Carlos Noguera
Carlos Noguera is a Master Teaching Artist this summer at the arts internship run by Arts 4 Learning at the Bakehouse. Originally from Venezuela, Noguera grew up in Miami. He attended Tufts University which is affiliated with the School of Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, where he received his Bachelors of Fine Arts in Education, he graduated with his Ed.M. from Harvard Graduate School of Education.
I was able to hold a question and answer with him in the art room.
Bakehouse Art Room
Question: Do you believe that talent is something something you are born with?
Answer: “No, I believe it is developed through work and experience, but for some it is already there.
Question: Does your artwork have a theme?
Answer: No, no [laughter] nothing specific. I usually create what inspires me; I use my surroundings. I like combining different things.
Question: What exactly do you create?
Answer: This summer, it is currently collages. Before that, it was drawings and before that sculpting. I enjoy trying a lot of different mediums. When I go home, there isn’t that much to work with, but here in Miami I have a lot to work with.
Question: What brought you to the arts?
Answer: I was always into the arts; visual arts primarily. I really got into art while I was at Design and Architecture Senior HighSchool. I was inspired by my teachers to study Art Education during my senior year. I loved the idea of working with children and art together. Before that, I just wanted to be a free lance artist.
Noguera working with interns
Noguera working with interns
Question: How do you feel while creating?
Answer: Depends. It depends on if people are around. When people are watching me as I work, I get self conscious; especially during demos.
Question: Has art ever helped you through a tough time?
Answer: Yes, of course. I can always escape from my problems in my art, but that is probably not a good thing. It is important to face our problems.
It is a funny thing how art in its most general form is always interconnected with its many, seemingly individual, paths.
The first time I heard about Pamela Palma and her artistic line of fabrics, conceptual tapestries, accessories, and clothing was through my music teacher who performed with her husband at one of Palma’s art showings. It was just my luck to learn that Palma, originally from Buffalo, NY, is an artist in residence at the Bakehouse Art Complex here in Miami.
I had the pleasure of speaking with Palma in her studio at the Bakehouse and got some great insight from her. She shared with me her beliefs on talent. “Talent is something you are born with, at least for me, I was.” She continued to talk about how desire to do whatever it is you want must be strong enough to bring forth that natural born talent. Palma had the desire to sew and knit like her mother and sisters, and their mother. “From a very young age” she described to me, “I was surrounded by women who were constantly creating new things with their hands. I wanted to do the same.”
Living in the more rural part of Buffalo, Palma explained that a lot of free time was left in her lap during the winter months which she used to learn knitting and sewing from her grandmother who would patiently sit with her when she was four years old. As time ticked by, Palma’s desire and prowess with needles only continued to grow. She first experienced sewing with a machine in a home ec class. There, her mechanical technique blossomed. Palma was able to work faster and try commercial designs and patterns. Her artistic knowledge stretched further as she experimented with paint-by-number activities. “I would get them for Christmas. It was a way for them to keep me busy. I would experiment with the colors. If pink and blue were next to each other, I would try to have them pass through each other.” Palma mixed and experimented with colors numerously and eventually created her own colors. Towards the end of eighth grade, Palma made her own clothes. Not out of necessity, but because she had her own ideas concerning fashion.
She continued her passion for fashion and working with fabrics in college, majoring in fashion design. Because of this major choice, Palma had to take a weaving course where she worked with looms. She instanly fell in love with creating tapestries and continues weaving to this day.
Artistically Prone 