THE FREDERICK ARTS COUNCIL ANNOUNCES ARTIST TALK FEATURING ARTIST RAFAEL BLANCO ON “DITCHING THE STUDIO:THE POWER OF PUBLIC ART”
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FREDERICK, MD – The Frederick Arts Council is holding an artist talk on April 16 from 6-7:30 at the Y Ausherman Arts Center, featuring artist Rafael Blanco, muralist who painted the “Lester Bowie” mural at 69 S Market St, to explore the power of public art. Blanco is visiting Frederick to paint a second mural in downtown Frederick at 168 W All Saints Street.
Native of Alicante (Spain), Rafael Blanco is a visual public artist fascinated with identity, human expression, and diversity. As a result, these core elements are often represented throughout his work. Trained as a classical studio painter for more than 15 years, Blanco had his first encounter with public art in 2014. Since then, he broke away from the studio and transitioned to the creation of site-specific large-scale mural installations.
Blanco has painted murals across the US from California to New York, and from Texas to Illinois. He has participated in numerous street art festivals and mural competitions, as well as produced commissioned work for cities like New York NY, Tampa FL, or Denver CO among many others.
Blanco attended Florida Southern College (2000-02) and graduated with a BA in Studio Arts from Saint Mary’s College of California (2002-04). After receiving his MFA in Painting & Drawing from the University of Nevada, Reno (2010-2013), he worked as a full-time university professor at Feather River College (2014-19) and Elmhurst University (2019-23), where he taught Drawing, Painting, Art History, etc.
Lately, he has expanded his work to public speaking, where he has been advocating for the amazing potential of public art while engaging all types of audiences, including High School and University students, as well as participating as a guest speaker at TEDx Elmhurst University.
Blanco currently lives in San Antonio, TX with his family and continues creating large-scale murals around the world.(https://rafael-blanco.
This artist talk is made possible by a grant from the Ausherman Family Foundation.
Register on Eventbrite to attend: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/
About the Frederick Arts Council
The Frederick Arts Council invests in a vibrant and cohesive arts community for the people of Frederick County. The organization fosters an environment where the arts flourish in the community through grants and scholarships, arts advocacy, and links to essential resources. FAC is responsible for large-scale programming such as Sky Stage, Frederick Festival of the Arts, Art in the Park, the Public Art Initiative, and Frederick County’s Arts in Education grants. For more information about the Frederick Arts Council, visit www.frederickartscouncil.org.