2024 Summer in Buenos Aires Creative Art Workshop
Yasmin Morales Rodriguez
Title: Amar Garpa
About me: My name is Yasmin Morales Rodriguez, and I am a current Junior here at ECU. I am majoring in chemistry with a minor in Hispanic studies. After undergrad I plan on going to medical school. I aspire to be a doctor, specifically an anesthesiologist. Before going to medical school some of my goals are to gain more hands-on experience with patients, reach my academic goals, and travel. Therefore, I concluded that studying abroad could help me achieve the last two. This past summer, I decided to go study abroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina to immerse myself in a new culture and to finish off my minor.
Artistic process: The art piece Amar Garpa was created in an art workshop in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Guille Pachelo is a famous graffiti and paste-up artist that is well known for his drawing of a face wearing a hat. In the middle of the hat there is typically a phrase written. Guille Pachelo actually drew the face I have in the middle of my artwork. I decided to go with the phrase “Amar Garpa” because it holds Argentinian slang and because I like the message. This specific slang known as vesrre, takes two-syllable words and flips the syllables. In this case, the word pagar was changed to garpa. The original phrase is supposed to say Amar Pagar. Meaning that love pays off. This can be used in a variety of contexts but for my artwork I decided to focus on the career I want to obtain someday. My hard work, dedication, and the love I have for the medical field are what allow me to keep pushing through. If I remain resilient, my love and passion will pay off and I will be able to be a doctor like I have always dreamed of. Therefore, around my artwork you can see several snippets of medical documents. In addition, you can see near my name “Nombre de cirujano” which states “Name of surgeon.” Even though it doesn’t say anesthesiologist, it is also another well-respected medical profession, and I liked it for the art piece.
Madison Dail
Name of art: La Vida De Madi
About me: My name is Madison Dail I am 20 years old. I am studying Business management with a minor in Hispanic Studies. My two favorite things are to travel and explore the world and art!
Artistic Process: I have always loved art ever since I was a child, and I have never really had a process for any art I have done. I simply just started to put things on the canvas, and it ended up turning out pretty cool. I like to just let my creative mind flow.
Experience: Argentina was such an amazing experience for me. I learned so much about the culture and myself while spending my time there. My favorite part was meeting locals and living with my host family. Participating in the artwork shop with Gille Pachelo was one of my favorite excursions because of my love to art. I loved learning from Gille and exploring his style of art.
Sarah Chambers
Title: The Streets of Buenos Aires
About me: I am a nursing major with a minor in Hispanic studies. I have lived overseas for most of my life, and I love learning about new cultures. Being able to live within different cultures is what I love most about traveling.
Artistic process: My artistic process was to just have fun and create art that was not serious. I took inspiration from the street art seen around neighborhoods in Buenos Aires.
Experience: my overall experience in Argentina was amazing. My Spanish skills grew beyond what I expected, and it has set the path for me to become a fluent speaker. The art workshop was a great carefree way of combining our classroom content and actual culture.
Arhemy Franco-Gonzalez
Title: AvenTUra
About me: Hello, my name is Arhemy Franco-Gonzalez, I am a rising junior at East Carolina University and am part of the Honors College program within the institution. I am a Biology major, minoring in Hispanic Studies, and am on a Pre-med track. My aspirations are to become a pediatrician and make my own clinic to assist individuals who do not have the financial need to obtain healthcare. I am Mexican American and decided to pursue a minor in Hispanic Studies to learn more about the Latin cultures and history, as well as to assist me in my medical profession in the future.
Artistic process: My process began with the first placement of the paper at the edge which got me into the flow. Although I was being tentative with my artwork, I decided to rip the paper with my hands instead of scissors in an attempt to give it a rough texture. I knew I wanted to make my art related to me and my experience in Argentina, thus I obtained colorful pink papers and combined them with medical documentation that was provided by the artist, Guille Pachelo. I titled my artwork “AvenTUra” which translates directly to adventure as a symbol of what I felt when studying abroad. The letters “TU” translates to “you” in Spanish and were capitalized to represent a new sense of self being allocated in a new region I had never visited before.
Experience: My experience during this artwork shop was nothing but amazing. It was really fun gaining the perspective of a renowned artist in Argentina and his techniques showed me to be creative and have fun. Allowing us to develop our own art in his studio and presenting us with gifts at the end of the session, Guille Pachelo displays the characteristics that life carries beautiful secrets. It was an unforgettable experience, and I will forever hold those memories in my heart.
Mikaela Trank
Title: life in BA
About me: Mikaela Trank-Shelp is a Senior studying Foreign Languages and Literature with a concentration in Hispanic Studies Education.
Artistic process: To make this piece I wanted to choose things I saw every day in my travels around Buenos Aires.
Experience: Study abroad was the best choice I made in college! It truly opened my eyes to a brand-new world and the art workshop was a great outlet for me to express all the new things I saw.
Mallie Paulie
Title: love in culture
About me: My name is Mallie, and I am a Business management major with a minor in communications. I am currently a junior at ECU and went on my first study abroad this summer to Argentina to study Spanish.
Artistic process: I have never been the most artistic or creative, but I wanted to do something that represented all the love I saw and equality in Argentina but these drawing I made on the art we’re to represent cultural love.
Experience: Argentina was truly the best experience of my life. I learned so much about the culture and gained many new friends and even made international friends along the way. Living with a host mom was everything I could’ve imagined and I hope everyone gets to experience the love of an international family and gain new knowledge in Spanish on this trip I truly believe it opened my knowledge on new cultures. The art trip where we made these paintings was very vibrant and the art told a story from each sculpture or painting. The artist was kind and welcoming to new ideas and creativity and his extra studio of paintings was almost a graffiti style and unique in its own.
Lauren Carter
Title: untitled
About me: Graduated ECU honors college in 2024 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Chemistry and Hispanic studies. Currently pursuing a Master of Science in Chemistry at ECU
Artistic process: I tried to create a coherent background sticking to colors in the same palate. I then used pieces of art, especially those related to healthcare, to try and tell a story.
Experience: Both the Study abroad program and the art workshop were amazing experiences. I was able to truly be immersed in the culture of Buenos Aires through our activities. Like the art workshop, I was able to experience firsthand the creative end of the city which is so important in understanding their culture.
Sidney Lemanski
Title: La Vida en Buenos Aires
About: My name is Sidney and I am a sophomore at East Carolina University studying Public Health with a Pre-health concentration and a Hispanic Studies minor. I am a part of ECU’s Honors College and I hope to work in a healthcare or community health setting after graduation. Outside of classes and ECU organizations, I love to read and spend time outside.
Artistic Process: This piece was created during an art workshop our class had in Buenos Aires. We got to meet a local artist, Guille Pachelo, who is well known for his street artwork. We got to learn about how he creates his artwork as well as the message he hopes his pieces send to those who see his art work around the city. We were given the freedom to create our own collage with the random pictures and scrap pieces of paper he had collected. I enjoyed being able to express myself and make a fun collage that represents my time in Buenos Aires!
Experience Abroad: Living abroad in Buenos Aires was one of the best experiences I’ve had and I was able to learn so much both inside and outside of the classroom. I enjoyed learning about the history of Argentina and getting to be a part of the culture in Buenos Aires. This program gave me the opportunity to step out of my comfort zone and I was able to grow so much as a person as I became more confident in my navigating, communication and problem solving skills. I am so grateful I got to participate and be a part of this experience!