Outer Seed Shadow #01
This past January I had the opportunity to speak with artist Juanli Carrión about his recent project, Outer Seed Shadow #01. (Check out our interview here.) He described to me that Outer Seed Shadow #01 was to be a Manhattan-shaped community garden, where native plants from various countries could represent the rich diversity of the New […]
Agua4Change, Recycle Water Bottles into Roof Tiles
Donald Thomson, a Canadian designer and entrepreneur who has been living in Costa Rica since 1990, has created a company that recycles its water bottles into housing materials for low-income families. Having lived in Costa Rica since 1990, he and his wife were so struck by the amount of plastic waste rolling up onto the […]
Fall in Love With Your City! Cultural Corridor
Fall in Love With Your City! Cultural Corridor is a program of the Ministry of Culture and Youth, implemented since 2011, in order to restore the public’s love for the parks of downtown San Jose. The focus of the program is to plan events and activities that provide a balance of rest, fun, education and […]
The Day We Became Contemporary
The Museum of Contemporary Art and Design in San Jose has curated an upcoming exhibit that aims to answer questions about contemporary art from Central America. Divided into four rooms, each one presents a different take on the matter. In the first, the works feature the body as a means of exploring culture and art. […]
Warhol, Basquiat, and Degas, as part of National Gallery Exhibition
To celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the Costa Rican Center of Science and Culture, the National Gallery in San José is hosting the exhibition “Herencia del Art ” (Art Heritage), bringing together some of the most exciting work to have every been shown in Costa Rica. The collection includes 158 pieces from renown artists including Edgar […]
Central Creatives Introduces Khara Devlin Gilvey
Name: Khara Devlin Gilvey Where do you live? Where are you from? I live in Brooklyn, New York, not far from the park. I grew up in the Hudson River Valley, not far from the city. What is your main artistic practice? My primary form of expression for the past few years has been oil paint. […]
The Many Projects of Stephanie Newcomb
Name: Stephanie Newcomb Where are you from? Where do you live? I am originally from Costa Rica, born and raised in San Jose. I escaped Costa Rica after I graduated high school and moved to Pittsburgh for college. I traveled a bit while in school and after. I have been living in Los Angeles since […]
8th Annual Costa Rica International Film Festival
Costa Rica’s 8th Annual International Film Festival will be held from June 5-8, 2014, in Montezuma. The Docufest follows, June 12-15, and the Shortsfest runs from June 19-22nd. Screenings, discussions, and other events encourage artists and audiences alike to participate in this celebration of creativity and craft. Filmmakers interested in submitting their work can do so until […]
Central Creatives Introduces Eduardo Mata Icaza
Name: Eduardo Mata Icaza Where do you live? Where are you from? I live in Marseille, the south of France, I’m from Costa Rica. What is your main artistic practice? Oil painting, drawing and ceramics. Where could a visitor seek art in Costa Rica? Galeria Valanti Where can we find your work? www.eduardomataicaza.com
Bound for Costa Rica With 40 Rolls of Film
Name: Matthias Winkel Where do you live? The beautiful city of Hamburg, Germany. What is your main artistic practice? Film photography. Tell us what brought you to Costa Rica. A friend of mine invited me to Costa Rica, so I made sure to buy myself a ticket. Two weeks before the trip he had to […]
Photography, Surfing, and Eco-Friendly Wetsuits. Meet Anna Ehrgott
After I came across Anna Ehrgott’s lovely Tumblr page I reached out to see if she’d be interested in sharing her photos of Costa Rica with the Harmony community. Turns out she is a surfer, a seamstress, and designs both board bags and wetsuits. She has also devoted time to volunteering at a turtle sanctuary. […]
Emily Kimelman, A Writer Abroad
Name: Emily Kimelman Where do you live? No set address. What is your main artistic practice? Fiction Writing. What brought you to Costa Rica? I came to Costa Rica to write the first draft of the 6th book in my Sydney Rye series. My series features a strong female protagonist and her rescue dog, Blue. Sydney […]
Central Creatives Introduces Esteban Pedra León
This week’s Creative Central post focuses on Costa Rican artist Esteban Pedra León, whose work has also exhibited in Brazil and the Netherlands. I read about him on ArtNews.org and was so happy when he agreed to be featured on the Harmony Blog. Name: Esteban Piedra León Where do you live?: I live in San […]
Harmony Hotel Video Contest is Underway
The Harmony Hotel is hosting its first ever Video Contest asking, “Where do you find harmony?” Share your original video showing us where you find harmony (anywhere in the world) for an opportunity to win a free stay at the award-winning Harmony Hotel. Submissions are open now through April 14th. Here’s what you need to […]
The Beautiful World of Cecilia Paredes
Name: Cecilia Paredes Where do you live? I live between Philadelphia PA in the US, San Jose, Costa Rica and Lima, Peru. What is your main artistic practice? My main artistic practice is performance, sculpture, photography, installation and drawing, not necessarily in that order. Tell us about a project that brought you to Costa Rica. […]
Central Creatives: Photographs from Kathryn Gaitens
This week we were able to catch up with Nosara photographer Kathryn Gaitens, whose thoughtful work explores a range of subjects and style. Name: Kathryn Gaitens Where do you live? I divide my time between Costa Rica and Toronto, Canada. What is your main artistic practice? Contemporary portraiture: expressions of beauty with layers of meaning. The […]
WildLifeRisk Exposes Mass Whale Slaughter in China
Last week WildLifeRisk, an endangered species conservation group based in Hong Kong, released a deeply upsetting video as part of their investigation on the mass slaughtering of whale sharks in China. Though there has long been discussion and concern about how recent obsession with fish oil within the cosmetic industry is affecting endangered sharks, the reveal […]
TEOR/éTica: a Space for Art and Thought
While trying to familiarize myself with the artist community in Costa Rica, research led me to discover TEOR/éTica, a sure stop on my next trip to San José. TEOR/éTica is a private, non-profit independent project in San Jose, dedicated to contemporary artistic and curatorial practices. What does that mean, exactly? Rather than describing themselves solely as […]
Envision Costa Rica, February 20-23
I first came across a flyer for Envision Costa Rica at a small coffee shop in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, where I live. When I saw the number of bands on the playbill I knew I had to check out this growing music/meditation/arts festival, a Burning Man of sorts in Central America, where creatives gather to party […]
Juanli Carrión and the Outer Seed Shadow
This week’s Central Creatives post features Juanli Carrión, an artist in New York City whose current project, the Outer Seed Shadow, investigates the diversity of migrant communities and the immigrant experience in New York City through the plants that are native to their countries. Read more about his exciting work below. Name: Juanli Carrión Where […]
The Invisible Birds of Central America
One of the most rewarding parts of contributing to the Harmony Blog involves the people and material I would have never otherwise learned about. This week, as part of our Central Creatives series, I’d like to ask that you read the following poem by Craig Arnold. Arnold was an American poet and professor, a Fulbright […]
Central Creatives: Lee Fritz and Jenna Morse on the Solar Women of Totogalpa
NOTE: Today we launch a new series: “Central Creatives”—Wednesday posts featuring artists who create projects in and around Costa Rica! We hope you find their work as exciting as we do. Kicking it off are Lee Fritz and Jenna Morse, whose incredible short documentary Adelante Con El Sol: The Solar Women of Totogalpa was an Official Selection […]
Creative Retreat at the Harmony
In early November my partner Nathan was hired to work on a nature documentary shoot in Costa Rica. We seized an opportunity to spend time together at the Harmony Hotel before his work began. For some, a vacation involves detailed itineraries chalk full of organized tours. Others gravitate toward the kind of trip that ensures […]
