Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ivonne Ferrer. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Ivonne, 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?
A deeply meaningful project in my career has been the creation of the Fine Arts Ceramic Center, which I co-founded during the pandemic alongside Leonardo Rodríguez, collector and founder of the Kendall Art Center—now known as the Museum of Contemporary Art of the Americas (MoCAA).
In a time of global lockdown, uncertainty, and collective pause, I felt the need to open a space that was more than a studio—a space of gathering, creation, and resistance through ceramic art.
Since its beginning, the center has become a place where artists from different generations can experiment, learn, share, and create in an environment of freedom and collaboration. It was a proactive response to a moment of stillness. While the world stopped, we began to shape clay, fire memory, and build community through the kiln.
More than a physical space, the Fine Arts Ceramic Center has become an extension of my artistic practice: a platform for dialogue, exchange, and collective growth, especially among Latin American artists living in South Florida.
Ivonne, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers who may not know you?
My name is Ivonne Ferrer, and I am a Cuban visual artist. I was born in Havana in 1968, and from a very young age I knew that my path would be linked to art. I studied at the Academia San Alejandro, and after graduating, I joined the René Portocarrero Printmaking Workshop, where I trained in screen printing—a discipline that provided key technical and graphic tools for my development as an artist.
Since my earliest work, I’ve explored mixed media, assemblage, installation, ceramics, and textiles—working around themes such as memory, identity, womanhood, and migration.
I left Cuba at the age of 20 and moved to Spain, where I began to build my professional artistic journey. Shortly after, I relocated to the United States, which meant starting over in a completely different cultural and artistic context. I currently live and work in Miami, where I continue to develop my work and collaborate on curatorial, educational, and community-based projects.
What’s your mission as an artist?
My mission as an artist is to bridge the human and the feminine with the universal and the ancestral. Through ceramics, assemblage, textiles, and symbolic language, I strive to weave a visual poetics where the intimate becomes ritual, and the personal transforms into the collective.
At that crossroads, geometry plays a central role in my work—not as something cold or abstract, but as a visual echo of the sacred, the cyclical, the eternal. Geometry connects me to ancient cultures, to the knowledge passed down by women, to the body and its silent language.
I work from memory, the body, and symbolism. My art seeks to awaken a deeper awareness: that everything is connected, that our personal stories have deep roots and resonate beyond the immediate.
Can you share a story of resilience from your journey?
Leaving Cuba at 20 was an act of courage and rupture. Arriving in Spain was difficult, but I managed to find a place in the art world through dedication and persistence. Just as I was building a solid network of work and relationships, I moved again—this time to the United States—and had to start all over.
The art system in the U.S. was completely different from what I had known. It took time to understand how it worked, to adapt, observe, and learn. But along the way, I met generous people who believed in my work. Thanks to that support—and my creative stubbornness—I was able to rebuild, keep creating, and strengthen my artistic identity.
That experience taught me that resilience is not only about enduring, but about rebuilding with intention and awareness, embracing each new beginning as a new possibility.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ivonneferrerartist.com
- Instagram: @ivonneferrerart
- Facebook: Ivonne Ferrer