Cuba! a video and my sketchbooks

Havana, Cuba (photo by Jane LaFazio)

Two cats. Havana, Cuba (photo by Jane LaFazio)

I was in Cuba for two weeks in February 2018. I taught two groups, a dozen each week. They came from all over the US and we had a fabulous time!

Me and my students. Havana, Cuba

Me and my students. Vinales Valley, Cuba


Here's the 9 minute VIDEO I made of the trip.
Photos and my sketchbook.

Havana ~ in an art quilt

While my work was on exhibition at a gallery in San Diego, I had a few videos made of me talking about my art. Here's the story of my art quilt: Havana, the video.

Husb and I visited Cuba in January 2012 and here are a couple of photos from that fabulous trip!

Me and Don on a tobacco farm in Cuba, 2012.

The beautiful wreck that is downtown Havana. Photo by Jane LaFazio 2012

I might be holding a cigar in this photo. 2012

Ernest Hemingway's house outside of Havana, Cuba. Photo by Jane LaFazio 2012

The beautiful wreck that is downtown Havana. Photo by Jane LaFazio 2012

In the video, the fabric I used was made from my photos of our trip to Cuba, and printed on Spoonflower.

a cool floor tile, in Cuba. You'll see this in the quilt in my video.
 Photo by Jane LaFazio 2012

The beautiful wreck that is downtown Havana. Photo by Jane LaFazio 2012

I took so many photos, I made a little book of our trip here.

"Havana" goes to Balboa Park

detail of "Havana" by Jane LaFazio

photo by Jane LaFazio from Havana, Cuba. The trip was inspiration for the quilt "Havana"

Remember my trip to Havana, in January 2012? What a great adventure that was. I even self-published a book of my photos, cleverly called "Cuba" that you can buy. But I digress.

I created a quilt from some of my photos, using spoonflower, and lace and other cloth and it was just juried into the San Diego Art Institute's Southern California Regional Award Exhibition.  The Institute is located in Balboa Park, and the exhibition will run April 5-May 18 and the reception is Saturday, April 5 from 6-8pm. See you there?

"Havana" 60x24 inches by Jane LaFazio

detail of "Havana" by Jane LaFazio

photo by Jane LaFazio from Havana, Cuba. The trip was inspiration for the quilt "Havana"

detail of "Havana" by Jane LaFazio

Some of my photos on canvas on my wall at home.

If you want to see more of my photos of Cuba, just click here.

"Havana" an art quilt

Havana by Jane LaFazio (detail)

Havana by Jane LaFazio  (11x17 inches)

You know I went to Cuba earlier this year, loved the experience and I took a lot of photos. I've been wanting to make a fiber art piece of the trip, and so I had some of my images printed on fabric. (Spoonflower...no, they aren't for sale.) So! Here's a small piece, the first of my series on Cuba, and it's called Havana. It's 11x17 inches and totally hand-stitched.

Havana by Jane LaFazio (detail)

I used antique lace in the piece, and did chain stitched to echo the lace design and unite the blocks of color.

Havana by Jane LaFazio (detail)

Havana by Jane LaFazio (detail)

Havana by Jane LaFazio (detail)

This "1918" is from a rubbing on a gravestone in the cemetery in Havana, and then printed onto organza.

Havana by Jane LaFazio (detail)

Havana by Jane LaFazio (detail)

Havana by Jane LaFazio (detail)

Havana by Jane LaFazio (detail)

My first book (okay, it's self published)

Cuba by Jane LaFazio | Make Your Own Book

I made a book of some of my photos from Cuba. It's 32 pages and here's a preview of some of the pages.  It's for sale.

Cuba ~ Community

   

   


   
We visited the home of Jose Fuster, a mosaic artist who had covered his home, and with the help of the community, much of his adjoining neighborhood.
   

We had a delicious lunch (with Cuba Libres of course) at Jose Fuster's home.
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We also visited Mario Pelgrin Pozo's home. He's created a community center, in his neighborhood. There are kids art lessons, dance lessons, and a small garden. He's done this for 11 years, relying on as he put it, 'non-government donations.'
  




I donated a bag of watercolor sets and told  Mario I'd love to come and teach the kids for a week someday. He grinned and pointed to 'my room!' (below) and invited me to check it out.
    
My future lodgings.
    





As you can tell, we totally enjoyed our tour with Cuban Cultural Travel. 

photo by Petey Dietz

photo by Petey Dietz

photo by Petey Dietz

I hope you've enjoyed seeing Cuba, through my eyes...... You can see all the photos here.