User talk:Maria Luisa de Villa

Profile: Visual artist and curator, Maria Luisa de Villa is a force in the Mexican cultural diaspora through the organization of international creative exchanges. Her work pays homage to Mexican flora, and is recognized for its execution, form and content reflecting a sense of place and a message of import to the 21st century: that of the delicate balance between humans and nature. Her art explores the relationship of art and nature, the associative weaving of culture, Guadlupe culture, cacaoChocolate, and the wise and millenary milpa/corn culture. She collaborates with Mexican indigenous artisans and lectures and writes about Mexican arts and culture. Education: 1986 BFA Honours Degree- York University, 2000 MFA- Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México- thesis: Santa Maria de Guadalupe, imagen Mexicana in History, Diplomas- Universidad Iberoamericana and Cambrian College. Selected Solo and Group Exhibitions: Her career includes over 100 exhibitions at international venues: Festival Internacional Cervantino, Museo de la CDMX, Canadian Embassy in Mexico City, National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago, Centro Cultural Sto Domingo de Oaxaca, Kleinberg Museum of Canadian Art, Yukon Arts Centre, Maison de la culture Côte-des-Neiges in Montreal, Art Gallery of Ontario/S&R, Living Arts Centre, De Leon White Gallery, York Quay Gallery Harbourfront Centre, Justina M. Barnicke Gallery in Hart House University of Toronto, York University Fine Arts, Beijing University and The Art Gallery of Sudbury. Awards and Grants: The Canada Council, Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Art Council, York University, Alianza Hispano Canadiense U of T, Canadian Heritage, Foreign Affairs Canada, Art Gallery of Sudbury, NOAA, CERLAC and Spanish Speaking Consular Corps in Toronto. Selected Public and Private Collections: National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago, Instituto de Artes Gráficas de Oaxaca, Museo Diego Rivera; President Vicente Fox family, NY celebrity Gloria Vanderbilt, renowned artist Ed Pien, collectors Sara Garmon and Ansley Cole. Bibliography / Documentation: Ample CV and mass media biblography, upon request. Projects, Curatorial initiatives, Critique and Publicity: An active member of the artistic communities in both Mexico and Canada, Maria Luisa’s approach to making art and the presentation of art have been recognized as original and embraced by institutions and fellow artists. She has organized creative exchange art forums, recognized as contributions in the arts and stepping stones in the advancement of a dialogue between cultures, bringing to the forefront artists of Latin American descent in Canada and Canadian artists in Mexico. Maria Luisa is the first woman to have a solo exhibition in 2007 at the Museo de los Pintores de Oaxaca and a founding member of: 1992- CCIE- Hispanic Arts Foundation and anual arts festival funded by the Spanish speaking consulate corps in Toronto; 1992- ArteVisual 92- first Toronto Hispanic Artist Collective and 1977- The Northerners Art Collective. In 1992, she was appointed Canadian correspondent for the Centro de Estudios Guadalupanos A.C. In 1985, she introduced in Canada the first traditional and contemporary Ofrenda installations and the popular tradition of Dia de muertos / Day of the Dead, establishing in 1994, an anual space dedicated to Mexico at Harbourfront Centre; in 2018 and 2019, she was a member and visual art curator for the Colectivo dias de los muertos Collective, Wychwood Art Scape, Toronto. From 1994 to 2004, she presents in Canada, the art of Francisco Toledo, Gilberto Aceves Navarro, Juan Alcazar, Natalia Toledo and Roberto Turnbull. Maria Luisa has worked in programming and community engagement in the arts on the basis of her own concept: “working with the exhibition, unfolding the creative process and transforming the museum into a living space.” Her creative thinking is reflected in design and in projects such as the “casa- boutique hotel” a concept she proposed in 1994 for Oaxaca becoming a main characteristic of the city. She is a co-founder and store designer of El Mercado import retail business in Northern Ontario.

Considered a “visionary and ambassador of Mexico” by cultural leaders including renown artists Francisco Toledo and Ted Bieler, Dr. Guadalupe Perez San Vicente former director of the Mexico City Historical Centre; writer Elena Poniatowska; writer/TV personality Sonja Dunn; Judith Schwartz, founding director of Hart House, University of Toronto, and Pat McCaulay director of Open Studio and former Visual Art Director of Harbourfront Centre. Maria Luisa was named “Mexican icon in Canada” by Notimex and her art work together with Salma Hayek’s acting, were described as “a powerful visual expression” by E.J. Martini Boys Toronto/Review. Her work was published in: 2018- the prestigious Exile Literary Quarterly Magazine with 13 pages and an essay by Canadian writer Linda Rogers; in June 2015- Mujeres magazine; in 1993- Historia Cultural de América Latina by Mario J. Valdéz, FCE. From 2002-2004, she structured the personal archive of renown artist Francisco Toledo: Work, Life and Projects at the Instituto de Artes Graficas de Oaxaca. Her voluntary work includes 1991-98- cultural affairs with the Consulate of Mexico in Toronto, 1985 Canadian Red Cross Mexico earthquake relief; Mexican Canadian Association and Enlace Community Link, in support of Mexican migrant workers. A life-long supporter of the arts and forever enamoured with Mexico, she donated her personal specialized Art and Mexican History library including Canadian art, to the Instituto de Artes Gráficas de Oaxaca and Biblioteca Henestrosa, as well as various Mexican art pieces to The Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art and The Textile Museum of Canada and helped create a community library in the Mexican Consulate of Toronto. Maria Luisa was born and raised in Mexico City in a family of art collectors whose collections were donated to Mexico: Museo Bello, Museo de la Basilica de Guadalupe and Pinacoteca La Profesa. She lives and works between Mexico and Canada since 1961.