The Café Royal Cultural Foundation NYC has awarded a 2026 Winter Visual Grant to María Rodríguez Jiménez for her upcoming installation “Crossroads”.

María Rodríguez Jiménez received her BFA from The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in 2015 and MFA in Painting and Printmaking from Yale University in 2020. Rodríguez Jiménez has participated in residencies such as the Skowhegan School for Painting and Sculpture (2016), Fountainhead Residency (2021) and Alma|Lewis (2024). Her work has been exhibited in institutions such as the High Museum of Art (Atlanta, GA), the Frost Art Museum (Miami, FL), and The Alabama Contemporary Art Center (Mobile, AL), among others. She was a recipient of The Fulbright Research Fellowship (2021) and the NYPL Jerome Robbins Dance Fellowship (2022). She is currently a Visiting Professor at Pratt Institute and lives and works in Queens, New York. 

Crossroads is a large-scale, quilted-painting installation occuring during Long Island City's open studios weekend at Pure Moon Studios (early summer). The scale of this quilted painting is approximately 18 feet long by 6 feet high. It will be double-sided, allowing viewers to experience both sides as they walk around the space. This quilted painting will be made of found, donated and used fabrics. The fabrics used will be directly related to the human body, such as old garments, sheets, etc. These textiles will come from local thrift stores and from donations by the local community in of the area. Viewers will feel the history and energies that permeate these fibers. One side of the quilt will be made up of these stitched abstract patterns. The second side of this quilt will be made of canvas and show the “scars" of the patterns occurring on the opposite side. Along with these scars, there will be painted gestures in acrylic and oil paint to accentuate the affect of memory, age, and touch. These painted marks mirror the temporality of using, acquiring, cutting, and sewing the fabrics; the construction. The work will be suspended from the ceiling and bisect the room in a diagonal, facilitating body movement around the space. Using a patchwork of repeated patterns made of found and lived-in textiles, the forms inside this quilt will tell a story of memory, human touch, process and time. Crossroads will invite viewers to get lost and share in collective memory that color and repetition in patchwork allows.

Please visit María’s Website and Instagram for more information.