Conversation and gallery tour with Alejandra Castro Rioseco and Royce W. Smith, moderated by Carolina Alfonso.
Alejandra Castro Rioseco
ALEJANDRA CASTRO RIOSECO
Alejandra Castro Rioseco, Founder and Executive Director of MIA ART COLLECTION, graduated in Civil Engineering, dedicated to philanthropy for the last 15 years. The three main pillars of her engagement are Gender Empowerment & Rights, Education, Arts & Technology. MIA ART COLLECTION is a not for profit organization focused on improving visibility of women artists around the world and based in Dubai, UAE and in Europe in Antwerp, Belgium and Madrid, Spain. The collection is recognized for its emblematic leadership to support women artists, with artists from over 33 countries and more than 900 artworks.
Alejandra’s commitment to build towards a better and more harmonious and balanced society is expressed through her active engagement with organizations protecting the environment, promoting gender equality, promote music as part of basic children education. She served as first South American woman on the Board of the worldwide International Chopin Society Federation headquartered in Warsaw, Poland. She served on the boards of El Museo del Barrio and the Guggenheim Museum in New York City. In 2020 she integrated the Middle East Guggenheim art acquisition committee.
She is founder of the project “Exiled for the Arts, NYC” in 2017. She serves on the Board of the prestigious International Jose Limon ballet, with a mission towards education of children and youngsters through dance in the world.
She founded in 2018 the MIA ART COLLECTION Virtual Museum, a technological platform for promoting women artists and access to their works during the Covid pandemic, with as stepping stone was her personal art collection of exclusively contemporary women artists. She founded the Mujer Opina Foundation in Chile to promote and educate on women development and empowerment. Alejandra was an active participant in the establishment of the Gender Equality Roundtable in the Chilean Senate.
Currently, she is part of the international Istambul Contemporary Board.
Prior to arriving at CSULB, Royce W. Smith, Ph.D., served for seven years as dean of the College of the Arts and Architecture and professor of contemporary art history at Montana State University. Before that, he was director of the School of Art, Design and Creative Industries at Wichita State University in Kansas. His expertise with college programs and collaboration with diverse faculty and staff has made Smith a respected speaker, having given lectures and presentations around the country. He also secured numerous grants and awards, curated exhibitions and international biennials, and has been published extensively. At Montana State, Smith was an executive member for the International Council of Fine Arts Deans and a representative to the school’s diversity council. He also helped design a new interdisciplinary center for the several colleges and departments, including film, animation and music technology. Smith earned a B.A. from Wabash College in Indiana and a master’s in English from Purdue University and received another master’s and his doctorate in contemporary art history and theory from the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia.
Carolina Alfonso
Latin American artist Carolina Alfonso began painting at a very young age. She studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti Pietro Vanucci, Perugia, Italy, University of San Francisco, Quito, Ecuador and achieved her Magna Cum Laude Master´s degree in Studio Art at New York University.
Carolina attended workshops at the Museum Reina Sofia in Madrid and at the Sorbonne in Paris. Carolina has the privilege of being one of the few female artists to be present in the permanent collection of the United Nations Palace in Geneva. She had individual exhibitions at Unesco in Paris, the United Nations Palace in Geneva, Maison de l’Amérique Latine in Monaco, among others.
Her artworks can be found in prestigious collections such as the Prince Albert II Foundation, Fondation Princesse Charlène, Maison de l’Amerique Latine and The Red Cross in Monaco, the UNESCO, the Egyptian Cultural Center, Egyptian Embassy, Ecuadorian Embassy and Panama Embassy in Paris, Maison de l’Amerique Latine in Lyon, France, the United Nations Palace in Geneva, Switzerland, the Canning House in London, England, the Emily Harvey Foundation in Venice, Italy, the Museum of Fine Arts in Hanoi, Vietnam, the National Museum in Angkor, Cambodia, International Center of Arts of Jinan, Shandong, in China, the Omar-Benjelloun Fondation in Marrakesh, Morocco, Art Museum of the Americas in Miami and MOLAA in California, United States, ALADI in Montevideo, Uruguay, Guayasamin Foundation in Quito, MAAC Guayaquil, and Art Modern Museum, Cuenca, Ecuador, Las Garzas Presidential Palace and National Bank Museum in Panama, as well as in several international galleries.
Her work is based on the wisdom that comes from nature and its process of constant transformation. Inside MIA Art Collection, she’s the Director of International Affairs.
