New Haven Independent

The conversation between architect Cesar Pelli and graphic artist Imna Arroyo (pictured above) took place at the Knights of Columbus Museum Friday night at an event co-sponsored by Arte, Inc and the Progreso Latino Fund of the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven. The forum explored the value of art to New Haven’s Latino community.

Judging by the throngs who turned out, it’s high.

Argentine-born Pelli and Puerto Rican visual artist Arroyo each showed slides of five of their works, then engaged in a conversation with Jock Reynolds (pictured) , director of the Yale University Art Gallery.

Pelli, who’s lived in New Haven for decades, said, “My buildings are like my children. I love them all equally.” He showed slides of the new Cooperative Arts and Humanities High School (pictured); Yale’s Malone Center for Biomedical Engineering, fronting the Farmington Canal Rail Trail; St. Thomas More Chapel on Park Street; and the yet-to-be constructed biology lab building on Whitney Avenue.

Finally he said jokingly, to laughter from the audience, “We also do work outside of New Haven,” and showed a slide of his most iconic work, the Petronas twin towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (pictured).

He said his criterion for success is whether the people using the buildings feel it has added something to their lives. And, for himself, “Art makes me happy.” He said he saw the same positive feeling in his young granddaughters when they engage fully in any kind of art project, moreso than in any other kind of play or, certainly, any passive consumption of entertainment.

Imna Arroyo, an art professor at Eastern Connecticut State University, is the recipient of many grants and awards and works in various media. She said picking just five favorite pieces was a difficult challenge.

Pictured are two of those she chose.

Pelli acknowledged that “architecture is very different from what Ms. Arroyo does. I never touch a brick; I don’t even do the drawings. My work is very cerebral.”

For anyone surprised that such a world-class architect should live in New Haven, he explained, “New Haven is a fantastic place for an architect; there are no interruptions and distractions” such as would be found in New York City. Then he added, “New Haven has a fantastic cultural life, and New York is very near if you have to go there.”

Pelli said he doesn’t believe his Latino origins have affected his work. Arroyo, on the other hand, said she has spent her life exploring her origins, traveling around the world to learn more about her mixed heritage.

In answer to a question about what united two Latino artists from such different backgrounds, Pelli said it was the Spanish language.

Arroyo agreed, but added, “It’s more than language. It’s the music, the food, the rhythm,” as she swayed in her chair to an imagined beat.

In the lead-up to the evening’s discussion, Daniel Diaz and David Greco — co-founders of Arte, Inc. — explained some of the programs they’ve sponsored, including a just-concluded very busy month of activities celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month. Arte also runs ongoing arts classes for kids and takes middle school-age Latino students on a college tour every year, where they interact with Latino college students and get to imagine themselves in that role.

John and Frances Padilla (pictured schmoozing before the formal program began) book-ended the evening’s program. John explaining the origins of the Progreso Latino Fund, in which Latinos decided to start a fund at the Community Foundation to promote the well-being of Latinos in the region, especially young people. It currently boasts $142,000.

He told a story of how, with some phone calls and emails, including to many donors to the fund, he was able to raise $8,000 to send Michelle Palma, a Mexican American rising senior at Amistad High School, to a prestigious six-week Introduction to Architecture summer course at Cornell University. “One thing we know about Latinos — our giving is personal,” he said. “We know the situation; we know the hardship — we respond.”

Palma (pictured) thanked donors for allowing her to attend the program, in the process reeling off a gaggle of architectural terms.

At the end of the formal program, Frances Padilla made a pitch for more donors.

The evening began and ended with food, music, and socializing.