Biographical Information

Imna Arroyo was born in Guayama, Puerto Rico.  She studied at La Escuela de Artes Plasticas del Instituto de Cultura in San Juan, Puerto Rico and obtained her BFA from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York and her MFA from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.  She has also studied at other printmaking techniques at the Tamarind Institute, New York University Printmaking Studio and at the University of Guanajuato, in Mexico.  Her work is also in numerous collections including the Museum of Modern Art Library/Franklin Furnace Artist Book Collection, Yale Art Gallery and Schomberg Center for Research and Black Culture.

She is currently a Professor of Art at Eastern Connecticut State University where she chaired the Visual Arts Department. Imna Arroyo has been the recipient of numerous awards and grants including several professional development grants. She received the 2000 Excellence Award, in Recognition of Excellence in Creative and Scholarship Activity from Eastern. She also received the 2003 Steinkraus-Cohen Memorial Outstanding Women of Connecticut Award, in recognition of achievements and dedication to public service. The award is under the auspices of the United Nations Association of the USA (Connecticut, Southwestern Chapter) and UNIFEM-Connecticut, members of the CT.

Selected Exhibitions:
She has exhibited extensively including different venues in Connecticut, New York and Mexico.  She participated in the collaborative installations of Altares /Altars at the Arco Chato in Panama City, Panama and Voices of Water at the CESTA Festival in the Czech Republic. Most recently she is exhibited her Yemayá multi media installation at Casa Guayasamin in Havana. Her Trail of Bones multi media installation was exhibited at the Evergreen Gallery at the Evergreen College in Olympia, Washington and at   the Museo Casa Humbull  in Havana, Cuba and the  Galeria de Arte José Miguel González in Colon, Matanzas, Cuba.. Her encaustic  relief print installation was exhibited at the InterAmerican University in  Bayamón, Puerto Rico  and the Heredia Theater in Santiago , Cuba.

Selected Publications:
Her work appears in several publications including Women of Color in Art Resource Series published by Universal Color Slide, (Jan. 1997) and Women Artists of Color: A Biocritical Source Book to 20th Century Artist in the Americas by Dr. Phoebe Farris published by Greenwood Publishing Group (May 1999). She also illustrated Why Goats Smell Bad and other stories from Benin, translated and retold by Dr. Raoul Mama and published by Linnet Books (Jan. 1997).

Service:
She has served on national boards and international committees. Her service included serving as President for the national Women's Caucus for Art (1996-98), Non Governmental Organization (NGO) Representative to the United Nations for the national Women's Caucus for Art; delegate to the Vienna NGO Committee on the Status of Women and the Fourth United Nations World Conference on Women/NGO Forum in Beijing, China; and Commissioner of Cultural Affairs for the city of New Haven (1986-1996).  In Willimantic, she is one of the founding members of the Windham Art Center and Gallery; she serves in the Board of Director’s and Chair the Gallery Advisory Committee. Together with the committee members, she helped established the guidelines in which the gallery presently operates. She also helped to form the Collectivo Mestizal, a Latin American and Caribbean group whose mission is to promote Latino arts, education and culture in the region.