Wednesday, April 22, 2026
Sunday, April 12, 2026
El Cochero
In 8th grade, my middle school theater department was curating the play “The Wizard of Oz”. Our drama program had students and teachers bring in props from home to create the plays set. I was living in Miami at the time and walking home from school one day, I noticed the neighbors in the apartment next door had discarded a plethora of items in the communal yard. I took a look through the pile and found two old, leather suitcases. They were a bit worn down, yet intact, and had a certain charm to them. Both were locked, and did not open without a key. Intending to use them as a prop for my school's play, I lifted the suitcases, and quickly realized how heavy they felt. When my mom arrived home that afternoon, I explained what I had found and out of curiosity she asked to review them. She began to pick the lock with a kitchen knife and when the lock unlatched, the puzzle pieces of a Cuban immigrant family's life revealed itself. 130 Letters, a telegram, photos, postcards, a handkerchief, and more relics were stored inside these cases. My mother set out on a long term project to put together this family's puzzle.
I cut my own hair to use for the guajiro’s mustache. When I glued it on, my grandmother told me that it had reminded her of a familiar person in Cuba named “El Cochero” translating to coachman. He had a mustache, dark like my hair, and would ride a small carriage with a horse around, offering rides to entertain the children of the neighborhood. Amidst my family reminiscing, I got a glimpse of their lives prior to immigrating to America, and was able to make a personal connection to my roots, having experienced life very differently. The trials and tribulations of an immigrant's life journey is one that carries on for generations, and although my family's story is important, it is not unique. Within the community of immigrants, we are all able to recognize and relate with one other. I had presented the puppet in concerts, around school, and around the streets of my town, and to my surprise, plenty of other Hispanic people identified the puppet as their own fathers, uncles, or cousins.
In this installation, the guajiro would be sitting on a bench, and coming out of his hollow head would be snails sculpted from air dry clay, trailing all along his perimeter. Growing up my mother would doodle a snail for me, creating a deep sense of connection to the animal. Not only do snails represent patience, but carrying their homes upon their backs symbolize their adaptation, resilience and strength. With the task at hand to make each snail special, I decided to host one snail making event in my school and one in my house, bringing together friends, peers, and strangers around my college campus together to create clay snails for the installation.
The showcase was December 12th of 2025. After my presentation, I invited everyone to grab a snail to keep for themselves.
Although each snail was created by an individual from a different background, all had one thing in common: they were all on the same voyage together. Accompanied next to the guajiro sitting on the bench, I placed the two leather suitcases. One laid open with a photograph from the family's collection of Raul Vianello Alacan, whose thick brown mustache harmoniously matched with my traveling guajiro.
Tuesday, March 24, 2026
An Essay to Nowhere
"My name is Mariana Flor, and I am the daughter of a first generation immigrant. My mother and father moved from Peru to Miami, Florida to live free of their corrupt governments. My mother is a photographer born in Cuba, an island saturated with censored creatives. The collective of Cuban artists in exile is vastly interconnected, and throughout my childhood I would accompany my mother on artistic endeavors within this community. I grew up with memories of eccentric adults dressed in imperfect bohemian clothes, lighting cigarettes and playing songs on classical guitars. Valentine's day to my mother meant taking us to Miami Beach with a sign that said “I hear love stories” in English and Spanish, and conversing with strangers about love. Our free weekends were spent viewing art at places like the Perez art museum. As a child, I unwittingly translated feelings into artistic expression. The creations and free spirits I witnessed created a sense of comfort in leading through life in my artistic desires.
In 2018, my mother moved my sister and I to New Jersey in hopes of greater opportunities for our family. Moving here opened a world of new cultures, accessible public transportation, cities overflowing with creativity, and the most significant museums in the world, right at my fingertips. With this gain of independence as an adolescent, I attempted to fill my free moments as much as I could. My train rides in between baby sitting jobs were spent live sketching. I integrated myself with artists at local shows, and explored any medium of art that I hadn't touched yet. Inspired by street art, I would bike to abandoned buildings with a bag full of spray paint, to amplify drawings from the night before into murals. I became addicted to improving my style. While traversing through my independent ventures, Hudson County Community College kept me structured. The guidance from my curriculum and professors made me disciplined, and furthered my curiosity.
In 2023, I found a job through HCCC assisting the artist, Jill Nathanson, an artist represented by Berry Campbell Gallery. Jill Nathanson is an abstract painter from New York known for her luminous acrylic paintings. She focuses on the dynamism of color and composition, replicating serene feelings in her work. Assisting Jill Nathanson has led me to practice valuable methods but above all, her attention to color has predisposed my eye. Observing her artistic process has made me witness how the slightest change in a hue can completely affect the sentiment of a field of colors. She is an inspiration and mentor in my art. Around the same time I began working for Jill, I had acquired a job as a studio technician at Blue Skies Pottery. Regarding ceramics, I only had a short portfolio of hand sculpting with air-dry clay and creating claymations, but I voiced my hunger to develop more skills. My role as a studio technician taught me the essence of clay before anything else. With the benefits of the studio space, I was able to practice and build confidence in sculpting and throwing pottery on a wheel. I have now worked as an instructor for two years. My journey in teaching has granted me the opportunity to help guide others, and consistently reflected my passion in 3D sculpting. Being able to physically build a vision of life has allowed me to intertwine my love for drawing into sculpture, and I find paper mache and ceramics to be the most cathartic mediums I work with.
The more my world expands, the further I find creating art to be my purpose. I am privileged to live in a country where I can express myself freely and pursue an artistic career. I feel fulfilled when I create, and relish being challenged. My curiosity strives to be in an environment of artists who feel that same drive, at Rutgers Mason Gross School of the Arts."
I missed the deadline. I could blame it on miss guidance from my counselor. I could blame it on Rutgers confusing website. I could blame it on my lack of discipline. All though all three factors hold a part, sulking in my unsuccessful plan of my academic timeline will just leave me stagnant. I am not being set back, I am being re-navigated. Whenever I end up wherever I do, I am certain I will be creating my art, whether it be Mason Gross, or on the side of a road... That being said, Fall 2027 application will be seeing me once again, and until then I’ll continue learning from the play of life.
Sunday, January 25, 2026
Pet Shop Blog
Right on Grove Street in downtown Jersey City lives a familiar favorite bar to locals, Pet Shop. Pet shop is the pop star of bars in Jersey City. The bar is labeled as a vegetarian restaurant on google, upholding a high status with their vegan chicken nuggets. The bar creates a cozy atmosphere with its dark wooden interior, illuminated by yellow Christmas lights hanging all along the ceiling. There's quirky art displayed, an intimate wine bar in the basement, a spacious patio, and a sweet instant photobooth. While the bars staff does an excellent job in maintaining a polished and cleanly space, the place is still able to hold a grungy bar-like feeling. The bathrooms are blasted with stickers from all sorts of musicians and tagged often by familiar graffiti writers.
Pet Shop feels as though you are taking a step into a cabin owned by a dachshund that wears a monocle. (Here is a drawing of my vision of said Sausage Dog)
The owners of the bar are David Rappaport, Shen Pan, and Erick Speck. They were initially looking to open up a music venue. Erick Speck says, "It's a shame because this area needs it." Although it is not a venue, shows are hosted often enough to create a reputation of one. Bands are invited to perform and DJ's such as Bad Habits and Slim Carrey spin vinyl very often. With the owner's appreciation for rock n roll and cheap beer, they created a space for musicians and artists to feel at home.
I turned 21 on June 22 of 2025. Prior to that, Id often bike down grove street and hear music from outside the bar. Not being able to enter, I would feel what one calls FOMO. Since turning of the legal drinking age, I have been able to spend a handful of nights popping in Pet shop and over consuming green tea shots. On December 11th of 2025, I finally caught my first live show there.
The bands that performed were Juniper, 3 dollars, Skinny, and Young and Doomed. I am proud to say that they are all local and skilled bands in the North Jersey scene. All 4 bands differentiate in alternative genres yet created a cohesive and exciting bill. The show was hosted by the familiar "Dancing Tony" who brings a liveliness to Jersey City by consistently curating events. It had been every bands first time preforming at Pet Shop, making it a memorable night for the local bands and supporters.
On December 18th of 2025, I attended my second show at Pet Shop. My friends that play in the noise rock band, Rotoscope, were performing for the first time at the bar alongside Ouchie, and Dark Surfers. Rotoscopes electronic synths and epileptic light show is enough to make you dance sober, so it paired splendidly that night with Jameson. After the show I was conversing with my friend Soul. He had revealed to me that Pet Shop used to quite literally be a pet shop...
Soul moved to the apartment above the bar in 2008, when the business below was still bannered "Village Tropical Fish & Pet Supplies". The business opened in 1976, being one of the oldest running businesses in Jersey City. When I asked Soul what vivid memories he had living above the original store, he said "I was obsessed with reptiles as a kid. Being right above a tropical pet store only influenced me even more. Every other day I'd go inside the store when I got home. It had a classic pet store smell but a bit funkier than most and looking back at it the animals could've been kept much more responsibly. I recall seeing tropical birds, rodents, fish, etc... The owner was an older man, who despite being rude at times, explained the caretaking of the animals well. I had two iguanas, a bearded dragon, a tarantula, and I was surprised with a cat all from the same store." Just like my pet enthusiast friend Soul, the shop had many loyal customers. However, in 2014 the shop closed down after 38 years of business, due to what we can assume to be rising rent in the gentrifying area.
When David, Erick, and Shen were looking to rent a place out, they thought to keep the name of the prior businesses. In the blog post "Pet Shop Bar" by "Jersey City Gal.", Dave Rappaport says "We almost rented Beauty Land and were going to call it Beauty Land." Renting 99 Cent Dreams was also amidst conversation between the owners. A beer and a show at a spot named "99 Cent Dreams" does sound enticing... Nevertheless, they landed upon the pet shop. They decided to craft a vegetarian menu, which one can deem as a commemoration to the spots 38 years of being animals' territory. Their bar logo is an empty bird cage with a bent bar, symbolizing the liberation from their day jobs to pursue their passions.
(Here is my friend Keilani and I liberating ourselves as well...)
With that being said, we out to Lucky 7 next!
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