Arcadia Caraballo
Arcadia Caraballo · Source: New York Artists Circle · Rights retained by the original rights holders
- Medium
- Oil Pastel/Crayon
- Based in
- El Barrio ArtSpace
- Practice
- Drawing
Arcadia Full biography
Biography
Arcadia
Artist Arcadia Reyes Caraballo was born in East Harlem New York to Puerto Rican and Cuban parents. One of her major creative influences in her life was her Abuela (grandmother) Inez Pedroso, a versatile and intuitive seamstress “She could make something out of nothing”. It was through her, Ms. Caraballo learned the creative use of shapes and patterns and soon understood the relationships between the parts and the whole. Her abuela’s collection of small, illustrated novellas became a source in the development of Arcadia’s early drawing skills.
Ms. Caraballo is also motivated by the human form and how individuals live in their bodies. Her charcoal and oil pastel figurative works are drawn from live models. She collaborates with a broad range of female and male models who collectively reflect the diversity of New York City and the varied body types that she considers real people. Her intent is to celebrate the body, whether it is the ideal form presented in the media or the womanly figure she has embodied from an early age.
Arcadia attended Pratt Institute in Brooklyn where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts. In 1986, she received the St. Gauden’s Medal for Sculpture from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Arcadia has exhibited her work at Pratt Institute, The ACAA Gallery, B.A.A.D., Galleria 106, State Senator Jose Serrano East Harlem office, Bronx River Art Center, Union Settlement Arts Festival, The Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation, Camaradas, Salon 718, El Barrio’s Artspace, Manhattan’s Neighborhood Network, SMV Gallery, La Marqueta del Barrio, Taller Latino Americano, La Galeria del Barrio, Pepe Coronado’s Print Studio, Art Lives Here NYC, Kota Alliance, Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance and Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance.
Arcadia presently resides in El Barrio ArtSpace. She is a multi-talented mother of twins, a certified Yoga instructor, and an Adjunct Lecturer at Bronx Community. She has danced at Symphony Space with the renowned Afro-Cuban folkloric dancer Xiomara Rodriguez. She has also collaborated with Pepe Coronado on a series of prints influenced by her drawings. She is currently working on a body of work that deals with the impacts of colonialism on bipoc women.
Arcadia Reyes Caraballo C.Y.T.
El Barrio ArtSpace
215 East 99th Street Suite 208
New York, N.Y. 10029
IG: arcadias111_haven
Arcadia10029@gmail.com
917-531-4408 cell
