“I am not a photographer, but I find satisfaction in identifying, framing and recording images that impact me. I am not a poet, but there are circumstances that move me to express my feelings in language that can be defined as poetic.”
~ Jorge Rogachevsky, Arlington resident.
What do members of Arlington’s Latino communities dream of? What poems do they write? What is their favorite dance step? How do they tell their story? How do they express hope? Our exhibit at the Studio PAUSE Community Gallery this Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept 15 – Oct 15) tells these stories and more. As the Studio’s Latino creatives have been sharing how they would like to celebrate, we took in all their ideas, and will have the exhibit up until mid December 2025.
In 2023 we started documenting 10 years of our work at Studio PAUSE, a community history of people, place, and expression. We also started to catalog the Studio PAUSE Community Art Collection. Starting in 2025, we shared materials from these archives with the public. We are constantly inspired by our past work and want to bring it to the present in creative and exciting new ways. In this exhibit, we bring together pieces from the collection along with art and poetry shared by the community, to tell a longer story as we start Year 13 of the Studio.
The exhibit include artworks, poems in English and Spanish, photos and more. Exhibit participants have roots in Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Mexico, Peru, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela. A selection of the exhibit will travel as a pop-up exhibit to the Arlington County’s Festival Latinoamericano on Friday, October 3rd, 5-9 pm.
Community PAUSE: Hope Without Boundaries
Join us for our event, Friday October 17, 6:30-8 pm and meet the artists and poets, hear their stories, and enjoy refreshments. You will leave full of hope, we promise! Held at Studio PAUSE, 4710 Columbia Pike, Arlington, VA, 22204 (between Goodwill and Café Sazón).
Participants
We invited PAUSErs to share their creative work in this community art exhibit. First poems shared, art made in college, poems written at 14 and then as a senior in university, even an artwork created in Microsoft Word. Because when you want to express yourself anything can be your medium. And when you are encouraged to share and you do, it can change what we know about our world.
So thankful to all these beautiful people for making our show:
David Ramos
Ruben Sira
Jorge Rogachevsky
Sarah Manrique-Chiriboga
Gray Romero
Alejandra Rodas-Calderon
Brenda Quintanilla
Flor Caceres Godoy
Elizabeth Isaac
Eva Turner
Tannia Talento
FROM OUR ARCHIVES:
Macy Juarez Izara
Yessenia Arias
Victor Hurtado
Edith Graciela Sanabria
Hareth Andrade
Rosa Calzadilla
Friday October 3, 2025
Festival Latinoamericano
“This is what I was talking about! This is how we celebrate together, eat together, and dance together!” ~ David Ramos, artist, at the Festival.
On Oct 3, 2025, Arlington County celebrated Hispanic Heritage Month through their annual event Festival Latinoamericano. Many partners worked hard with the county’s Dept. of Parks and Rec to put on a fantastic event. Studio PAUSE was one of the partners and we participated with two pop-up exhibits and art activities.
We comissioned David Ramos to create an artwork about what Hispanic heritage means to him. It was used for the County’s poster for the event (right). Born in El Salvador and seeking political asylum in the US as a teenager, “when bombs were falling on his hometown,” David has lived in California for many years before moving to Arlington. So it was great to introduce him to our vibrant community and share his art with Arlingtonians. In his artwork Rejoice in Nature, 2025, he shows us how the landscapes of Central and South America’s countries inform and influence art, textiles, food, and music.
David also created the Monarch Wings, where we shared a poem by Mexican poet and environmentalist Homero Aridjis. Check out the poem on the New York Public Library website here!
Our other Latino artists and writers were there as well, engaging the visitors, sharing their stories. Like Victor, Jorge, Sarah, Yessenia, Eva, and Rosa.
“Through our two exhibits, we celebrate Hispanic heritage in TWO ways so we get a fuller picture of our Latino communities, and why celebrating heritage works.” ~ Sushmita Mazumdar, Studio PAUSE.
First, by sharing the stories of our Latino communities through their art and poetry we understand more about them, their experiences, and their expression. Second, we share how everyone can also learn about Hispanic heritage through art as shared by Girasol O’Neill, Arlington Public Schools art teacher at Carlin Springs Elementary School. He created an exhibit from the lesson on Mexico’s Jalisco Dresses made by his students and taught the activity at the Festival for so many others who stopped by. Girasol O’Neill is a local artist and has collaborated with Sushmita Mazumdar and been a part of the Studio PAUSE community since 2016.
“Studio PAUSE’s emphasis on slowing down to reflect on building relationships through stories has found its way into my classroom as a living example of the power art holds to celebrate, heal, and unite.” ~ Girasol O’Neill, Arlington Public School art teacher.
Check out our photos from the event below! And check out the video of the Monarch Wings artwork (right) complete with Post-it notes the public added on.
View the Dept. of Parks and Rec’s recap video from their Instagram here!
Rosa Calzadilla visits early and sees her artwork framed for the exhibit
David Ramos does "the wings!" with his artwork. "I have been wanting to make a big painting," he had said when commissioned to create this.
Sharmila Karamchandani was happy to do the calligraphy, Spanish and English, to add the poem by Homero Aridjis to the painting
Jorge Rogachevsky is the Studio translator for Spanish and was a great resource in putting up this exhibit, and figuring out how to display those English and Spanish laminated handouts!
Children working on the activity based on Victor Hurtado's artwork "Hope Without Boundaries"
Another section of the pop-up exhibit "Hope Without Boundaries"
Another section
When a visitor finds his friend Ruben Sira's poem in the exhibit!
A child sharing her version of the Hope artwork with the artist, Victor
Eva Turner's artwork "Spanish Rice/Arroz con pollo" on display
The last artworks on display
Saul Reyes sees the photo of the Buckingham Multicultural Mural in the exhibit
Seila Santiago makes wings!
"Vuela!" Fly Victor!
David with his artwork "Rejoice in Nature"
Girasol O'Neill teaches the Jalisco Dress activity with his students' creations on display behind him
David's paintings on display
The artists meet José Quiroz, Arlington's sheriff and Virginia's first Latino sheriff (now there are 2 more, he updated us).
Jorge plays with Hope!
Visitors enjoy the exhibit
Saul makes wings!
The handouts worked!
Sol meets Alexander and his creations
Jorge engages with a visitor
The young artists
Sarah Manrique-Chiriboga makes her own Hope artwork
Girasol's sister's poem in the exhibit decorated with his sketches
Emilee of Arlington county's Dept. of Parks and Rec, who wished we had a big Monarch butterfly artwork at the Festival where visitors could make wings. It was the time when the butterflies migrate. "But the Festival was just 2 weeks away," she said, "so maybe next year." But we knew a guy at the Studio who wanted to make a big painting...
Jerry of Dept. of Parks and Rec joins in! After all that hard work :)
So happy for all the support and help from the PAUSErs, like Nazneen! And so good to see Tyrone!
What if an exhibit became a box of treats for kids?
Bu-Gata, an organization the Studio has partnered with for many years, has planned an event for this fall, Step Out of Stigma: Youth Mental Health Fest! When they asked us to participate, we thought we could give the children a chance to learn how the arts helps people express how they feel? And we had an entire exhibit full of art and poetry to share!
So we started to imagine what it could be, maybe a box, which the youth would assemble, and various things they could fill it with. We created:
The inside cover of the box lid invites you to make your own version of the Hope artwork which attaches to the lid so it works like a picture frame
Artwork postcards which tell the stories of artists David and Victor
A quick breath-work guide by Sushmita as taught by Chunky Raccoon, a character created by Girasol
Bead fidgets created by various PAUSErs who came by and helped
The Stumbling Stickers project by Ashley Goff and Sushmita Mazumdar made into a postcard to show the youth that the community cares
A PAUSEr donated money for us to buy 100 color pencil boxes to give away
Another PAUSEr who saw all this suggested we call it “PAUSE Treats.” And so we did!
