By Alexandra Mendoza
Nearly 100 Latin American artists will be displaying their talents at the Second Latin American Art Festival this coming March 19 and 20 at Liberty Station.
The event is the only one in Southern California to exclusively showcase cultural expressions from Latin American countries such as Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, and Mexico, among others.
The Festival highlights the cultural richness and diversity in Latin America through paintings, sculptures, photography, and food, among other arts that reflect the roots of the growing U.S. Hispanic population.
The event was born as an expansion of a Casa Valencia Gallery program that focused on developing Mexican talents, and has now become an annual space for Americans to get to know art from other Latin American countries.
Among the confirmed artists are regional stories such as Alfredo Zavala’s, an Ensenada biologist who left science behind to express his struggle for environmental conservation through art. Other voices include artist Nina Lune, a breast cancer survivor who expresses her fight on women’s torsos.
To showcase the emergence of the border region as a gastronomical hotspot, the festival will also offer fine foods under the leadership of renowned chefs such as Tijuana’s Javier Plascencia, as well as Iker Castillo and Elsa Fernanda Flores.
The second edition of this family-friendly arts festival will take place on March 19th and 20th from noon to 5 p.m. at former Naval Training Center NTC Liberty Station, 2730 Historic Decatur Road, Barracks 16, San Diego. Admittance is free.