FRANK HYDER:SPIRIT OF THE AMAZON
Frank Hyder (1951) is an American artist specializing in painting, sculpture, ceramics, and performance, prioritizing the theme of the relationship between the being and its surroundings. His work serves as a testimony of the Free Movement, an eternal journey materialized in the form of art.
Mentioning Hyder entails imagining an extensive journey around our planet, as he is a character who seems to be an eternal tourist. Hyder is a mixed-media artist, he creates many of his works with items collected from the various physical spaces he has explored. If he does not build his narrative by incorporating these elements, he does it by taking inspiration from the scenery where they are found.
The most prominent referential parallelism in the figure of Frank Hyder is evident in Paul Gauguin (1848), who stands as one of his great idols. Both artists, curious, travelers, and collectors, interact in a shared dimension, living in distant eras. To Hyder, Venezuela means what Tahiti meant to Gauguin: a distant and enticing place where he would find new versions of himself.
Frank Hyder arrived in Venezuela invited by the Meneses Ímber Family in 1990, whom he had met two years earlier in Washington. He and his family settled in Caracas, where they lived for years as Venezuelans. From that moment, he inaugurated exhibitions in some of the country's most important venues: the Jacobo Borges Museum, the Art Museum of Coro, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Caracas, the Otra Banda Art Gallery of the University of Los Andes, and the Museum of Contemporary Art of Zulia. Sofía Ímber, Jacobo Borges, Adriana Meneses, and Henrry Bermúdez were essential guides in this part of Hyder’s life. Through Adriana Meneses, he met Enrique, who motivated him to visit the Venezuelan Amazonia.
Nature and humanity play a fundamental role in Hyder's development as an artist. Spirit of the Amazon is a collection of works (paintings, drawings, and installations) created after an absolute immersion in the Amazonian area. A vast array of images unfolds among boats, flora, fauna, and faces; an unprecedented testimony of the Canaima National Park. Boats dictate the rhythm of arrivals and departures; they are entities in constant movement. Vegetation makes up the background and details at the same time, exchanging their positions. Fauna serves as companions to humans, converging within the same space. The central feature of the exhibition is the mixed-media portraits of shamans, with whom Frank Hyder had direct contact. The reason for this production is to bring us closer to these characters, bearers of the oldest ancestral heritage of our country. Spirit of the Amazon provides access to the phenomenon of the Amazon rainforest, generating an interaction overflowing with autochthonous mythology between what is ours and us.
Frank Hyder is the ideal personification of the spirit of the exchange between the United States and Venezuela. His more than 200 participations in collective exhibitions and 100 individual presentations in America, Europe, and Asia endorse him a prominent figure for the most prestigious American and Venezuelan stages.
Luis Núñez Rincón
700 Arte y Antigüedades Art Gallery
Curator of the Spirit of the Amazon
Translation: Eliana García
Reflections on my friend Frank Hyder
In May 1990, my friend visited Venezuela for the first time. On the second day he went to La Sabana beach located in the southern part of La Guaira. While reading about Aristotle, he admired canoes and saw in them the combination of what is seen and what is perceived, the physical shape that they share and the metaphysical world where things exist beyond our comprehension. This experience later inspired his work Aristotle’s Realm that reflects this Aristotelian thought. After being displayed in Los Angeles, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia purchased Aristotle’s Realm.
This marked the first of many visits to Venezuela; From the outset he counted on the support of Adriana Meneses, who he met in Washington in 1988; and with the support of her mother, Sofía Imber. He stayed in Venezuela for four months with his family and discovered the Venezuelan art world. A friend of Adriana named Enrique, used a magic rock and sparked Frank’s interest and suggested he visit Canaima with his wife and children. Frank created an art piece titled Puente de La Vida using ceramics in Gato Negro Park, across from the Jacobo Borges museum. This trip had a profound impact on his work, leading him to create a series of heads inspired by the indigenous tribes of the Americas.
In the summer of 1991, for a month and a half he had an exhibition titled Intervenciones at a gallery in Las Mercedes, Caracas. He also delivered a seminar in Maracay and initiated what would become frequent exhibitions and collaboration with CEVAM in Mérida.
In 1995, he showed at the Art Museum in Coro. The inauguration concluded with a seafood banquet on the beach, where the museum director, Dora Lugo, told Frank that Christopher Columbus disembarked there. Sofía Imber told Frank that as an artist he had something different that people like. The following year, 1996, Frank exhibited in the Museum of Contemporary Art whose director was Sofía.
In the year 2000, Frank was awarded a Fulbright Research Grant and arrived in Caracas with his wife and four children in December. His two older children remained in the U.S. This visit to Venezuela lasted until 2002. They moved into the home/workshop of artist Jacobo Borges in San Diego de Los Altos, where Frank dedicated himself fully to his creative work. At that time, his children attended the San Antonio de Los Altos community school. Frank, together with his wife of over 25 years, created new artworks on paper using various natural materials. Some of these works were displayed at CEVAZ in 2001 and later that year at the Recuerdos del Mundo Nuevo exhibition at MACZUL.
In 2002, he had exhibitions at the Jacobo Borges Museum in Caracas and the La Otra Banda Art Gallery at the University de Los Andes in Mérida. In 2003, he showed at the Medicci Gallery in Caracas and in 2004 at Mesa Verde Gallery in Maracaibo. In 2006 and 2007, he exhibited again at the Medicci gallery. In the following years, he continued to exhibit throughout Venezuela. His close relationship with Latin America also led him to exhibit in Colombia and Mexico.
Frank Hyder is a cultural promoter and having lived here, he has a strong connection to Venezuela. He is an international artist whose work is imbued with a magic that stems from his closeness to nature.
Jorge A. Quintero
Chaiman/Culture Committee CEVAZ
Translation: Alejandro Prieto
El Centro Venezolano American de Mérida contribuye al crecimiento de estudiantes en las escuelas públicas y las comunidades en la ciudad de Mérida y las comunidades aledañas a través de su programa de extensión Cevam Outreach. Profesores de Cevam, junto a estudiantes de la ULA llevando a cabo sus pasantías o servicio comunitario o simplemente colaboradores, voluntarios y alumni de nuestros programas visitan estos lugares para compartir las herramientas necesarias para enfrentar los retos del Siglo XXI.
En nuestras actividades se incluyen talleres de Introducción al idioma inglés, emprendimiento, las artes y cultura, liderazgo, los medios sociales y tecnología.
Si quiere ser parte de esta gran labor comunicase con nosotros. Para solicitar una visita de nuestro equipo en su comunidad o institución o formar parte de nuestro grupo de voluntarios, puede escribirnos a [email protected]
El programa de Micro-becas de inglés Access es un proyecto internacional creado en 2004 por el Departamento de Estado de los Estados Unidos para ayudar a adolescentes de 13 a 16 años de sectores económicamente desfavorecidos a tener mejores oportunidades de empleo, educación y vida.
Access promueve habilidades y conocimientos en el idioma inglés y habilidades del siglo 21, así como también brinda a los estudiantes la oportunidad de competir y participar en futuros intercambios y estudios tanto fuera como dentro del país.
El programa Access tiene una duración de 2 años. Durante el programa, los estudiantes recibirán clases de inglés junto con herramientas del siglo 21. El programa exige que los estudiantes asistan de manera permanente durante los 2 años completos del programa, esto incluye que los estudiantes no tendrán vacaciones escolares (julio-agosto) durante el programa.
Para más información sobre el programa Access en Venezuela le invitamos a visitar el sitio web oficial del programa Access (información en inglés) Access Official site
El programa de Access en Mérida inicia el 01 de abril de 2024 y finaliza el 01 de abril de 2026.
El proceso de pre-selección inicia el 01 de marzo y finaliza el 11 de marzo de 2024. ACTUALIZACIÓN: El proceso de recepción de planillas ya cerró.
Requisitos para participar en el programa de becas Access:
* Tener entre 13 y 16 años de edad.
* Ser estudiantes de una entidad pública.
* Ser residente de la ciudad de Mérida, Ejido o zonas aledañas que tengan fácil acceso a nuestra sede. (Las clases serán presenciales)
Queremos siempre brindarles el mejor servicio, es por ello que nos complacerá conocer su opinión a través de la siguiente encuesta.
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