Ana Flores: Shaman Ladders and Other Stories

Award-winning sculptor, ecologist, and writer Ana Flores creates works of art and installations that focus on the cultural narratives that help connect communities with landscapes. Her enduring interest in how geography shapes us comes from her own experience of displacement as a refugee from Cuba who came to the United States with her family. It was only when she settled in Charlestown, Rhode Island, in an area next to the sacred land of the Narragansett people, that she “began to reroot and find a sense of wholeness.”Inspired by mentors, such as forest stewards, gardeners, Narragansett elders and neighbors, Flores built a relationship with the land. This opportunity to connect deeply with place and ecology transformed her into an ecological artist. Her work has been shown across the United States, and in Canada, New Zealand, Italy, and the Caribbean.

This exhibition features selections from two powerful series by the artist: “Forest Dialogue” and the more recent “Oaral Histories.” These poetic works of art evoke the complex ecology and history of two places where the artist spends time, the forest next to her studio in Charlestown, RI. and the Nova Scotian shore. All of the works begin with the materials she finds in these landscapes. 

About the Artist:

Ana Flores is a graduate of RISD who has exhibited extensively nationally and internationally. As an educator, she taught environmental art and design at Bryant University and RISD, where she also co-created an innovative course on Arts and Healing. As an educator and art-in-residence, Flores has taught workshops at diverse institutions, creating bridges between the arts and healthcare, the arts and the environment, and the arts and science. For her innovative projects, she has worked with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; Vanderbilt University Medical Center; Lifespan Hospitals (Providence); Yale University Medical Center; Rhode Island Foundation; University of New Haven; and El Museo del Barrio in New York among others.