The artists will be recognized at the annual HACC-Gettysburg Hispanic Heritage Celebration from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 3. The art exhibit and the celebration are open to the community.
Valdes, who is now a United States citizen, adopted the name "Tarasca" to honor her ancestors from Michoacan, Mexico. She describes herself as a self-taught artist who finds herself drawn to "environmental issues, portraits, magic expressionism, and primitivism."
Tarasca has ADHD-Dyslexia and says that because of her hyperactivity she has become a prolific, multifaceted, multidisciplinary artist. "My art expresses a great part of my personality. It also allows me the opportunity for self analysis. In my studio, paint is the medium through which I play the role of the patient and psychoanalyst simultaneously."
Tarasca's paintings have been featured in a number of exhibits in the Maryland-Virginia-District of Columbia region. She also enjoys participating in workshops and television programs, adding that her appearance on the Washington, D.C. WUSA-TV Channel 9 Eyewitness newscast has been one of the highlights of her artistic career. More information is available at her Website, www.gloriatarasca.net.
Lilly, a health-care administrator at Hanover Hospital who has had no formal art training, says he paints "because it is an incredible relaxation and a form of expression that I don't have in my professional life.
"I find a lot of joy in spending time in front of a canvas," says Lilly, who describes his biggest inspirations as "the people in my life and the places that I travel."
He has traveled extensively in the Spanish-speaking world, and his adopted 6-year-old son was born in Guatemala.
Lilly's work in the exhibit at HACC includes two acrylic paintings, two watercolors and a charcoal drawing. His subjects range from Mayan shaman-priests and goddesses to the mystical hues of sunset in a Guatemalan coastal village.
The exhibit is open to the public 7:30 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 7:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday through Oct. 26 at HACC-Gettysburg, North Gettysburg Center, 731 Old Harrisburg Road. The college is near Weis Markets and Adams County National Bank. For more information, call 337-3855.