Biography
Carmen Rojas Ginés, born in Arecibo, Puerto Rico in 1969, is a sculptor, painter, and art teacher.
She grew up under the creative influence of her paternal grandmother Magdalena, a Haute Couture Designer. Through her grandmother, Carmen developed a passion for the arts. Graduating from the University of Puerto Rico, she obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Arts with a concentration in Art Education and Sculpture. Her instructors include the Masters; Pablo Rubio and Rafael Rivera Rosa. She later completed a Master Degree in Administration of Education from the University of Phoenix. Carmen worked as an art teacher in different schools in the public school system in Puerto Rico. She also worked as the Director of the Plastic Arts Program at Escuela de Bellas Artes de Carolina. Motivated to teach art, she opened her own art school where she taught art to children and adults.
In the past decade Carmen moved to Florida with her family and attended the program of Landscape Architecture at the University of Florida. This program helped her improve and incorporate new venues on design, artistic language and the development of her steel metal work.
Pertaining to her artistic career, Carmen decided to utilize steel as the medium of expression in her sculptures. She incorporates paint to her work as a way to add texture and a dynamic vision. She became an award winning sculptor after participating in several art contests and group exhibitions. Carmen has exhibited her sculptures in the Appleton Museum of Art in Ocala, Florida with the group PRADO and the traveling show “La Diáspora”. Her large format sculpture had participate in the National Outdoor Sculpture Competition & Exhibition, City of North Charleston Cultural Arts, North Charleston, South Carolina. Collective Exhibition, Waging Peace! Exhibition, Artists’ League, Florida State University Museum of Arts, Tallahassee, Florida. National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture. Chicago, Illinois.
At the moment, Carmen is implementing her background and knowledge in art education working as a teacher at St. Johns Lutheran School. She also works in her studio located in Ocala, Florida, where she is developing new expressions in sculpture, painting and glass work.
Artist Statement
I believe the medium of sculpture is the invasion of space with shapes that transform the reflection of how we view existence, decided to make footprints over time. With this invasion of space and with geometrical shapes, I denote the vision of my vital experiences as well as those experiences of the people that surround me. These experiences and events show themselves in the work with a certain position, like linear dimensions, suggesting a continuous state in space and time. I decided to utilize steel as the mode of expression in my sculptures. As a sculptor, I have developed the incorporation of paint to my steel work. I do this to create a way to add texture and movement to unify in an aesthetic manner and highlight the abstract on a contemporary art expression.