Oxford University Press Selects 'Battle of Rice and Beans' Painting by Harlem-Born Artist, Social Commentator, Soraida Martinez, for Scholarly Book Teaching Diversity

Oxford University Press, Louisiana State University Press, Prentice Hall, Harcourt Achieve, and McGraw Hill Higher Education, use socially conscious "Verdadism" paintings of Harlem-born artist and social commentator, Soraida Martinez, to promote educational textbooks and literary works-of-art that parallel the focus on humanity that the artist promotes.

Gibbsboro, NJ (PRWEB) May 16, 2006 -- Oxford University Press, Louisiana State University Press, Prentice Hall, Harcourt Achieve, and McGraw Hill Higher Education, use socially conscious "Verdadism" paintings of Harlem-born artist and social commentator, Soraida Martinez, to promote educational textbooks and literary works-of-art that parallel the focus on humanity that the artist promotes. www.soraida.com.

New York-born artist, designer and social commentator, Soraida Martinez, knows the meaning of adversity. Born 1956 in Harlem, New York, to Puerto Rican parents, Soraida had to reinvent her initial impoverished background (and subsequent alienation in the early 1970’s as a teenager living in a prejudiced Southern New Jersey community) through creating abstract paintings that confronted the inequity that caused much personal tribulation and emotional turmoil for most of her adult life. After receiving two advanced degrees in the fine arts, Soraida embarked on a professional journey to make sure that other disadvantaged individuals, especially children, came to the realization that they too could overcome societal and personal obstacles through attaining higher education and becoming socially conscious. In 1986, Soraida formed a graphic design studio; in 1992, she created the art style of “Verdadism,” where every painting has an accompanying written social commentary addressing racism, sexism, stereotyping, sibling relationships, and the universal human condition -- for the precise purpose of encouraging social change and advocacy through a deeper understanding of the human soul. www.soraida.com/verdadism.htm. At the time, in the early 1990’s, Soraida’s art was not well-received by the mainstream American institutions, which tended to disregard or diminish the important social issues being discussed by the artist; nowadays, prestigious university book publishers, like Oxford University Press and Louisiana State University Press, as well as major educational book publishers, like Prentice Hall, Harcourt Achieve, and McGraw Hill Higher Education, are using the artist’s socially conscious paintings to promote educational textbooks and literary works-of-art that parallel the focus on humanity that Soraida’s Verdadism art portrays. www.soraida.com/definition.htm

For an artist’s vision on empowering yourself with your own truth and a creative approach towards becoming an open-minded human being, please visit www.soraida.com.

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