The Making with Celeste Cruz
Cruz can often be found working at Elevated Thought in Lawrence, where she works as both a curator, production, and multimedia artist.
Heritage and its interpretation have always played an integral role in both the production and perception of art. It is through the eyes of an artist and the generational or personal history encapsulated within them that art is created, appreciated, and explored.
Such could be no more accurate than for Lawrence-based multimedia artist and curator Celeste Cruz. An innovative figure on the artistic scene, Cruz brings her passion for painting, photography, and mixed media to life through the translation of personal stories, identities, and generational histories. This connection between the artist and their art is, in many ways, inseparable, but it is where the degrees and dynamics of separation between both viewer and artist come into play that Cruz’s own perspective is unique and, above all else, deeply personal. Such is in addendum to her work as a curator at Elevated Thought, a Lawrence-based community organization that supports and promotes social justice, artistic expression, and community-based activism in art and beyond.
Below is a conversation between Essex Art Center Gallery Attendant Connor D’Angelo and Celeste Cruz, exploring Cruz’s roots as an artist, her current work, and the connection between the two.
Connor D’Angelo:
You’ve worked as both artist and curator in Lawrence for a number of years. What are your first memories of art and artistic exploration?
Celeste Cruz:
My earliest memories are of making art here, at Essex Art Center. Having a space to create outside of home and school was very liberating and empowering. Over time, I realized it was something I wanted to continue to do. Being a poor kid in the city, it was especially important to be able to draw, make DIY toys for my room, and carve into my bed frame—to always be surrounded by art.
In high school, I fell in love with photography. After my first summer job, I purchased a camera for myself. There were artists in the community who supported me with my exploration, gifting me cameras or film. Photography reintroduced me to creative expression and led me to mixed media projects. I was trying to figure out my identity as both an artist and a person, and I stumbled upon spaces like Elevated Thought, where I was able to play more and delve into my artistic intention and process.
CD:
Let’s expand, now, on your own art, specifically your pieces’ “empty eyes.” What inspired such a unique hallmark?
CC:
I think it started out more as a style preference. Sometimes, we make art with the intention of how someone may see our work, and for some of the characters or people in these pieces, I want the viewer to feel as though they can see pieces of themselves or their stories in those eyes. This is why I make them feel so hollow.
Several of Cruz’s Acrylic series paintings feature blank eyes and plain, serious expressions, dramatizing the pieces’ bold colors and simple compositions
CD:
Is such a connection between both piece and viewer your primary goal when creating your art?
CC:
For some of my pieces, I leave space for the viewer to form a relationship. A piece I'm working on right now is a self-reflection or altar, a space for the viewer to engage in affirmations, an act of love, where I remove myself from the piece, and it becomes a portal for anyone to connect with. I really haven't thought too much about how I can intentionally create space for the viewer, but this is probably the first piece where it's directly incorporated.
CD:
One piece that comes to mind includes both this connection and a barrier [pictured below], this feeling of separation. There is this dynamic effect between both separation and connection established between both viewer and subject. Is such an interpretation what you had in mind?
Frida Kahlo’s series of portraiture inspired this self-visualization
piece, placing the viewer looking towards a seated Cruz
Acrylic on Canvas, 2018
CC:
The piece you're referencing, the woman in the chair, is a self-portrait inspired by Frida Kahlo. It was part of a series I worked on where I reimagined Lawrence with a nostalgic lens. I love that your interpretation was that there was separation in the piece, but for me, it was a close look into someone's face and being. It's centered around my own internal conversation with this idea of femininity. In the background, there's a pink dress dangling from my hanger (I had been gifted a chacabana–or guayabera–dress by family members back home). I engaged in this dialogue of what it means to exist as a femme-presenting person in its simplest form.
CD:
And do you view your art as connected to yourself when it's created but also separated in terms of establishing an independent relationship with the viewer?
CC:
I have always been interested in the conversation of separating artists from their art. Personally, it's impossible for me to separate myself from my art; it's an extension.
CD: And by extension, do you mean your heritage and past experiences? How do these things influence your work, and where do you see yourself going?
CC:
I come from and consider myself a part of a line of storytellers who can paint images with their words. Coming from the Dominican Republic, I use that as my inspiration behind many of my pieces and the stories that I weave together: sacred moments, whether it's a grandmother spending time with their grandchild, someone getting their hair braided, or reflective moments regarding femininity. I have come to a point where I want to channel different aspects.
I am inspired by the forms of resiliency and survival of Caribbean folks and how they find love and joy despite the hardships, pain, and suffering they've endured. I have developed an altar series where I pay homage to different family members, creating them as archetypes for folks to interact with. It's my first time intentionally working with assemblage; it is an appropriate evolution for me as an artist.
Cruz’s Ventana One: Para las Abuelas, 2018
CD:
Do you derive your art and your inspiration from your identities and heritage, or moreso, affirm your heritage through artistic expression?
CC:
It is a bit of both. The inspiration exists in the pieces I create, but the affirmation is in wanting to complete it. I think a lot about how, growing up, exposure to Dominican or Caribbean art was very limited. What types of pieces that Dominican artists could create were determined by a Eurocentric definition of what was deemed "beautiful." Once I reflected and sourced inspiration, and broke down my own ideas and my own grief, I was able to interpret traditional folk art, remix it, and make it my own. Such affirms the existence of the present-day Caribbean folks. It's great now to also exist in a period where Dominican artists are doing similar work, creating spaces and paving the way for more artists to do work like this.
CD:
And, to wrap up, what are your goals for paving the way for the next generation as you described?
CC:
The goal is to be the person, the artist, that younger me needed. There's a term of being a good ancestor or elder, where what we do today can support those to come. I think about how I want my work, or my drive, as a curator to make it so that I'm creating intentionally and making more space so the future generation won't feel as lonely.
This interview was conducted and written by Connor D’Angelo and edited for clarity & comprehensibility.
You can learn more about Celeste via her Instagram, @hechoporcela.
You can get involved with Elevated Thought through their website at https://www.elevatedthought.org/ or through their Instagram @elevated_thought
About the artist: Celeste Cruz (she/her) is a Dominican (multimedia) artist, curator, and archivist who places Caribbean and immigrant stories at the center. Cruz eternalizes the magic, tenderness, and resiliency of those living in the diaspora through painting, illustration, and mixed media collage. Her work remains a continuous conversation with her ancestors, and at the root of it is a love letter to home.
The importance of legacy work has led her to archive her community’s existence via storytelling. She’s currently the host and producer of Untitled Archives, a podcast that collects the stories of the residents of Lawrence, MA, and the Merrimack Valley.
About the interviewer: Connor D’Angelo is an undergraduate student at Tufts University’s School of Arts & Sciences, currently studying both Art History & Chemistry. Aspiring to work in Museum Curation, Management, or Conservation, you can often find him baking at his home in Andover, MA. In addition to his work at Essex Art Center, he also explores the world through photography and the outdoors. You can contact him through his email connortdangelo@gmail.com, or his Instagram @dangeloconnor.
