We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful April Bermudez. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with April below.
April , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
The most meaningful project I’ve worked on was an ofrenda I made for my father. An ofrenda (Spanish: “offering”) is the offering placed in a home altar during the annual and traditionally Mexican Día de los Muertos/Day of the Dead celebration. An ofrenda is usually created by the family members of a person who has passed. Making this piece was a labor of love. My father was a carpenter by trade and a catholic. He was cremated and his ashes were scattered in the Pacific Ocean by me, my brother and my sister, his three children. Still it was nice to make something that was tangible to celebrate him. The piece started with a triptych which I constructed from three lotion bottles. It was then clad with chopsticks, the facade done with popsicle sticks, both painted with acrylic paint, along with the insides of the piece. There are ‘stained glass windows’ made from chipboard and a ribbon spool was cut in half to create the tables. The tablecloths were made from an old pair of black and white pants colored in with Sharpie markers. The items on the tables were collected over years with the exception of the floral box, the candles, and the vase, which I made for this ofrenda. In the center, the last thing I made was the funeral wreath and I embroidered my fathers initials, JMB, on a ribbon scroll. It took a few months to make but has been included in a few Day of the Dead exhibitions already.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I would refer to myself as a mixed media or multidisciplinary artist, but I like to think that I’m busier making the art than trying to figure out its classification. I tend to have a few projects in different mediums that I’m working on simultaneously. Does that count as multidisciplinary? I don’t know, but it seems to be the most conducive way for me to stay in the creative process. I’ll be working on a piece in a series that is very formulaic, predominantly adhering to reality, something with a plan, but I like to have another project that allows me to be free and globulous and unapologetically risky, Something where I can play. And when I’m done playing, I can go back to the regimented work. I can go back to coloring within the lines.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
I’ve been making art since the end of the last century, and in the early days of my visual arts career, it was really about the aesthetics. A couple of years ago though, I started to wonder about the kind of art that I was making and I thought about the kind of art that I could make that nobody else could. Those are big heavy questions too. It took sometime through my art career to even arrive at that place of contemplation. Although the questions took awhile to formulate, I had the answer rather quickly. I came to the realization that the only art that I could create, that no-one else could, were pieces telling my stories. I like telling stories and who doesn’t like hearing some, by the campfire, or around the table, breaking bread. And I have great stories, I sometimes tell the stories of my misadventures alongside the art. Stories I need to tell, from my vantage point.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
You know, although I’m telling stories from my perspective, sometimes my childhood and adolescent memories, there seems to be a relatability in some way or another. There may be differences between our communities, lineages, and cultures, but the similarities ares innumerable. I find it beneficial to myself and others, to remind ourselves of those similarities, rather than what sets us apart. Art creates more connections than divisions.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.aprilbermudez.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aprilbermudezart
