QUIMBAYA AWARDS 2007
TRIBUTE TO HISPANIC AMERICAN ARTISTS AND ART EDUCATORS

This award was established by Centro Cultural Hispano Americano in 2005 to recognize and honor Hispanic Americans who have contributed significantly to the understanding of the Hispanic American culture through the arts and education, and their achievements in the Northwest.

The recipients of the "Quimbaya Award 2007" by Centro Cultural Hispano Americano was awarded to the following Hispanic Americans:
 

KATHLEEN ALCALÁ is a writer whose trilogy on nineteenth century Mexico was published by Chronicle Books. Her work has received the Western States Book Award, the Governor's Writers Award, a Pacific Northwest Bookseller's Award, and a Washington State Book Award. A co-founder and contributing editor to The Raven Chronicles, Kathleen currently serves on the board of Richard Hugo House and teaches in Extension at the University of Washington. Her nonfiction has been produced for public radio, and she co-wrote, with director Olga Sanchez, a play based on her novel, Spirits of the Ordinary that was produced by The Miracle Theatre of Portland, Oregon. Kathleen is the author of a short story collection, Mrs. Vargas and the Dead Naturalist, and three novels: Spirits of the Ordinary, The Flower in the Skull, and Treasures in Heaven. Her collection of essays, The Desert Remembers My Name is forthcoming from the University of Arizona Press in early 2007. Multicultural America - Conversations with Contemporary Author, was recently published by Nibir K.Ghosh, and includes a conversation with Kathleen. Her story "Gypsy Lover" has been included in Inlandia by Heyday Books.

ALFREDO ARREGUÍN was born in Morelia, Mexico in 1935. At age nine, Arreguín became the youngest pupil at the Morelia School of Fine Arts. He lives in Seattle since 1959, where he received his B.A. and M.F.A degrees from the University of Washington. He has exhibited all over the U.S. and Mexico. He was a Seattle Arts Commissioner for two years, and has received numerous awards, including a Humanitarian Award by the Washington State Legislature, a Governor's Arts Award from the State of Washington, and a National Endowment for the Arts Visual Artists Fellowship Grant. Alfredo Arreguín uses folk culture, history, and nature as the subject matter in many of his intricate and colorfully painted canvases. Although Arreguin’s work appears disarmingly simple, further examination reveals complex kaleidoscopic puzzles. Many of the intricate and exuberant elements that stamp a distinctive character on his works are generated by his memories of his country of birth. His creative vision goes beyond these influences and derives inspiration from a multiplicity of sources that include some art forms from Korea and Japan, where he served in the U.S. military. The volume and quality of his production over the last three decades have already ensured for Arreguín a distinguishing place in the history of North American art.
 

JOHNNY CONGA. Johhny Restivo-Trevisano-Urquiaga-Quinones is known as Johnny Conga. He was born in Brooklyn, NY from a Cuban father and an Italian mother. He has been performing for 41 years, as a “multi-percussionist-specialist,” in the art of Afro-Caribbean Drumming. “JC” has worked with Sergio Mendes & Brasil 77, Paquito D’Riviera, Gloria Estefan, The Jackson 5, Willie Bobo, Johnny Pacheco, Mongo Santamaria, Cerrone, Gloria Gaynor and over 100 other major artists in the United States and abroad. He has performed with 140 bands and has done 17 International tours all around the world. He is a Grammy Member and Representative (Pacific Northwest chapter), Member of BMI as composer/arranger, Member of N.A.R.A.S. (National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences), Member of Percussive Arts Society, endorsed by Pearl Drums, Independent Member of Cirque du Soleil percussionists-2004. He is currently running four bands: Johnny Conga & Tumba Caliente, a nine piece NY style Salsa and Mambo-Jazz band, also “Origens” five piece “folklore” Afro-Caribbean drum ensemble, The Tropical Jazz Sextet and Sabor Tropical. JC is a Radio Host for KBCS 91.3 FM-“AL LADO LATINO” every Saturday. He is currently on staff at Cornish College of the Arts as “Music Works” Northwest-Bellevue, Seattle-2002. He has several recordings with Columbia, ABC, Polygram, Island, Roxbury, Skyward, Infinity, Cuni and others. He released his first CD 1994 “Johnny Conga & Caribe + Roots of Rhythm. He was recognized by Florida as “Folklorist” in 1997. He was Former P.A.C. E. (performing arts and cultural education) Artist for Dade County, Florida 1995.
 

ANTHONY L. GEIST, Ph.D. is the Chair of the Division of Spanish and Portuguese Studies, and Professor of Spanish and Comparative Literature at the University of Washington. In addition to modern Spanish literature, he also teaches Spanish cinema. He received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1978, and taught at Princeton University, the University of Texas, San Antonio, and Dartmouth College before coming to the University of Washington in 1987. His publications center largely on issues of modernism and postmodernism in twentieth-century peninsular poetry and include La poética de la generación del 27 y las revistas literarias: De la vanguardia al compromiso, Modernism and its Margins: Reinscribing Cultural Modernity from Spain and Latin America, Jorge Guillén: The Poetry and the Poet, and the edition of the Obra poética de Julio Vélez. Geist's other main field of research concerns art and literature of the Spanish Civil War. He published a photoessay on Seattle-area Lincoln Brigade veterans, coauthored with the Spanish photojournalist José Moreno: Passing the Torch: The Abraham Lincoln Brigade and its Legacy of Hope / Otra cara de América: Los brigadistas y su legado de esperanza. He has also curated a traveling exhibit of children's drawings from the Spanish Civil War, which toured the country for two years. The accompanying book, They Still Draw Pictures: Children's Art in Wartime from the Spanish Civil War to Kosovo, was published in 2002. Geist is Vice Chair of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives and has been a journeyman carpenter for 30 years.
 

DIEGO FERNANDO GÓMEZ COY is known as “the magician of the golden flute and pan flute.” He was born in Santiago de Cali, Colombia, and resides in Seattle. Diego is a music composer; sound engineer, and teacher who began his musical career at the “Instituto Popular de Cultura de Armenia” in Colombia. He studied music at the Music School of the University del Valle. Diego has studied all the Andean wind instruments and makes his own instruments, such as the quena and the zampoña. He has mastered the music of the Andean instruments and his style is distinguished from other musicians. He is the ambassador of the Colombian music and folklore and promotes the Latin-American folklore, and Andean music. In 1997 he represented Colombia with “Grupo Juglares” in the festival “Fiesta Latina” held in South Carolina, and with “Viva la Música” in Hiroshima, Japan at the famous Flower Festival. He played in concerts in New York and New Jersey for two years with Compaz Andino. He also performed with “Viva la Música” as Member and Director at the Festival of Tolerance celebrated in Prague, Check Republic. From 2001 to 2006 he has been invited to Washington State, Idaho, and Alaska to play in several concerts for the Hispanic community. He has taught music to children at the University in Cali, Colombia, and to adults in U.S.A. His ambition is to universalize these rustic instruments by playing popular Latin American musical compositions and of the great Masters like Beethoven, Mozart, etc. Diego plays with several groups: “Sin Fronteras,” “Grupo Samay,” “Los Tres Flacos,” “Espíritu del Viento,” “Los del Río.” He has played in two Duos with Juan Cumbal (Andean music), and with Pedro Gaviria (Balladas and Boleros). He also plays Latin Jazz and international music with Russian pianist, Ludmilla Vallershteyn, and with other musicians. He was invited to play with Miho Takekawa in California in 2006-2007. Diego plays guitar, quena, quenacho, zampoña, and several percussion instruments that are indigenous to countries in the Caribbean and Andean Regions. He has seven recorded CDs, which five are in collaboration with Compaz Andino; Grupo Samay, Los Flacos, and Quenarimba with Miho Takekawa. He also has recorded a Christmas CD with Andean rhythms.

JAIME OLAYA was born in Ebejico, Antioquia, Colombia. He studied Fine Arts at the Instituto de Bellas Artes in Medellín, Colombia. He was a professor of Arts in Colegio Calazans in Medellín and also in the Arts School of Eladio Vélez de Itagüi, Antioquia. He has participated in several important expositions in the Museo de Antioquia, where the biggest collection of Maestro Botero is in exhibition and in the Biblioteca Pública Piloto. He lives in Seattle since 1990, where he teaches art classes and has exhibited his works in several important places, such as the Gallery in the Seattle Museum, the University of Washington, and many other galleries in the United States. One of his works was chosen for the collection of Harborview Hospital and was the painter chosen for the Hispanic Seafair of Seattle in 2001. Olaya’s work has been featured on September 2003 Edition in Persona magazine, and Sea Latino by Nelida Mendoza. He was invited by the Seattle Art Museum for a collective exhibition in September 2002 for the celebration of Hispanic month. At this time, all his works are being promoted nationally with the Gallery Art Visions.

DORA OLIVEIRA NEWMAN.  Dora’s career as a professional dancer began in 1976 when she joined renowned Brazilian folkloric dance troupe, Exaltacao A Bahia. Ms. Oliveira has a repertoire that ranges from Afro-Brazilian dance forms through jazz and modern dance. Dora has toured internationally with Olodum and other groups. She holds a degree in dance from the Federal University of Bahia. For over a decade Dora has toured and performed with Occeami - the premier African dance ensemble of the Northwest. She also dances for Show Brazil, a Seattle-based Brazilian band. Locally, Dora Oliveira teaches Brazilian dance at Ashtanga Yoga Studio.

JOSÉ LUIS RODRÍGUEZ GUERRA was born in Mexico. He has skillfully advanced the arts in our region with his artwork, as a member of the Seattle Arts Commission (1992-1996), and as a creator, director and founder of the Art Attack/ Alternative Spaces in Boise and Seattle. He has exhibited his artwork in more than 100 art institutions, including national renowned museums, art centers, universities, colleges, and alternative spaces. He has also managed several international exhibitions, including the works of international renowned American Masters, such as abstract painter Sam Francis and Assembly movement sculptors Ed and Nancy Kienholz as well as Mexican Masters Diego Rivera, Siqueiros, Orozco and Rufino Tamayo. Rodriguez worked with the 1% Capital Improvement for the City of Seattle, and was a member responsible for the “Public Art Collection” and the city “Portable Art Collection.” He created and introduced, for the first time, 8 exhibitions to the Seattle public “Eyes on Public Art” part of the 30 year old art collection of the city of Seattle Art Commission.
His artwork is monumental and transcends all cultures. He draws on spirituality in his paintings of solemn, lone figures on wooden boxes with rounded edges, making the figures appear almost as if they are in the room.
 

BLANCA SANTANDER was born in Peru, and resides in Seattle since 1996. Her love for art began as a child and has evolved with images and colors from within Peru and her feelings and dreams, which are her primary source of artistic inspiration. She graduated at the Catholic University of Peru with a Painting and Engraving degree. She specialized in photography at Inter-American Photo of Peru - Kodak. Santander illustrates children's stories and books. She has worked as a commissioned artist and as a free lance illustrator for magazines, children’s books, and non-profit international organizations; stage and costume designer for theater productions. In 2005 Santander was the artist chosen for the Hispanic Seafair Festival, Fiestas Patrias, and Boeing Hispanic Employees Network Heritage Exhibit poster which she also designed with her art work. Santander has also worked as a curator for several Latin American exhibits and fundraisers in Seattle. In 2006 she did a Masks Workshop for the Department of Modern Languages of Seattle University.
She has received several prizes: 1991 Honorable mention "Images of Peru" in a photographic competition, sponsored by Union Latina. In 1990 she received Second Place at Inter American Photo of Peru. In 1989 she was awarded First Place by "Nueva Casa de la Moneda," for the national engraving competition sponsored by the Peruvian Central Reserve Bank In 1987 she was awarded First Prize in a national contest to illustrate textbooks for rural children sponsored by FAO HOLAND - INFOR. Santander’s colorful illustrations have also appeared in the Annual Reports of Washington State Commission on Hispanic Affairs 2005 and 2006 Annual Reports and in many other publications. Part of her art works appeared in the poetry book by María Nelida Mendoza “Songs of a Gypsy Soul.”
 

JOVINO SANTOS NETO was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He started playing piano at age 13, and by 16 was playing the organ in a band called "The Vacancy Group" in Bangu, West Zone of Rio. He worked as a pianist, flutist and producer with the legendary Hermeto Pascoal from 1977 to 1992. In 1993, Jovino left the Group to pursue his individual career. He studied orchestral conducting at Cornish College of the Arts. Soon after that, he was granted resident alien status by the U.S. Government, on the basis of his extraordinary musical talent. He was invited in 1995 to join Fourth World, the group led by the Percussionist Airto Moreira and singer Flora Purim. Jovino composed, arranged, recorded and performed with Airto Moreira and Flora Purim in the United Sates, Europe, Brazil and Asia. He teaches at Seattle's Cornish College of the Arts. He has released several recordings as the leader of his own ensemble and also in collaboration with musicians such as Airto Moreira, Flora Purim, and Mike Marshall. He won the IAJE/ASCAP (International Association for Jazz Education / American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers Commission) for an established composer in 2002 and the Chamber Music America New Works jazz composition award in 2003. His Quinteto's latest CD, Canto do Rio, was nominated for Best Latin Jazz Album in the 2004 Latin Grammy Awards. Jovino was recently voted 2004 Northwest Jazz Instrumentalist of the Year by the readers of Earshot Jazz. Roda Carioca, Jovino Santos Neto's latest CD, was nominated for the 2006 Latin Grammy for "Best Latin Jazz Album." He is also a frequent teacher at Jazz Camp West.