Kelly Jimenez & Alejandro Franco
St. Louis, USA
We are lovers of nature, we are always finding ways to celebrate it and preserve it. Currently we are working in the creation of stained glass windows out of single-use plastic. We are making use of the translucency and variety of colors of this material to present the audience with meticulously crafted pieces that turn a material so transient and detrimental into something of great beauty, worth preserving. By spending all this time and effort to recover an undervalued material through labour, we hope to make an allegory of the efforts we need to make to preserve a healthy ecosystem, one where we can feel hopeful and proud, an essential desire so often taken for granted.
Alejandro Franco is a multidisciplinary artist who works primarily in the arrangement of found objects assemblages as well as painting, Alejandro was born on October 3rd of 1982 in Medellin (Colombia), at the age of eighteen he moved to Florida where he started his artistic exploration “Living in the industrialized world, surrounded by an excessive amount of objects together with the media, I find fulfillment in the creation of characters built from various objects that were previously resting without purpose. Looking out for similarities between objects is one of my greatest passions, striving to interpret thoughts. I feel the need to intervene within these forgotten elements, to work with their poetic potential to create convergence that engages people with a message. A never ending search for beauty, making use of the detritus of everyday life”
Experienced Art Director & visual artist born in Bogota, Colombia with a demonstrated history of working in the textile industry as an Art director. Moved to Florida at a young age and earned an Associate of Arts and Sciences (A.A.S.) in Fashion/Apparel Production and Design from the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale. Focused mainly on space intervention for film sets, editorial publications and visual concepts for set design. Kelly uses everyday objects as tools for inspiration and exploration and is versatile in production, costumes, textiles, mask making. Currently lives and works in St Louis (US) where she collaborates with her partner Alejandro Franco on the making of stained glass windows out of single used plastic, due to their shared affinity with working together and their urgency to preserve species and our land.