By Lorie Hidalgo
After months of anticipation, the university’s public relations office released the names of the approximately 80 Latino local artists whose artworks will be unveiled as part of the university’s summer exhibition “Contemporary Latino Art: El Corazón de San Antonio.”
The exhibition opens to the public 6:30 p.m. Friday through Aug. 31 at the university’s downtown Educational & Cultural Arts Center (ECAC), 101 S. Santa Rosa Ave. No tickets or reservations are required to attend the opening.
Following the opening, the center is free and open to the public 10 a.m.-9 p.m. on Tuesdays (free parking downtown after 5 p.m.), and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays.
The exhibition represents the university’s first collaborative showcase of local artists and their works. The university seeks to highlight the vibrancy and diversity of Latino art in San Antonio with this landmark exhibition, which showcases artists who are fundamental to the art narrative of San Antonio, according to a press release distributed earlier today.
Read The Mesquite’s previous report on the scope and educational goals of the exhibition.
The curatorial team:
Oscar Palacios — Independent preparator, installation specialist and exhibition technician at the University of Texas at San Antonio
Alex Rubio — Artist, muralist and Artist-in-Residence with the Mosaic Project, Blue Star Contemporary Art Museum
Dr. Rosario Torres-Raines — Sociology professor and ECAC university liaison at Texas A&M-San Antonio
Kathy Vargas — Artist, photographer and art professor at the University of the Incarnate Word
Alicia Viera — Director of cultural programs at ECAC
Dr. Pat Villeneuve — Creator of the Supported Interpretation (SI) curatorial model, and professor and director of arts administration at Florida State University
The curatorial team, led by Viera, includes local artists, representatives of local art organizations and academic art programs within area colleges and universities.
Palacios said the curatorial team dedicated many weekends to selecting the work. At times, they worked late into the night to ensure the pieces selected fit perfectly for the exhibition.
“We are very excited and working hard to ensure that the exhibition is a success,” Palacios said.
Local artists were invited to submit digital images through the center’s website. Curatorial team members Vargas, Rubio, and Viera helped prioritize and select artworks.
Palacios said artists met with the curators to view the pieces of work they wanted to submit. From there, the team took photographs of the works to assist making their selections.
He confirmed the team selected approximately 80 artists for this exhibition; the collection includes 112 pieces. Some artists will have two pieces of work on display.
The exhibition spans a large variety of artistic works, including woodwork, oil on canvas, acrylic, mosaics, metal work and other styles. Some pieces, Palacios said, are already installed and are ready for the exhibition’s opening night.
Palacios said the process of deciding the content of the exhibition was difficult and took approximately six weeks.
For additional perspective on the exhibit, The Mesquite called three other curatorial members — Torres-Raines, Vargas and Viera — but all calls went unreturned.
The university’s public relations arm, University Communications, served as the main point of contact.
Reyna said the curatorial team for “El Corazon de San Antonio” focused on acquiring the help of people who are able to contribute to this exhibition and its new process. The team strategically planned ways for the guests to view and interact with the pieces while still keeping the integrity of the work. Read more about the supported interpretation (SI) model.
“In conjunction with the website, the curatorial team reviewed close to 700 works, some of which will be considered for future exhibitions,” writes Reyna in the May/June edition of OntheTownEzine.com (pg 69).
Some artists submitted digital samples through the Educational Cultural Arts Center website, a bilingual initiative launched early this year through the efforts of Alicia Viera, director of cultural programs at ECAC.
Selections made for the exhibition focused on the talent of local Latino artists and the people, places and things they hold close to their hearts. Reyna said future exhibitions will incorporate pieces not selected for this exhibition.
The Artists
The university’s public relations department released the names of artists featured in “El Corazon de San Antonio” (in alphabetical order):
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Acosta, Rachael
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Almeida, Arturo Infante
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Álvarez, Albert
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Armendariz, Ricky
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Ávalos, Avi
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Benavides, Andy
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Blancas, David
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Briseño, Rolando
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Canales, James
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Cantú, Jesús “Chista”
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Casas, Mel
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Corral, Adriana
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Cortinas, Miguel
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Cosme, José
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Delagarza, Bryan
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Duarte, Joseph
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Esparza, Jenelle
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Esquivel, José
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Fernández, Ana
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Flores Taylor, April
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Flores, Carolina
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García, Adriana María
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García, David Anthony
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García, Gabriel
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Garza, Ana Laura de la
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Garza, Jorge
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Garza, Mario
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Garza, Xavier
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Giberga, Ovidio
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González, Roberto José
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Guevara, Jacinto
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Gutiérrez, Rafael
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Hernández, Adán
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Hernández, Mari
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Hinojosa, Celina
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L.A.
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López, J. Salvador
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López, Joe
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Martínez, César
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Mata, Ben
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Mijangos, Alberto
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Mijangos, Laura
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Mora, Juan de Dios
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Ortiz, Cruz
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Pérez, Ashley
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Portillo, Larry
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Ramírez, Chuck
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Ramos, Juan Miguel
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Rendon, Al
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Reyes, Felipe
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Rivera-Barrera, José Luis
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Rodríguez-Díaz, Ángel
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Rodríguez, Elizabeth
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Rodríguez, Mary Agnes
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Salazar, Manuel
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Sánchez, Armando
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Santisteban, Ray
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Servin, Raúl
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Sosa, Lionel
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Suescum, Victoria
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Tarín, Gilberto
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Tello, Víctor
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Toribio-Martínez, Anabel
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Treviño, Jesse
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Treviño, Rudy
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Valderas, Luis
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Valdéz, Vincent
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Valencia, Anita
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Vásquez, Abraham
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Vasquez, Debora Kuetzpal
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Vega Treviño, Louis
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Vega, David “Shek”
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Velásquez, Samuel
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Véliz, Carla
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Villarreal, Andy
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Villarreal, Joe
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Wheeler, Luisa
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Ytuarte, Robert
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Zamora Casas, David
Readers and featured artists are encouraged to leave a comment below. Artists, please provide The Mesquite your digital portfolio link, LinkedIn Profile, or other url. The Mesquite will update accordingly.
