Tammy Fisher
Director of Public Relations
La Sierra University
Riverside, California
909-785-2016 voice
tfisher@lasierra.edu
June 24, 2003

Riverside, California – Beatriz Meija-Krumbein, Associate Professor of Art at La Sierra University, is a featured artist in the textbook, Responding to Art - Form, Content, and Context, written by Robert Bersson and published by The McGraw Hill Companies in 2003. This textbook will be used to teach art at colleges and universities internationally.

Beatriz Meija-Krumbein, Associate Professor of Art at La Sierra University, poses with the new art textbook, Responding to Art – Form, Content, and Context, which features her work.

Meija-Krumbein’s work is discussed in chapter 20, “Beyond Painting and Sculpture: Expanding the Boundaries of Art.” “I think I am featured because I use unusual or unconventional backgrounds that are not canvas,” says Meija-Krumbein. “I like to establish metaphors. The piece featured in the book, Mute Muse, is a metaphor for the fragmentation of society.”

Meija-Krumbein likes to use diverse media to create art. Some of her art features painted quilts, use of fabrics, and most recently art video.

Last September 2002, Meija-Krumbein was awarded a grant to be an artist-in-residence at Self-Help Graphics and Art in Los Angeles, California, where she spent a week creating 80 silk-screen pieces. She had the help of a master printer and another assistant to produce the work. One piece, Cautiva, became part of the Exhibit Print Program for the 2002-2003 productions at Self-Help Graphics and Art. This Sunday, June 29, from 1:00 to 5:00 pm the Annual Print Exhibition and One Day Only Print Fair will take place at Self-Help Graphics and Art in East Los Angeles (3802 Cesar E. Chavez Avenue) featuring Meija-Krumbein’s work.

“Self-Help Graphics was a fantastic experience,” says Meija-Krumbein. “My art will be featured in 11 or more institutions in Los Angeles County. The fact that my work is in this collection will boost my career.” As part of the grant she was able to keep 40 of the editions and all artist proofs.

She has been involved with art her entire life. Meija-Krumbein says she does not really like to work on a blank canvas, preferring to work on projects, like quilts, putting together a connection with life.

“In life you get what you get and you do the best with what you have,” says Meija-Krumbein. “People are not born with a blank canvas. Everyone brings baggage. I feel challenged and love to see what I get when I work with quilts. I transform them and that is an important part of the process.”

In 1998 Meija-Krumbein went to Columbia, South America, to visit family, and while there she was negatively impressed with the way people were living in fear and keeping secrets. The idea came to create quilts and she created 22 in a body of work she entitled, “The Suite of Silence.” In the 2002 La Sierra University Commencement, “Hope,” one of the quilts from Meija-Krumbein’s quilt exhibit was presented to the Commencement speaker, Oscar Arias Sanchez, the 1987 Novel Peace Laureate and President of Costa Rica, 1986-1990.

The new art textbook, Responding to Art – Form, Content, and Context.

Meija-Krumbein has been invited to exhibit her art on several occasions. She was recently featured in the Lehman College Art Gallery in the Bronx, New York. The exhibit, “De lo que soy/Of what I am,” was an exhibit of self-portraits by women from Latin America and the Caribbean. One of her quilts from “The Suite of Silence” is a self-portrait and was selected for this exhibit.

A new project for Meija-Krumbein is art video. She is currently working on a art video project that focuses on the social life of the circus. This is a behind the scenes look at circus workers. Her art video deals with perception. “I use images and sound to connect to different issues or perceptions in the audience. I will also use different surfaces like walls and objects to connect art with videos.”

In January 2004 Meija-Krumbein will have a retrospective exhibit at Mount San Jacinto College in San Jacinto. It will focus on her last ten years of work.

Meija-Krumbein prefers to exhibit her art in academic environments not commercially. She teaches three classes each quarter at La Sierra University and will be using the new textbook, Responding to Art - Form, Content, and Context, for her Language of Art class. “This new text book has a contemporary approach to art and relates to art and life,” says Meija-Krumbein. “I also think students will better connect to art since I am in the textbook. It should make the class more interesting.”

Meija-Krumbein is the author of several scholarly articles and has produced many videos. She is a member of the College Art Association, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C., the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, the Riverside Art Museum, the National and Southern California Caucus of Women in the Arts, and the Los Angeles, California Museum of Tolerance.

. . . . . . . . . . .