This gallery is for BVAA member Libia Goncalves.
Artists Statement
Libia A Quintero Colombo-American artist.
I am mostly a self-taught artist, therefore I have many many questions. I have been painting off and on all my life, my first cows, (in kindergarten) were purple. As a child I was told I must study and become “Somebody” and to study art wasn’t a choice, Therefore in 1984 I got a bachelor degree in Science from Catholic University in Colombia. Around this time a friend of mine introduced me into watercolor and I try few of them.
In 1989 I came to USA, got married and have 2 children. 1994 Became an USA citizen. 1997 Bachelor degree in Medical Technologist at Newton Wellesley Hospital and since then I have worked as Clinical Laboratory personnel at UMASS-Memorial Hospital until 2009. 2003 Introduction to watercolor course at the Worcester Art Museum. I tried my first portrait following book directions. 2008 Release of my first book of poems in Colombia: A ti Sueños y Poemas. 2009 Introduction to Portrait at Worcester Art Museum and also introduction to oil painting with Kathy Herbert. March 2009 I dedicated myself to paint in the peace of my basement.
Painting is for me an urgent need to express myself in color. Long ago, I learned that a good design can sustain a bad painting but not vice versa, so I saw the need to know more, to investigate more, and to spend more time practicing.
I have learned that when a hobby becomes a passion then there is no way out but to know it, taste it, conquer it, own it; consequently with it, I am now in the task of knowing the color, form, and light which gives me unknown joy and drives me to create and to be at peace with my surroundings and myself.
As an artist I like to use my Maiden name Libia A Quintero, since the desire of expressing myself in color manifested itself when I was just a little girl. Goncalves is my husband’s name.