The Mysterious Angel of a Creator and Her Work

Isavel Gimeno has dedicated an important part of his work to the mysterious, enveloping angel, the one with silver wings who travels through the paradises of love or the one who leaves its mark on hearts scarred by some sorrow. The painter, engraver and ceramist has used it in a thousand ways in imaginative oil paintings, majolica plates and even in books like those on the cover of the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Music in Cuba, by Radamés Giro.

Work that Transcends

Very young she entered plastic arts to achieve the permanence she has today. Her poetics comprehends engraving, drawing, painting, and ceramics. These artistic routes, the sense of her own iconography, take us to a world of magical suggestions.

Born in Holguín in 1951, she graduated from the National School of Art, ENA. She was a cartoonist and illustrator for Juventud Rebelde newspaper and El Caimán Barbudo.

Her works aroused the admiration of critics. In 1970 she received the lithography mention at Casa de las Américas Competition. Eleven of her works were selected for Salon 70.

Under the guidance of Professor Pedro Alcántara she studied screen printing at the Pro Gráfica Corporation, in Cali, Colombia. When she returned to Cuba she made, together with Virginia Amaya, the first screen print of the newly created Casa workshop.

In the Historic Center of Old Havana, Isavel, together with her husband, also the painter Aniceto Mario Díaz, have created works that contribute to the aesthetic enhancement of this site. Using majolica ceramics as support, they have given life to several murals such as the one entitled Maternity.

With El Nacimiento and El Cristo, the artists participated in the project of the restored church of San Francisco de Paula, headquarters of Ars Longa music group.

In addition, they were inspired by the patron saint of Cuba to recreate her in her mural: The Virgin of Charity of Cobre displayed at the Historic Center of Old Havana.
 
The artists left her mark on the slab mural placed at the lobby of the theater of the Third Order of the Convent of San Francisco de Asís and that, for the enjoyment of children, illustrates characters staged by La Colmenita, which has its venue there.

Several of her ceramic pieces were chosen in 1992 to be part of the Cuban exhibition at the Villauris Biennial, in France. The couple's work was expanded with the ecological mural, also in the Historic Center of Havana.  

Isavel has received several recognitions such as the Diploma of Artistic Merit, the Gitana Tropical and the Distinction for National Culture.

Both the works of the creator and those of Aniceto are part of private collections and institutions in Cuba and abroad.

Translated by Amilkal Labañino / CubaSí Translation Staff