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Arlette Lucero is an American visual artist, educator, and illustrator. [1] [2] [3]
In 2012, she was inducted as a Corn Mother for her community involvement and support. [4]
Rooting from the mid-twentieth century and based in Denver, Colorado, Arlette Lucero is co-founder of the Chicano Humanities and Arts Council (CHAC), an art organization. [3] [2] [5] [6] She has been self-employed since 1976. [7] Lucero expresses her Chicana heritage through her artwork, including photography, illustration, and computer art. [8] She also participated in Journey Through Our Heritage (JTOH), Arts Street, Voz y Corazón, KidzArt, and the Museo de las Americas. [5] Lucero is also an educator, teaching murals, traditional art, and painting. [9]
She earned her bachelor's degree in fine arts from Colorado State University and pursued graphic arts at the Community College of Denver. [10] [5]
The art piece Chicana portrays a woman and a tree. Many patterns and designs are a combination of Spanish-style patterns and American symbols. This includes the colors of the American flag and the Mexican flag, as well as words such as "Freedom" and "Chicano". The woman in the art piece is shown to be carrying a flaming heart that is surrounded by barbed wire and a cross. The mix of hummingbirds and bald eagles in the art supposedly demonstrates Chicano, an American first with cultures of Mexican descent. [11]
In 2019, Lucero began a trio of expansive murals during her tenure as the Artist in Residence. Among these is Juanita Dominguez, a tribute created with guidance from the El Movimiento Advisory Committee. In the center of the piece is the phrase "Yo Soy Chicano. Tengo Color..." surrounds the featured Chicana, translating to "I am Chicano. I have Color...". [12] [10]
The artwork Dia de Los Muertos, with Chicanx cultural traditions, features a woman dressed up as a living "calavera", or sugar skull, which is often placed on the "Ofrenda," the heart of the celebration. The Ofrenda is intended to be interpreted as a symbolic bridge between the living and the dead. [13]
Chicana feminism is a sociopolitical movement, theory, and praxis that scrutinizes the historical, cultural, spiritual, educational, and economic intersections impacting Chicanas and the Chicana/o community in the United States. Chicana feminism empowers women to challenge institutionalized social norms and regards anyone a feminist who fights for the end of women's oppression in the community.
Judith Francisca Baca is an American artist, activist, and professor of Chicano studies, world arts, and cultures based at the University of California, Los Angeles. She is the co-founder and artistic director of the Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC) in Venice, California. Baca is the director of the mural project that created the Great Wall of Los Angeles, which was the largest known communal mural project in the world as of 2018.
Cecilia Alvarez is an American Chicana artist known for her oil paintings and murals depicting themes of feminism, poverty, and environmental degradation in the United States and Latin America. Alvarez's painting Las Cuatas Diego has been featured in books and exhibitions around the world. Alvarez has also illustrated the bilingual children's book Antonio's Card authored by Rigoberto González. Her work is collected by the Mexican Fine Arts Museum, the Seattle Art Museum and by the Kaiser Foundation.
Jerry De La Cruz is an American fine artist born and raised in Denver, Colorado. He currently works out of his studio in the Santa Fe District in Denver, Colorado, and out of his studio in the Little River District in Miami, Florida.
Xi Zhang is a contemporary artist who lives and works in China and the United States.
Las Mujeres Muralistas were an all-female Latina artist collective based in the Mission District in San Francisco in the 1970s. They created a number of public murals throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, and are said to have sparked the beginning of the female muralist movement in the US and Mexico. Their murals were colorful and large scale and often focused on themes such as womanhood, culture, beauty, and socio-political change. Patricia Rodriguez, Graciela Carrillo, Consuelo Mendez, and Irene Perez are recognized as the founders and most prominent members of the collective, but other female Chicana artists assisted along the way and even joined later on, such as Susan Cervantes, Ester Hernandez, and Miriam Olivo among others.
Yreina Cervantez is an American artist and Chicana activist who is known for her multimedia painting, murals, and printmaking. She has exhibited nationally and internationally, and her work is in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, The Mexican Museum, the Los Angeles County Museum, and the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art.
Denver's Art District on Santa Fe (ADSF) is an Arts and Cultural district, encompassing hundreds of artists, galleries, studios, theaters, and creative businesses along Santa Fe Drive in Denver, Colorado. ADSF is a 501(c)(3), nonprofit membership organization.
Carlota D.d.R EspinoZa is an American painter, muralist, and activist in her Art. She is one of the early Latina / Chicana muralists in Denver with works in Cuba, San Francisco, Texas, Arizona, and Colorado.
Chicana art emerged as part of the Chicano Movement in the 1960s. It used art to express political and social resistance through different art mediums. Chicana artists explore and interrogate traditional Mexican-American values and embody feminist themes through different mediums such as murals, painting, and photography. The momentum created from the Chicano Movement spurred a Chicano Renaissance among Chicanas and Chicanos. Artists voiced their concerns about oppression and empowerment in all areas of race, gender, class, and sexuality. Chicana feminist artists and Anglo-feminist took a different approach in the way they collaborated and made their work during the 1970s. Chicana feminist artists utilized artistic collaborations and collectives that included men, while Anglo-feminist artists generally utilized women-only participants. Art has been used as a cultural reclamation process for Chicana and Chicano artists allowing them to be proud of their roots by combining art styles to illustrate their multi-cultured lives.
Alicia Cardenas was an Indigenous Mexican American painter, muralist, educator, activist and community organizer. She became a tattoo artist with her own business at a young age and was noted for being a Chicana feminist artist in Denver's male-dominated tattoo scene. She owned the Sol Tribe tattoo shop, which had been a longstanding feature of Denver. She was featured in a documentary on Chicano muralism by the Chicano Murals of Colorado Project, referred to as These Storied Walls. In her community, she was known as "Mama Matriarch." At the age of 44, she was murdered in a mass shooting, along with four other people.
Sabrina & Corina: Stories. penguin random house. 2019.
Grace Gutierrez is a Chicana artist who focuses on a variety of forms of arts such as painting, photography, murals, ceramics, and video art. Gutierrez is known for creating different works that indulge her Chicana identity along with a focus on other aspects such as the small-town experience.
Martha Ramirez-Oropeza is a muralist, painter, theater performer, and researcher known for her work on the pre-Hispanic Nahuatl culture.
Charlene Garcia Simms is a teacher-librarian from Garcia, Colorado. She and her husband founded El Escritorio Publishing which focuses on Southwest history and genealogy.
Deborah Martinez-Martinez is CEO of the publisher Vanishing Horizons and is an author who explores the history of the Southwestern United States. She worked in higher education admissions and recruitment for twenty years and advocates for more Chicanas in education.
A Chicano mural is an artistic expression done, most commonly, on walls or ceilings by Chicanos or Mexican-American artists. Chicano murals rose during the Chicano art movement, that began in the 1960, with the influence of Mexican muralism and the Mexican Revolution. The murals are an illustration of Chicano’s ethnic pride or a form of activism against police brutality, social issues, political issues, and civil rights issues. It started being done by young Chicano artists in commonly marginalized neighborhoods, schools, and churches, demonstrating cultural art and ideas. The murals are characterized by their art style of bright color, religious symbols, and cultural references to Mexican and Mexican American history. Chicano murals have been and are historically found in the Southwest states like Texas, Colorado, and most famously, California, where the national landmark Chicano Park is located. The popularity of the Chicano Murals has allowed a sense of community, culture, activism, and storytelling about elements of being Chicano. Various states are currently looking to preserve and restore some murals as they carry historical meaning for the geographical community and the Mexican-American community.
Renee Fajardo is an author, educator, and activist in Denver, Colorado. She is currently a faculty in Chicano Studies at Metropolitan State University Denver. She is the mother of author Kali Fajardo-Anstine.
The Corn Mothers and Return of the Corn Mothers: Inspiring Women of the Southwest exhibits are traveling exhibits honoring women in the southwestern U.S.
Jeanette Trujillo-Lucero is a dancer who has been recognized for her Spanish and folklore dances. She is the founder and artistic director of Fiesta Colorado Dance Company and Ballet Folklorico de Colorado. Her stage name is "La Muñeca" for her petite stature. Her dance background includes Mexican folklorico, classical Spanish dance, Flamenco, jazz, tap, and ballet.
