ESMERALDA FLORES
MISSISSIPPI DELTA, 2022 - 2023
Esmeralda Flores’s practice emcompasses ceramics, printmaking, and paintings featuring insects, plants, the macabre, and her Hispanic heritage and upbringing. She is inspired by wide-ranging artists such as Marina Abramovic (for her fiery desire to create and display her love and pain), Frida Kahlo (for her perseverance and spirit), and Georgia O’Keeffe (for her dedication to style and artistic expression). She loves the beauty of not only Arkansas, but of the River Valley in particular.
Esmerelda has played an integral role for young artists here in the River Valley this past year, by supporting them in their artistic endeavors in local art exhibitions. Esmerelda has been creating art for local events, including our first Hispanic Heritage Festival in the Valley, Day of the Dead, and Trunk or Treating at the Dardanelle Library honoring her heritage and will continue to do so in the years to come. She has worked to create a free food pantry with the River Valley Adult Learning alliance alongside Americorp members for MLK Day of Service, and demonstrated the art of printmaking for Spanish and English learners in the bi-lingual class. Esmerelda will continue to have a lasting impact on our community with an upcoming “bug hotel” to be placed in the McElroy House garden, encouraging the practice of honoring our ecosystem, as well as having her art on exhibit at the Ft. Smith Art Museum during the first 4 months of 2024.
CULTURE HUB
McElroy House is a grassroots organization located in the small town of Dardanelle, Arkansas, working to bring people together across differences and find local solutions to local problems. Valuing its landscape and its cultural resources, McElroy House explores how the past informs the present, and how, by building bridges across generations and cultures, we can work toward a stronger and more inclusive future. McElroy House hosts weekly craft nights and bilingual gardening gatherings; tends to a grief and joy garden; runs a mutual aid food pantry, and holds story circles and living room conversations. The organization believes that community members are experts in their lived experience, and it work to carve out space where people can come together to build equitable, beloved community.
SOCIAL IMPACT INITIATIVE
The River Valley Adult Learning Alliance provides free, accessible, one-on-one and small group, quality instruction and support to adults and families in Franklin, Johnson, Logan, Pope and Yell Counties. They strive to build strong partnerships within their communities and help adults and families meet their self-appointed learning goals.