Silvana LaCreta Ravena
 Silvana Ravena Minneapolis, Minnesota - United States | ABOUT THE ARTIST I am an artist originally from Brazil, who believes that art is a meditation on life. My experience as a clinical psychologist and my background as an artist inspired me to explore in more depth those areas where art and academia, theory and practice converge. For me that meant further study, leading to additional graduate degrees in art history, art therapy and a Masters degree in fine arts. Over the past fifteen years, I have worked in oil, acrylics, watercolors and encaustic, approaching different aspects of the concept of memory. My non-encaustic pieces are both abstract and figurative, while the encaustic paintings are completely abstract. In my pieces I abstract the usual conventions of image to reflect on the connections between meanings and images. I create a sense of ambiguity between the object and its intelligibility to convey my concern with the ways in which we formulate the meanings and the values that structure our visual perception. Therefore, drawing upon my training as a psychologist and academic, I incorporate into my work a variety of theoretical ideas, thus infusing it with another range of textures, beyond the pictorial. Freudian concepts such as the unconscious, repression, and latent/manifest content are particularly important to my paintings. Such a range serves to broaden my work, giving it a more fluid, open-ended character that invites the viewer to appreciate it in his/her unique way. As a psychologist I consider the expression of texture as a tool to reach profound levels of the psyche. As an artist, I am deeply interested in continuous feedback between matter and sensation, exploring the boundaries of two and three dimensions. Images, for me, are a psychological experience of pleasure, culturally determined and socially legitimated. Ultimately, my overall intention is to give the viewer an opportunity to experience the presence of the painting as a critical response to the ongoing de-materialization of the reality of our contemporary world. EDUCATION School of Arts of Caixa Pequena MG, Brazil, July 1993 Porto Alegre College of Arts RS, Brazil, July 1992 WORK EXPERIENCE Brazilian Artist and Art History teacher. Psychotherapist and Art Therapist . Languages spoken: Portuguese, English and Italian PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES Ongoing Art and Wearable art studio - encaustics, paintings and batiks, Minneapolis, MN 2006 Art History teacher at Santa Marcelina College - SP - Brazi 2002-2005 Art History teacher at the Art Therapy Department of Sedes Sapientiae Institute, SP, Brazil Member of Review Board for the Art Therapy Magazine of Sedes Sapientiae Institute, SP, Brazil 1999-2005 Author of the curriculum and teacher of the course "Art History Brought to Life" Sedes Sapientiae Institute SP and Nursery Home Villa Garoud, Alphaville, SP, Brazil 1986-2001 Clinical psychotherapy and art therapy work SP, Brazil EXHIBITIONS 2011 Southern Nevada Museum of Fine Arts, "International Contemporary Artists IV", Las Vegas, NE 2010 International Dictionary of Painting 2010,WWA Publishers, St Barbara, CA Water Maters, Rochester Art Center, Rochester, MN Bloomington Center for The Arts WARM Exhibit, BAC, Minneapolis, MN Summer Annual Show - Artist Haven Gallery, (Michael Joseph Curator) AH Gallery, Ft Lauderdale, FL, June Minnetonka Center for the Arts 2010 Biennial , (Bob Bowman curator), MCA, Minneapolis, MN, July Artist Haven Gallery, Eight International Artists, ( Michael Joseph curator)AH Gallery, Ft Lauderdale, FL, June Southern Nevada Museum of Fine Arts, International Comtemporary Masters III ( Despina Taumberg curator), Las Vegas, NE, April- June NKBuilding, WARM Currents ( Beate Minkovsky curator) Minneapolis, MN , March- April Nash Gallery, University of Minnesota, "Women and Water Rights", (Lucy Lippard, curator), Minneapolis, MN, Feb- March 2009 Woman Made Gallery "Mirando al Sur", Chicago, IL, October Altered Esthetics Gallery "Travel Stories" - Minneapolis, MN, October Altered Esthetics The Struggle Within- Minneapolis, MN, September WARM Chronicles Encaustic Minneapolis, MN, March through July Xanadu Gallery - Encaustics Scottsdale, AZ, May Minnetonka Center for the Arts , Wayzata, MN, May Hopkins Center for the Arts Hopkins, MN, April APW Gallery Sketch it out Watercolors, New York City, NY, April APW Gallery World of Imagination Vol.02 Encaustics, New York City, Mar Altered Esthetics Gallery "Rejected!" Encaustics,Minneapolis, MN, Feb 2008 Minnetonka Center for the Arts 2008 Arts of the Holidays Juried show - Wearable art Minneapolis, MN, USA, November - Dec The Northrup King Building ART ATTACK 2008, Minneapolis, MN, Nov Minnetonka Center for The Arts "Minnetonka Center for the Arts Annual Juried Exhibition "encaustics" - MN -USA, May - June Northrup King Building - Thursdays in the Arts District, Encaustic, Minneapolis, MN, monthly Belfry Center, "Art Spring Collection 2008", Encaustics, Minneapolis, April Altered Aesthetics Gallery, "Bitter Fruits and Anxiety Dreams" drawings, Minneapolis, MN, Feb Altered Esthetics Gallery, "Midwest Sanctuary", Encaustics, Minneapolis 2007 Roberto Shapiro Art Gallery, Aerial photography, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Space Eugene Villon Gallery, "Visual Arts Masters Degree Exhibit", Encaustic, Santa Marcelina College, SP, Brazil 2001 Municipal Theatre of Barueri City, "Art Salon of Barueri", Acrylics, Sī Paulo, SP, Brazil 2000 Bebedouro Art Gallery,"II Architecture Design Exhibition City of Bebedouro", Temperas, Bebedouro, SP, Brazil 1997 City Hall of Bebedouro City, "I Bebedouro Art Salon", watercolor, Bebedouro, SP, Brazil 1996 Mokiti Okada Foundation of Sī Paulo City, "Colors Transparencies II, Wearable art, Sī Paulo, SP, Brazil Mokiti Okada Foundation of Sī Paulo City, "Colors and Transparencies I", Wearable art, Sī Paulo, SP, Brazil AFFILIATIONS International Encaustic Artists San Francisco, CA, USA Xanadu Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ, USA Artist Haven Gallery, Ft. Lauderdale, FL, USA Altered Esthetics Gallery Minneapolis, MN, USA WARM Women Registry of Minnesota, MN, USA WARM Mentor/Protege Program, 2008-10, MN, USA Minneapolis Institute of Art Minneapolis, MN, USA Minnetonka Center for the Arts, Wayzata, MN, USA Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, IL, USA Woman Art Museum, Washington DC, USA PRESS 2011 Artist Julie Ann Segal comments on Silvana Ravena's Red Sight http://www.prlog.org/11534090-interior-designer-julie-ann-segal-comments- on-silvana-lacreta-ravena-artwork-red-sight.html International Dictionary of Artist http://wwab.us/ Who is Who in Visual Art, Vol 2010-2011 Art Domain Verlag Leipzig, Germany Artworks and artistic profile 2010 Dictionary of Art,Vol. III by Despina Tunberg, WWAB Publisher, Santa Barbara, CA, Artworks featured along with artistic profile International Contemporary Masters, by Despina Tunberg, WWAB Publishers, Santa Barbara, CA, Artworks featured along with artistic profile Featured artist in the article: Friendship and Facebook by Rosana Almeida, Nossa Gente Orlando, FL, US, June 2009 Solo show Memory Moves featured in news paper The Messenger, Minneapolis, MN, US, August Blogged at Marge Bohlander Art Gallery blog, June Artist statement published in the book From Starving to Successful by Jason Horejs, September Featured artist at Red Dot, News from Xanadu Gallery, July monthly newsletter by Xanadu Gallery, AZ, US Featured artist at Myspace.com, February 2008 Featured works in We Come from Everywhere: Midwest Sanctuary at Esthetics, by Matt Conrad, January, at Mnartists online publication 2005 Interviewed artists at Radio Bebedouro, City of Bebedouro, SP, Brazil Article about show "Women Chatting on a Piazza" Gazeta de Newspaper Bebedouro City of Bebedouro, SP, Brazil ARTICLES ABOUT ART 2005 Author of the article Art History Brought to Life, chapter in the book: S. Ciornai (ed), Percursos em Arte Terapia, vol. II, Ed. Summus, SP, Brazil, 2004 Author of the article "In Search of Beauty Reflections on the Mature Women. monograph, in the book: S.Ciornai (ed), Percursos em Arte Terapia, vol. I, Ed. Summus, SP, Brazil, 1999 Author of the essay Art History Brought to Life, published in The Art Therapy Magazine of Sedes Sapientiae Institute, n. VII , SP, Brazil 1987 Curtocircuito, visual poem published in AGRAFICA Magazine, Ed. Entretempo, SP, Brazil ART LECTURES 2004 Lecture: Ut Pictura Poiesis, Santa Marcelina College SP, Brazil Lecture: Meeting African Art Arte Vida Alphaville SP, Brazil 2000 Lecture and Workshop: Post Modern Experience 4th National Congress of Art Therapy Goiania GO, Brazil 1999 Lecture: Connections Between Beauty and Menopause 3rd National Congress of Art Therapy SP, Brazil Lecture: Art History Brought to Life 3rd National Congress of Art Therapy SP, Brazil 1993 Lecture: Painting Fabrics for Personal Growth 1st Art Therapy Congress of Sī Paulo SP, Brazil REPRESENTATION Xanadu Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ, USA Artists Haven Gallery, Ft Lauderdale, FL, USA Artwork Network Gallery, Denver, CO, USA |