Japanese:
■artist profile 【JUANA ALMAGUER（ワナ、アルマゲール）】 １９９４年札幌市に住んで､そこで水墨画を習いました。１９９８年メキシコに４年間住んで､そこで自分のスタイルを発達させました。札幌とカリフォルニアで展覧会を開催しました。2002年１０月､英会話の職業で日本に帰って､きました。

English:
While living in Sapporo in the 1990's, I studied Suibokuga (Chinese Watercolor and Sumi Ink Painting). The traditional and controlled form of Suibokuga had an important impact on my art, as well as my development as an artist.

I am very stubborn when it comes to learning. I like to discover for myself how to do something. So when I joined the Suibokuga class, I was very resistant to all the rules that had to be followed when painting. I thought, "How can anyone be creative with all these restrictions?" Since then, I have developed my own style.

As time passed, my understanding and appreciation of that Art form took shape. I began to see the benefit of practicing the same brush strokes, in a particular order, time and time again. Through this discipline, I learned that the brush strokes become a part of me -- instinctual -- allowing creativity to lead. I realized that the hand works from memory: creativity is discipline in disguise.

Toward the end of my studies, I started exploring painting the figure. I developed my own style using what I had learned in my Suibokuga class. My husband and I moved again and settled in Zacatecas, Mexico. I was able to work on my Art full-time and fully develop my own style of painting the figure.

Fast forwarding to the present, we came back to Japan again in 2002. This being our third time to live in Japan. I use the following materials in my mixed media paintings and collage: rice Paper (washi), watercolors, ink, acrylics, gouache, pencil, ephemera, wood and canvas board.

Artist's Statement
I believe that Creativity is born from discipline. The Artist's Spirit is not made up of one moment, in and of itself, but a culmination of all moments. The hand works from memory: creativity is discipline in disguise.

My paintings focus primarily on the figure. I am painting the figure as much as I am creating the "unpainted" space on the paper. I use the following materials in my mixed media paintings and collage: Rice Paper (washi), Chinese watercolors, ink, acrylics, gouache and western watercolors and sometimes canvas board.

Exhibitions 私の簡単な略歴です。
January 1994, Maruzen Art Gallery, Foreign Artists of Sapporo Group Art Show, Japan
October 1994, Mariya Craft Gallery, NHK Bunka Center Group Suibokuga Exhibition, Japan
June 1995, Chokin Art Gallery, Sapporo Citizens' Group Suibokuga Exhibition, Japan
April 1996, Mariya Craft Gallery, NHK Bunka Center Group Suibokuga Exhibition, Japan
November 1998, Cafe Monet, Solo Art Exhibition, Fresno, CA
December 1998, Arte Americas, Group Art Auction, Fresno, CA
July 1999, Arte Americas, Group Exhibition, Fresno, CA
Dec 2000, Gallery 25, Group Exhibition
2001, Gallery 25 Solo Art Exhibition
August 2007, launched online art shop at http://GalleryJuana.etsy.com
August 2008, Solo Art Exhibition, Re-bridge Edit, Sendai, Japan
August 2008, Kahoku Shinbun newspaper feature, Sendai, Japan