Niurka Iņurrieta Rodriguez studied fine arts at the Polytechnic Institute of Industrial Design in Havana, and then finished her graduate studies at the prestigious San Alejandro Academy of Fine Arts, also in Havana, from where she graduated in 1995.

A gifted printmaker, considered by many Cuban critics to be the top young printmaker of her generation, Iņurrieta, like many trained Cuban artists, is a skilled artist in many genres, and has also exhibited widely as a painter and illustrator.

In 1991, while still an undergraduate student, Iņurrieta won the coveted Culture Prize at the National Salon of Graphic Arts in Havana. A year later, Iņurrieta exhibited her work at the San Alejandro Gallery as part of the IV Havana Bienal, just prior to commencing her graduate work at the Academy.

In 1995, as soon as she was finished with her post-graduate work, Iņurrieta began to exhibit in international venues, representing Cuba at the Tokyo Small Prints Triennial, held at Tama Art University in Japan, the International Small Prints Exhibition in Barcelona, Spain and the Independent International Printmakers Exhibition, in Caniia, Japan.

In 1999, she made her U.S. debut as part of the “Printmakers Only” exhibition at the Fraser Gallery of Washington, DC and made international news when she was denied a visa by the U.S. State Department to attend the show, since she was considered an “asylum risk” by the U.S. State Department because of her youth.

Since then Iņurrieta (who now resides in Paris, France), has exhibited in nearly 40 exhibitions worldwide, including shows in Spain, Macedonia, Portugal, Japan and France. She returns to Cuba often, and in 2001 had a solo show at the Taller de Papel Artesanal Gallery in Havana.

This exhibition was the most recent of Niurka Iņurrieta Rodriguez’s exhibitions in the Greater Washington area. Her original artwork is available through the Fraser Gallery of Washington, DC and Bethesda, Maryland.