Promesa Ongoing

Promesa Ongoing was curated by Dos Mestizx as a part of the XicanX: New Visions exhibition at Centro de Artes in San Antonio, TX. I was honored to have my work included in this powerful show.

Promesa Ongoing
dimensions variable
lava rock, marble chips, river rocks, tumbled obsidian, artificial flowers, vinyl
2020

Ofrenda for Dr. Alfonso "Chico" Chiscano at Centro de Artes Dia de los Muertos Exhibition

Artpace Chalk It Up 2019 - Sustainability

Digging, A Solo Exhibition

In July and August of this year, I had a solo exhibition at the San Antonio Public Library Central Gallery. The exhibition included a series of self-portraits and a site specific installation that recognized the serpent as a symbol of rebirth.

Promesa, 2019

cactus, marble chips, lava rock, wheat, coffee beans, flowers

dimensions variable

Wound, 2019

latex paint on stretched vintage linen

48 x 72 inches

Demise, 2019

latex paint on stretched vintage linen

48 x 72 inches

Letting Go, 2019

latex paint on stretched vintage linen

48 x 72 inches

Tending To, 2019

latex paint on stretched vintage linen

48 x 72 inches

Resurface, 2019

latex paint on stretched vintage linen

48 x 72 inches

Reunion, 2019

latex paint on stretched vintage linen

48 x 72 inches

photos by Gregory Martinez

Buffet, 2019

It was a pleasure participating in a group show at Clamp Light Artist Studios and Gallery in June of this year. The exhibition was entitled Intersectionality of Inquiry and was curated by Sarah Castillo.

Buffet
dimensions variable
dyed tablecloths, napkins, pins, vinyl, recycled plastic, cardboard, wire,  antique buffet, wooden bowls, tablecloth, cotton fabric strips, LED candles, jars, pencils
2019 

We shudder at its silhouette, its dark song, its work. However, the vulture is an agent for purification. It rids our landscape of carrion and destroys deadly bacteria within its digestive system. As the vulture consumes, it cleanses.

In the same way a carcass can harbor disease, the human body can harbor stress. This installation invited visitors to release that stress by participating in a symbolic exchange with the vulture:

Take a fabric strip and write down something you would like removed from your life (negativity, a toxic thought, a traumatic memory, etc.). Offer the fabric strip to the vulture by placing it in a bowl. Let go. Breathe. Let your problem nourish the vulture and then walk away unburdened. 

Allowing Abundance

I was honored to have my work included in Remedios Sagrados. Artist and curator Suzy Gonzalez put together this powerful exhibition for Luminaria Contemporary Arts Festival 2018.

Remedios Sagrados focuses on concepts of ancestral knowledge in relation to food, healing, spirituality, and the land. As the city of San Antonio celebrates 300 post-colonial years, these artists reclaim indigenous wisdom while recognizing the complexity of identity.

I carved 120 manos de nopales representing individual amulets, providing protection within the space.

Allowing Abundance
60 x 60 inches
wavy leaf prickly pear cactus
2018

photos by Suzy Gonzalez

Right Here, Right Now: San Antonio at CAMH

CAMH - Right Here, Right Now: San Antonio

OPENING RECEPTION THIS FRIDAY 4/27!!! Lisette Chavez and I are so honored to have our multimedia installation, ANGEL BABY included in this exhibition at Contemporary Arts Museum Houston! Join us! 

"Right Here, Right Now: San Antonio in the Brown Foundation Gallery at CAMH from April 28–August 5, 2018. Showcasing 19 artists and artist collaboratives, Right Here, Right Now: San Antonio includes sculpture, painting, photography, drawing, ceramics, textiles, performance, and installation by a multi-generational cohort of artists. The artworks brought together in Right Here, Right Now: San Antonio attest to the richness of the city’s creative community. Rather than attempting to provide a generalized exhibition, Right Here, Right Now: San Antonio instead looks to cross-generational dialogues around notions of materiality, identity, and performativity. From paintings and unique stitcheries to immersive video environments, ceramic sculpture, and live performances, CAMH is pleased to expand the geographic scope of this exhibition series with a presentation of artworks by San Antonio-based artists."

Albert Alvarez

Richard Armendariz

Julia Barbosa Landois

Christie Blizard

Sarah Castillo

Lisette Chavez

Adriana Corral

Ana Fernandez

Audrya Flores

John Hernandez

Diana Kersey

César Martinez

Michael Martínez

Martha Mood

Katie Pell

Chuck Ramirez

José Luis Rivera

Daniel Rios Rodriguez

Saintlorraine

ANGEL BABY at Contemporary Arts Museum Houston

SHE'S BAAAACK!!!!

Lisette Chavez and I are excited to bring our multimedia installation, ANGEL BABY to Contemporary Arts Museum Houston as a part of Right Here, Right Now: San Antonio. This exhibition will include 19 artists from SATX and opens Friday, April 27th. The show runs through August 5th. It's an honor to be a part of this group representing our beautiful city! The FB event page is below.

Opening Reception Right Here, Right Now: San Antonio at CAMH

Common Currents

I was invited to participate in the Common Currents exhibition at the Carver Community Cultural Center opening this Thursday, March 15th. Join us at the opening reception from 6-8pm. Please read below for more information about Common Currents.

Opening reception for Common Currents: 1918-1967 is an official San Antonio Tricentennial event. Opening night events will include visual art and performance works in the Jo Long Theatre. 


ABOUT COMMON CURRENTS
In celebration of San Antonio’s Tricentennial year, six downtown artist-centric organizations: Artpace San Antonio, Blue Star Contemporary, Carver Community Cultural Center, the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, the Mexican Cultural Institute, and Southwest School of Art, will partner to present an exhibition that will illuminate the 300 years of their hometown’s history. Common Currents is a diverse, encyclopedic showcase of San Antonio’s history as told and rewritten by more than 300 visual and performing artists, invited to participate by their peers, and presented over 6 venues.

Drawing on the connections or currents that run through San Antonio’s vibrant creative community, each of the organizing partners began by inviting two artists. These initial 12 artists were then asked to invite two peer artists, until more than 300 were amassed. All of the participating artists were assigned one year of San Antonio’s history on which to reflect in the development of their work for Common Currents. This exhibition is presented chronologically through a variety of contemporary media across the six venues.

Common Currents draws a portrait of San Antonio, by San Antonians. With the “chain letter-inspired” framework for the exhibition, each organization takes a backseat, letting the participating artists make decisions that may traditionally be the role of the organization or curator. This provides for an exciting presentation of artistic connections spanning our center city’s art venues. More information at commoncurrents.org



Please click on the link below for the Facebook event page.

Common Currents Opening Reception at the Carver Community Cultural Center

I was assigned the year 1959. The mixed textiles piece I have created focuses on the Tex-Son garment factory strike organized by Sophie Gonzales and the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union - Local 180 in San Antonio, Texas. 

This photograph of Gonzales accompanied an article about the strike in the San Antonio Light newspaper in 1959. Factory workers who opposed the strike threw dolls that resembled strikers at picket lines in an attempt at intimidation.

I created a portrait of Gonzales using bits and pieces of women's clothing and other sewing materials including pins and paper patterns. I look forward to sharing the final product as a part of this exhibition.

Angel Baby at Lady Base Gallery

In 2017 Lisette Chavez and I collaborated to create a short film and installation entitled Angel Baby at AP Art Lab via Lady Base Gallery.

photo by Alma Hernandez

In the well know South Texas folktale, "El Camaroncito," a young woman goes out dancing at a local dance hall despite the disapproval of her parents. She is invited to dance by a handsome man. While enjoying dancing with this man, she suddenly looks down and sees that in place of human feet, has has a chicken foot and a cloven hoof. Knowing this to be the sign of the devil, the horrified young woman screams and falls helplessly to the floor. Frightened onlookers scatter and the devil disappears into the night leaving behind his victim on the ground and the scent of sulfur lingering in the air.

Angel Baby is an installation based on a feminist adaptation of this know folktale. By retelling the story with a  female protagonist, we challenge our viewers to consider the manner in which folklore reinforces societal expectations of women and gender related powers.

Check out our teasers put together by the amazing Craig Haddad.

Adda Montalvo of La Prensa did a great write up about Angel Baby. Click on the link below to read more.

Angel Baby Presenta Una Diabla Empedrada

We also had a great time discussing Angel Baby with Elda Silva of the San Antonio Express News. Click on the link below to read more.

Artist Give 'Devil at the Dance' Feminist Spin

Lisette and I also did a Q&A Session with Lady Base Gallery reina, Sarah Castillo. Click the link below to read more.

Q & A Sessions

"A Woman's Place Is..." at Centro de Artes

photo by Alma Hernandez

I created six pieces that came together for this installation at Centro de Artes in 2017. The multi-generational, all Latina exhibition entitled, "A Woman's Place Is..." was curated by Kathy Vargas. It was an honor to exhibit in this space with these women. Elda Silva of San Antonio Express News did a wonderful write up on the show. Please click on the link below to read more about it.

Latina Artists Claim Space

Mother, Artist, Wife, Teacher, Bruja, Quiet and Still
2017
mixed media installation

This body of work explores the different roles I play as a woman and how I protect, nurture, and honor my true self while tending to those duties. I find it crucial to find a sacred place within myself in which I can rest and regenerate. I am Mother, Artist, Wife, Teacher, and Bruja. I take this responsibilities seriously and fulfill them with great devotion; however, this often leaves me depleted. I need time and space to be quiet and still. I require it. And I deserve it.

OFRENDA

Dia de los Muertos altar honoring Rosita Fernandez
Centro de Artes in San Antonio, Texas, 2016