Cuba-born artist to highlight Jan. 23 program at Mint Museum Randolph

As part of its ongoing artists’ series, the Guild of Charlotte Artists will host a program at the Mint Museum Randolph on Jan. 23 highlighting the art of Mint Hill artist and teacher Carlos Alvarez Cotera, a self-trained artist who believes sharing what you have learned from art is as important as the art itself.

The primary mission of the Guild of Charlotte Artists to share, promote and educate artists and art enthusiasts. Since 1948, the GCA has been a mainstay of the Charlotte community and is one of its oldest local artists’ groups.

Cotera said he believes that “nothing matters more than the opportunity to use my art to express life and share it with others.”

Cotera is a Cuba-born artist whose presence, GCA member Nancy Blake says, evokes terms including “soft-spoken, gentle and welcoming.”

Born in 1966, Cotera lived his early life under Fidel Castro’s communist regime. Cotera’s emergence as an artist from such a repressive beginning shows just how resilient the human spirit can be.

“Growing up in a communist country is no easy endeavor, especially for creative people,” he said. “I must have been 4 or 5 when I started drawing lines in the pages of my father’s book collection.”

By age 14, he had become what he calls “an avid draftsman.” The same year, he escaped from Cuba and got his first taste of artistic freedom.

Cotera credits this early exploration of drawing as “a wonderful foundation for the rest of my artistic career.” He steadfastly believes that “drawing should be an ability that every fine artist should master early in their career.”

He arrived in San Jose, Costa Rica in 1981. Due to good fortune and his drawing ability, he got a job hand-painting ceramic pottery. The experience exposed him to the use of color and was the beginning of a new era of art for him.

“I learned much by watching others and doing some experimenting,” Cotera said.

Four years later, he moved to south Florida. He was a jewelry salesman for a while but continued to explore art in the form of painting on canvas. He joined an art center and pursued fine art as a vocation.

His media expanded to include pencil, watercolor, acrylic and oil as well as experiments with clay and tile mosaics.

“I rented a studio in this place full of artists,” he said. “It was an amazing experience.”

Almost six years ago, Cotera moved to Mint Hill to be closer to his brother, who is a lifetime supporter of Cotera’s art. As a teenager, Cotera’s brother gave him a book on the art of Salvador Dali that had a profound effect on his artistic style.

“Dali’s masterpieces were a huge inspiration,” said Cotera. “However, I developed my style of painting on my own by experimenting with the mediums, watching other artists and asking questions.

Cotera’s lifetime of art exploration is the foundation of his program for the GCA, and he will explain the method he uses when painting on canvas, from drawing freehand with the brush and acrylic paint to finishing with an oil paint glaze – a technique that adds “richness and depth” to his art.

In the dreariness of winter, the audience will meet a man whose personal motto is “Live. Love. Give.” And be taken to a warmer place by the vivid colors of his art – at least for a few hours.