Art opens a dialogue

Cuban artist and printmaker Janette Brossard working on one of several projects in the MassArt printmaking studio on Saturday, February 7, 2015. (Photo: Photo courtesy of MassArt/Photo by Nathan Ouellette)

Art is very important in daily life,” said Cuban artist and printmaker Norberto Marrero Pírez.

Pírez and wife Janette Brossard, who is an artist and printmaker in her own right, recently visited the Massachusetts College of Art and Design (MassArt) as part of the 2015 Master Print Series Program.

For over 20 years, the annual series has offered its students an opportunity to collaborate with classmates, faculty and internationally renowned visiting artists where the students create professional-level editions and unique prints for the artist. Some of the works are then sold at the college’s annual auction with proceeds benefitting the printmaking program to fund the vising artist program, as well as student scholarships.

The husband and wife duo, who were in residence at MassArt, worked with students in the college’s 9,000-square-foot printmaking studio from February 1-15. They created six different images and developed 30-40 print editions of each image including the forms of woodcut, etching, collagraph, and hand-painting with multiple layers.

The opportunity to collaborate with the Master Print Series Program came about when the artists met Phyllis Ewen (former head of the graduate program in art education at the college) on a printmaking trip to Cuba in 2003. Ewen maintained a close friendship with them and even collaborated on a series of installations that were shown in Havana in 2004.

She in turn introduced Pírez and Brossard to Astrid Martinez-Jones of Latin Art Space, who arranged for an exhibition of their artwork in the fall of 2013 at the Multicultural Arts Center in Cambridge. While attending the show, Ewen brought them to MassArt for two classes — one taught by Mass-Art Professor in 2D Fine Arts, Nancy Cusack and the other by Nona Hershey, professor and printmaking area coordinator. Hershey loved their artwork so invited them to participate in the Master Print Series.

Both Pírez and Brossard, who are Havana-born, have exhibited their works around the world including Australia, England, Mexico, Switzerland and the United States. When not showing their artwork across the globe, the internationally acclaimed artists reside in the seaside tourist town of Guanabo in Cuba, where they teach art and printmaking classes in their studio/workshop.

According to Pírez, (who spoke through sophomore art student and unofficial translator Francisco Ormaza), it’s important for them to teach because “the relationship is very important. It keeps everything fresh and it’s also a learning experience for the teacher too.”

In addition to being an artist and printmaker, Pírez is also a book artist, poet and philosopher who began first as a writer, and then later studied to become an artist. His education involved three years of preliminary studies prior to college, and then five years of college. During that period “you’re studying art. It’s a part of daily life and there’s a heavy practice also,” described the printmaker.

Brossard reaffirmed this sentiment, adding that Cuba is known for hosting international festivals from the visual arts to ballet and jazz.

“We have a lot of things and the people go there for very low price. It’s very cheap. Art is a part of everyday life. We have four channels or five [on television] and all the programs are very deep in the idea of art.”

She describes her work as somewhat like social research because she observes the everyday life of the Cuban people. Brossard, who speaks English said, “It’s more like my experience of life and it’s very important to me to show how the people in Cuba try to fix the economic problems, to solve the problems with very good imagination and very nice humor.”

When asked about the biggest misconception that people have about Cuba that she would like to change through her art, Brossard said, “I think our work is just talking about our experience. We’re not trying to change anything. We are just showing things and the way to change things is [through] more things like this. You know, to go out with your work and to exchange your experience with the other artists and the students — that kind of exchange between people are the real things that could change the relation.”

During her short stay in Boston, it hasn’t all been about working with her hands and using materials like copper that Brossard has learned from the students. She was impressed with the students’ knowledge and technical abilities and found that she also “learned more from the talks.”