PALM BEACH –Every month, Caribbean Queen at the Palm Beach Plaza Mall honors one local female artist who lives and creates here. The Caribbean Queen program was launched when the store opened in late 2011. For the month of August 2014, local artist Lucia Lataster is the boutique’s celebrated Caribbean Queen, showcasing her craft for locals and visitors to admire and purchase.
Born in the Netherlands, Lucia and her husband have been living and working in Aruba since 2007.
For as long as she can remember, she has always been busy with creative pursuits, working with her hands and enjoying an inner flow of ideas. Mosaic made an appearance in her life at an early age, first as an old-fashioned mosaic box, which she still has in her possession, and later with colored wooden molds. She could spend many hours arranging and rearranging.
Over time, mosaic became her full-time hobby, with cheerful colors and often playful designs ranging from large parrots and toucans to dainty jewelry boxes and name plates. Lucia finds her inspiration in nature, animals, and the environment, and creates her pieces from bold, irregular shapes.
She works with diverse materials such as shells, glass or wall tiles, glass stones, and beads. Each creation is unique in itself, crafted with love, patience, and dedication.
On a personal level, Lucia adds, mosaic is very relaxing, almost a form of meditation to help her unwind and achieve a sense of deep inner peace.
Happy to be the newest Caribbean Queen, Lucia shows off her work throughout the month of August at Caribbean Queen, Palm Beach Plaza Mall. She will also conduct a live demonstration of her craft, date to be advised, at the boutique.
Caribbean Queen earmarks a percentage of all sales for its Tikkun Olam (Repair of the World) program. The collected funds are given quarterly to local non-profit organizations in an ongoing effort to do good and serve the community. All the foundations served with donations from Caribbean Queen are dedicated to the promotion of art on the island and artisan education.
