From the Mill at Vicksburg
Author: natalyacritchley
Bournemouth, England, 1963. Studied at Central School of Art and Design, London. Lived in Venezuela from 1981-2016. Currently resides in MI, USA.
Artist of English origin who came to Venezuela looking for light at 18, and ended up living for two decades in Puerto Ordaz (an industrial city on the confluence of the Orinoco and Caroni rivers with the brightest light on earth) and consequently developed a body of work based on this monumental industrial park and the ever growing city.
Through constant repetition, the originally very figurative images were synthesized into an alphabet of symbols derived from elements and structures in the surroundings with which to subsequently rewrite the landscape. Through this abstract language I could finally embrace a revision of the female figure, and in increasingly narrative work, explore the broken balance of ecology in the masculine world of manufacturing.
After moving to Caracas in 2000 social art projects became an ever increasing counterpart to painting especially after a commission to draw the construction of a cablecar in the San Agustín del Sur hillside barrio. Since 2015 coordinates MAPEA, a group of activists, actors and architects drawn together to carry out workshops that include walkabouts, corporal expression and painting in an attempt to look at the city, it’s patterns and our evolving relationship with the urban environment.
The long walk and back
At work in the Candystore
The show that wasn’t until fall
The Long Walk, the exhibition part of the Destination Venezuela series at the Vicksburg Cultural Arts Centre, now moved to the fall.
Pop-up in Vicksburg
This is an exhibition of my recent paintings @ Prairie Ronde Gallery, Vicksburg, alongside Cindy Steiler, Prairie Ronde artist-in-residence @ Vicksburg Cultural Arts Center.
Cranes, change and permanence on East Michigan Avenue
This exhibition of paintings included in the 2019 October Art Hop at Suzanne’s Organics Salon features the downtown Kalamazoo urban landscape; it juxtaposes elements from the vintage architecture and the ongoing metamorphosis with new construction going up on all sides. Continue reading “Cranes, change and permanence on East Michigan Avenue”
Project MAPEA in Child in the City seminar in Antwerp
As a visual artist it was something of a novelty to be attending an academic seminar broadly designed for architects, urban planners and other professionals from this area. But since our mapping project began in Caracas from involvement with youth and children in shantytown communities, when I saw the call for the Children in the Sustainable City Seminar it seemed the right place for our proposal.
This trip to Antwerp turned out be a stimulating and fruitful experience over the two-day meeting. Above all, it was so reassuring to find oneself talking the same language when it came to sharing experiences, it can get very frustrating trying to explain this multi-disciplinary workshop model even in the art world.
MAPEA has reached four editions in the last four years so it continues to grow and prove its validity. At this moment it seems more urgent than ever to bring this activity to children amid such violence, encouraging a conversation about the environment and developing tools with which to do so. My participation in the seminar was a way of continuing our work when the crisis in Venezuela frustrated this year’s plans. By the end of March, when I should have been travelling to Caracas, flights were cancelled and the possibility of achieving the results we hoped for seemed pretty remote. It was a heart-breaking decision to cancel the trip, and we continue to wait for a change in tide to resume our plans.
Continue reading “Project MAPEA in Child in the City seminar in Antwerp”
Cheo cuenta MAPEA
Talleres MAPEA en el Calvario y casco del Hatillo, Caracas 2018
Video de Andres Catalano
MAPEA: Natalya Critchley, Cheo Carvajal, Monica Santander, Yoandy Medina con el apoyo del Sr Jose Gonzalez y Carlos Barreto de la Co-operativa en el Calvario
Talleres con los estudiantes de 4to, 5to y 6to grado de las escuelas Maria May (el Calvario) y Juan Manuel Cajigal (en el casco del Hatillo)
Walking, mapping, opening doors
Connection Calvario-Hatillo town centre
An essential condition for a sustainable city is that it can be walked around comfortably and safely. That it should be accesible to all. Another is that it should be mixed, not only in it’s uses -residential, offices, public spaces and features-, but socially as well. Another condition? To achieve a balance with whatever natural features still exist: water courses, green spaces, trees, biological diversity. Even though it sounds obvious the air must be clean to be able to breath properly! But also in a metaphorical sense, what is on offer should be so diverse that you just want to be there, day or night. That ‘habitability’ leads us to an additional wish: it must be enjoyable.
Andar, mapear, abrir puertas
Andar, mapear, abrir puertas
Conexión El Calvario-Casco
Una condición indispensable para que la ciudad sea sustentable es que se pueda caminar de manera cómoda, segura. Que sea accesible para todos. Otra es que sea mezclada, no sólo en sus usos –residencias, comercios, oficinas, espacios y equipamientos públicos–, sino también socialmente. ¿Otra condición?, que logre un equilibrio con lo que ella todavía tiene de natural: cursos de agua, espacios verdes, arbolado, diversidad biológica. Aunque suene obvio hay que decirlo: ¡que se pueda respirar, que tenga aire limpio! Pero también en sentido metafórico: que la oferta sea tan diversa que den ganas de vivir en ella, de día y de noche. Esas “ganas de vivir en ella” nos lleva a un deseo adicional: que sea lúdica.
Continue reading “Andar, mapear, abrir puertas”
Natalya Critchley 