B I O G R A P H Y

Ana María Velasco is a multidisciplinary visual artist whose practice weaves painting, ceramics, drawing, immersive installation, and community-centered pedagogy to explore the interdependence of culture, living ecosystems and art as a creative act that addresses issues from the vantage point of a regenerative planet. Born in Colombia, she often approaches the country, its biodiversity and its people as foundation of her visual vocabulary. Growing up, she moved between Nicaragua (her mother’s homeland) while it was undergoing the throes of dictatorship and revolution; Cambridge Massachussets were she was exposed to a diverse and progressive communities; Colombia while it was ravaged by narco-terrorism; and New York City were she lived for almost two decades. These environments heightened Ana Maria’s sense of awareness and solidified her motivation to use art as a way to spark reflection, conversation and positive change.
Velasco’s art practice is a relational one. During more than a decade La Sierra Madre de Santa Marta in Colombia, the largest coastal mountain range in the world and one of the most irreplaceable sites for conservation in the planet, became the motif and metaphor for Velasco’s artistic and personal investigation.

Through recurring engagements with the site, she has established an intimate relationships with this landscape and those who inhabit it, discovering new layers of our interdependence after each expedition. Creating maps that outline and connect her travels through these various earthy and spiritual worlds.

Ana Maria holds an MFA from The School of the Museum of Fine Arts and Tufts University in Boston where she also received a certificate in Museum Studies. Her undergraduate degree is from La Universidad Javeriana and El Instituto Departamental de Bellas Artes in Cali, Colombia. She studied Tibetan Art for ten years at The New York Tibetan Art Studio. The contemplative and somatic disciplines of Indo-Tibetan Yoga and Buddha's teachings actively inform both her art studio practices and her educational initiatives.

Some exhibitions include, The Dreamers at Sothebys Institute in NYC; Saundarya ARTBO Galeria Mmaison Bogota, Colombia; Rios Intermitentes: Encuentros Biennal in Matanzas,Cuba; Symbiosis curated by Beth Rudin The Woody at The Berkshire Botanical Garden; Ficciones Retinianas in El Museo de Arte Moderno La Tertulia Cali, Colombia; Procession of Angels for Radical Love and Unity by Maria Magdalena Campos Pons at Madison Square Park Conservancy in NYC; The World has a Heart at YAWA Center for Science, Art and Technology during COP 16 in Cali, Colombia; Awaken:Conjuring our tomorrow Salem State University Winfisky Gallery, Salem, MA; Interdependencia at The Colombian Consulate in NYC. She was invited by The Korean Fine Arts Association and Kate Oh Gallery to exhibit in Seoul, Korea; Her work is held in public collections such as the Harvard University Art Collection in Cambridge, MA, Bank of America in Boston MA, Museo de Arte Moderno La Tertulia Cali, and numerous private collections across the Americas and Europe. Committed to art as a catalyst for regeneration, Velasco founded Neem Foundation, a non profit that promotes art, yoga, and meditation as alternative for healing processes for people affected by violence and trauma. She continues to work with La Sierra Artist Residency and Caring for Colombia Foundations. She lives and works between Brooklyn, New York, Cali and La Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in Colombia.