Xicana: Spiritual Reflections/Reflexíones Espiritúales

Pilar AgÜero-Esparza,Betty A. Davis, Celia Herrera Rodriguez,

Consuelo Jimenez Underwood, Viviana Paredes, Patricia Rodriguez

Viva Paredes: Pocha Indigena, 2005, blown glass, medicinal herbs, sizes variable, mixed media

Pilar Agϋero-Esparza:Mother's Day Card, 2010, mixed media, including paper, thread, tempura, 72" x 132"

The exhibition Xicana: Spiritual Reflections/Reflexíones Espiritúales features the works of six Bay Area Chicana artists who explore indigeneity through their lived experiences, artistic processes and aesthetic choices. These artists ground their work in the spiritual, and in so doing challenge conventional mainstream conceptions of Chicano art, both in the creative process and in the culminating artwork.

Chicano Art has traditionally dealt with themes of identity, immigration, cultural displacement and hybridity. This exhibition seeks to explore these themes from the realization that these artists reveal a cultural identity that is whole, with its own intact memories and traditions. This exhibition reflects a holistic and spiritual effort to portray a Chicana identity that can be lived by both artists and viewers.

This approach is no less critical and political than the sometimes more overt Chicano art of the 1960s in its message. It is perhaps more poignant to audiences today who, despite their own cultural or ethnic backgrounds, can recognize in the powerful work of these six Chicana artists the need and the ability to proclaim a unique cultural perspective. At the same time these artists are speaking to a universal truth that transcends all designations of the Other: namely that while we each celebrate our uniqueness, we are all, despite lingering societal bigotries, WHOLE. The strength of the work in this exhibit is its attempt to bring us all to a better understanding of ourselves individually and collectively through new understandings of history, nation building and identity.

This exhibition will feature site-specific installations, weavings, sculptures, paintings, and works on paper by Betty Davis, Pilar Aguero Esparza, Viviana Paredes, Celia Herrera Rodriguez, Patricia Rodriguez, and Consuelo Jimenez Underwood. The work is conceptual in nature, using traditional and non-traditional media that brings the spiritual to the forefront.

Please join us for the ArtTalk on April 16 at 5:00 p.m. featuring exhibiting artists, Pilar Agϋero-Esparza, Betta A. Davis, Celia Herrera Rodriguez, Consuelo Jimenez Underwood, Viviana Paredes and Patricia Rodriguez, who will discuss their work and the exhibition. The artists will hold a stimulating conversation about the deeper issues of cultural identity, and specifically how their work pushes along the discussion. ArtTalk is underwritten by the Castellano Family Foundation and open to the public. ArtTalk is free to the public.

Castellano Family Foundation

This exhibition is made possible in part by the Castellano Family Foundation.