Yolanda Velázquez, obtained a BA with a concentration in drawing and painting from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (1987-1992). She developed as a printmaker at the workshops of historic Academia San Carlos in Mexico City and Atelier Contrepoint in Paris. The artist has been granted several awards among them a merit scholarship from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), through Puerto Rico Institute of Culture. Her work has been featured in several biennials and triennials around the world such as the Polygraphic Triennial of San Juan, Latin America and the Caribbean (2015), the Prague Triennial (2014) and Joven Estampa in Havana Cuba (2003). Her artworks are part of private and public collections such as the Puerto Rico Museum of Contemporary Art, the University of Puerto Rico Museum of Art, History and Anthropology, Museum of the University of Alicante and Casa de las Américas in Havana, Cuba and Stanford University Special Books Collection. Velázquez also collaborates with poets and writers illustrating their literary work. Yolanda is co-founder of the Jornadas del Grabado Puertorriqueño, a non for profit organization dedicated to the promotion of printmaking arts in Puerto Rico through diverse cultural and educational activities. For 11 years she worked at a fine arts school as a printmaking, design, art history and art appreciation teacher. The artist currently collaborates and teaches at the Center for Printmaking and Books Arts of Puerto Rico and creates at her workshop La Sirene Bwá/Sirena de Palo in Santurce, Puerto Rico. In 2019 Velázquez founded Taller La Ciénaga, a community based incubator for design and printmaking.