawing

              Cornell University Rome Program, Rome, Italy

   1999-93    Instructor of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture

               The University of Loyola, Rome Program, Rome, Italy

   1998-91    Instructor of Drawing

               The Human Figure-drawing from life, artistic anatomy

               University of Dallas Rome Program, Due Santi, Rome, Italy

   1989-88    Instructor of Fine Arts for the Deaf

                 at the Istituto Gualandi per I Sordomuti, Rome, Italy

   1986         Watercolor Instructor,Temple University Rome, Rome, Italy

   1986-84    Instructor of Painting

                 Saint Mary’s College, Rome Program, Rome, Italy

   1984-82    Assistant Instructor of Fine Arts

                 The American College of Rome, Rome, Italy

Education

    1984-81   M.F.A. Painting Temple University, Philadelphia, Pa, USA Tyler School of   

                     Art, Rome, Italy

    1978-74   B.F.A. Painting Temple University, Philadelphia, Pa, USA Tyler School of

                    Art, Rome, Italy. Cum laude.

    1974-73   Academia de Bellas Artes de Santa Isabel de Hungría, Seville, Spain

Personal Information

   Anita Guerra was born in Havana Cuba and received her art training in the

   United States, Spain, and Italy. In 1984 she obtained her M.F.A. degree in Painting

   from Temple University, Philadelphia. She has been living and exhibiting in Rome,

   where she resides, since 1977. Her works hang in collections at the National Museum of

   Sacred Art, Castello Piccolomini, Celano, Aquila; Centre d’Etudes Saint Louis de France,

   Rome; Pricewaterhouse Cooper, NYC, The Caproni Museum in Trento and in private

   collections throughout Europe and the United States. Travel and research grants have

   funded trips back to Cuba to paint and work on her illustrated family memoir and exhibit

   entitled initially, “Tres Patrias” and currently, “Juan y Josefina”.