San Juan, Puerto Rico-based Museum de Historia, Antropología y Arte was just finishing up their first year of Creative Aging programming when COVID-19 hit, which left their visual arts program, “Autorretrato en Medios Mixtos” (Self-Portrait in Mixed Media) with two remaining classes in the series.
Knowing the students would want to come together to share their work and officially “close” their time together as a class community, Lisa Ortega-Pol, Museum Educator, and teaching artist, Raúl Olmo, wasted no time to ensure that the artists’ work — and the bonds they shared, would be honored.
Lisa quickly joined forces with Katherine Márquez Torres, Marketing Specialist for the museum, who reached out to each student to determine which device they could use to join an online class. Her hands-on and personal approach ensured that each student was able to join the two-hour online critique session which was held via Google Hangouts.
The session ran smoothly, with enough time for each student to have their previously submitted work recognized and discussed. As they signed off, they all agreed, “Let’s do this again soon!” The program will close with an encore critique class scheduled for April 15th.
The Museo de Historia, Antropología y Arte, Universidad de Puerto Rico is part of the 2019-2020 Seeding Vitality Arts (SVA) in Museums Initiative cohort funded by Aroha Philanthropies with training and technical assistance provided by Lifetime Arts.
