“My yearning for personal truth has led me to a powerful introspective dialogue, immersed in a deep personal silence and meditation, I write and create art. Intuitively words have become a profound poetic expression of my work. In a constant search for who I am and where I belong, I have transformed myself in so many ways; It is in the power of being, through self-love and acceptance that truth has come to me.”
Sofia Arsuaga is a Puerto Rican artist of Cuban descent born in 1975 in San Juan, PR. She earned a Bachelor in Communications with a concentration in Visual Arts from Universidad del Sagrado Corazon, Santurce PR (1997). While still studying she began working as a Printmaker creating mainly silkscreens and monoprints. Her interests led her to experiment with clay, fascinated by the material she attending various clay workshops to learn the techniques. She then enrolled in Pratt Institute, Brooklyn NY and completed a Master's degree in Fine Arts (MFA) with a concentration in Sculpture and minor in printmaking (1999). Early on, while Immersed in the creative process, she began writing her thoughts giving her visual work a poetic expression, resulting in a profound personal dialogue that would persist throughout her career. She continued working as a printmaker and clay sculptor creating strong abstract hand-built sculptures large-scale ceramic murals and installations. Sofia took special attention on surface and form by drawing marks and ripping clay with an uneven, broken manner that seemed almost accidental. As an artist she has always been in search for her truth, in 2014 she felt a strong desire for change and began painting by experimenting with the same techniques she used with clay on the canvas.
Arsuaga was a professor (2003-2009) at Escuela de Artes Plasticas in San Juan, PR teaching Sculpture and Ceramics. She designed Art in movement workshops for young children and taught at The Museum of Art in PR, ceramics and Art in Movement (2014). Her work was chosen as part of the Ceramic Biennial at Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de PR, also chosen for a solo exhibit at SalaFAR(2017), and was part of SalaFar Biennial(2018) at The Museum of Art in PR, recently participated in all women's exhibition at Canvas Miami Gallery in Miami, Florida(2019). Sofia has exhibited locally and internationally; her pieces have been acquired by many art collectors. She is currently on exhibition at “Universidad del Sagrado Corazon” chosen as one of 25 alumni that have achieved success and predominated as an artist. You can see more of Arsuaga’s work by contacting her and arranging a visit to her gallery.
Currently, Sofia is the In-house artist at Dorado Beach, a Ritz Carlton Reserve in Dorado Puerto Rico. Directing an art program for the hotel, teaching art workshops for guests and organizing exhibitions, amongst other projects.
“Fossilized are forever in our souls the experiences lived, Life after life, yesterday and today together in one. In love and lack of it, we are what we are, the product of instances shared with other souls. I sail in search of my truth; it is within that truth and through it that I discover, in silence, the absolute grandiosity of I.
I am not what I was and will not be what I am. Submerged in the love of BEING, in the acceptance of what is not anymore, that with fortitude and bravery I only know now how to BE. I am only what I am and will be what I will be, with wings to my soul I will fly…”