Monte Azul Center for the Arts
Programs & Facilities
24 Hour Studio Facilities
The new Monte Azul Studios, opening December 2023, offer artists 24-hour access to quality facilities that are equipped with a 1978 Griffen large formate press for a number of printmaking techniques, kiln, potter's wheel, slab roller for ceramics, and facilities to explore screen printing, digital arts & photography, theater and movement, writing, painting, and sculpture.
Personalized Residency
Reconnect and trust the process. Monte Azul Center for the Arts is a customizable experience, giving you permission to play and find inspiration – in the environment as well as within – to rediscover what’s most important to you.
Monte Azul Center for the Arts caters to artists in a number of disciplines. We offer an inclusive residency program, where diversity is a creative advantage.
Monte Azul Gallery
Monte Azul rotates curated exhibitions at the gallery space located in the Atrium Gallery, as well as in the Visitor Suites, and throughout the grounds.
Works from the collection are inspired by the artists' experiences at the Monte Azul property and produced on-site. The works are available for acquisition, which also helps to underwrite the Fellowship Programs.
Master Printmaker
Salomón Isaac Cháves Badilla
PROFESSIONAL POSITIONS
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Professor of Print Design and Basic Design. Department of Fine Arts, University of Costa Rica
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Researcher II Art Research Institute
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Master Printer, Conservator, and Principal. Arenal Studio, San José, Costa Rica
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Master Printer, Monte Azul Center for the Arts, Costa Rica
ACADEMIC TRAINING
PhD Fine Arts from the Complutense University of Madrid. Spain.
Certified Conservator, School of Art and Antiques, Madrid. Spain.
BA Educational Sciences with an Emphasis in Teaching, State Distance University, San José, Costa Rica.
BA Fine Arts Engraving. University of Costa Rica, San José.
MASTER PRINTMAKER
Cháves is an expert on contemporary and historical printing techniques, having developed and patented through the Univerity of Costa Rica with research performed in Spain and Morocco, the technique of using leather as an engraving surface called corium engraving.
For artists exploring printing techniques, he is available as a Master Printer in any number of techniques and actively recommends collagraph and woodblock for residencies. The immediacy of results with collagraph grants artists the opportunity to use natural materials found in the rainforest at Monte Azul. While onsite, Cháves also recommends woodblock due to the opportunity of working on readily available local tropical hardwoods, such as pochote, coffee wood, guava, among others, that offer a superior working surface and durability.