Our June 2016 Art Walk LA featured artist is George Ramos of Canton, Maine. George was kind enough to talk with us about his artistic process and the inspiration behind his work.
LA Arts: Where will you be showing your work at this month’s Art Walk LA?
George Ramos: I will be showing and selling my work at LA Arts located at 221 Lisbon Street in Lewiston.
LAA: When did you first become interested in the arts?
GR: Since my youth, I was always surrounded by many creative and fun loving people in my Puerto Rican family, who did many creative things like sew clothes, make cotton doilies for home decor, play musical instruments, dance, sing, and write poetry. I was encouraged to draw, color the coloring books, and later paint by numbers with oil paints, which stunk up the apartment we lived in.
LAA: What is your preferred medium?
GR: My preferred medium is digital photography that is digitally manipulated on the computer to eventually produce archival pigment ink prints and other products that are unique in style and presentation. This 21st century technology has opened up a new world of discovery and enjoyment for me. I have used and still use oils, pastels, charcoal, graphite pencils, color pencils, acrylics, crayons, watercolor, tempera paints, and intaglio. Sculpture in stone, clay, wood, and assemblages are also of interest to me, as are the crafts of beadwork, leatherwork, feather work, and hand weaving.
LAA: What inspires your work?
GR: What inspires me to diligently work at my craft is the beautiful God-created nature, people and things people enjoy all around us here in Maine.
LAA: How is your heritage reflected in your art?
GR: My American Christian heritage is the foundation for my worldview in my art. I also carry with me the colors and the rhythms of all my ancestors – African, Sicilian, Spanish, Taino. All these different ethnic heritages blend to make a unique flavor of salsa like the Puerto Rican Salsa music with it’s many influences. Please see Beethoven’s 5th Salsa on YouTube to get a sense of what I mean. That’s how I feel my artwork, and that’s how I work with musical instruments, song, and dance. I see life in multicolored splendor.
LAA: What is it like to be an artist in the LA area?
GR: Many wonderful things are happening in the L/A area for me as an artist, an entrepreneur, and a human being. I have met so many interesting people from all parts of the world, exhibited and sold my art, helped connect people with other people for their betterment, and tasted many different kinds of savory delectable foods. I encourage all people in Maine and elsewhere to visit, and enrich your life in Lewiston/Auburn, the up and coming Arts and Business hub of Maine.
LAA: What’s your relation to LA Arts and its community arts work?
GR: I became acquainted with LA Arts when I was assigned to host the LA Art Walk in their gallery and headquarters at 221 Lisbon Street, Lewiston, Maine. I found out about the LA Art Walk because I read about it in the Sun Journal and the Turner Publishing Country Courier that were delivered to my home in rural Canton, Maine.
LAA: Where can people go (either online or in-person) to see more of your work?
GR: People can view and buy my art printed in various products like archival prints, phone covers, duvet covers, greeting cards, shower curtains and more at www.george-ramos.pixels.com. There are over 7,000 art images to choose from.
Original art and limited editions can be seen and bought at LA Arts 221 Lisbon Street, Lewiston, Maine Monday-Friday 9am to 4pm. You may meet the artist at the Art Walk 5pm-8pm on the last Friday of every month, and buy durable collector magnet archival pigment ink canvas prints for $7 to give or sell to your friends. During May to September you may call the LA Arts Business Manager, Penny, at 782-7228 with your order for magnets, archival pigment ink prints, and wall hanged assemblages available through LA Arts or from the artist at 597-2722.
LAA: Is there anything else you’d like to add?
GR: One person with God’s help can make a world of difference in this world.