Art on Point Opening Event:
Women in the Arts: From Tradition to Street Art
Please join North Shore CDC, Salem Cultural Commission and the Salem Public Art Commission for an evening of curated conversations with innovators, educators and leaders of the arts as we expand the dialogue of gender, equity, the environment, identity, education, health, social and economic opportunity, and more. Two of the guest speakers will be announced closer to the date of the event.Karen Ristuben, ModeratorKaren is an artist and arts administrator living in her hometown of Gloucester. She has served for ten years as president of the Rocky Neck Art Colony, one of the nation’s oldest cultural communities, leading it through a time of growth and development for the benefit of future generations of artists, residents and visitors. After a career that has spanned law, art education, and international music production, Karen joined Essex County Community Foundation in September 2017 to lead its groundbreaking Creative County Initiative.
Guest Speakers:
Angie Gonzalez”AGONZA”, believes as a human being we live and experience things to be able to teach others what we have understood and learned from life. Angie teaches and sends her messages through Art and believes that it is a communicative language of its own. Her work has been in gallery’s and shows in New York, Rhode Island and Massachusetts. She is a mentor and a leader who is able to engage and inspire individuals to use art as expression and empowerment. She is active in a number of creative projects in the greater Boston area and continues to be a leader and mentor for many in her field and beyond.
Keshia DeLeon is both an artist and consultant and has worked on a number of large scale and multi faceted projects as both a project lead and mentor. She has worked for the Salem Public School system, leading art based educational programs, mural projects, and community engagement initiatives She has worked on projects throughout the North Shore and other communities to create meaningful public-art programs that engage residents of all ages and walks of life. Keshia currently lives in Salem and enjoys spending her days creating and contemplating art with her good friend, Lady, the sweetest little pit-bull in Salem.
Loren Doucette lives and works in Gloucester, MA. Her work has shown in solo and group exhibitions on the North Shore, regularly since 2006. Doucette received a Bachelors in Fine Arts in Drawing and Painting in 2013 from Montserrat College of Art. In summer 2011, Loren participated in Montserrat’s study-abroad program in Viterbo, Italy where her fascination with landscape painting became a primary focus. She works steadily at finding the crossroads between realism and abstraction letting imagination play an intricate role in her process. Her work is currently installed at the Tusinski Gallery in Rockport, MA and she welcomes appointments to her studio above Flatrocks Gallery in Gloucester, MA.