JOSÉ ANTONIO RODRÍGUEZ PÉREZ
José Antonio was born in Mexico City, son of Juan Rodríguez Peréz, one of the founders of the "Saturday Bazaar." His father was an outstanding blacksmith who taught him the tricks of the trade since he was very young. He then studied Architecture at the world-class National Autonomous University of Mexico (abbreviated in Spanish as UNAM), the largest university in Latin America, and in 1982, he decided to dedicate himself to being a sculptor, and started his own independent workshop. In 1996, he created an exceptional art piece for the Universum Museum, an exhibition in the "El Universo" (The Universe) museum hall, and the following year UNAM published a recognition of his work in the book "Ciencia Arte" (Science Art). By 1998, José Antonio had already created over 600 pieces of art, from sculptures to lamps, and other art objects. He created a breathtaking 14' X 11' mural for the main entrance of Arabela, Inc., in the 2000 Toluca Industrial Park in Mexico City. He later created various pieces of art for David Summers Rodríguez, the lead vocalist of the Hombres G rock band from Madrid, Spain. In 2002 he created a special one-of-a-kind iron and glass sculpture for Princess Bodour Al Quasimi to reside in the Sharjah Palace in the United Arab Emirates. In 2005, he shared four forging iron and Gaudian influence work demonstrations for the "Gaudi Extraordinary Artist-Architect" exhibition at the Sal Ildelfonso Museum in Mexico City. He was featured in an exclusive interview by Discovery Channel in 2006, in an effort to globally promote contemporary art, and in 2007 he was selected by "Mexican Leaders" magazine as a leader in the art field. He was also listed in the Top Ten Sculptors of the 2009 Canadian Restoration International Report. Since then, José Antonio has created an incalculable amount of pieces of art, including for entryways, homes and work places around the world. His exquisite and unique work is in high-demand internationally, and he is exclusively represented by Dreamers Do, LLC in the U.S. for everything from existing to one-of-a-kind, and small to large-scale pieces of art made of bronze, iron and glass.
CRISTI QUESADA-COSTA
Cristi was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the daughter of creative parents, yet not by trade. Growing up, she had a passion for all forms of art, her favorite subject at school and beyond. Her father nurtured her creativity early on by providing the necessary tools via an Arts & Crafts club. He also bought her a Fisher-Price sewing machine to satisfy her wish to make dresses for her dolls, empowering her to push the envelope, which led to eventually designing and making her own clothes, sewn by hand. She and her mother would also make tedious seasonal decorations, and once on her own, the art projects continued. Cristi loves interior decorating, and took charge of in-home projects growing up. Unaware of any Creative opportunities when choosing a career, she pursued Marketing, specialized in Advertising, and continued her art projects as hobbies she wished to do full-time some day. As a world traveler, while exploring Thailand in 1996, she visited the artistic Akha tribe. Akha women are known for their embroidery skills, and notorious for their magnificent headdress artifacts, an iconic headpiece tradition made of silver coins, balls and buttons, glass beads, seeds, shells and embroidery, sometimes with feathers and pom poms. The beautiful headpieces are a heirloom passed-on from generation to generation; therefore, she agreed to purchase some beautiful replicas. Once back home, Cristi confronted the dilemma of how to display the headpieces. That's when her favorite creative challenge began. Decorative beaded heads would wear and display the ethnic headpieces. The laborious heads, with thousands of beads and pins, heavy-weight art pieces in themselves, became a conversation piece for visitors, and to this day receive high accolades. With proper lead time, beaded heads can now be made-to-order, either to display tribal headpieces, or as unique stand-alone pieces of art. When Cristi was to marry, with a clear vision of what she wanted, she made her bridesmaid's necklaces, to also fulfill a desire for them to have an emotional value. Subsequently, she began creating jewelry as a hobby, which led to creating custom pieces for special people and occasions. Shortly after her wedding, she proudly became the first Managing/Membership Director of the Latin Recording Academy (LARAS), to launch the 1st Annual Latin GRAMMY® Awards and corresponding events, such as the Latin GRAMMY® Awards After-Party, Latin GRAMMY® Person of the Year (Emilio Estefan), GRAMMY® in the Schools, etc. Then in 2001, with an ex-colleague, business partner, she founded LatinSphere, an Advertising & Experiential Marketing Agency, which allowed her to create and produce award-winning traditional and non-traditional campaigns/projects for Fortune 500 Clients. Among the recognition earned was a Summit International Creative Award for a beautiful logo she dreamed off, and brought to life. This entrepreneurial venture also re-awakened her passion for interior design. It gave her the freedom to design and decorate their work space as she dreamed, an environment their employees and Clients immensely enjoyed, and the local real estate market applauded, as it became the commercial model for creativity in the artsy Long Beach, CA area. While decorating the Agency, Cristi also began working with sculptor José Antonio Rodriguez, to create original art for the office and beyond, a relationship and interest she re-ignited upon closing the agency 14 years later. After an intense and successful 25 year corporate career, she has finally immersed herself in the art field, and select miscellaneous projects.
