Thus it is that this mapping of experiences leads into “Textiles on the Edge”, an initiative once again by Paulina Ortiz, to make contemporary Costa Rican textile art production a topic of not only national but also international discussion. And this general discussion has required the support of several experts whom we would like to single out and thank: María Enriqueta Guardia (art historian and curator) and Hugo Pineda (cultural project designer and manager and curator) from Costa Rica, and Susan Taber Ávila (artist and professor of Design at the University of California in Davis) and Marci Rae MacDade (textile art curator and editor of the Surface Design Association Journal) from the U.S. – these last two who thanks to the support of the U.S. Embassy gave their opinions so that these national textile creators could incorporate new ideas that make their work a cultural product of extensive scope on the artistic scene. I must end by saying that this event constitutes part of a new Costa Rican creative proposal that opens up opportunities so that others may follow processes of construction in textile art and design that might well be strengthened as processes of our country’s cultural identity. Today the world can see Costa Rica taking major steps towards forming a textile proposal that is growing, reinventing itself and innovating as the perceptions of these participants become refined – participants who have watched over their line of work in the interest of an alternative that can legitimize and modernize the way local textile aesthetics are read. Today is not the end of a story. It is the start of a process, and we are sure that it will have not one, but many stories in which the leading role of textile will be evident through the honesty, quality and industriousness of its creators.
Juan Diego Roldán President of the Jury and Coordinator of Visual Arts of the Sophia Wanamaker Gallery, Costa Rica - North American Cultural Center