The Wistariahurst Museum has ample reason to be proud in presenting the Local and Latino Expressions of Art Exhibit to the public. It is fitting that the most recent wave of immigrants (though more accurately migrants in the case of Puerto Ricans) is welcome to show their exquisite art in the shrine of the Skinners, so intimately bound with the august history of Holyoke. In a variety of styles, the artists reveal the depth of their experience and bear their souls as they offer us their pain and their struggle, but also light, love, and joy in their work. As we delight in their expressions of beauty, we also witness their search for cultural definition. In their current home, each artist explores connections to their roots, to their ancestral home. Caleb proudly proclaims his Puertorriqueñidad and seeks to escape the bounds and limitations of accidental culture. Stephanie reclaims her Mexican American origins and celebrates her spirituality. Mariangeles, with some measure of nostalgia, reaches her beloved Venezuela by way of bloodlines and email on her canvas. Jesse eludes branding and finds peace in balancing his unique ancestry "with integrity and grace." Eduardo returns to the mainland and with renewed vigor asserts the intrinsic values of his beloved Island. Gaddier is awakened by colorful experiences of home with a passion that defines his inner person. The youngsters from Holyoke, with Deborah Savage and a mural as their media, yearn for transformation, seeking a way out of the shadows of their anger into the light of their hope.

Beauty is indeed universal, but it finds unique renditions. This exhibit depicts our deepest feelings -- pain, confusion, a sense of dislocation and alienation -- but also our language, our rhythm, our taste, our history, our politics. Local and Latino Expressions of Art Exhibit offers you a window into our soul, the soul of our Latinidad. Enjoy its naked beauty.

~Orlando Isaza