Ada Balcacer
# Ada Balcacer

Ada Balcácer (born 16 June 1930) is a Dominican multimedia visual artist whose artistic production ranges from painted works, textile designs, murals, and printmaking. Known for her compositional themes of Caribbean mysticism and naturalism, Balcácer is one of the most prominent Dominican artitsts living today and has won several national and international awards.

## Life

Balcacer was born in Santo Domingo, on June 16, 1930, and grew up during the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo. Her early childhood years were spent between Santo Domingo and San Juan de la Maguana, where she developed a love for botany, science, and folklore. When Balcacer was 16, during a parade in San Juan de la Maguana, an accident while riding a horse led to a fractured wrist that later developed gangrene and obliged the doctors to amputate her left arm. She has said of the incident: "I am one of two one-armed painters in Latin American art history. The other one was José Clemente Orozco, the Mexican muralist. I've never felt different and have been painting for the past 64 years ever since my goals changed."

In 1951, she graduated from the National School of Fine Arts in Santo Domingo. There, she studied under teachers who had emigrated from the war in Europe, such as Josep Gausachs, George Hausdorf, and Manolo Pascual, as well as native Dominican artists, like Celeste Woss y Gil. Oscar de la Renta was her classmate.

Motivated to leave the stifling environment of the repressive Trujillo regime, Balcacer moved to New York City, shortly after graduating, where she remained until 1961, working as a textile designer. A few years later, a visit to Mauricio Lasansky's workshop in Iowa - considered the father of modern-printmaking, led to her exploration in printmaking. Balcacer returned home shortly after the assassination of Trujillo. She joined the group Nueva Imagen (New Image) in 1972 and became interested in the aesthetic possibilities of light and color while exploring tropical Dominican and Caribbean themes. She also began creating increasingly abstract compositions.

When she turned 70, she relocated to Miami, Florida and opened an art gallery, the ABRO gallery, which she still heads today.

