Laura Alvarez DAS

Hearing Laura Alvarez illustrate her artistic journey was truly uplifting. Her persona and artistic skills truly flowed from her art to the way she elaborated her creations. After hearing her speak a new dimension in conceptualizing art awoke in me, especially after creative description of how art transformed her life. Not only did art transform her life, but she took that transformation and illustrated it in her artwork. One characterization in her art that caught my attention during her speech and illustration of her artwork was the involvement of family. Personally, coming from a culture that praises the institution of family on the highest ladder of the totem I appreciated her acknowledgment of the role that her family took in her art, more specifically her father. I am very glad that I had the privilege and opportunity to meet Laura Alvarez, and I will always remember her artwork. One painting that I really liked of her’s was the I’m With My Nanny painting. The painting illustrates the caretaker cradling a little boy while she frantically runs away from the viewer, while the little drops a grenade from his hand. According Alvarez the little boy is the nanny’s helper. Looking at the picture I was able to tie the little boy throwing the bomb to Alvarez’s father who was a World War 2 veteran. The boy is helping the nanny by throwing a grenade at whoever’s running after them. Laura mentioned that her mother was also raised by a nanny, and that she grew up very secluded from her parents, but very tight knit with her nanny.