Orquidia Violeta

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I'm uploading my current work, and select works from the past 20 years to my new Artworks archive.


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Featured Artwork

• El Zapato Triptych
• Award: Hope in Every Step-Artwork Selections 3rd Prize. by Juror Mark Tindle: "These three woven panels are packed with meaning and vividly capture the experiences of the artist in thier family's attempts to enter the USA escaping a civil war in Central America. The work speaks to the feelings of fear, loss and confusing,which share paticularly strong-felt by children who exist together as one and the results is profoundly moving." It's going to be exhibiting at First Presbyterian Church 1200 SW Alder Street Portland, OR 97205 during September & October 2021
• Artist: Orquidia Violeta
• Artform: flat
• Method: weaving, appliqué, sewing
• Medium: canvas, found-objects, woven
• Year: 2019
• Statement: I was six years old when I crossed the border. I felt scared, anxious, and excited to get to the other side, where my mother was. I didn't remember her well. She left El Salvador for the US when I was three years old. We tried to cross the border twice. The first time they caught us. I remember seeing this big 4x4 truck that was white and green. On the side, it said: IMMIGRATION CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT. We had to go back through Tijuana, and stay in a run-down motel. My Abuelita, Brother, Sister, and two coyotes stayed in one small room. The next night, we tried a second attempt. ICE caught us again! The two coyotes ran away. I sat in the 4x4 holding my sister's hand. ICE talked to my Abuelita, and they agreed to let us go. They had the same color of skin as we did. We ran and ran—this is when I lost my shoe. It wasn’t just any shoe. It was the shoe that my mom sent me from the US. It was the shoe I wore for three years. It was special to me. It was navy blue Mary-Jane, made from leather, with buckle straps. And it had four ‘tears’ decorating the toe-cap. I wonder where it is now? Or has it decomposed somewhere in the desert? In the third panel of El Zapato Trip-tik, you can see a representation of my shoe, resting near the chaparral prickly pear and Silver cholla cacti.

• Hecho en Casa
• Artist: Orquidia Violeta
• Method: appliqué, dyeing, embroidery, sewing, weaving
• Medium: feathers, canvas, fabric, found-objects, woven, upholstery
• Year: 2021
• Statement: This textile art piece was commission for The Rockwood Village Lobby Art in Greasham. It was an honor making this piece.

About Orquidia

Orquidia Violeta is a Salvadoran-American textile artist. Growing up in a dirt-floored farmhouse in Central America, she remembers the embroidered pink dress her mother sent her from the US. Orquidia crossed the US border as a six-year-old refugee and went on to earn an Associate of the Arts degree from the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising. Exposure to labor exploitation in the garment industry led her to co-found LaborFruit — a prominent artist-cooperative storefront and gallery in Los Angeles specializing in clothing as artform. Living in Portland Oregon, Orquidia continues to challenge herself as a textile artist, exploring new methods and mediums, such as machine and hand embroidery, knitting, weaving, appliqué, beadwork, fabric dyeing, soft sculpture, painting and drawing.

Download complete Artist Biography
Download Artist Resume

Contact

email contact@orquidiavioleta.com
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