| Toroazul Painting and Fine Arts |
| home about the artist oil paintings fresco paintings panels and murals black & white works pastels, colored pencil, and gouache portraits classes writings contact the artist |
| S e l f - p o r t r a i t pen and ink 7 " x 6.5 " 1973 |
| I am a graduate of St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland, known for its unique “Great Books,” classical liberal arts curriculum. I also hold a master’s degree in art and Spanish literature from the University of Delaware in Newark. My artwork has been exhibited in parts of the United States, Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil, and, more recently, Kuwait. Private corporate collectors of my canvases and murals include the Motorola-Nortel Corporation in Caracas, Venezuela, and Emilio and Gloria Estefan's restaurant, BONGOS. In May 2002, I had the honor of designing the University of Miami’s large exhibit space for CubaNostalgia, a yearly fair of Cuban memorabilia and culture held at the Coconut Grove Convention Center. Also in May 2004, I led a group of students from the same university to Florence, Italy, to study the history and technique of FRESCO painting and restoration. For six weeks, we studied at the Spinelli Institute of Art and Art Restoration, the classes under the direction of professors Maria Grazia Badino, Rodolfo Bargelli, and Tiziano Lucchesi. As a lecturing professor at the University of Miami, I presently teach freehand drawing and basic architectural drawing in the School of Architecture. I have taught Western and non-Western art survey classes at the university as well as at the New World School of the Arts in downtown Miami. Please click here to view my RESUME for a full list of the individual topics in literature, art, and philosophy, that I have lectured on in recent years. These conference venues include the Lowe Art Museum’s Docent Guild; Pesqueira Gallery in Key Biscayne; the Art Institute of Miami, directed by Peruvian artist Puchi Noriega; the Boca Raton Museum of Art; and the UM Institute for Retired Professionals, directed by Noreen Frye. |
I am a Cuban-born artist. My family moved to the United States in 1963 -- settling in
Wilmington, Delaware. Although I returned once to my hometown of Camagüey, Cuba --
please CLICK here to read the essay I wrote about my journey -- my artist's sketchbooks
are filled more with drawings and notes from my frequent travels to and sojourns in Italy,
South America, and the Caribbean, than they are with firsthand notes from Cuba.
The Miami River and waterside area of Coconut Grove in Miami have also drawn me and
my sketchbooks to them over the years.
The panoramic view of Juquehy, Brazil, above, is one of hundreds of seascapes and scenes
inspired in me by Brazil. If you look closely at the lower right hand corner of this colored
drawing, you will see a painter painting a canvas, near the statue of St. Anthony in the
garden nearby. Ideally, a painter should see himself as well as his subject INSIDE the
picture he is creating. The references to St. Anthony and to the Greek deity Pan (the
reclining nude figure playing the flute on the left side) also sum up my two main sources
of inspiration on a deeper level -- my religious upbringing and my passionate interest in
classical antiquity.
I work in pencil, pastel, pen and ink, watercolor, oil, acrylic, and, more recently, the
challenging FRESCO technique –- that is, wall murals painted while the wall’s plaster
surface of lime, sand, and water is still wet or fresh (“fresco”).
(CLICK here to learn more about my FRESCO work!)
Wilmington, Delaware. Although I returned once to my hometown of Camagüey, Cuba --
please CLICK here to read the essay I wrote about my journey -- my artist's sketchbooks
are filled more with drawings and notes from my frequent travels to and sojourns in Italy,
South America, and the Caribbean, than they are with firsthand notes from Cuba.
The Miami River and waterside area of Coconut Grove in Miami have also drawn me and
my sketchbooks to them over the years.
The panoramic view of Juquehy, Brazil, above, is one of hundreds of seascapes and scenes
inspired in me by Brazil. If you look closely at the lower right hand corner of this colored
drawing, you will see a painter painting a canvas, near the statue of St. Anthony in the
garden nearby. Ideally, a painter should see himself as well as his subject INSIDE the
picture he is creating. The references to St. Anthony and to the Greek deity Pan (the
reclining nude figure playing the flute on the left side) also sum up my two main sources
of inspiration on a deeper level -- my religious upbringing and my passionate interest in
classical antiquity.
I work in pencil, pastel, pen and ink, watercolor, oil, acrylic, and, more recently, the
challenging FRESCO technique –- that is, wall murals painted while the wall’s plaster
surface of lime, sand, and water is still wet or fresh (“fresco”).
(CLICK here to learn more about my FRESCO work!)
The Native Breath of Camagüey
Click on the image to read the
essay description of my first
return journey to Cuba after
36 years.
Click on the image to read the
essay description of my first
return journey to Cuba after
36 years.
