We recently connected with Marea Cordero and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Marea thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
This past year, I was a part of a program called Brushes with Cancer via the Twist Out Cancer Organization. This experience was an opportunity to connect with people in the cancer community and elevate their experiences. I created a piece illustrating my inspiration partner’s story growing up with a parent that fought cancer. She took inspiration from her father’s strength to not only survive but, serve the cancer community. Abby is a young woman who grew up learning her father had non-Hodgkins lymphoma only after his recovery. At six-years-old, she was spared the truth until years later. Angry at first, she later understood the secrecy.
Abby battled with chronic illness most of her life. Her father Kenny and she both know that struggle. Abby’s search for health has sharpened her “relentless optimism.” She plans to study Occupational Therapy to help others. Diagnosed with Endometriosis and various other illnesses, Abby smiled describing her regimen of 43 pills a day amongst many other debilitating side effects.
When I started sketches for this work, there was an image of Abby on her father’s shoulders with balloons all around her. He’d just completed a Cancer benefit walk celebrating his recovery. Abby is lovingly connected with him while in the dark about his cancer diagnosis. In my work, this child, now grown, shows “relentless optimism” in the symbol of abstracted balloons. Abby describes her body like a cage. The female body and health/wellness are central concepts in my work.
My husband also had Cancer and our oldest child (of two) just recently turned six. He and I, like Abby and her father, strive to serve the cancer community as part of our own therapy. I feel honored to connect with Abby and share her story. I felt the darkness and dappled light around her represented the unknown future and the brightness within. I honor her ferocity toward health for them both.
Marea, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Chicago based cut paper artist, Marea Cordero creates intricate, layered, paper cut-outs focused on anatomy, spirituality, and the human ability to heal and evolve when faced with adversity. Marea Focused on creating bold, anatomical and layered images, works showcase a symbiosis of her passions which explore the depth of what it is to be human.
Marea has been honing her skills for over 20 years. Originally a printmaker translating paintings into printed editions for various well known artists in New York, her work and identity expanded to find her own creative voice after leaving the print shop. She became a window display artist, creating art installations, as well as a designer/fabricator of costumes for various productions. Marea’s evolution allowed her to introduce other elements of the self; spirituality, yoga, mental health, the female perspective, and her heritage as a Filipino American to further her conceptions of identity. She has a BFA from the University of Kansas and was awarded the opportunity to study abroad at Staffordshire University in England. Marea was raised in a religious household and attended Catholic school from preschool through high school. Service to others was of great importance to her and she often felt conflicted with the idea of Fine Art being somewhat exclusive. She found interest in the idea of Art Therapy and took some continuing education courses at SVA.
She used her platform as an artist to donate two large fabric cut out artworks to a charity called “Housing Works” to display and auction for their mission: to assist people affected by HIV and AIDS. Marea worked as Visual Director for Housing Works for nearly five years. In 2009, Marea co-founded DesignSpaceConcept. In the next years, work made from upcycled plastic and packaging became wearable accessories, ball gowns, sculptures and enormous textile quilts. This upcycled series was termed “UseRefuse.” Handbags and clutches made of the material were displayed at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, MN for a show called “KIOSK BROOKLYN” in 2010 and most recently in a window installation for a show called “Emulsion” at Space 900 in Evanston, IL in 2019.
Marea has since become a part of the Thrive Together Network community and participated in two Virtual Artist Residencies. She has connected with a worldwide community of predominantly female identifying mother artists. Transformation continues to resonate in Marea’s works as paper is cut to create line, layer, shadow and form.
The past four years have been a great array of art showings, teaching and connecting with causes Marea holds dear. Twist Out Cancer and the Chordoma Foundation have been her focus. Marea uses her art to connect with community, and promote mental and physical wellness in the Cancer Community.
Additionally, Marea identifies as a Filipino American with Filipino, German and Irish heritage. Her father Francisco Judilla was born in Cebu during the Japanese occupation. He and his family survived by living in a leper colony hiding amongst the ill to stay off the radar of the Japanese soldiers. Francisco grew up, studied medicine and worked as an anesthesiologist as well as acupuncturist when he moved to the United States. These circumstances have definitely impacted Marea’s mindset on the human body, spirit and what wellness can mean. She is a new member of the Sinag Filipino Artists Group in Chicago and as well as a founding member of a local artists group called “Makers of Art and People.”
Please refer to the artist resume below:
Marea Cordero bio.site/mareacordero 913-908-8738
Art Exhibits
2024 Brushes with Cancer, Arsht Performing Arts Center,
Miami, FL
2024 Pulp, Juried Exhibition at The Art Center, Highland Park, IL
2024 You’re Invited, Dankhaus Cultural Center, Chicago, IL
2024 Juried Group Exhibition, Monmouth County Art Alliance, Monmoth, NJ
2024 Honorable Mention Teravarna International Art Competition for “Landscape”, Online Exhibition
2023 Portraits, Gallerium Art, Biafarin Online Exhibition
2020 Featured Artist, Buzz Cafe, Oak Park, IL
2019 Emulsion, Space 900 Evanston, IL
2016 Paper, Dimenna Center, New York, NY
2012 VIP Lounge Art Installation, Governor’s Ball event,
Governor’s Island, New York, NY
2011 GalleRE, Film Biz Recycling, Brooklyn, NY
2010 KIOSK BKLYN, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
2005 Florida Printmakers Society 14th International
Competition, Juried Exhibition, Miami, FL
2004 Artists and Fleas, Brooklyn, NY
2003 Red Balloon, Lawrence KS
2002 Pieces, Sugar Cube Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent, England
Costume/Prop Fabrication
2022 Costumes for “Invisible Landscapes” Grayscale
Dance, The Visionary, New York, NY
2016 Fabrication of Metal Mesh Lighting Sculptures for Saks Fifth Avenue, Designer Floors, New York, NY
2015 Costumes for “On Paper” Performance by Rosamond King, New York, NY
2012 Costumes for “UBU” Directed by Daniel Irizarry, On-Eighth Theater, NY
2009 Costumes for “Quiet Come Dawn”Aerial Choreopoem, Directed by YaliniDream & Kiebpoli Calnek, Brooklyn, NY
Related Work Experience
2005-2017 Freelance wardrobe mistress, Baryshnikov Arts Center, Lincoln Center Education, & Live Arts, New York, NY
2010-2012 Visual Director for Film Biz Props and Recycling, Brooklyn, NY
2009-2012 Co-founder of DesignSpaceConcept Brooklyn, NY
2007-2009 Visual Director for Housing Works Thrift Shops, New York, NY
2006 Window Display Artist for Housing Works Thrift Shops, New York, NY
2004 Printmaking Assistant for Brand X Editions, New York, NY
Education
2023, 2024 Virtual Artist Residency Participant with Thrive Together Network
2005-2008 Continuing Education courses in Art Therapy, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY
2004 University of Kansas Bachelor of Fine Arts focused in Printmaking, minor in Art History, Lawrence, KS
2003 Awarded Study Abroad Scholarship Staffordshire University, Stoke-on-Trent, England
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
I worked in New York from 2004-2016. My first job was as an intern at a printmaking studio commissioning artwork for famous successful artists. It didn’t take me long to know that wasn’t the place for me. I freelanced and eventually grew into a full-time job as the Visual Director for Housing Works Thrift Shops. In my nearly five years there, I was I was in charge of creating daily window displays at all of the chains store locations all over the city and in Brooklyn. I also photographed and ran their online auction (which was how the items in the window were purchased). In my time there, the organization grew from five locations to ten. The workload demands were not realistic for the same sized staff. I started my work at Housing Works because I believed in their mission to provide housing and medical assistance and job training to people affected by homelessness and HIV/AIDS. I loved the culture of the people working there and the fact that I got to constantly challenge myself artistically. I realized that I had grown to the top role within my category of work and I wasn’t sure what was next for me. I kept taking on wardrobe work, art department roles and other visual merchandising projects outside of work to supplement my income and feed my creativity. When my immediate supervisor changed for the third time within a year, I knew it was time to start investing in myself. A good friend and merchandise manager from one of the locations and I struck out on our own in 2009 to begin DSC, DesignSpaceConcept. We took on various merchandising clients, art installation jobs, and even began our own line of up cycled merchandise. We sold at local art markets and even had a work included at BKLN KIOSK at Walker Arts Center in Minneapolis, MN. I learned that what seemed secure and full time was holding me back from other opportunities. There isn’t always a clear path in navigating life and I had to learn to listen to my internal compass.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
The past three years have been the most challenging of my life. My husband was diagnosed with an extremely rare form of cancer. Post surgery, Frankie went through 40 rounds of proton beam radiation. It was difficult parenting my then 3 and 5 year old girls with all that was on my plate. Following that, I had a miscarriage and my father died a few months following that. My husband is now re-learning to walk after being diagnosed with Reactive Arthritis, which we are still learning more about and doing our best to handle currently. But, I say all this because within all this chaos and heartbreak, I discovered therapy in making art and offering my time talent and treasure to organizations like Twist Out Cancer and The Chordoma Foundation.
I’ve had several art shows peppered into all these sad milestones and connected with some incredible people and survivors of Cancer. In the Twist Out Cancer event called “Brushes with Cancer” I was selected as an artist and connected with an “inspiration” from the cancer community. My “inspiration” was a young woman whose father had cancer when she was a child. Kenny, Abby’s father, is now a cancer survivor and is a board member and artist for Twist Out Cancer. Abby currently battles endometriosis and other debilitating illness while studying to become an Occupational Therapist. In the several months I got to know Abby, I spoke with her learning her story and sharing a bit of mine along the way. I created a cut paper artwork in honor of Abby’s story of survival and resilience. I chose to title it “Relentless Optimism.”
I look forward to future collaborations on topics of health, struggle, wellness, and my overall respect for the mind body connection when it comes to healing.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://bio.site/mareacordero
- Instagram: Marea Cordero
- Facebook: Marea Cordero
