Source: OVSICOR As the Arenal Volcano in Costa Rica reawakens from a two-year slumber, digital photographers are rushing to capture stunning pictures of the spectacular steam column, vapor trails and overall beauty of the prettiest colossus in our country. Most of these photographs, however, are not being taken with expensive digital single-lens reflex camera (DSLR) equipment; instead, they ar...

The Southern Caribbean Society of the School for the Arts (Spanish acronym: EDACS), the Municipality of Talamanca and the Chamber of Tourism and Commerce of the Southern Caribbean (Spanish acronym: CATCCAS) cordially invite you to ArteViva, a special festival that features art, music, gastronomy, film, sports, and a permanent program in arts for the people of Puerto Viejo in Talamanca, Costa Rica....

This is a list of photos that we at The Costa Rica Star feel should be retired and never again used by any Costa Rican tourism company. These photos below have been used over and over again, online and in print advertising for many years, often without the approval or consent of the copyright holder to the photo. It's time that tourism operators and businesses spend some money to get new photos...

Inspired by the drama of light and shadow, artist Juan Carlos Camacho specializes in watercolors which show contrast, detail and sometimes depicts ambiguity. Born in Heredia, Costa Rica, Camacho studied drawing and painting from his high school years at Conservartorio Castella through his tenure at the University of Costa Rica, where he obtained a degrees in drawing, painting, and architecture. ...

On the same trip that took us to Costa Rica's sexiest new sustainable hotel back in October, we ended up acquiring a nasty bout of food poisoning (no, not from said sexy hotel, mind you!) a couple days before our flight home. When we stumbled upon San Jose's Corteza Amarilla Art Lodge & Spa, we knew we'd found the perfect spot to recoup. Sure, maybe it was all the antibiotics and electrolytes the ...

Artist David Villalobos, born in the province of Alajuela, Costa Rica, started to show his talent when he was very young. He expanded his knowledge of sculpture and technique studying under other sculptors from whom he learned the importance of finding his own style to exhibit his artistic language. "Over time, with the perseverance of those who were guiding my process, I managed to ac...

We wish to announce our upcoming exhibition "Boom Goes the Tropics," by Florencia Urbina at the Hidden Garden Art Gallery. The opening will be on Saturday December 1st from 10:00 am to 4:00 p.m. We invite you to attend, and would appreciate your exposure of the event online or in print. Please contact us for any additional information or high-resolution photos. Transforming light and ...

By Walker Simon NEW YORK | Fri Nov 16, 2012 6:07pm EST NEW YORK (Reuters) - A rare, life-size, anonymous portrait of Aztec emperor Moctezuma II and a ground-breaking surrealist painting by Chilean artist Roberto Matta are among the top lots in Latin American art auctions next week in New York. Art experts hope that record sales of post-war and co...

Recently The Costa Rica Star was emailed a photograph of a man hand fishing in Costa Rica. We shared this photograph on our Facebook page, and it received a good amount of comments and sharing. What we did not know is that this photograph was not the property of the person who emailed it to us, it was in fact the property of Adam Allegro (pictured above), who was recently in Costa Rica catchin...

Costa Rica is quickly becoming one of Central America's hubs for all things design. There are a growing number of design education initiatives that have seemed to gain some momentum in the past few years by the local creative community. This year, Costa Rican designers have launched a national sketching workshop in their home country. They call it Sketching Lab Costa Rica. It's a 3-day, int...

Welcome to the Amistad Art Prize 2012 offered for the best art piece inspired by the “Plight of the World’s Rainforests”. -Supporting 3 different environmental projects -The artist makes 40% of the bid received for the piece in the auction -Social responsibility and exposure The Problem Deforestation in Costa Rica has a serious impact on the environment and directly or indirectly co...

This past September 15th, on the costarican Independence day, Zoom Sport Costa Rica was born. A sports photography agency opened its doors to offer their services to the costarican population, especially to those in charge of organizing professional or recreational sporting events. Zoom Sport Costa Rica, is made up of two young entrepreneurs from Cartago, Marcelo Ortiz and Gustavo Gutierrez...

For those of you who don't know Solson, he is a professional photographer who contributes with The Costa Rica Star. Please support him in his career by visiting Foto.cr (after reading the article of course). So, I've been trying to learn about video using my digital camera. Fun. Interesting. Challenging. My gear wish list just tripled. Turns out my existing tools will do the job, but it wou...

A group of women living in a remote Costa Rican village decided that they were tired of working their fingers to the bone every day. Instead, they became artists. An exhibit of their work will be on view now through Sept. 30 in the Beverly Corcoran Memorial Gallery in the Pittsburg Memorial Auditorium lobby. A public opening reception will be held at 1 p.m. Sunday. The exhibit is coordin...

You can view more pictures related to this article on the Facebook page of The Costa Rica Star. If you would like the author of this article to write a review about your hotel or business in Costa Rica using an article and HD pictures, contact us. Last Tuesday morning we found out, I had mistakenly noted 8 A.M. for the van pick up to Arenal, which was actually 2 P.M. With six hours to kill...

You can view more pictures related to this article on The Costa Rica Star Facebook page. During our recent visit to Costa Rica, we planned two and a half days at the Arenal volcano area. My wife wanted to relax in some hot spring pools and hike some trails. We searched the internet for lodging that would be reasonable and close to the activities surrounding the volcano. We came across Lo...

The Contemporary art museum of Costa Rica based in San José is displaying works by Rebecca Alpizar in its “Para Verte Mejor” (The Better to See You With) exhibition until 4 August 2012. This exhibition explores self-portraits, the artist’s key topic, by seeking new approaches to self-representation so as to offer spectators a large panel of image readings through reflection and acquisition of i...

The French Alliance in Costa Rica presents "Bon ArtPetit: A Dining Table", a unique cultural and artistic project that is currently in its fifth iteration. "Intervention at the dining table" would be the most appropriate phrase to describe the concept of Bon ArtPetit. The dining table is an important place in our lives, for therein it is where we converge on to sit down, share, meet, and communic...

Art Exhibit: "Eyes of the Soul" Artist: Hernan Peréz Peréz Technique: Oils On Canvas Opening: June 16 Ending: August 3 Location: Hidden Garden Art Gallery *located 5 kms west of Liberia Airport (towards the beaches) Gallery hours Tuesday - Saturday 10 am to 4 pm Phone: 8386-6872 or 8386-6968 Meet Costa Rican artist Hernan Peréz at the opening of "Eyes of the Soul" Saturday, Ju...

The exhibition of the "Photographic Record of Artwork" by Juan Carlos Ferarios Chacon will see its debut tonight at the visual art gallery of the French Alliance in Costa Rica. The exhibit consists of ten different works of art created using a variety of techniques, including acrylic paints and charcoals. According to the artist, the theme of the exhibit deals with the deterioration of society ...

Inspired by the The Costa Rica Star's recent articles, and frustrated by the poor quality of the bell peppers at my local supermarket (you know the one that starts with “W” and ends in “almart”) my girlfriend and I decided to visit the Farmers' Market in Heredia. I had heard that I should arrive early for the best products, so when we arrived at a leisurely 9:30 am we expected things to have c...

The third annual installment of the Art City Tour, sponsored by Banco Nacional, will kick off at 5:00 pm this evening in San Jose. The Art City Tour this year will be celebrated in tandem with the International Museum Day, which has been observed since 1977. This is a great introduction to a portion of the culture and arts scene in Costa Rica, and it is free for all who wish to participate. ...

In the early 1960's a Peace Corp volunteer by the name of Velba Taylor gifted a small wooden easel with canvases to a Cañas youth named Otto Apuy. At the time he was considered an "overly expressive" boy who would often paint assorted objects different colors to see what patterns would appear as he ran around stamping walls: his first multicolored mono-type. At every opportunity Otto expressed him...

Elevating the quotidian to sacred status; I see the mundane as sacred, because it really is. I see daily life as an spectacle for the soul. I perceive artistic essence in the daily rituals of the people in India. - Jenny Kozlow I see discarded objects as fragments of a culture on the brink of extinction, and yet the perennial symbols of mystic wisdom move me. - Michael Sims Jenny Kozlow ...

Last year I had the wonderful opportunity to travel to Costa Rica for the first time. The love of travel in my bones, as soon as I was asked about the opportunity to come to photograph the wedding of a longtime friend—I jumped into researching Costa Rica on the internet and learning all I could about the country and region, even before boarding the plane from Chicago to Atlanta, Atlanta to San Jos...

Honesty: Webster's Dictionary defi....you know me better than that. Google it if you must. We all know the definition, but digital photography and it's ally, digital editing really start to blur the lines of photographic honesty. Up to what point is it still a photograph...I don't know. I would say that advertisers have probably taken it too far. If your ad for mascara requires adding digital ...

In the realm of Internet viral media, the sloths of Costa Rica have managed to retain supremacy thanks to their affable demeanor and overall cuteness. The latest sloth-related viral item currently making the rounds on the Internet involves a juvenile sloth that gatecrashed or photobombed his way (a Tico tour guide identified the sloth's male gender) into the picture frame of a youth volunteer grou...

“That's going to end badly.” I knew it. Having grown up traipsing through the woods with friends--something just short of Lord of the Flies, I knew a group of stick-wielding children would inevitably end badly. I scanned the park for a parent. Nope. Three minutes later, tears. Now I was parenting and I don't have kids, just a really obedient dog. Here goes nothing. After a quick check of the of...

I'll admit I was a little stuck on a subject for this article. I had mapped out a few ideas, a few pithy phrases to build on but nothing much more. I opted for manual labor to clear my head. As I sat in the gutter chiseling away fresh asphalt trying to free the grate that covers the gutter, it hit me. Or more precisely I hit it. My finger. With the hammer. I managed to contain my rage to a low whi...

It's so well known that I'm almost hesitant to write about it. I'm almost tempted to tell you to skip it in favor of something more local...except that Manuel Antonio National Park is local. Like the Poás Volcano, it's among the most visited places in Costa Rica because both locals and foreigners visit. You're just as likely to see a over-sunned Swedish college student as you are a family of local...

The International Festival of the Arts (known as FIA by its Spanish acronym) is now just four days away from its 2012 opening. Once the FIA starts in earnest, residents of Costa Rica can look forward to ten days of arts and culture on the streets, in our theaters, and in open performance spaces around our capital city of San Jose.  This year marks the 20th anniversary of the FIA, an event organize...

March is shaping up to be one of the busiest and most interesting months for lovers of the arts and entertainment in Costa Rica. At the same time the Festival Internacional de las Artes unfolds around San Jose, the Arts Festival in Jaco will be taking place, and the Envision Festival gets underway in Bahia Ballena, the second International Design Festival will begin exhibiting at the former custom...

I always carry a compact camera. If you live in or have visited Costa Rica you know why. Funny, beautiful and shocking things may be just around the corner. My little camera spends time waiting for sunsets and rainbows (and the frequent misspelled or poorly translated sign, internet gold!). It lives in a messenger bag that I take everywhere. It only leaves that bag when I use it to carry my bigger...

Whether you're taking the vacation of a lifetime or just out for a Sunday drive, Costa Rica is a country seemingly designed with the photographer in mind. Beaches, mountains, wildlife and quaint towns abound. The only problem is deciding which camera or equipment to bring. There is no right answer but I'll try to help. If you are not a serious pro, are on a budget, or just don't want to risk all y...