Setting the wall at the San Juan Art League

Interview by Fortunato Velázquez

Photo by Rebecca Díaz-Atienza

During Wallpeople San Juan 2013 we got to talk to several interesting people that were key to the event's success. This first interview we want to share is with Elsa Costas García the director of Liga de Arte de San Juan (San Juan Art League), home to Wallpeople San Juan for the last three years.  

Let's talk about the Art League and its initiative for the arts in Puerto Rico... 

Elsa Costas García

I am the director of the San Juan Art League, a not for profit private institution that was founded 45 years ago. This year we are celebrating its anniversary with various activities. The League initiated in 1968 by a group of people who identified that in Puerto Rico there was no place to gather people to share art in an environment other than academic or any other informal environment. The League was founded with the concept of a loose workshop.  

At the moment of its creation, the League followed the Art Students League of New York.

The League's mission is to serve and provide facilities to any person who wishes to develop skills and talent in the field of visual arts in the comforts of a non-traditional environment.

At the League we are in the fourth generation of families that have been taking classes at the institution and we dare say that 45,000 people have gone through our institution. The majority of local prominent artists have been professors at the League. Some are art professors elsewhere or professional artists that choose to teach. We are proud of our faculty because they have always demonstrated commitment and dedication for art education.

During the 45 years that the League has existed we have never had to close our doors and for approximately 15 years we have not received help from the government. We have a scholarship program that has been reactivated. The program is focused on students who have the talent but have scarce resources. For the last three years we have been doing activities for gathering funds in which artists donate artworks that are raffled among the public who visits us. I has always been a pillar for the League's initiative that we can sponsor students, and to also break with the idea that art is for a particular group.

The San Juan Art League is a school for everyone.

This is the third time Wallpeople has been done here, as en external initiative brought by Juan Negroni. It brings a lot of pride to us and we enjoy participating because the League is open to other artistic manifestations. The Wallpeople project is great because it encourages communication among the public in a more traditional or tangible manner.

The League is not only about traditional art; it has always been characterised because it provides space for novel artists that traditional galleries would not admit.

Yo soy la directora de la Liga de Arte de San Juan, una institución privada sin fines de lucro que se fundó hace 45 años. Estamos celebrando en este año su aniversario número con diversas actividades. La liga se inició por un grupo de personas que en el 1968 identificaron que no existía en Puerto Rico un lugar donde reunir a la gente y compartir el arte dentro de un ambiente que no fuera académico, o un ambiente informal. La Liga se fundó con el precepto un taller libre.

Al momento de su creación, la Liga siguió el modelo de la Liga de Arte de Nueva York. La misión de la Liga es servir y proveer las facilidades a toda persona que desee desarrollarse en el campo de las artes plásticas en un ambiente no tradicional y donde se sientan cómodos. En la Liga ya vamos por la cuarta generación de familias que han tomado clases en la institución, y nos a atrevemos a decir que por nuestra institución han pasado cerca de 45,000 personas. La mayoría de los artistas prominentes en la Isla han sido profesores en la Liga. Algunos son profesores de arte o artistas profesionales que optan por dar clases. Nos orgullece nuestra facultad porque siempre han demostrado compromiso y dedicación para con la enseñanza del arte.  

En los 45 años que lleva la Liga nunca hemos tenido que cerrar nuestras puertas, y hace aproximadamente 15 años que no recibimos apoyo del gobierno. Tenemos un programa de becas que se esta reactivando nuevamente. El programa va dirigido a estudiantes que poseen el talento y son de escasos recursos. Llevamos tres años ya realizando una actividad pro-fondo en la cual artistas donan obras de arte, y las mismas son rifadas dentro del público que nos visita. Siempre ha sido un pilar dentro de la iniciativa de la Liga el hecho que podamos becar a estudiantes y poder romper con la idea de que el arte es para un grupo en particular. La liga es una escuela para todos. 

Con relación a Wallpeople, este es el tercer año consecutivo que se realiza la iniciativa traída desde el exterior por Juan Negroni. Para nosotros es un orgullo y nos gusta participar, porque la Liga esta abierta a otras manifestaciones artísticas. El proyecto de Wallpeople es genial porque busca fomentar la comunicación entre el publico de una manera tradicional.

No es solamente el arte tradicional, incluso la galería de la Liga siempre se ha caracterizado por darle paso a los artistas noveles que usualmente las galerías tradicionales no los auspician.