Roots of Hope: Handmade Paper, Nature, and Community - Held on the Patio

Presented by Artist Marta Pérez García and UMD Latin American and Caribbean Studies Center

Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with a bilingual Spanish/English family drop-in workshop that invites participants to connect with nature, culture, and one another through the art of handmade paper. Participants can stop by anytime during the program to create handmade paper circles that will become part of a larger collaborative community artwork.

Using recycled paper scraps and natural materials such as flowers, leaves, and seeds, families will create beautiful circular handmade paper pieces while exploring themes of renewal, nature, and community. The circle symbolizes connection and the cycles of life, reminding us that every person has a place and every voice matters. Participants will add their own hopes, intentions, or messages and contribute their handmade circles to a larger collaborative community artwork celebrating Hispanic cultures, creativity, connection, and the shared values of caring for one another and the world around us.

About the artist:

Marta Pérez García has a BFA from Louisiana State University and an MFA from Tyler School of Art and Architecture at Temple University in Philadelphia.

Her work explores the chaotic aspects of the human condition. Through creatures, nature, metaphorical landscapes, and representations of women’s bodies, Pérez García conveys a sense of fragility and strength that reflects the complexity of human experiences.

Pérez García creates her prints through the woodcarving reduction process, where she carves a wooden board to develop detailed figures that are printed onto paper. Her work features vibrant colors, repetitive patterns, and intricate compositions where human-animal forms, objects, limbs, eyes, and teeth create dynamic visual narratives.

More recently, Pérez García’s work has focused on gender-based violence, using multimedia installations and community-based workshops to raise awareness and create space for survivors’ voices. Through collaborations with local organizations, communities, and art institutions, her projects explore themes of resilience, healing, and empowerment.