Environmental Sculpturing in Eastern Cuba

On Nov. 15, the city of Santiago de Cuba will be holding the First “Rene Valdes Cadeño” Symposium of Environmental Sculpturing sponsored by CODEMA (Spanish acronym for Advisory Council for the Development of Monumental and Environmental Sculpturing) and the Caguayo Foundation for the Monumental and Applied Arts.

Among the creators attending the event, there are outstanding artists like Cuba’s Rene Negrin, Juan Quintanilla, Julio Carmenate, Jose Montero, Caridad Ramos and Tomas Lara, who will be showcasing their marble and metal pieces with Eulises Niebla, Alberto Lescay –head of the Caguayo Foundation– and America’s Melvin Edwards, who works exclusively on metal. The latter is also one of the top contemporary artists in the U.S. and his pieces feature triangular and rectal shapes of strong political content. He’s also been a distinguished professor for 40 years.

This event pursues the main objective of promoting environmental sculpturing among Cuban creators, especially in marble –quite an underdeveloped expression on Cuban soil. As part of the celebrations for the 495th anniversary of the foundation of the Santiago de Cuba village, the event is meant to paint a brighter picture of the city because the artworks –to be created at the Caguayo Workshop, in the municipality of San Luis, and at the Marcel Bravo Factory- will be eventually mounted in main streets and avenues around town.