Marielena Ferrer as Spring 2023 Visiting Artist

Broken Monarchs Exhibit: March 10 – April 14 

Artist Lecture/Opening Reception: March 10

Community Art Workshop: March 21 & March 23 

March 2, 2023 – Stone Ridge, NY – This spring SUNY Ulster welcomes Marielena Ferrer as their Visiting Artist. “Broken Monarchs” will open on March 10 in the Muroff-Kotler Gallery on the Stone Ridge Campus with an opening reception from 4:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. The artist will present a lecture at the beginning of the opening reception. This event is free and open to the public.

The public is invited to participate in two 45-minute public workshops in collective artmaking on March 21 from 10 am to noon and March 23 from 2-4 pm in the Gallery. Learn about the monarch butterfly migration quest and its symbolic connection to migrant children at the U.S.-Mexican border. Registration is required. 

Marielena Ferrer’s work “Broken Monarchs” is a unique representation of the effects of confining animals that naturally migrate and how we see similar activities in our own society today. Ferrer takes the audience on a trip through her eyes on the “zero tolerance” policy at the U.S.-Mexican border.

Marielena Ferrer is a socially engaged artist who serves as the chair for both Kingston City Arts Commission and the Alianza Cultural de Kingston. The Kingston Arts Commission’s purpose is to strengthen the local economy by attracting and promoting artists, arts venues, and arts entrepreneurs and encouraging cultural tourism. The Alianza Cultural de Kingston is a committee that is working on the findings of the Kingston Latino Cultural Study to bring programming and other activities to the Hispanic/Latino community in Kingston. Additionally, Marielena sits on the Family of Woodstock Board of Directors, Arts Mid-Hudson Advisory Board, and is a teaching artist at the Department of Regional Art Workers, the D.R.A.W., in Midtown Kingston.

Originally studying architecture at Central University of Venezuela, Marielena later earned a certificate of distinction in “Leadership and Empowerment” from Spain’s Polytechnic University of Valencia and a diploma in “Gender Leadership” through the EQUAL Transnational Cooperation Community Initiative of the European Social Fund. She also earned a University Expert Diploma in “Mental Health, Cultural Processes and Psychological Interventions With Immigrants, Minorities and the Socially Excluded” from the University of Barcelona. Marielena holds a BFA in Sculpture and is currently pursuing her MFA in Sculpture from SUNY New Paltz.

The Gallery hours are Tuesday – Friday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. For special viewings or more information, contact Christopher Seubert at 845-687-5134.

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