Crossover/Cruce de Vias

The Crossover/Cruce de Vias project was created in 2003 by Cara Jaye (Washington) and Miguel Rivera (Mexico), two artists collaborating while working in different countries. This collaborative mixed media exchange required an unusual letting go the artwork, as paper works were created and then sent to the other artist to be added onto by the others’ hand. These mixed media pieces (drawing and printmaking) use layers and multiple viewpoints to create dialogue about crossing borders and nationalities, and to bridge differences while sending work across actual borders. Later stages of this project have moved forward with an addition of new artists with varying ranges of artistic practices, all participating in a residency/exhibition in Kansas City and Buenos Aires; to an international call for artists to work on engraved plates by Miguel Rivera. The pool of applicants included Argentinian and international participants from Mexico, USA, Canada, South Africa, England, Colombia and South Korea. Each participant chose one or two images from pre-printed matrixes originally created by Rivera leaving them with the challenge to create a “bridge” between the concept of the original image(s) and the transformation into their own studio practice and ideas. Through video conferences, email and social media the artists were able to discuss their work in progress. Participants adopted images with an initial conceptual understanding of their cultural experience layered with Rivera’s source. Images were rich and complex since they all were created using different processes such as printmaking, drawing, video, painting, blind embossing, stencils and painting.