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Karla Kantorovich: Honoring Her Heritage with Mixed-Media Installations

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Karla Kantorovich: Honoring Her Heritage with Mixed-Media Installations

 

 

Introduction to Karla Kantorovich.   1:31 min.  Interview:  Raymond Elman.  Post-Production:  Lee Skye.  Recorded via Zoom:  6/7/2025, Miam.

 

KARLA KANTOROVICH is a mixed media artist from Mexico City, based in Miami, FL. She creates paintings, textiles, hand-made paper, and assemblages, leaning into the importance of texture and dimensionality to explore renewal. Kantorovich’s art is a testament to the transformative power of nature. She brings the outside world into our realms, allowing us to explore the profound togetherness that binds us to the natural environment. By deconstructing and reassembling sustainably sourced materials, Kantorovich creates a visual language that speaks to the ephemeral nature of life, the beauty of decay, and the intricate layers that compose our collective story.

Kantorovich received an Ellies Creator Award 2021 from Oolite Arts, leading to her immersive art installation “AMATE” at Piero Atchugarry Gallery in 2022. She also received an Honorable Mention at the Bienal Rufino Tamayo in Mexico City, exhibiting at the Museo Rufino Tamayo and the MACO Museum of Arte Contemporaneo in Oaxaca, Mexico. She has showcased her work nationally and internationally, including at the Biennale Internazionale Dell’Arte Contemporanea in Florence, the Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, the Mexican Consulate in Miami, and the Society of the Four Arts in Palm Beach.

Kantorovich holds a Master of Fine Arts from Florida International University. Actively engaging with the community is of utmost importance to her; she works as a teaching artist aiming to inspire, connect, and provoke meaningful dialogues.

 

The videos below were recorded via Zoom, are organized by Success Factor, and run between 30 seconds and 10 minutes. Click on any video. You must be connected to the Internet to view the videos.

 

EXPOSURE TO BROAD INFLUENCES:    0:36 sec.

Growing up in Mexico City, what was your first awareness of art of any discipline?

 

EXPOSURE TO BROAD INFLUENCES:    0:52 sec.

When I was a child, I used to draw copies of a reproduction of Renoir’s “Girl with a Watering Can” that we had in our basement.

 

INSIGHT & INSPIRATION:    1:16 min.

Did your grandparents, who immigrated to Mexico from Russian and Poland, speak Spanish?

 

CREATES A UNIQUE PERSONAL BRAND:    1:08 min.

So you speak Yiddish??

 

OVERCOMES CHALLENGES TO SUCCEED:    1:05 min.

Why did you move from Mexico City to the United States?

 

INSIGHT & INSPIRATION:    0:49 sec.

How religious are you?

 

CRITICAL THINKING:     1:22 min.

Compare and contrast Judaism and Buddhism as you experience them.

 

INSIGHT & INSPIRATION:    0:28 sec.

When did you decide that you would pursue a career as a visual artist?

 

VALUES FIRST-RATE EDUCATION:    2:15 min.

Where did you go to school? And what did you learn that still informs you today?

 

OVERCOMES CHALLENGES TO SUCCEED:    8:35 min.

You earned your MFA at Florida International University (FIU). Was the English language a big obstacle for you?

 

INSIGHT & INSPIRATION:    9:48 min.

How did the Holocaust impact your artwork?

 

CREATES A UNIQUE PERSONAL BRAND:    1:33 min.

What are the skills you had to develop for your mixed-media creations? And have you experimented with AI?

 

CRITICAL THINKING:    2:04 min.

When you moved from Mexico City to the United States, did you think your move would be permanent or temporary? And what did you pack?