Timeline: [1960-89]

1960

  • Born in Puerto Rico.

1978

  • Accepted to the Cooper Union School of Arts and Sciences. Moves to New York City. Artist Lorenzo Homar writes letter of recommendation for admissions. Meets puertorrican New York born, artists Juan Sánchez and Marina Gutiérrez.

1979

  • Meets puertorrican painter and printmaker Myrna Báez.

1979-80

  • Visiting student at The Museum School of Fine Arts, Boston.

1981

  • Expelled from Cooper Union.

1981-82

  • Takes courses at Parson School of Design and The New School, New York.

1982-83

  • Lives and works in Master Printer Workshop in Florence, Italy. Takes short courses at Studio Camnitzer (Luis Camnitzer ) in Lucca, Valdottavo.
  • Meets Casa Candina's ceramist artist group.

1983

  • Receives Honorable Mention, for prints at «Certamen Anual», Ateneo Puertorriqueño, and «VII Salón de Arte Gulf», San Juan, Puerto Rico. Also receives second prize for «Certamen de la Revista Sin Nombre», Puerto Rico.
  • Readmitted to Cooper Union School of Arts and Sciences.
«Paisaje y bodegón»

Student work for senior show at Cooper Union.

1984

  • B.F.A. Cooper Union School of Arts and Sciences. Cooper Union President buys print for School's collection.
  • Receives Honorable Mention for prints at «Certamen Anual», Ateneo Puertorriqueño, San Juan.
Fábrica de Sodas

«Fábrica de Sodas», a 3-D poster of an building in Old San Juan (Tetuan street).

1985

  • Individual exhibition: «Teatro» at the Liga de Estudiantes de Arte, San Juan.
  • Makes «Fábrica de Sodas», a 3-D poster.
  • Works for design studio doing 110 clowns hat and noses for Ringling Brothers Circus.
Fantasía Zoológica  Fantasía Zoológica  Fantasía Zoológica  Fantasía Zoológica  Fantasía Zoológica  Caperucita Roja

«Fantasía Zoológica», b/w photo at Casa Candina. Last photo «Caperucita Roja» for Opera de Camára.

1986

  • Co-teaches with artist Marina Gutiérrez at Henry Street Settlement, NYC.
  • Work discussed in «Women Artists from Puerto Rico» by Susana Torruella, Helicon Nine, NO 14-15, Kansas City.
  • Paints backdrop «Fantasía Zoológica» for Calichi Dance Company, and creates the stage design for Opera de Cámara, San Juan.
  • Commissioned by the Washington D.C. Cathedral to do a 3-D poster of the church.
  • Participates in the followings exhibitions: «Ocho de los Ochenta», Antiguo Arsenal de la Marina Española en la Puntilla, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, San Juan and «25 Años de Pintura Puertorriqueña», Museo de Arte de Ponce, Ponce and Antiguo Arsenal de la Marina Española at la Puntilla, San Juan.
«Paisaje marítimo (El mundo)»

Painting at exhibition «Ocho de los Ochenta» (detail at right).

1987

  • Directs a summer opera camp for children through 1989, Campamento Creativo de Teatro Musical, product of the artists’ proposal to Opera de Cámara Company. Works with artists Marina Gutiérrez, Nora Rodríguez and actor Javier Cardona.
  • Participates in the followings exhibitions: «Puerto Rican Painting: Between Past and Present», Museum of Modern Art of Latin America, Wash. D.C.; Museo del Barrio, NYC; Museo de Antropología, Arte e Historia of the Universidad de Puerto Rico; «El Bohío», Charra Gallery, NYC; and exhibited a video installation, «Papisa Juana», in collaboration with Leticia Stella Serra and David Trooper at Casa Candina, San Juan.
Asociación de Mujeres Artistas de Puerto Rico

Group shot of Asociación de Mujeres Artistas de Puerto Rico. O'Neill sitting at left bottom corner, Mercedes Quiñonez (front of her), Margarita Fernández Zavala (beside her) and Myrna Báez (standing behind).

1988

  • Moves back to Puerto Rico in February and finishes «Autorretrato Núm. 8», based on Myrna Báez's «Desnudo frente al espejo», the first of a series of appropriations that O'Neill develops during her career.
  • Works as a printmaking assistant to Myrna Báez and for Casa Candina’s ceramic artists in San Juan.
  • First Prize for experimental video, «M, Metrópolis» at Ateneo Puertorriqueño, San Juan.
  • Meets Coreographer Viveca Vázquez, at «Gente o a-gente», a movement piece presented at Universidad de Puerto Rico, Recinto de Cayey, with «Los Teatreros de Cayey».
  • «M, Metrópolis» included in Viveca Vázquez coreography piece «Mira y Qué», 3erd Modern Dance Festival, Teatro de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, Río Piedras, December.
  • Participates in the followings exhibitions: «Collective Show», Park Gallery, San Juan; «Growing Beyond», Asociación de Mujeres Artistas de Puerto Rico, Museum of Modern Art of Latin America, Washington D.C.; Museo del Barrio, NYC; and Galería Caribe, San Juan.

1989

  • Artist is invited to participate in the artist book «A Hundred Legends», publication produced by Northern Lights Alternatives and the Design Industries for Foundations AIDS (DIFFA, New York, New York) that documents the artistic works of 127 artists AIDS victims. O'Neill illustrate the lyrics «Looney Tune» for an anonymous musician now deceased.
  • Taught super-8 film at the Escuela de Artes Plásticas de Puerto Rico, San Juan.
  • Shares a studio in Cayey, Puerto Rico, with fellow artists Carlos Collazo and Marcos Irizarry. She stays at Cayey until 1993.
  • Meets artist Rosa Irigoyen during the latest first exhibition at the Liga de Arte, San Juan.
  • Panelist for News Forms, National Endowment for the Arts, Puerto Rico Community Foundation, until 1990.
  • Becomes a consultant for the creation of the grant program Fondo Nacional para el Financiamiento del Quehacer Cultural, Oficina de Apoyo a las Artes, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña.
  • Participates in the followings exhibitions: «Autorretratos», two-person show with fellow artist Carlos Collazo, Chase Manhattan Bank, Hato Rey, Puerto Rico; «I Muestra de Mail Art», Alcorcón, Spain and «Pintores en Retratos y Autorretratos: Tres Generaciones», Galería Latinoamericana, San Juan, Puerto Rico.

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©2008 - María de Mater O'Neill