Artist Talk at UW–Parkside with René Amado and Nicole Acosta

René Amado And Nicole Acosta Panel Discussion Promo

From left to right:
René Amado, Photography: Courtesy of the Artist
Nicole Acosta, Photography: Courtesy of the Artist

Join artists René Amado and Nicole Acosta for a special Artist Talk at UW–Parkside at 10:00 am on Thursday, November 7. This free event invites guests to learn more about these two artists and their careers, as well as ask questions about their current featured exhibitions—Low: René Amado at RAM and Nicole Acosta: HOOPS—Beyond the Aesthetic Lies the Story at RAM’s Wustum Museum.

The event will take place at Bedford Hall— in the Rita Tallent Picken Regional Center for Arts and Humanities (CART)— and is presented as a special partnership with local artist Lisa Marie Barber who teaches a class at UW–Parkside related to the topics explored in these museum exhibitions. ART 124, Lowriders, Kicks, and Graffiti focuses on the art and visual culture of Latin Americans, Hispanic Americans, and African Americans during the past 40 years.

René Amado
Based in Racine, WI, René Amado began honing his craft around 2013, in downtown San Antonio, Texas. For Amado, walking the streets and capturing the various scenes and unique individuals he would encounter was a great way to flex his creativity while unwinding from a stressful workday. Since then, he has gone to work in many other genres of photography including: concert and live music, photojournalism, fashion, wedding, culinary, automotive, portraiture, and documentary. In 2017, he started René Amado Photography. In addition to working on freelance photography, he also teaches photography to high school photography. Amado was the inaugural recipient of the RAM Artist Fellowship Emerging Artist award in 2020.

Nicole Acosta
Whether through visual art, written word, or photography, most of Nicole Acosta’s work reflects the exploration of identity, experience, place, culture, and storytelling. Born and raised in Milwaukee, WI, Acosta—a first-generation Mexican artist—is the creator of The HOOPS Project which is being nationally recognized. In 2023, she held a solo exhibition for the project at MARN featuring 63 works, and launched the world premiere of the HOOPS stage play—written by Eliana Pipes based off the stories told by those photographed for The HOOPS Project.

Thank you to the United Way of Racine County for awarding RAM an Equity Innovation Fund Grant to partly fund this event and other outreach programs relating to Low and Nicole Acosta: HOOPS.