Victor Orozco Ochoa | |
---|---|
Born | Los Angeles | August 2, 1948
Nationality | American |
Education | San Diego State University |
Notable work | Chicano Park Murals |
Children | 2 |
Victor Ochoa (born August 2, 1948) is an activist, painter, graphic designer and master muralist. [1] He has painted over 100 murals, many of them in San Diego, California. [2] He is considered one of the pioneers of San Diego's Chicano art movement. [3] [4] Ochoa was one of the original activists at Chicano Park [4] and a co-founder of Centro Cultural de la Raza in Balboa Park, both in San Diego. [4] [5] He helped establish the influential Border Art Workshop/Taller de Arte Fronteriza (BAW/TAF). [6] Ochoa is also a teacher of art and Chicano heritage. [4] His work has been shown nationally and internationally, including at the Venice Bi-Annual, [7] at the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego [8] and in the groundbreaking exhibition, Chicano Art: Resistance and Affirmation (CARA). In addition to creating his own work, he is also a master of art preservation techniques, especially relating to murals. [9] He is considered to be a "serious cultural resource in the border region.
Ochoa's family has a long history of activism and struggling against discrimination. [10] Ochoa was born in South Central Los Angeles [7] and later his family moved to East Los Angeles. [7] When Ochoa was seven, his family was removed from Los Angeles by United States Immigration as part of "Operation Wetback." [7] Ochoa lived in Tijuana for about ten years and spent time working with his family in a carpentry factory when he was old enough to help. [7] Later his family was able to return to Los Angeles. Ochoa felt that living in Mexico gave him a new perspective on "racism and discrimination, and the general attitude about Mexicans" in the United States. [7]
Ochoa always enjoyed school and felt he was a good student. [7] At junior high, an incident happened that deeply affected Ochoa. He was trying to help another student who only spoke Spanish. The school had a policy against speaking Spanish and when a teacher heard Ochoa using that language, he was incensed and began to criticize the Spanish language and insulting Mexicans, according to Ochoa. [7] Ochoa was shocked by the teacher's display of racism. He hit the teacher and was taken to the principal's office, though he wasn't punished as he expected. [7] Instead, the incident led to Ochoa and the principal becoming friends later on in life. [7]
Ochoa graduated from high school in 1967 and moved to San Diego, California. [7] In San Diego, he attended City College and received an associate degree in technical illustration. [7] Afterwards, he attended San Diego State and graduated with a BA in 1974. [7]
Ochoa became involved with Chicano activism while he was in college. In April 1970, he saw fliers at the City College Student Center for a park take-over for what would later become Chicano Park. [7] Ochoa recalls leaving class to go to the protest. [7] He and other artists added their own stamp to the protest by starting murals on the park. [11] Along with Guillermo Aranda, Mario Acevedo, Tomas Casteneda, Salvatore Borjas, Ochoa began painting the retaining walls and pylons near Logan Avenue, claiming the park for the neighborhood. [11] As the park was recognized by the city, Ochoa continued to help improve the art and the organization of Chicano Park. He later became part of the steering Committee for Chicano Park. [12] Ochoa has continued to be involved with the park and its restoration, including writing a manual for how to restore the murals. [7]
Ochoa was part of the founding group of the Centro Cultural de la Raza called Tolecas en Aztlán. to. [12] As controversy surrounding the creation of the Centro in Balboa Park escalated, Ochoa became a key negotiator during the protests. [7] Later, he served as a director for the Centro from 1970 to 1973 and again from 1988 to 1990. [2]
Ochoa has been teaching in many different capacities throughout the years. He states that he never wanted to be a full time teacher, but when his son was born, he was wanted to ensure that he had a steady income. [4] Ochoa has taught at the MAAC Community Charter school for 13 years [4] and retired in 2014. [13] He taught at Grossmont College for about 23 years. [4] Ochoa also taught at UCSD and San Diego Mesa College. [4] Many of his teaching jobs had a community function, like when he worked with youth to create murals with a grant from the Jacobs Foundation in the Diamond Neighborhoods located in southeastern San Diego. [14] Ochoa and other artists would bring free paint and work on the area surrounding Chollas Creek. [15] The program was named Graff Creek. [15] His teaching youth how to paint decreased the amount of graffiti the neighborhood received. [14] He worked as an art consultant for the Jacobs Foundation for 11 years. [7] He has since retired from formal teaching, but plans to continue to paint and work with children's art classes and workshops. [4]
He has a son, Victor and a daughter, Xochitl. [7]
Ochoa has always felt that public art, like murals, is a very important teaching tool for members of his community. [16] He believes that since many Chicanos do not visit galleries or museums and instead learn about history and other ideas through public art. [16] His murals depict pre-Columbian culture, Mexican heroes and subjects he chooses to "raise social consciousness" in his viewers. [9] Ochoa feels that communicating Chicano history through murals and other types of art is one of the most powerful and trustworthy sources of information about the movement. [17]
Ochoa, Victor (2006). Chicano Park Mural Restoration Technical Manual. San Diego, California: Cal Trans District 11 and the Chicano Park Steering Committee.
"Art is part of the solution of issues in society and Chicano art has been the expression of our people's struggle." [2]
M.E.Ch.A. is a US-based organization that seeks to promote Chicano unity and empowerment through political action. The acronym of the organization's name is the Chicano word mecha, which is the Chicano pronunciation of the English word match and therefore symbolic of a fire or spark; mecha in Spanish means fuse or wick. The motto of MEChA is 'La Union Hace La Fuerza'.
The Royal Chicano Air Force (RCAF) is a Sacramento, California-based art collective, founded in 1970 by Ricardo Favela, José Montoya and Esteban Villa. It was one of the "most important collective artist groups" in the Chicano art movement in California during the 1970s and the 1980s and continues to be influential into the 21st century.
Chicano Park is a 32,000 square meter park located beneath the San Diego–Coronado Bridge in Barrio Logan, a predominantly Chicano or Mexican American and Mexican-migrant community in central San Diego, California. The park is home to the country's largest collection of outdoor murals, as well as various sculptures, earthworks, and an architectural piece dedicated to the cultural heritage of the community.
The Centro Cultural de la Raza is a non-profit organization with the specific mission to create, preserve, promote and educate about Chicano, Mexicano, Native American and Latino art and culture. It is located in Balboa Park in San Diego, California. The cultural center supports and encourages the creative expression “of the indigenous cultures of the Americas.” It is currently a member of the American Alliance of Museums.
Gilbert "Magu" Luján was a Chicano American sculptor, muralist, painter, and educator. He was a founding member of the Chicano collective, Los Four that consisted of artists Carlos Almaraz, Beto de la Rocha, Frank Romero and himself. In 1974, Judithe Hernández became the "fifth member," and only female member of Los Four.
Alberto Baltazar Urista Heredia, better known by his nom de plume Alurista, is an American poet and activist. His work was influential in the Chicano Movement and is important to the field of Chicano poetry.
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.
Ballet Folklorico en Aztlan (BFA) is a Chicano dance company focusing on Mexican folklore, and blending traditional dance with contemporary movements. The group was founded in 1967 by Hermina Enrique. Currently, her daughter, Viviana Enrique Acosta, is the Artistic Director. The members of BFA were instrumental in founding the Centro Cultural de la Raza which was the first home of the BFA.
The Ford Building, a Streamline Moderne structure in Balboa Park in San Diego, California, serves as the home of the San Diego Air & Space Museum. The building was built by the Ford Motor Company for the California Pacific International Exposition, which was held in 1935 and 1936. The Ford Motor Company built a total of five exposition buildings for the world's fairs. This is the last remaining structure.
Nova Color Artists Acrylic Paint is an American supplier of acrylic paints. The company was founded in Culver City, California in 1965.
Mexican muralism refers to the art project initially funded by the Mexican government in the immediate wake of the Mexican Revolution (1910–1920) to depict visions of Mexico's past, present, and future, transforming the walls of many public buildings into didactic scenes designed to reshape Mexicans' understanding of the nation's history. The murals, large artworks painted onto the walls themselves had social, political, and historical messages. Beginning in the 1920s, the muralist project was headed by a group of artists known as "The Big Three" or "The Three Greats". This group was composed of Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqueiros. Although not as prominent as the Big Three, women also created murals in Mexico. From the 1920s to the 1970s, murals with nationalistic, social and political messages were created in many public settings such as chapels, schools, government buildings, and much more. The popularity of the Mexican muralist project started a tradition which continues to this day in Mexico; a tradition that has had a significant impact in other parts of the Americas, including the United States, where it served as inspiration for the Chicano art movement.
Salvador Roberto Torres is a Chicano artist and muralist and an early exponent of the Chicano art movement. He was one of the creators of Chicano Park, and led the movement to create its freeway-pillar murals. He was also a founder of the Centro Cultural de la Raza in San Diego, California.
Pablo Esteban O'Higgins was an American-Mexican artist, muralist and illustrator.
Judithe Hernández is an American artist and educator, she is known as a muralist, pastel artist, and painter. She is a pioneer of the Chicano art movement and a former member of the art collective Los Four. She is based in Los Angeles, California and previously lived in Chicago.
The Chicano Art Movement represents groundbreaking movements by Mexican-American artists to establish a unique artistic identity in the United States. Much of the art and the artists creating Chicano Art were heavily influenced by Chicano Movement which began in the 1960s.
Willie F. Herrón III is an American Chicano muralist, performance artist and commercial artist.
Irma Patricia Aguayo, also known as Patricia Aguayo, is a Chicano Park muralist and longtime activist. She was born and raised in San Diego, California. Both of her parents are from Mexico and she grew up in a Mexican culture household but was told by her parents that in order to succeed in America to act American outside her house. It was in middle school after meeting with her counselor, Ms. Barrios, where she first heard someone of Mexican descent call themselves Chicana that Aguayo realized that she also identified as Chicana. After researching Chicana artists, she realized that there weren't a lot of artists. So she decided that she would create her own artwork.
Graciela Carrillo is a Chicana artist and muralist in San Francisco and member of the all-female Chicana/Latina artist group Mujeres Muralistas. She is a co-founder of Galería de la Raza, a gallery utilized to showcase the everyday lives of the Chicano community through art during the Chicano Civil Rights movement through the Chicano muralist movement.
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.
Jesus "Chuy" Campusano, was an American Chicano visual artist, and muralist. He was a well-known contributor to San Francisco's arts in the 1970s and 1980s; and was a co-founder of Galería de la Raza, a non-profit community focused gallery that featured Latino and Chicano artists and their allies.
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