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The artistic path of Teresa Jessurum Uribe follows the path of a dream that takes you far away, makes immense turns and then returns with more strength and conviction than ever before. Teresa Jessurum Uribe (@teresajessurumuribe) is an artist of Colombian origin, she was born and raised in Barranquilla and moved to Miami at the age of 27 to follow her husband in his work. Although she is in love with art and has always drawn, she had to give up her artistic career to follow the family business. Teresa says of her: “I’m a mother, entrepreneur and permanent student”, all true, but Teresa is also the co-founder of MIFA- Miami International Fine Arts-, President of MIFA and Director of the Gallery (@mifagallery). About a decade ago, having her children grown up and independent, the artist decided to reopen the famous dream drawer to take it back and take care of it with dedication and rigour. She thus began to travel the world attending painting workshops of the masters she admired, both in Europe and America, happy but at the same time sorry that there was no similar institution in Miami that could bring a concept of realistic figurative art imparted according to the principles of the old academies and ateliers of the old masters.
The great city of Florida is in fact a crossroads of cultures and nerve center of contemporary art, made of abstractions, installations and performances. However, destiny has it that on returning from a trip, and by mere synchronicity, she discovered that the Atelier Chiaroscuro, founded by Milixa Moron, Elkin Cañas and Carlos Martinez Léon, all three art students in Florence, Italy, had recently opened in the area. Her wish thus became a reality and she began to study art according to the rigorous academic schemes taught at MIFA. After two years of academy and a partnership based on friendship, loyalty and sharing with the three founding members of the Atelier Chiaroscuro, together, they decided to broaden their horizons and open the MIFA, officially born in July 2019 with great goals achieved and many other projects yet to be achieved. According to Teresa, art is magic: “Creating the illusion of something three-dimensional from a dimensional surface is a magical process”, says Teresa, who calls herself “Blessed” by life in this regard. Her colorful works, which derive mainly from the folklore, traditions and joie de vivre of Latin American and Caribbean culture, are proof of this. In her works Teresa represents the complexity of human faces and figures, which is why she found in representative art the best way to express herself.
The use she makes of color, however, allows her to detach herself from the traditional use of the limited palette. As in the selected work, her characters, rich in vivid colors, transmit the positivity and energy that represent the quintessence of her artistic palette. There are also works in charcoal in which it is possible to glimpse the poetry of a glance sensible to to the experience of the subject and its emotions. I remember being very impressed by the work “Young Girl in Nepal”, exhibited at the “Rhythmical Brushstrokes Exhibition” inaugurated on November 21, 2019 at the MIFA Gallery. If for Teresa it is important to succeed in transmitting to the observer something about the emotion that she captures in a subject and that she tries to reproduce on canvas or paper, I would say that she has succeeded: I left the exhibition with the image of those children in my heart and the color, wrapping like a step of cumbia, of her works, running through my veins. So, Teresa, continue realizing your dreams and sharing them with us.
Las amigas by Teresa Jessurum Uribe, 2019. Oil on canvas, 30x 40″.
