Dr. Margarita Benítez, Director of "La Fundación Puertorriqueña de las Humanidades", San Juan, Puerto Rico, recently asked Frames and Stretchers Co-Founder Miguel Trelles to create a silkscreen homage to the recipient of the “Humanista del Año 2018” (2018 Humanist of the Year) award, Dr. Carmen Dolores Hernández Badillo.
For the past 38 years, Dr. Hernández Badillo has been an extraordinary presence in Puerto Rico’s cultural scene, assiduously contributing weekly book reviews, feature articles and “perspectivas” to the island’s largest newspaper El Nuevo Día. Dr. Hernández, El Día’s literary critic, has also published several books, among them the seminal Puerto Rican Voices in English, addressing key figures of the Nuyorican literary movement.
Trelles printed the "Humanist of the Year" silkscreen edition honoring his Mother Carmen at the workshop of EFS Designs Inc. Run by master printer Fernando Suárez, EFS specializes in high end fabric silkscreen printing. EFS and Frames and Stretchers Factory share building space in Smith Street, Gowanus. This collaboration was especially meaningful to both Suarez and Trelles as they both attended Boricua College many years ago, Suarez as a student and Trelles a facilitator.