The Illuminated Forest

Edwin Fontánez

2023, cut paper, poster board, pencil, mixed media, 6’ x 10’

REACH to FOREST commission

“Somewhere, within the sweeping expanse and solitude of an imaginary tundra, its wild inhabitants come out to catch the oblique reflection of a distant sun hiding below the horizon. Winter, with its blistery winds rolling over snowy slopes, entices all the forest’s creatures to roam freely. Like magical apparitions out of a fairy tale, reindeer, fawns, snowshoe hares, arctic foxes, and snowy owls come out of their dens and from among the trees like luminous ghosts to enhance the peaceful atmosphere of the forest. Among all the living creatures, perches the beguiling sight of a single cardinal with its fiery plumage, breaking the perfectly white panorama and auguring the promise of spring’s brief respite. And so the cycle of ice, snow, winter winds, and magical creatures roaming the forest goes on undisturbed.”

Enter Edwin Fontánez’s luminous winter fairytale inhabited by the magical creatures hidden among the graceful bodies of a frozen forest. Defined by the tenuous beams of light that filter through the icy branches of the birch trees, visitors will discover the intricate patterns of delicate paper cutouts that portray the tranquil and enchanted atmosphere of a fantastical winter wonderland.

Located at the Youth Book Lounge in the Peace Corps Gallery at the REACH

Edwin Fontánez

Edwin Fontánez is an accomplished and award-winning artist, author, designer, poet, and illustrator, with an extensive and distinguished professional trajectory. Born in Puerto Rico, Fontánez earned a BA in Fine Art at the School of Plastic Arts in San Juan and an Associate degree in Communication Design from the prestigious Pratt Institute in New York. As a fine artist, he has exhibited his work in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Washington, D.C.

With The Illuminated Forest, his new installation for REACH to FOREST, Fontánez continues his years-long collaboration with the Kennedy Center. Past projects have included the Washington Chalk Festival for the Center’s annual Open House (1995–2008), the Multicultural Children’s Book Festival (1996–2008), Family Day: Con Las Puertas Abiertas (2016), and the River Island installation for the RiverRun festival (2023) among others. As a creative cultural consultant, presenter, and leader of art workshops, Fontánez has contributed his talents to other institutions and children’s museums throughout the nation. Fontánez’s vision for a future where Puerto Rican culture is part of the mainstream led him to create his company, Exit Studio Publishing, in 1994. He has published a variety of original works of literature including children’s books, a YA novel, and a personal memoir currently in development as a play.

For more information about this extraordinary artist, please visit exitstudio.com, @exitstudiopub on Instagram and TikTok, Exit Studio on Facebook, and Exit Studio Publishing on YouTube.