Bio
Ileana Alarcón (b. 1993) is a Colombian American artist who grew up in Connecticut as a child of two immigrant parents. From a young age, she quickly became interested in designing spaces- building forts, making make-shift playhouses, and building toy block cities. At age 9 she drew up a floor plan for her parents’ home so that it would be more child-friendly and at age 10 she helped her father build a permanent playhouse in the backyard from mostly recycled materials.
Ileana’s father was a huge influence in her life, teaching her as much as he could about creating things by hand. As a poor immigrant child to the United States, along with his four younger sisters, he taught himself how to make toys out of whatever he could find- including mud. This creativity and perseverance is what he passed on to Ileana.
Ileana graduated with a BFA from Maine College of Art and Design in 2018 and is now based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She is an Artist in Residence at Vital Spaces and a member of Abstract Picnic Artist Collective. Ileana’s artistic practice focuses mainly on sculpture and ceramics.
Statement
Ileana Alarcón’s work is mainly influenced by the duality of her Colombian heritage and “gringa” upbringing, Magical Realism, and personal life events. By creating objects and spaces, Ileana explores how an environment impacts a person emotionally and physically. What interactions can be facilitated, what feelings can be prompted? Through this exploration she hopes to design spaces that can ground a person in the present moment while also transporting them away from a mundane world.