Ivete Vaz de Castro Martinez is the Executive Director and founder of Med City Art Festival (MCAF) and a former board member of G24 and SEMVA. She has 8+ years of board and office position experience and is currently a panelist for SEMAC and MSAB. With a passion for giving new opportunities to artists, she’s established outreach programs for G24 and MCAF that involve reaching out to artists within and outside Olmsted County. She has also created three programs at MCAF: the Artists & Business Program, the Multicultural Stage Program, and the Educational Program. She has a master's degree in Philosophy (Oxford, UK), Psychology (Stanford -training, USA), and a Brazilian degree in Education. She’s been teaching art classes in and out of the Library, Northrop Community Center, Mantorville, SEMVA, and G24. Besides curating art for the Berkman Hotel, she is, first and foremost — a visual artist. She has exhibited in Rochester at the RAC, G24, Charter House (Mayo Clinic), Quarry Hill Nature Center, 125Live, Crossings Art Center in Zumbrota, Red Wing Arts, Hopkins Center For the Arts, and Minnesota State Fair. She’s an international visual artist who exhibited in Punta del Este (collective) in Uruguay, Porto Alegre (solo- Galeria da Cultura & Arte) in Brazil, and Malaga, Spain (collective)—she is currently working on an art piece to exhibit at the ArtBox in Zurich Switzerland (2025), at SWISSARTEXPO, and Milan in April (2026).

 

MEMBERSHIP

SEMVA Southeastern Minnesota Visual Artists

G24 - A Collaborative of Local Artists

 

EXHIBITIONS (local galleries)

Crossings Art Center in Zumbrota

2008 Crossings Art Center in Zumbrota (solo)

2013 Crossings Art Center in Zumbrota Poet & Artist Collaboration

(collective)

2014 Crossings Art Center in Zumbrota Poet & Artist Collaboration

(collective)

2015 Crossings Art Center in Zumbrota Poet & Artist Collaboration

(collective)

2016 Crossings Art Center in Zumbrota Poet & Artist Collaboration

(collective)

2016 Hopkins Center For the Arts, Minneapolis (collective)

2016 Minnesota State Fair

Red Wing Arts

2017 Red Wing Arts (collective)

 

SENVA

2019 Endangered and Threatened Species in Minnesota Exhibition

(Coordinator/ project partnership between SENVA and Hormel Institute - (Minnesota University St. Paul).

 

Gallery 24 - Theme Exhibitions

February 2021: Landscape in Rochester (coordinator & participant)

April 2021: Birds & Bees (coordinator & participant)

June 2021: Spring Colors (participant)

October 2021: Animals & Wild Life (participant)

April 2022: Water (participant)

June 2022: Summer Colors (participant)

February 2023: Mythology (coordinator)

April 2023: Spring Time (participant)

June 2023: Bees & Birds (participant)

October 2023: Fairies & Gnomes (participant)

February 2024: Diversity (coordinator)

March 2024: Fairy Tales (participant)

April 2024: Pattern & Texture (coordinator)

June 2024: Sunrise/ Sunset (participant)

October 2024: Culture (participant)November 2021-22-23-24: Fall Colors (participant)

December 2021-22-23-24: Christmas Exhibition (participant)

August -November 2024: Charter House

 

GALLERIES  (International):

Galeria Pró Arte, Porto Alergre, RGS, Brasil

Group Exhibition 2023

January 2025: A view from inside/Uma Vista de Dentro

https://www.galeria-pro-arte.negocio.site/utm_source=gmb&utm_medium=referral

Galeria da Cultura & Arte RGS, Brazil

Solo exhibition 2021 & group exhibition 2022

https://www.galeriadacultura&arte.site/

Epa feria. Punta del Este, Uruguay

Group Exhibition 2021 and 2022

https://www.facebook.com/epaemprendimientosdearte/?locale=ms_MY

Galeria del Arte in Malaga, Spain.

Group Exhibition 2023

https://galeriabeneditoshop.com/la-galeria/

Future Exhibition

Galeria Pró Arte, Porto Alegre, RGS, Brasil

ArtBox in Zurich, Switzerland (2026), at SWISSARTEXPO Milan in April (2026).

​

COMMISSIONS:

Portraits:

Samantha (5 years old)

Sophia Fervenza (4 years old, 8 years old & 18 years old)

Dr. Fernando Fervenza (whole body)

Dr. John Kirklin (Face only/ B & W)

Yenny Faria Vaz (half-body/posthumous)

Robert Mackenzie (Department of the Navy; Cruiser Division Seven-WWII- posthumous)

John Olson (half-body/posthumous)

Terry Olson (half-body)

 

Landscape:

Mantorville Bridge (crosses the Zumbro River, Mrs. Rose Berckson)

Quarry Hill birds (owl - Mr. Yun Qui Vu)

Quarry Hill birds (sandhill crane - Mrs. Yun Qui Shir)

Christmas Landscape- near his house, southwest of Rochester (commission to Dr. Zenier)

Irish Memories (commission Dra. Anne Meehan)

Puerto Rico Tree (commission Dr. Luis Porrata)

 

Still Life & Wild Life:

The Bison Fight (Mr. & Mrs. Brookwayne - Montana)

The Dolls of Ms. Peggy (Mrs. Catwayne)

Rooster announcing a Sunny Day (Abbas Rafiq - Dubai)

 

GRANTS:

2008 SEMAC Grant- Emerging Artist

2010 Mayo Clinic Grant- Community Reach

2013 SEMAC Grant Exhibition

2016 SEMAC Grant Workshop

 

AWARDS:

Best of Show, at Epa Feria. Punta del Este, Uruguay, 2021.

2nd Price, at Epa Feria. Punta del Este, Uruguay, 2022.

2nd Price, Plein Air Art Competition. The Mantorville Art Guild.

1st Price, Wild Life Art Competition 2017. Gallery Art for All (GAA), St. Paul.