As part of the ongoing Art Wise Distinguished Speakers Series, the Hunter Museum of American Art announces artist Maria Brito on Thursday, May 11 at 6 p.m. Ms. Brito is a painter, sculptor, and installation artist who will discuss her process as well as the installation piece included in the Hunter’s current special exhibition Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art.
Our America presents works in all media by nearly 70 leading modern and contemporary artists. Drawn entirely from the collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, this exhibition showcases artists of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, and Dominican descent, as well as other Latin American groups with deep roots in the United States.
The exhibition explores how Latino artists shaped the artistic movements of their day and recalibrated key themes in American art and culture.
Ms. Brito was born in Havana, Cuba and came to the United States in 1960. She holds B.E. and M.F.A. degrees from the University of Miami and B.F.A. and M.S. degrees from Florida International University in Miami. Ms. Brito is the recipient of numerous grants and fellowships including two National Endowment for the Arts Visual Artists Fellowship Grants, a Joan Mitchell Grant, a South Florida Consortium Fellowship, and a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant. Her work is in the Olympic Sculpture Park in Seoul, Korea; the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC; Art in Public Places in Metro-Dade Center, Miami, Fl.; Oscar B. Cintas Foundation in New York, NY, among others.
Art Wise events occur multiple times a year at the Hunter Museum, often coinciding with special exhibitions, and feature nationally and globally recognized speakers from the art community. Past speakers include Lalla Essaydi, Lynsey Addario, and Albert Paley. The Art Wise series is sponsored by the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee Community Trust. Media support provided is by Brewer Media.
Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art is organized by the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Support for the exhibition has been provided by Altria Group, the Honorable Aida M. Alvarez, Judah Best, The James F. Dicke Family Endowment, Sheila Duignan and Mike Wilkins, Tania and Tom Evans, Friends of the National Museum of the American Latino, The Michael A. and the Honorable Marilyn Logsdon Mennello Endowment, Henry R. Muñoz III, Wells Fargo and Zions Bank. Additional significant support was provided by The Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center. Support for “Treasures to Go,” the museum’s traveling exhibition program, comes from The C.F. Foundation, Atlanta.