ILEANA ALARCÓN

BIO

Ileana Alarcón (b. 1993) is a Colombian American artist who grew up in Connecticut as a child of two immigrant parents. From a young age, she quickly became interested in designing spaces - building forts, making make-shift playhouses, and building toy block cities. At age 9 she drew up a floor plan for her parents’ home so that it would be more child-friendly and at age 10 she helped her father build a permanent playhouse in the backyard from mostly recycled materials. 

Ileana’s father was a huge influence in life, teaching her as much as he could about creating things by hand. As a poor immigrant child to the United States, along with his four younger sisters, he taught himself how to make toys out of whatever he could find - including mud. This creativity and perseverance is what he passed on to Ileana. 

Ileana graduated with a BFA from Maine College of Art and Design in 2018 and is now based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She is an Artist in Residence at Vital Spaces and a member of Abstract Picnic Artist Collective. Ileana’s artistic practice focuses mainly on sculpture and ceramics.