“This wool painting is of a big farm. On the farm, there is an angel and a little bird. I don’t know why, but an angel appeared there, above the bulls, right by the sun. The farmhouse is really old, and all these people live on the farm. There was also a big green bird that appeared there by the sun. I love the sun and the moon, all two of them”
–Madalena Santos Reinbolt, c. 1974-1975
This story of an old farm, where a great bird a little bird and an angel appear beside the sun, reveals the rich and intricate imagination of Madalena Santos Reinbolt. Through her quadros de lã (wool paintings) and her oil paintings, the artist not only shapes forms, patterns, and colors but also expresses her surroundings, emotions as, and beliefs. Her work is deeply inspired by her community, spiritual traditions, and environment.
Siu Vásquez and Hellen Ascoli, two contemporary weavers from Colombia and Guatemala, also use the materiality of textiles, their pigments and symbols to address issues of memory, language, and ancestral knowledge.
In conversation with Anna Burckhardt Pérez—a curator interested in the intersections of art, craft, technology, and ecologies in Latin America—these two contemporary artists will discuss their textile-based practices in Spanish and English.
Using Santos Reinbolt’s embroideries as a starting point, the speakers will reflect on how textiles expand the possibilities of representation while exploring the deep connections between artistic innovation, local craft techniques, and identity.
This program is co-organized by Anna Burckhardt Pérez, Neville Bryan Assistant Curator at the Art Institute of Chicago, and Mathilde Walker-Billaud, Curator of Programs and Engagement at the American Folk Art Museum.
About the speakers
Hellen Ascoli (Guatemala City / Baltimore, MD) is a weaver; a word that encompasses the other areas of discourse she situates herself within: art, craft, education and translation. Ascoli has a MFA from SAIC and her work has been exhibited internationally. In 2023 her solo exhibition, “CIEN TIERRAS” at the Contemporary Art Center in Cincinnati, traveled to La Nueva Fábrica in Antigua, Guatemala. Notably her work was shown at Museo del Barrio Trienal 2024, and the Sharjah Biennial 2025. She has taught at universities in Guatemala and the US, and currently teaches at MICA while developing her practice in Language Justice. Currently she is working on an upcoming solo exhibition at the International Studio Curatorial Program, Brooklyn NY where she was previously a Pollock-Krasner resident.
Siu Vásquez (Bucaramanga, Columbia) conceives her work as an expanded form of painting through which she reflects on the land and its relationships. She experiments with the materiality of pigments, supports, and references that might otherwise go unnoticed to create a personal pictorial language. She creates pigments with stones, bark, and plants from her home region, combining artisanal practices and working with artisans from rural and Indigenous cultures.
Vásquez studied Fine Arts at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Her work has been exhibited in Colombia, Chile, the UK, Albania, Italy, and Spain. It is part of the collection of the Banco de la República de Colombia, the Museo de Arte Moderno de Bucaramanga, and private collections. Her most recent solo exhibition, “La cabra siempre tira al monte,” was presented in 2023 at SGR Galería, Bogotá, Co. Her work was recently exhibited at the ARTBO 2024 International Art Fair; “Sembrar la duda: Indicios sobre las representaciones indígenas en Colombia” at MAMU 2023; the 1st Santiago de Chile Textile Art Biennial in 2023; “Fiesta de la primavera” at MAVI-UC; the “Organizmo Bloom” residency in the Matavén rainforest in 2022 and London in 2023, as part of the British Council International Collaboration Grant. and “Cmd” at the MAXXI in Rome, in 2018.
Anna Burckhardt Pérez (Bogotá, Colombia) is a curator and writer interested in the intersections of contemporary art, craft, technology, community-based practices, and ecologies in Latin America. She is currently the Neville Bryan Assistant Curator at the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC). Prior to joining AIC, she worked at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, where she curated and co-organized several exhibitions and programs, most recently, Projects: Carolina Caycedo and David de Rozas (2022). Recent projects as an independent curator include Threads to the South (2024) at the Institute for Studies on Latin American Art (ISLAA), New York, and Mutualismos (2021) at Plural Nodo Cultural, in Bogotá.
Images:
Left: Hellen Ascoli, luzAzul, 2024, cotton warp faced panels woven on back-strap loom, stitched on found wool blanket, 64 x 77 in. Courtesy Kasmin Gallery
Middle: Madalena Santos Reinbolt, Untitled, 1969–1977, wool on fabric, 138 x 115 cm | 54 3/8 x 45 1/4 in. Collection Edmar Pinto Costa, São Paulo, Brazil
Right: Siu Vásquez, #11, 2023, Woven on a vertical loom, raw cotton yarn dyed with eucalyptus bark. Painted with acrylic, 110 x 100 cm.
Registration
Space is limited; advance registration is required. Please consider making a donation when you register to support ongoing virtual programming.
Instructions for joining with a Zoom link and password will be provided by email upon registration confirmation under “Additional Information.” Closed captioning will be provided in English. For questions or to request accessibility accommodations, please email publicprograms@folkartmuseum.org.
Accessibility:
This virtual program is free for all to attend. It will be recorded and shared at a later date on our website, Vimeo and YouTube pages.
All sessions feature closed captioning in English.
This program will be conducted in both Spanish and English, with live translation available to all.
For specific accommodation questions or needs, please contact us at least 10 days prior to the program at publicprograms@folkartmuseum.org.