Cultural Heritage & Art Talk Recap
by Iriany Sánchez
It was the first time Bell Arts Factory set up a one on one Instagram LIVE conversation with artists and friends and we have to admit, we loved it!
Maribel Hernandez, Bell Arts Factory’s Community Manager, Studio Artist and Maestra de Arte lead the conversation with artists from the Hispanic Heritage Month Tool Room’s Art Exhibit in order for all to share a bit on how much their cultural background may have influence their art and how they maintain their cultural legacy alive.
We started the conversation by having Porfirio Gutierrez present at the Tool Room Gallery and tell us a bit about his background and creations. Porforio Guiterrez is a Zapotec Textile Artist from Oaxaca, one of the last few makers in the community that uses natural dyes.
He honors his ancestors not only through the elements and the technique of using specially natural dyes but also the design elements. Tapestry weaving technique brought by the Spanish in the 1500s and prior to that it was women that would weave. He explained the meaning behind his Ofrenda piece, the journey of the butterfly. Seeds in this piece represent the sacred seeds corn, bean and squash. Also candles, butterflies and a God’s eye (Ojo de Dios) form part of the design. He goes to explain the designs of some of his other creations that form part of the Tool Room Gallery’s Art Exhibit in the LIVE.
He came to the United States when he was 18 years old and has been living in Ventura County for the last 23 years. Consequently there has been an influence from the space and time that he is in today and it is now reflected in his work and designs. He explains how Architectural designs also have made a big impact on his designs since first being exposed to them once coming to the United States and present time. Even though his world has expanded he does try to preserve and keep his legacy alive.
He is hoping to one day have a galley or have a shop where people buy his pieces. For now he will continue to work with Bell Arts Factory and be it’s Artist in Residence until the end of this 2020 year.
David Damian Figueroa also joined the LIVE, he has been working for social justice professionally for about 25 years. He grew up as a child farm worker and explains how much of an influence the image of the Virgen de Guadalupe was ans still is in his life. He talked to us about how his prints came from a compilation of dear and meaningful pieces that he put together in Antonia’s Garden (El Jardín de Antonia), his mother’s garden. The Virgen de Guadalupe statue was a gift from his cousin and wonderful friend Pepe Serna and the planter was a gift from Eva Longoria, his best woman at his wedding ceremony. He created his own interpretation of what he imagined would have been a resemblance of Juan Diego’s cloak (Ayate de Juan Diego). He thought of something like an illumination of a bunch of light coming together, something you would see through a kaleidoscope.
Love to know how family, faith, friends, a beautiful place like el Jardín de Antonia and of course David’s talent are all shown on his pieces for all of us to enjoy.
Gabriela Molina is very dear to us since we have had the pleasure of working and interacting with her since she was 5 years old. She took art classes at Bell Arts Factory, became a member of our Teen Art Program and continues to make us proud now that she is majoring in Studio Art at UC Riverside. She talked to us about her pieces and how she felt blessed to showcase her art at the Tool Room’s Art Exhibit. One of her pieces came about from an assignment for one her art classes where she wanted to honor her grandmother Gloria, her father’s mother from Chiapas, whom she didn’t get to know her in depth and whose passing struck harder in 2018 because by then she felt like the opportunity to connect with her grandmother was gone. The feeling of needing to reconnect with her culture sparked as well after her passing.
Using the photo of my grandmother and framing it with this fabric, it pushes the idea that although I didn’t get to meet with her or be with her the way I wanted to, there is still an imprint of her, there is still a part of me that is formed by my family’s history even if there isn’t a direct connection that i didn’t get to feel right away.
As I introduced this piece to other people, in a way it no longer became about my grandmother, it became a space for people to insert whomever they lost or whomever they didn’t get to connect to but in some way still feel their presence.
In the end that is what connects us. We come from different backgrounds and have different statuses in this country but we are still thither to each other and finding those ways that we thither to each other is one of the things that I enjoy the most in art.
Spanish literature became a way for me to connect with not just my culture but the language. I lost a lot of it growing up, at no fault of my family because they always spoke it at home. Being in a school system where they push to speak English and place it as it has the highest value, as opposed to being bilingual and being bicultural. There is a lot of strength in being bicultural.
This piece specifically is based in Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s book, One Hundred Years of Solitude where he utilizes a lot of magical realism. I created a series where I frame several characters from different novels and perform an autopsy of their physical and spiritual deaths and make it vibrant, also embodying the perception of death in the Latin culture. A celebration of life. Coming close to Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos) people may see the way we celebrate these connections in a morbid way, but really is just a way to liven our experience, to remember them and keep those connections alive.
Another great friend and artist joined our conversation with his My America Series, Juan Cervantes.
In America everyone is from somewhere else and with that comes culture, customs, and heritage. Everyone has ancestors who came here for a better life just like the most recent immigrants and world travelers. The MY AMERICA series deals with the idea that America is made up of different cultures and people. From Mexico to South Korea to South Africa. It meshes the idea that America is a country where diversity and citizenship go hand in hand and one could not exist without the other. By mixing and combining the flags from other countries into the MY AMERICA typography it challenges the viewer to question their own culture, origins and background or family heritage and lineage. How far back do you go till you meet up with your original country or countries?
The My America project will continue to spark conversations of inclusion and citizenship that no wall can keep out.
America is made up of everyone.
Brenda Yedem Mendoza from Seattle Washington now living in Ventura for about 4 years also joined and talked about her background and how she started as a street artist, doing graffiti on walls and now her art transitioning to canvas.
Born in Leon Guanajuato and coming to the United Stated at 2 years old, she states:
Ni soy de aqui, ni de alla!
Not from here, not from there!
I grew up here and always visited Mexico when I was younger. I really try to honor and blend those two cultures together. Acknowledging that I am Mexican (Soy Mexicana), but I’m also American (Pero también soy Americana) I am bicultural.
And finally but not least Alondra Gaytan joined our conversation, whose enthusiasm and support we are so much appreciative of. We look forward to having her photographs be part of a future exhibit and be able to support her as much as she supports Bell Arts Factory, not only in supporting events like this one, but also all the support she grants Bell Arts Factory by being an active board member.
We celebrate all of the artists and their contributions to our community. We celebrate our legacy and how we keep it alive with all our creations.
We look forward to many more LIVE conversations, since we had so much fun this time.
We thank all the artists and friends for all your support.
Instagram LIVE
recording
You may watch the recording of our Instagram LIVE by clicking the link below:
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