Isolina Limonta is a Cuban artist working at the Experimental Graphic Art Studio in Havana, Cuba.
For more than 40 years the cooperative has housed the country’s top printmakers, like Isolina, who make do with limited resources. (in Spanish “Taller Experimental de la Gráfica” tel. 07/864-7622, tgrafica@cubarte.cult.cu, Mon.– Fri. 9am–4 pm).
The workshop is located at the far end of Callejón de Chorro, next to the Cathedral Palaza. You can watch artists make prints that are available for sale. The workshop also offers courses on traditional lithography (using stone), woodcuts, and etchings (using metal).
In the 60s poet Pablo Neruda convinced Che Guevara to open the facility and use discarded antique presses. Che was the Minister of Industry and agreed because he wanted to keep the traditional art form alive. Today the studio remains a vital outlet for Cuban artists despite the lack of availability of high-quality paper and ink. The artists re-use the well-worn stones over and over, sanding the etchings down in-between pressings.
Limonta supports her family by selling her prints through Michelle Wojcik’s Boston and Provincetown galleries.
Image by Zephyris/Wikimedia commons
