User:Eva Marino/sandbox

Daphne Arthur (born August 31, 1986) is an Afro-Latina artist who specializes in mixed media paintings, sculptures, and installations. She has often been praised for her unique, expressive style, and surreal depictions of identity and politics. She has been awarded the Al Held Affiliate Fellow of The American Academy of Rome in 2009, the Lalla Anne Critz Zanzi Scholarship at the School of Art Institute of Chicago in 2007, and the Federation of Independent Illinois Colleges and Universities Award in 2005 (Arthur). Her most popular series is her Smoke Drawings, which depict ghostly black figures interacting with the world around them. Her work often critiques politics and identity and the relationship between the two.

Early Life
Daphne Arthur was born in Caracas, Venezuela on August 31, 1986 to Helen Arthur and Alan Andrade. Arthur's mother, Helen, was an immigrant from Trinidad but spent most of her life in Venezuela, and Arthur's father served as a deputy during 1987-1988, and was a professor of sociology at Universidad National Experimental Simon Rodriguez. During her childhood, Arthur was raised by her maternal grandmother in Caracas while her mother worked in the United States as a housekeeper and sent money back to Venezuela. Andrade was estranged from the family for the beginning of Arthur's life, and she only met her four half-siblings when she was 18 years old in her sophomore year of college.

Growing up, Arthur attended an American-run elementary school and learned English and American culture in order to prepare for the time when she would move to the United States to be with her mother. It was not until she was twelve years old when Arthur and her grandmother moved to Brooklyn, New York and Arthur began attending Edward R. Murrow High School. During this time, Arthur would often spend time with her mother at her housekeeping job, and her mother's employer would let Arthur play their piano, prompting Arthur's admiration for the arts.

After she graduated from high school, Arthur was admitted to The Juilliard School's Music Advancement Program (MAP), tuition free, and focused her studies on the piano. Here, she also dabbled in painting and sculpting.

College Life
Following her education at Juilliard, Arthur decided to focus her passions on painting and drawing, and she took a six-month break from school to build her portfolio. She, then, was admitted to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts with an emphasis in Painting and Drawing in 2007. It was here where Arthur was mentored by Susanna Coffey and found inspiration in poetry and philosophy.

After receiving her bachelor's degree, Arthur earned financial sponsorships and attended the Yale School of Art. Arthur's mentor at Yale was Peter Halley, who provided many opportunities for her to participate in various open studios and express her artistic freedom. It was during this time when Arthur began her Smoke Drawings. Arthur earned her Masters of Fine Art (MFA) degree in 2009.

Career
In between art sales and exhibition appearances, Arthur worked in the catering business and as an accounting assistant for a while after graduate school until she found a job as a painting instructor at a wine-tasting and painting workshop. This prompted her to seek other teaching jobs until she landed at her current profession as an art teacher and portfolio advisor at the Ashcan Studio of Art and the Harlem School of the Arts.

Inspiration
Arthur's artistic inspiration stemmed from both her home life and her visits abroad. On her visit to Olympic National Park in Washington state, she claimed to have a religious experience, seeing "the face of God" in the nature that surrounded her. She later visited the Amazon Rainforest with a friend and visited various tribes across the Amazon River. During her time with the tribes, she noticed how dependent on tourism they were, and how it affected their lifestyles. This was a major point of enlightenment for Arthur, and she often comments on the relationship between politics and everyday life for the lower class in her artwork.

In 2009, Arthur attended the American Academy of Rome, and she found a bittersweet love with the art and history of the city. She stated that much of her artistic style derives from the Baroque period, and the dark history mixed with the beauty of the Italian streets prompted her to ponder over the complexities of identity.

Press
Arthur has been featured in several art exhibitions and showcases, many of which have focused on black, latino(a), or black-latino(a) artists and politics. In 2014, The Huffington Post acknowledged her as one of thirteen young Latina artists that challenged the conventions of contemporary art. She has also been featured in Edge Art: Black-Latino(a) Artists, An Inter-Caribbean Dialogue at The City College of New York in 2014, Psychology Tomorrow Magazine, and one of her Smoke Drawings, "Exquisite," was published on the front cover of Moments of Magical Realism in US Ethnic Literatures edited by Lyn Di Iorio Sandín and Richard Perez.

Themes
Much of her art revolves around the idea of identity, whether that be gender, sexuality, race, or social class, oftentimes portraying these themes through magical realist scenes. She, herself, has claimed that she intends her art to be personal and intimate to the viewer, and she hopes that they find aspects of her work that they can relate to, whether that involves identity, experience, or nostalgia.