Profile of a Painter

Photo Feature by Elio Delgado

HAVANA TIMES, Feb. 23 — People started to talk about community work sometime around the 1990s.  But when it began it wasn’t well received.  It was associated with marginality, something that was not completely true.

There were also children whose parents were looking for places where the youth could develop their artistic abilities.  This role fit in with the services offered by neighborhood cultural centers as well as art galleries and museums, however these don’t function the same in all municipalities and there aren’t enough of them.

Therefore some teachers and artists created non-profit spaces where both boys and girls, with no distinction of race or religion, could begin taking classes.  Julio Reyes Cabrera is a pioneer in this work.

Julio is a painter who feels great satisfaction painting as well as teaching youth to paint in his workshop on Obispo Street, where he gives classes and paints.  Everyone who enters can see him carrying out these activities and the great pleasure he has doing it.  If you visit on the fourth Thursday of the month at 9:00 in the morning, you’ll find a theater circle that is well received by students and passersby.

As one of his students said: “Drawing slowly and looking at what lights participate with greater clarity, knowing what shades are darkest, how they mix and in what proportion, this is what Julio is sharing with us.”

Click on the tumbnails below to view all the photos in this gallery

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