David Medina

Artist’s Biography

David Medina is a Dominican/American artist who was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. He holds a B.F.A. in three dimensional studies from Alfred University. In 1995, Medina was awarded a nine month fellowship at UrbanGlass, a non-profit artist access glass working facility in downtown Brooklyn. Medina has assisted numerous sculptors. Work with these artists consisted of finishing wax positives, casting bronze and glass, welding and forging steel and sculpting stone. Medina has taught Art at El Puente Academy For Peace and Justice, an alternative High School in Brooklyn. He has also worked as a blacksmith for sculptor James Garvey on the Arts at St. Ann’s Church Restoration Project. Medina also helped forge the 5 ft. steel fence of faces located in Times Square as part of the 42nd St. Arts Project. His work has been exhibited in several Museums and Galleries including: The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York; Heller Gallery, New York City; El Museo Del Barrio, New York City, The Museum of Modern Art, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; The Museum of Contemporary Art, Caracas, Venezuela; The Robert Lehman Gallery, Brooklyn, New York; Studio Inferno, New Orleans and The Silver Image Gallery in Ohio. David Medina was awarded the Michael Richards Fund Art development grant in 2005 and The Metropolitan Contemporary Glass Group Fellowship in 2006. Medina’s sculpture incorporate various medium including cast, blown and hot-worked glass, bronze, steel and stone. He combines these materials to explore and articulate his cultural, spiritual and political convictions.

Resume

EDUCATION:
1995
Bachelor of Fine Arts
Concentration sculpture
Alfred University, Alfred, NY

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:
1998-2006
Freelance Artist and Disc Jockey

1998-1999
Artist Assistant
Vaadia Studio, Brooklyn, NY

1998-1999
Art Instructor
El Puente Academy for Peace and
Justice, Brooklyn, NY

1995-1998
Artist Assistant

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS:
2006
Merengue: Visual Rhythms/ Ritmos Visuales
El Museo Del Barrio, New York, NY

2005
Ancestors & Orishas (solo exhibition)
Caribbean Cultural Center, New York, NY

Message in the Masquerade,
Nathan Cummings Foundation, New York, NY

2000
Glass America
Heller Gallery, New York, NY

Glass Works: Emerging Artists
The Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, NY

1999
XXI Biennial, Museum of Modern Art
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

1998
Glass America
Heller Gallery, New York, NY

1997
1st International Glass Exhibit
Museum of Contemporary Art
Caracas, Venezuela

2nd Festival of Dominican Visual Art
Museum of Modern Art
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Glass Worlds: The UrbanGlass Faculty
The Robert Lehman Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

1996
Glass Art Now: Made in Brooklyn
Islip Art Museum, Islip, NY

Glass Times Four
The Robert Lehman Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

LECTURES:
2006
Metropolitan Contemporary Glass Group
El Museo Del Barrio, New York, NY

2005
Ancestors & Orishas
Caribbean Cultural Center, New York, NY

2000
Glass Art Society (G.A.S.) Conference
Brooklyn, NY

1998
Dominican Visual Artists: Between Here and There
The City College of New York, NY

1997
Slide Presentation
Emerson College, Boston, Mass.

AWARDS:
2006
Metropolitan Contemporary Glass Group Fellowship

2005
Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Michael Richards Fund

1995
Van Liere Foundation, UrbanGlass Fellowship

COLLECTIONS:
Caribbean Cultural Center, NYC
UrbanGlass, Brooklyn, NY
Private collections

REVIEWS:
Borrero, Nilda, “TV Interview”,
NBC, Sunday, April 3, 2005

Plasencia, Luz, “TV Interview”,
NY1, March & April mornings, 2005

Perreault, John
"Riffs In Glass",
Glass Magazine, Summer 2000

Harrison, Helen A.,
“Glass Art Now: Made in Brooklyn”,
The New York Times, Long Island, NY, Jan. 5,1997

Chambers, Karen S.,
“UrbanGlass: A Hot Time in the City”,
American Style, Fall 1996

Martin, Douglas,
“A Fence with Faces Graces Times Square”,
The New York Times, NY, Dec. 27, 1995

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