Artist’s Profile – Arts Gowanus

Artist Statement: My name is Alitha A. Alford, I was born in Angeles City, Pampanga, Phillippines in 1985. I am Filipina, Black American, mixed media collage artist and acrylic painter, based in New York City, New York. My first experience as an artist was in 1999, when as a 13 year old, in Indianapolis, IN, I worked with Jim Sarno (Walt Disney Imagineer, who worked on the opening team for Disney’s Epcot) on a fabric mural project for CTB McGraw-Hill. It was my first taste of being published as an artist, being on the local news, and working with a phenomenal, professional artist. My mural was published in McGraw-Hill’s School Year Calendar for 1999/2000. I believe that being an artist is something that one is born to do and can be either a self taught and/or formal practice. In my experience, I went on to study art throughout my childhood to present day through practical experience, learning through trial and error, and self learning studying the works of Van Gogh, Picasso, Georgia O’Keefe, Jackson Pollock, Salvador Dali, Seurat, and Monet as my teachers alongside my art instructors and mentors from my adolescent school years. I work primarily in mixed media collage work and acrylic paint on canvas and wood panel. I currently work from my art studio, studio anaalitha, based in Brooklyn, NY, in the Gowanus neighborhood.