SIGNS FROM

THE HEART:
California
Chicano Murals

Edited with an introduction by

Eva Sperling Cockcroft
Holly Barnet-Sanchez
Social and Public Art Resource Center Venice, Califomia
 • PREFACE
J ud ith F. Baca
1-3

SOCI AL AND P UBLI C ART RESO U RCE CENTER

• IN TRODUCTI ON
Eva Sperling Cockcrofr and Holly Barn et-Sanchez
5 - 21
Pu blished by Soc ia l and P ublic An Resource Ce nte r
685 Ven ice Boul evard
• HOW , W HY, \'(IHERE A N D WHEN IT ALL HAPPEN ED:
Venice, Californ ia 90291 Chicano Murals of California
(213) 822 -9560 Shifra M. G oldman
22 ·53
© Copyrighr Soc ial and P u bli c Art Resource Ce nter, 1990
All rights reserved .
• ARTE CHICA NO: Images of a Com munity
~ .
T omas Ybarra-Frausto
Printed in Singapo re 54 - 67
Cover: Las Lecosgneras, 198 3, Juana Alicia • QUEST FOR IDEN TI T Y : Profile of Two Chicana Muralists
27 94 24 th Sr.. M ission Dist rict , San Francisco based on Interviews wit h Judi th F. Baca and Patricia Rod rig uez
to tal mural 30 x SO', phoro: T im Drescher Am alia Mesa-Bains
68 - 83
Book desig n by Cynthia Ander son and Chrisrienne de Tournay
• MURALES D EL MOVIM IEN TO:
Funded in part by: Chican o Murals and t he D iscourses of Art and Americanization
Ahm anson Foundat ion Marcos Sanc hez-T ranq uilino
ARCa Foundation 84 - 101
Ca liforn ia Com muni ty Foundat ion
California Counc il on t he H umanit ies • CON T RIBUTO RS
McD onnell-Doug las 10 2
Lear Siegler Fou ndation
Pacific Bell Corporation • LIST OF PLAT ES
National Endowm ent for th e Art s, Visual Arts 103 - 104
University of California at Irvine, Fine Art s Department
• SUGGESTIONS FOR FU RTHER READING
ISBN ' 0-96 264 19-0- 1 105
I

I his book can be seen as the fulfillment of a d ream beg un in 1974 when the first
slide was collected of the Archive of the Social and Public Art Resource Center
(SPA Re). T his process, which began among muralists as one collects pictures fora family al bum
co record memories, changed as we realized we were in the midst of something im po rtant . As the
Chicano artist commun ity became increasingly committed to the goals of the Chicano Move-
ment, the purpose of o ur com munal work became clearer . What had begun as a casual record ing
of our murals to share and exchange would soon outg row irs picture taking phase and become
the basis of nationwide photo documenta tion of a powerful com munity based art . W h ile the
Chicano collection represents only one part of SPARes larger collection of international mural
slides, it is an extremely significant one as Chicano murals have infl uenced international

I
,
muralism g reatly and contri buted to the shift in emphasis from Mexico to the Un ited States as
the center of mural production in the world.
W e are now at a juncture where we can bring together this photographic docu-
mentation with essays by scholars on Chicano moralism in California , its art ists, its imagery, and
its social and historical developm ent . As one of the "cultural workers" of the early Chicano
Movement , I recall our de sire to develop a new visual language which spoke from our own cultural
precedents in p re-Columbian art an d our experience of contemporary popular Ch icano culture.
~ha t was appropriate visual language was the subject of considerable intellectual (and not
so intellectual) debate among us. T he hundreds of murals produced in Mexican-American
neighborhoods across the counrry attest ro the realizat ion of a pe rsonal and collective voice, as

1
 truly "p ublic" art p rovides society wit h the symbolic rep resentation of collect ive
beliefs as well as a cont inuing re-affirm ation of the collect ive sense of self.
Paintings on walls, or "mu rals" as t hey are commonly called , are perhaps the quintessent ial pu bl ic
art in this reg ard. Since before t he cave pai nt ings at Altam ira some 15,000 years before Ch rist,
wall paintings have served as a way of communicat ing collect ive visions within a comm uni ty of
people. During the Renaissance in Italy, considered by many to be the gol den age of W estern
Art, murals were regarded as the hig hest form in rhe hierarchy of painting . They served ro
illusrrare the relig ious lessons of the ch urch and to embody the new H umanism of t he period
through artistic innovat ions like perspective and naturalistic anatomy.
Mter the Mexican Revolution of 191 0-1 91 7, murals again served as the artis tic
vehicle for educati ng a larg ely illiterate populace abour the ideals of the Dew society and the
virtues and evils of the past. As parr of a re-evaluation of t heir cultural ident ity by Mexican-
Americans du ring the Chicano moveme nt for civil rights and social jus tice that began in t he m id-
19 60s, murals again p rovided an important organ izing tool and a means for the reclamat ion of
their specific cul tural heritag e.
T he desire by people for beauty and mean ing in thei r lives is fundam ental co their
identi ty as human beings . Some form of art , therefore, has existed in every society rhroug hour
NO COMPRE V/NO GALW hiscory. Before the development of a significant private picture market in Seventeenth Cent ury
1974
Holland, most art was public, comm issioned by royalty, clergy, or powerful cit izens for the
Carlos Almaraz with young people from the 3rd St. ga ng
2 L3 South Sow Sr. formerly All Nations Center, East Los Angeles g reater g lory of their country, ch urch , or city and placed in public spaces. H owever, after the
8' x 30' Industrial Revolut ion and the developme nt of mode rn capitalism with its stress on fi nancial
rat her than social values, the art world system as we kn ow it today wit h galleries, crit ics, and
 m useums grad ua lly developed . More and more, art became a lu xu ry object co be en joyed and
traded like: any other co m mod ity. T he break-up of the stable structures of feuda l society and the
fluidit y and dynamism of post- Industri al soc iety was reflected sym bo lically in art by the
disruption of naturalistic space and the experimentation charact er istic of Mod ernism.
Modernism has been a mixed blessing for art and art ists. Along with a new
freedom for Innovation and the opportu ni ty ro express an ind ividual vision that resu lted from the
loss of d irect control by patrons of artistic production, artists experienced a sense of alie nation
from the materialistic values of capitalism , loss of a feeling of clearl y defined social ut ili ry, and
the freedom to starve. T his unstable class situat ion and perception of isolation from society was
exp ressed in rhe arrirude of the bohem ian avant garde art ist who scorns bot h the crass com mer-
cialism of the bou rgeoisie and the unsophisrocared tastes of the wo rki ng class, creeri ng work
exclusively for the appreciation of a new aristocracy of taste. Especiall y in the Uni ted States of
the 196Os, for most people art had become an irrelevant and mysterious thing enjoyed o nly by
a small educated el ite.
When muralism emerged again as an importanrart movement in Mexico during
the 1920 s, the murals served as a way of crea ti ng a new national consciousness - a role quite
sim ilar to that of the reiig ious murals of the Renaissance although directed toward a different form
of social cohes io n. Un like the murals of the Ital ian Renaissance wh ich exp ressed the com monly
held beliefs of bach rulers and masses, the Mexican m u rals po rt rayed the ideology of a worker,
peasant and middle class revolution ag ainst the former rul ing class: cap italists, clergy , and
foreig n inte rests . Since rhac rime in the eyes of many, contemporary m ural ism has been identified
with poor people, revol ution, and com m unism. T his association has been a major facto r in
changi ng mu ralism's ran k wit hi n the hierarch y of the "fine arts" from che highest to the lowest.
Once the favored art of popes and po ten tates, m urals, especially Mexican-style narrat ive murals,
now considered a "poor people's art ", have fallen to a level ofo nly marginal acceptance within the
art world.
T he th ree g reat Mexic an art ists whose names have becom e al most syno nymous
wi th that m ural renaissance, D ieg o Rivera, J ose Clemente Orozco, and David Alfaro Siqueiros,
were all influenced by stylistic cu rren ts in European moderni sm - Cu bism, Expressionism , and
Futu rism _ but they used t hese stylistic in novations to create a new socially motivated real ism .
Rather than co ntinuing to use the naturalistic pictorial space of Renaissance m u rals, the
Mexican s explored new forms of compos ition. R ivera used a col lage- like d iscontin uous space
which juxtaposed elements of d ifferent sizes; Orozco em ployed non -nat uralis t ic brushwork,
d istorted for ms, and exag g erated light and dark, while Siqueircs adde d expressive uses of
6 7
perspective wi th extreme foresho rt eni ng t hat made fo rms burst rig ht our or the wall. T he sryl isric
innovations of rhe Mexicans have p rovided che basis for a modern mural languag e and most
contemporary mura lism is based to some excenr o r another on the Mexican model. The Mexi can
precedent hac: been especially irnporran r in the U nited States for the social realist muralists of the
Wotks Prog ress Adm inistration (W PA) and Treasury Section p rograms of the New Deal period
and the contemporary mural moveme nt tha t beg an in the late 19 60s.
Mote rhan 25 00 murals were pain ted with go vernment sponsorship d uring the
New Deal period in the U nited St at es. By the beginning of W orld War II howeve r. support for
social real ist painting and mu ralism in general, had ended. D uring the Cold War period that
followed , rea.iscic pai nting became id enti fi ed with total itarian syste ms like that of the Soviet
U nion , while abstract ion, especially New Yo rk-style Abscracc Expression ism, was seen as sym-
bo lizi ng ind ividual freed om in avant gardearr circles. By the early 19605, on ly the various kinds
of absrracr art from the geometric to te e bio-morphic were even considered to reall y be an .
Endorsed by crit ics and the New York museums, abs traction was promulgated ab road as the
Inremarion al Style and cons idered to be "universal" - in much the same way as stra ig h t-nosed ,
straight-hai red , blondes were conside red to be the "u niversal" ideal of bea uty. Those who d iffered
o r com plained. were d ismi ssed as ig norant , un culrured , o r an t i-American .
T he concept of a "universal" ideal of beau ty was closely related to the "rnelring
poe" theory, then taught in schoo ls, wh ich held that all the different imm ig rants, races and
nat ional groups which composed the pop ulation of the Uni ted States could be assim ilated inca
a sing le homogeneous "American". Th is theory ignored cheexistance ofseparate cul tu ral enclaves
w irhin t he Un ited Scares as wel l as blaranr d iscriminarion and racism. Ic also ig no red the com plex
d ialectic between isolat ion and assim ila tion and the problem of identity fer people like the
Mexican-Americans of California who were neither wholly "American" nor "Mexican"but a new ,
uniq ue, and constan tly changi ng com posite variously called "Am erican of Mexican des cent: '
"Mexican-American, " Lat ino or H ispanic. In the 19 60s the rerm "Chicano" wi t h its populist
orig ins was adopted by socially-consciou s youth as a form of positi ve sel f-iden rificac ion fo r
Mexican-Americans. Its use beca me a fo rm of po lit ical statement in and of icsel f. '
The d ialectic between assimilation and separatism can be seen in the history of
l os A ng eles, fo r exam ple, first founded in 1781 as a part of New Spain. In spite of consta n t
1. 1·hroug hou l this boo k severa l terms will be used to ide ntify A meri can s of Mexican descent: ·· Mexi~'an. Americ ans;· ··U.S.
Mexica ns; ' and "Ch icanos:· Each carries Sl>l."<: ific meaning s and are no r used in ren:hangeab ly. " Mexican-American" is primarily
a post World War II de velopm ent in regu lar USI' unnl rhe poliricizaricn of tl mwimitnlo, rhe Chicano civil rights movem en t of
th e 1%Osand 1970s.lts UI;C ack nowledges wit h p ride the Mexican heritage wh ich was hidden by an earlie r, ltss appropriare term,

"La Fam ili£' from CHiCA N O TiM E TRiP
1977
East Los Srreetscapers (Wayne Alan iz H ealy and David Rivas Botello)
Lincoln Heig ht s, East Los Angeles,
rotal mural 18 ' x 90" thi s panel 18' x 26'
A Cit ywide mu ral proj ect.
pressure for assimilation incl ud ing job discrimination and compulsory use of English in the
schools, the Mexican-American pop ulation was ab le to maintain a cu lture sufficiently dis ri ncr so
rhat, as h istorian Jua n G omez-Quinones has freque ntly argued, a ci ry within a ciry can be
defi ned. This separate culture cont inues {Q exist as a distinct enncy within rh e domi nan r cul ture,
even though ir is now approximately 150 years since Los Angeles was acqui red by th e U nited
States. Thi s situat ion, by itself, te nds {Q discred it the melting POt concept.
T he Civil Ri g ht~ Movement, known among Mexican- Americans as the Ch icano
Movem en t ore! moooniento, fo ught aga inst rhe idea ofa "unive rsal" culture, a single ideal of beauty
and order. Ir re-examined the common assu mption that European or W estern ideas represented
the p innacle of "civilization," while everything else, from the thought of Con fucius to Peruvian
portrait vases, was second-rate , too exot ic, or "primitive. " T he emphasis placed by Civil R ig hts
leaders on self-definition and cu ltural prid e sparked a revision of standard h istories to include the
previously unrecognized accomplishments of women and mi norities as well as a re-exam ination
of the standard school curriculum. Along with the demonst rations, st rikes, and marches of the
political movement came an explosion of cu ltural express ion.
As was the case after the Mexican Revolut ion, the Civil R ights Movem ent
inspired a revival of muralism . H owever. this new mural movement differed in many important
ways from the Mexi can one. It: was nor sponsored by a successful revolutionary government, but
came out of the strugg le by the people themselves against the status quo. Instead of well-funded
projects in government buildings, these new murals were located in the barrios and ghettos of the
inner cities, where oppressed people lived . T hey served as an inspiration for struggle, a way of
reclaim ing a cultural heritage , or even as a means of developing self-pride. Perhaps most
significantly, these m urals were not the expression of an individual vision. A rtists encouraged
local residents (Q join rhem in discussing the content , and often, in doing the actual painting .
For the first time, techniques were developed that would allo w non-artists working with a pro-
fess ional to des ign and paint their own murals. T his element of community participat ion , the
placem ent of murals on exrerior walls in rhe comm unity itself, and the philosphy of comm unity
"Spanish-American." However, it' s hyphena ted conuun ion implies a level of equaliry in status berween the Mexican and the
Am erican which in actuali ty belies the unequ al treatment of Americans of Mexican descen t with in Un ited States society.
)1. S. Mexican is a term developed by essayist Marcos Sanchez-Tranquilmo to replace the term Me"ican-Am erican with one
that represents both mo re ge nerally and dearly all .fiofe:< icans wit hm the United States whether their fam ilies were here pr ior m
annexation in 1848, have bee n here for generat ions, or fe r only tWO days. In other words, it represents all Mexicans living wit hin
U. S. bord ers rega rd less of residen ce or citizenship status.
The m osr basic defi nition of the term Chicano was made by jo urnali st Ruben Salazar in 1970: '"A Chicano is a Mexican -
American who does not have an Anglo image of himself. " It is a term of self-definition .rhar denotes poliricization
9
 input, that is, the right of a communi ty to decide on what kind of art it wanes, characreriacd the
new muralism
Nowhere did rhecommuniry-based mural rnovcmenr take firmer root chan In the
Chi cane comrn uniries of Cal iforn ia. W ith the Mexican mural tradi tion as parr of their heritage,
murals were a particula rly congenial form for Chica no artists to express chc collective vision of
their cc mmuni ry. The m ild cl imate and low, stuccoed bui ldings provided favorable phys ical
condi tio ns, and, within a few years, California had more murals than an}' other reg ion of the
cou ntry. As ho me to the largest concentrat ion of Mexicans and people of Mexican ancestry
anyw here o uts ide of Mexico City, Los Angeles became the site of t he largest concenrrarion of
Chicano murals in the U nited States. Est imates range from one thousand to fifteen hundred
separate works painted between 1969 and the present. T he Soc ial and Public A rt Resource
Cen ter's "Californ ia Chicano Mural Archive" compiled in 1984 docu me nts close to 1000 mural
projecrs throug hout the state in slide form .
All arr has a relatio nship to the social struct ures and political events ofrhe sociery
in which it is created that is found in both content and form . For mos t arc, thi s relationship is fa irly
ind irect. H owever, public art (and in particular mural art) is more directly tied to poli tical and
econom ic structures and social imperatives. Mu ralism , unlike- easel painting, requ ires substantial
pa tronage in the form of funds and public support in order to fl ourish. T rad itionally , this support
came from wealthy individuals and official insri rutions like the government a t the chu rch. In the
con temporary mural movement, the situat ion has been more complex.
Support can come enti rely from grass-roots sources, neigh borhood . labor, or
issue-oriented groups . I t can also come d irect ly from gove rn ment sources - as in city-sponsored
prog rams or State and Federal A rts Endowmenrgrancs or ind irectly through social service, job
-c-c

training , and employment prog ram s. Co rporate. foundation, and individual grams, al thoug h
im porcanc.general ly playa more mi nor role. Almost alw ays, the amounc of funding is closely tied
to levels of social unrest and/or polit ical pressu re. Thus, in Californ ia, the early level of support
(or m urals was di rect ly related to the impact of the massive Ch icano mobilizat ion of el mooimimto
while the current revival of support corresponds to concerns abo ut high levels of gang and drug
violence coupled wi th the increased power of Lati nos, in gene.ral, as a consumer and voti ng bloc.
Other. mo re ideolog ical factors include levels of pol itical consc iousness and com muni ty involve- CH ICAN O PARK
ment on the part of art ists and intellectuals, art world trends, and t he gene ral social at mosphere J"1lEEWA Y PYLON
as represented throug h rhe med ia. 19n
JoR Mon rOYAand
Changes in the themes, freq uency and type of murals painted are determined by th.. Royal Ch icano A ir Fotee'
specifi c combinations of social and economic fac tors. In the early pe riod of Ch icano mural ism, Chica oo Park. San Dieg o
30' x 3~'
to
 from 1969 -1 97 5, d un ng the heigh t of political acti"ism , most m urals had mainly g rass-roms
sponsorship through polirica l and neighborhood group~, art isr-i niriarcd com muni ty arts centers,
local merchants, and self-fund ing by the artists. T hemes ten ded to reflect the narionalisric
concerns of the ti mes and dealt largely wirh questions of Chicano Identi ty.
By the mid- to late 1970s , however, murals had been accepted by govcrurnenr as
an inexpensive means of ur ban revitalization and consrrucrive youth act ivity . Art worl d
authorities saw street mura ls as an interesti ng new form . As early as 1974, a g roup of Chicano
artists, Los Four, were given an exhi biti on ar the LA . Cooney M useu m that incl uded examp les
of their murals. Increasingly, fundin g for murals came from official rather than g rass-toOtS sources
through federal. stare, and city programs as well as corporate and foundation grants . The formerly
artist-run community arcs centers began to hire admin istrators as fund-raising and grant writing
became more importa nt elemen ts with in rheorgan izations. Two national conferences ofcommu-
niry mural ists in 1976 aod 1978 increased com municatio n between artists from diffe rent areas
of rhe counrry and d ifferent eth nic and racial groups . Several books abour murals, rwo of rhem
written by parti cipants in the mural movement, Tmuard a Peoples A rt: The Contemporary Mural
!I1ovemtnt and The Mural "'1anJial were published in the mid-1 970s. T o some exte nt, these served
as extensive, documen ted manifestos which systematized the philosophy of communiry murals,
desig nated ma jor artists, and helped spread the movement internatio nally. By the second SONG OF UN ITY •
nat io nal co nference, in 1978, there was a signifi cant participat ion by community muralists from 1978
Com~narrs (Ray Pat lan, Osh.a Neumann , Anna de Leon, O 'Brian Thiele)
England , France, Scotland and Mexico. As a resu lt of rhi s confe rence an inremerional newsletter La Pena Cul rural Center, 3 10 5c Sharrock Ave., Berkeley
(later the quarterly magazine, Community M" ralJ) began publ ication and continued to publish app rox. 20' x 5c0'.

reg ularly until 1988.

T he ideolog y and implementation of comm unity part icipat ion in public art de -
velo ped by the m ural movement also infl ue nced "official" public art in the U nited States. First ,
a debate within the art co mmunity on the leg itim acy of vprivare" images in "public" spaces was
in itiated . Eventuall y, at least the lang uage of commun ity co nt rol and pa rti cipat io n becam e part
of rhe accepted formula in co mm issioning publ ic art . Perhaps most im portant, interest generated
by street murals created a new impetus toward governm ent responsibi lity for com missioning
public art char has been influential in the fotm ation of the numerous Percent for Art prog ram s
in cities around the natio n.
Recog nit ion and instituti onalizati on had several effects on both the form and
con tent of Chicano m urals. W hi le numerous arrisrs had participa ted bri efly in the spontaneous
out pour ing of murals during eI mooimiento, by the m id- 1970s certain artist s began to be ident ified
and ident ify themselves as mural artists. Concerns about permanence, com position, formal
12
ex~ r. i menta t i o n . a~d ~ esth et i c q uality became as importa nt to muralists as the immed iate
~ I l t l .c a l o ror~an lz lng Impact . In t hema t ic terms as wel l, serious muralists deve loped beyond the
l den ~lty quesuon to grapple wi th more ge neral t hemes. T raditional ha nd ling of symbols that had
do minated n:an~ of the early walls, such as the farm workers flag , the Vi rg in of G uadalupe, and
~re.Co l u m b l an Imagery, began to seem old -fashioned and cl iched as new social as well as artistic
Issues and concerns co nfronted the artists.
. . Ins: itutionally as well, the na tionalist phase of the mural movem ent had ended .
Lo~ Angel es C.ltywlde Murals prog ram , for exam ple, which began in 1974 , al though headed by
Chi cana ~ u ralt st J ud y Ba~a , sponsored 250 murals throug hout Los Angeles by A ng lo, Asian and
Black amsrs as well as Chican os. Baca's next project carried th is multi-ethnic idea even furth er
the Great Wall ofLox.A ngeles mural , a history of mi norities in California painted in a flood control
cha nnel, was beg un 10 1976 by a racially and et hn ically m ixed group of 10 artists and some 80
13
 reenagers under the direct ion of Baca. Even one of the most mil itanrl y g rass roots: and nationalist
examples of the major mural projects . San Diego's Ch/(J}}f) Park (the painted pillars beneath the
Coronado Bay Bridge char began with a land takeover III 1970}, integrated non-Chicanos into
its 19-:- 7 "Muralrhon. -, In the Bay Area. Ray Patlan, a leading Chicano arri sr. JOIned with t hree
ocher arrisrs to form rhe multi-ethnic collect ive Commonarrs which created rhe classic Song oj
Unity mural in honor of the victi ms of the Pinocher dicrurorshi p in Chile and ind igenous cultural
expression in North and Larin America. More and more the idenrificarion became "m inority" or
"oppressed" rather than strictly "Ch icano".
The largest expa nsion ofcontem porary muralism in the Un ited Scares came in the
late 19705 when funds from the Carter Ad m inistrat ion job t raini ng program (CET A), became
widely used to hire artists and create comm unity arts prog ram s. in cities around the Count ry.
Described as a smaller version of the New Deal art ist employment prog ram s, CET A int roduced
hundreds of young art ists to muralism bringi ng public art" to the "heartl and" for t he first time
since the 1930s. T he prominence of local government in rhese programs, however, created an
implicit (and someti mes rea l) threat ofcensorship that tended (Q d ilute the content of these walls.
T he depoliricizarion of muralis m in the late 1970s also corresponded (Q decreased social activism
after rhe end of rhe Vietnam crisis.
Afrer CET A, many critics decl ared that t he mural revival was fi nished. lmni-
cally, however, rhe Reagan years have witnessed renewed vital it y, not only in rnuralism an d
Chicano art , but also in realism and social ly conscious art in ge neral. T he g rowth of the ultra-
conservati ve religious rig ht coup led with fears of U. S. military involvement in Central America
created new activism at t he g rass rootSlevel du ring the 1980s. At the same time, there has been
g reater recognit ion for Chicano art and murals within mainst ream inst it utio ns wh ich has created
new opportunities fo r Chica no arti sts. Additionally, the buying and voting power of the rapid ly
g rowing Lati no populat ion of the U ni ted Srares has provided new recog nition for Ch icano
' -... .
concerns and Lat ino cultures in general.
The 1980s have witnessed an explosion of major narional exh ibitions of Lat in
American and "H ispanic" art that have roured the nation including "D iego Ri vera," "Art of the
Fantastic," "Hispanic Art in the United States," and "Lat in American Spirit .' "Ch icano Art:
Resistance an d Affi rrnation , 1965-1985 ," an interp retive exhi b it io n exam i ning the relationship
-
- --
betwee n the Chi cano civil rights movement and the Chicano art movement , ope ned in 1990.
utrrtnc THE WA LL
Many of t he young rebels who ini ciared the Chicano mural movement have explored and 1984
co nt inued codevelop orher medi a in addition to mu ralism: easel paint ing , sculpture, assemblage, J ud ith F. Baca
Harbor Freeway, Los Angeles
installat ion, performance, and video. Many have been g iven museum exhib it io ns and achieved 18' x 90'
14
 narional reputation s. This success has nor necessarily meant a denial of their heritage or their
acti vism as it might have before 1969. San Diego's Border Arr W orkshop, for exam ple, formed
in part by veterans of rhe Cenrro Cultural de la Reza/Chicano Park murals. was invited to show
installations and performance pieces dealing with rbe plight ofmigrant workers and other border
issues at the prcsngious Arrisrs Space gallery in New Yo rk Ci ty in 1989. T beir arr is able to cross-
over inca the ma instream m spite of the strong political content beca use of rhc arr isricelly
innovative format of their installa tions. While al mosr all Chica no artisrs roday participate in
gallery exhibi tions, and for some this is their major em phasis, others have conti nued to
co ncentrate on their work with the com mu nity and as muralists .
Over the years, rhe city of Los Angeles has come to identi fy itself as the mural
capital of the world. During the Los An ge les Ol ympics in 1984 , the city comm issioned a series
ofren freeway murals from the leading local mural artists, th ree of whom are Chicanos:) udy Baca,
Wi ll ie H er ron, and Frank Romero. T here were a number of unoffi cial pieces as well , includ ing
a large downtown wal l by the East Los Srreerscapers. The city of San Francisco has also continued
to provide significan t pa tronage for Ch icano muralists. Since 1988, there is also a active program
in Los Angeles beg un by artists, for the restoration and preservation of land mark murals - some
close to twenty years old. Between 1988 ·8 9, SPA Res mural restoration program, the Mural
Emergency Relief Fund , has already made eig ht small gran ts to artists to restore their damaged
murals. Beg inning in 1988 , the city of Los Angeles again became active as a patron of murals in
the various co unc il districts of the city through rhe N eigbbodxod Pride: Great Wa/iI Unlimited
program. Ad ministered by SPARC and modeled after rhe precedenr esrablisbed in the G reat Wall
program for comm uni ty pa rt icipa tion murals, Ntighborhood Pride commissioned nine murals in
1988-1989 and bas fiftee n more scheduled for 1989-90 .
The followi ng four essays are devoted to the discussion and anal ysis of the
historical and social relat io nships through wh ich Chicanos have used culture, and in particular
murals, to explore thei r individ ual and collective ide nti ty. T he first essay, by art historian and
critic, Shifra Gold man , "How, Why , Where, and W hen it all H ap pened : Chicano Murals of
Cal iforn ia," p rovid es a com prehensive history of Chicano murals and an informed d iscussion of
the d iverse elements that co mp rise the Chicano mural movem ent . In it she proposes several
categories which make the Californ ia material more accessible , examini ng rhe work in terms of
period , reg ion, su bjec t, and organizational structures. Goldman develops a chronolog y of public
mu ralism in the 19 70s and 1980s providing an importan r tool for locat ing this art movem ent
wi thi n its historical and art his torical contexts. She also analyzes t he themes and speci fi cally
Chicano iconog raph y developed by rhe muralisrs, ind icat ing the spec ial meaning these images
16
had for the arriscs curing rhe period when the work was painted . In addition, this essay examines:
t he changi ng nature of polit ical acciviry and social consciousness as they affected mural content
and patronage and looks toward the present status of the mural movement.
The second essay by cultural historian Tomas Ybarra-Frausto, "A ru Chicano:
Images ofaCcmm uni ry," ident ifies Chica no arras a hisroricallyevolving social process info rmed,
sustained and d irected by the co mm unity-based consrrucrion of a Chicano cultural identity.
According to Ybarra-Frausto, to be Chicano/a requi res: the assert ion of one's self as an integral
com ponent of the Chica no com m unity. This affiliation is based on the recogniti on of a shared
livi ng expe rience as Mexicans (and t he ir descendents). In t he U ni ted States, t his identity is rooted
econo mically in the Mexican-A mer ican working class, su ppo rted generarionally and extended
geog raphi cally by way of Chicano barrios. T hese ba rriQJ were and cont inue to be an im portant link
in a network basic to the exchange of cultural influences borh wi th in and between reg ions . T hus,
long-established communal rituals, such as those follow ed by the penitentes religious g roup, and
trad itional arts , such as the wooden sculptures of Ja tJtOJ (saints) made regionally by the Ja n/eros,
provided precedents for com munal and performarive aspects of Chicano art . In the 19 70s these
resid ual forms and practices found an extension of thei r tradit ional audience as barrio network ing
recon nected them to emergent national forms of Chi cano arr.
Because Ch icano art ists were consciously searching to ident ify the images that
represented rhei r shared expe rience they were continually led back to the barrio. Ir became the site
for "finding" the symbols, forms, co lors, and narratives that would assist rhem in t he re-
defi ni tion of their com m unit ies. Nor interested in perpetuating the H ollywood notion that art
was primarily an avenue of escape from reality, Chicano artists soug ht to use their arr to create
a d ialogue of demys rificarion rhrough which the Chicano co mmunity could evolve toward
cu lt ural liberation . To th is end , m urals and posters became an ubiq uitous elem ent of the
barrioscape. Accord ing to Ybarra- Prausro,{hey pu blicly rep resented the reclamation of individ ual
Chicano mi nds and hearts throug h rbe ack nowledgement and celebration of their com m unity's
identity through the creat ion of an art of resistance.
Amalia Mesa-Bai ns exam ines the issues of m uralism from a d ifferent perspective
than the other authors in "Quest fo r Ident ity: Profi le of T wo Chicana Muralists.' She offers
insig ht into (he inte rdependence between pe rsonal and co llective experience in the de velopment
ofself-idenciry for both the ind ivid ual artist and the communi ty as a whole. For those art isrs who
"came of age" within the Chicano Movement, the relat ionship each had w ith their comm unity
was intensified. This was due to the fact that their home environment, specifi cally the shared day
to day living expe rience in the barrio, had become a "cul rural sanctuary" from which they d rew
"
 •

not only material for rhcir an but also rhe pe rsona l stre ngt h neccessa ry for leadership. These
artist, rrunstormed trems of personal and familial idenncy inrc a public image signifying
resistance. Th is was especially importan t for women anises withi n the Ch icano movement , for
whom the struggle for liberation as p::1r{ ofar. oppressed national cornrnu niry coalesced with that
of personal liberation within tilt: f amily.
In the two cases described b" Mesa-Bains of]udy Baca and Patricia Rodrfguea,
beth a rtists typify a ll wo uld-be Ch icano art ists by thei r way of wo rki ng through t he new
challenges brought by d ifferent sett ing s. Th roughout, personal enlis tment into th e Movem ent
was tantamount [0 a commit ment to the developme nt of the self within a co m m u nity eng aged
in the process ofincreas ing historical consciousness. As Mesa-Bains poi nts out, it is sc iII necessary
to d evelop analyses t hat can explain t he Movement as it pertai ns to itsel f and the ind ividuals
affected by it , as wel l as to other co mponents of American society .
The fi nal essay "t\1liraiesdelMOllimim/o: Ch icano Murals and the D isco urses of Arc
and Am ericanization" by Marcos San cbez-Tranq uil ino exami nes the role of conceprual st ructures
in the creat ion of a cultural movement . H e em phasizes the political sign ificance of cuirural self-
d efinition , exem plified in the use of the word "Chicano" itself, as a tool of libe ration in the
struggle by the Chicano community to emerge from its cond it ion as an "i nternal" colony. In the
same way that Chicano ident ity is form ed t hroug h a specifi c combination of Ind ian, Span ish ,
and Ang lo infl uences, the specific "Ch icano' mu ral style is a combinat ion ofcult ura l influences
whi ch include American "pop" culture, art-wo rld , Mexican , and barrio influences. Sanchez-
Tranquilino highlights the specifi c role of you t h participation and g ang calligraphy (g raffi t i) in
t he early murals. not only in terms of the specific style t hat d eveloped . but also in relation to LA OFFR1J. NDA
structural factors like the use of collective painti ng groups and the barrio locat ions where the 1989
Yreina Cerv:intez
mura ls were placed. Toluca. St . under Ihr 1st Strret Bridge, Los Angelrs
Prior to the Chicano movement, U. S. Mexicans were defined externally through 16' I 52'
A NtiglMf b" I PritklGrut Wtt!/J U"lt,.ittd project .
a series of d erogatory stereotypes with roral assimilat ion as the only way to break out of the
situat ion of social marg inalization. Art rbar integrated elements of U. S. Mexicaoor barrioculture
was also den igrated as "folk" arc a nd not considered seriou sly. T he explosion of Chicano cult ure
and m urals as a result of the polit ical movement , provided new recog nition and val ue fo r Chicano
art which weak ened the o ld ba rriers. Accord ing ro Sanchez-Tranq uilino , t his experie nce allowed .'
art ists to figuratively break th roug h the wall that confined art ists eithe r ro the barrio or to
u nq ual ified assimila tion. It gave them the confidence ro explore new arrisric forms and a new
relationship to the d om inant society.

18

•
I
II All of the essays bring out the importance of the early )'ears of the Chicano
Movement when community activis m was at it heig ht in generating the search for iden riry and
collecti ve self re-defi nit ion that resul ted in a flowering of Chicano cultu re and art. T his cultural
renaissaoce including Ch icano mura lism contin ued CO develop and g row during the later 1970s
as the parricipanrs grew in maturity and skill. T he authors look (Q the furure with both opt imis m
and concern pointing OUt that as rbe century draws co a d ose, there is a need to reformulate
Chicano idenriry in a way that corresponds to both positive and negati ve changes in srarus and
to changed social cond itions. To remain valid , an art istic move ment needs roengage in con ti nual
self-criticis m. It must change with t he times and the needs of th e comm uni ty while remaining
true to its own vision , its own collective self. We call to the new generat ion of arcisrs, th e new
act ivists for their com munity, to build on the lessons of the past , while creati ng a future of
th eir own.

Eva Sper ling Cockcrofr

Holl y Barn et-Sanchez

INSPIRE 7U ASPIRE
198 7
Mike RfO$
Sourh Van Nl:$s Ave. and 22 nd S' Io.f" ' "
apprmr. 40 '
l( 120' .. , 1 rS510n D IU f lcr , San /;ra nc;'!Co

21
 Muralism was the most important, widespread, cohes ive, and
publicized aspect of the Chicano art movement during th e
1970s. As a major carrier ofpublic commu nication to Mexican
com muni ties in th e United States, it has been a vehicle of
p rotest and demands addressed to the power Structures for
equi table solutions to problem s facing those com munities. It also sig naled the pride, cul tural
values, hopes , and asp irations of Mexican community acriviriscs, especially among: the young
people who formed th e "troops" of the Chicano movement in the 1960s. Mural ism fo rged an
essential link between the newly emergi ng Chicano g roupings and th eir Mexican heritage, en-
couraging a study of themes and techniques developed by the Mexican School of publi c art
(m uralism and pri nt making) in the 1920s and 1930s, as well as a study of p re-Col umbian
pai ncing, sculpture, and architec ture which laid a basis for both the Mexican School and the
Chicano arr movement. In its insistence on a public voice, Chicano muralism participated in rhe
developmen t of a national mural movement which made its presence known, from 1967 on in
the United Stares - and event ually in the rest of the world .
, Chicano muralisrn' began as a grassroots explosion that swept num bers of artists,
arr students, and self-taug ht artists into that artist icact ivity . California leads the country in sheer
THE DEL RE\' M URAL
1968 quanti ty . Tak ing into accou nt the murals that adorn build ings inside and OUt in dozens ofcities
Antonio Bernal
EI 'rea rro Campesino CultuT1l1 Censer, Del Rey
6' ,, 15' I . I t $hould be unders tood th at Ch ica no m urals may bf, painted by teams inc1ud ins non-Ch icano pnrricipants. or be headed by
non -Ch icano a rc d irecwrs like Bill Bu tler in Li J" Valley. Los Angeles. Mexican Gilbeno R ~ m ire~ (San Dieg o and San Pralld .;co),
23

- - _..._----- -
 large and smal l. there muse have been mor e t han 1,')O{) mural s in the state during the fi rst decade.
a nd mort' we re pai nted every year . However. 1:1 certain number of exisc in!:: mura ls are destroyed ,
covered, or ddiKCd each year and u number "vanish" due to fault y techn ique or because paint
products have a finite life span when exposed to sun, rain, and pollution . Such mu rals sho uld be
subrracred from the toral of exist ing murals, thou g h they are available to us in reproduction and
thus remain parr of the his tory . Fo r Californi a, the most complete visu al information availab le
is con tained within the California Chicano Mural Arch ive: the documented slide collect ion
compiled by the Social and Pub lic An Reso urce Center where it is housed, with a duplicate set
at the Los Angeles branch of the Smi thsonian's Arch ive of American Art located in the Scott
G aller y of rhe Huntington Library in San Marino, California. T he archive lists 3,5 04 slides . Of
these, 74 1 are ofseparate murals credited to 74 groups and 4 11 individual artists. As is indicated
in the doc umentation, the Archive contai ns photograph ic records of murals no longer in
existe nce. Al thoug h the Archive is comprehen sive, it is not (and cannot be expected to be)
exhaust ive. Considering those murals not photog raphed over the years, those that d isappeared
prior to the beginning of the documentat io n project, and those pai nted since the Archive was
com piled , even 1,500 seems a conservative figure.
When one considers this prodigious output of paintings that are monumental
in scale, labor intensive, exhausting in terms of working cond it ions , and relatively costly ro
produce , the f-act of their prod uct ion in such q uantiry casts a clear lig ht on the political, moral,
and social imperatives that stimulated great numbers ofprofessional and potential acrisrs to work
on walls with ded ication bur often wit h little or no remuneration . M urals are not fo r sale. Nor
are public walls (as French-M exican m uralist Jean Charlot once pointed cue) a proper surface for
the naked display ofselfwhi ch has been a ma jor focus in Buro-Am crican art from 1945 on. Rather
they are the log ical genre fo r pictures envisioned as social levers. Muralists were not incercsred
in formalist expe rimentation fo r irs own sake, but on ly as it contributed to the commun ity.
Chica no muralists, wi th the high ideals and social (or revol utionary) concepts of rhe 1968 -1975
period , were the artistic counterparts of the student an d youth movem ents wh ich undertook the
task of "changi ng the world ." Som e artists were more th an counterparts ; they were participants
and leaders in the poli t ical and economic strugg le, considerin g rheir art (as did Mexican mural ist
David Alfaro Siqueiros) an integral part of thei r ideolog y.
and Pue rto Ricar,-d"scent arti st Manu el "Spain'" Ro:lrfgun (San Franci$co). T he existing dct errninant$ seem to be.{ha~ a
prepo nd" rance of the participants be Chicano, and/or the director be a Chicano. and the th eme be related to or syrnpat heuc w, tl!
Chicano concerns
24
:0aJditio.o dedication , muralists req uired skills: legal knowledge to obtain
to
w~lls and penmrs; chemical knowledge about the condition of arclu recrural walls, primers,
pamrs. anti scalers; research methods fur historical murals; and sociological me thods fi
. . . b I or
orgall1zlll~ neigh o r. lOod tcam.s ~nd polling COm mun it ies for their interests and suppo rt. T hey
also acquired ski lls .m fund -raising and grant writi ng . These were techniq ues nor taug ht in
schools therefore artists had to improvise and teach themselves. Some sough t training in Mexico
as they developed into professional muralists (such as Ray Patlan who worked wi rh Arnold Belkin
in the San Carlos Academy , and J ud ith Bam who attended the T aller Siqueircs in Cuecnavaca).
Most attacked the walls with the training they had received for easel painting and des ig n in art
schools. S.ome served apprenticeships with more experienced m uralists unt il they could launch
ou t on their-ow n. Many starred pa inting with no t raining at all but with an urgent need to express
what .they percei~ed as "trut h." As a resul t the wo rks were ofte n ragged and needed better
drawi ng , composmg and painting sk ills. H owever, t hey exhi bited what one writer on Chicano
theatre has defi ned as rosquacbismo: the virtue of opposing rhe refined fi nis hed p rod uct of
bourgeois art with "u npolished virsliry."?
Chicano murals, born in the heyday of "modern ism " - wi th its emphasis on
forma~ eleg~nce: abstraction ro the poi nt ofminimalism, and an elite appeal- insi sted on repre-
senmrionalism If not actually social realism of the type. brought to its apotheosis in Mexican
mu:als. T he mu~ls i nsi~ted on "messages," on narrative, on history paint ing , in a period which
derided these attri butes 10 art . Chicano art students resisted their professors in art school and
ignored their lessons.after ~hey gra~~ated, They drew together for mutual support, encou;age-
ment , and strength JO cheir oppositional stance. From this comm unalism came chicanidad and
hr:rJllanda~(Chicano consciousness and brother/sisterhood) and the organization ofmural g roups,
art gal leries, centers, and alternative publications.
Considering rhe above, it is pertinen t to the history of modern art ro develop the
chronolog y of public muralism in the 19705 and 1980s; to set it with in its historical and art
hi stOri~al contex t ; to indicate the them es and the sig nifi cance of the iconography that preoccupied
the artists; to expl~re the artisti~ structures esrablished by Chicano artists to organize and provide
supporr for mu ralIsm ; to examme the changing nature ofpol it ical activity and social conscious-
ness .~ thes e changes affected m ural content and patronage; and, fi nally, to indicate the p resent
status of rhe mural movement in Californ ia.
2. Yvonne Yarbro-Bejarano, "Thc Female Subject in Chicano T heatre: Sexuality , 'Race' and Class," TiHarrejo"""41, 38.4 (1986).
25
 • BIRTH O F THE CHICANO ML"RAL MOVEMENT, 1968 - 1970 .
Themes and Their T imes
In rcprcsenrational an th e theme (or subiecr), as well as the iconography, are the means by which
co mm unication is established. As we have seen. comm unicat ion - not just aest hetic pleasure,
though thi s was certainly not ruled out - was primary for Chicano muralists. In order co create
visual forms that could convey meanings nor previously exrsrenr, images and iconograp hy were
both borrowed and invent ed. Content is also conveyed th roug h forms themselves: the ways in
wh ich color, line, shape, space, value, scale, placement, and framing are used ; or the degree to
wh ich objects are naturally rendered or expressively disconed. [ 0 rhe con rinua l strugg le between
idea and renderi ng , between erudition and experiment, between sk ill and apprenciceship, the
themes, m eanings and formal language of Chi cano muralism were developed . A constant
dialogue took place between the po wer st ruggle of the movement against the d omi nant socie ty
to ach ieve its needs and aspirations, and the u nfold ing of t he artists' abilit ies to translate,
com m enr on and co ntrib ute to that strugg le. In the course ofthat dialog ue, motifs were developed
from the concepts of the movemen t itsel f to wh ich the artists gave visual form . W e can d o no more
in the confi nes of th is chap ter than to g ive some exam ples of th is d ialog ue, and indi cate the kind s
of them es that were p revalent in various time periods.
As far as can be d eterm ined , the earliest Ch icano murals in Cal ifornia are the rwo
19 6 8 pane ls painted in Del Rey by Anton io Bernal on the United Farm W orkers' Teacro
Campesino Cen te r. They m erit special attentio n not only fo r their earl y date, bu t for the example
they present of iconography larer prevalent in the pol it icized m urals of the 19 70s. In o ne, pre-
Colu mbian! rulers line u p Bonam pak-l ike horizontally, head ed by a woman; in the other, a
sequence of admi red leaders fro m the Mex ican Revolu tion to the 1960s are led by " La Ad eli ra",
a revol ut ionary woman sold ier. She is followed by Francisco "Pancho" Villa, Emiliano Zapata ,
J oaq uin Murieta (3 Mexican o r Ch ilean outlaw-hero o n th is side of the border), Cesar Chavez of
the United Farm W orkers, Reies L6pez T ijerina of the N ew Mexico land g rant movement ,a Black
Pan ther, and Marti n l u ther K ing . Jr. 4 The m u ral thus encom passes rhe past events and
pe rsonali t ies that most influenced the Chicano movement: the ind ig enous cul tures of pre-
3, Ilonam pak is chI' sic" nf an ancient Maya city now locared b Chia pas, Mexico. It was aba ndoned prior to 900 A.D. and cont ains
a series of murals.
4 . T he Black Pant her f igure has been ident ified by Luis Valdez of the TeaHo Cam pni no :u Malcol.m.X (te!<.>phone COn\'~rsat!o n
wit h author, N",·ember 10 , 1986). Ho wever, despiee cheeyeg lnses, the figu l'(; w<.> arn sm ~ d ashikI, has a panthe r on h' s shlt-t ,
and carries a machi ne g l:n - symbols and instruments not ~ociat.-d wit h Malcolm X o r the Black Muslims. The BI:ICk Panthe rs
wen- organized in Califc m ia in 1966 aod made t heir base in Oakland . It is possible that the artist. II Chicano welfare worker from
26
Col um bian Mexico and the Revol u t ion ; and (from the 1960s) the Blac k civil righ ts movement
and leaders of the Mexican/C hicano Movement in the persons of Chavez and LOpez Tijerina.
The yea-s from 1968 to 1970. when the mural movement began to pick up
momentum, were filled wirhsignificanr evenrs. 1968 proved to be a year of international student
protest ; from Tokyo to Paris, from Mexico City to ma ny cities in the United States. In Easr los
Ang eles, the famous hi gh school "b lowou ts" had repercussions among Chicano srudencs across
the cou ntry. By May 19 69, 10,000 people attendee the "Fiesta de los Barrios" org ani zed by the
"blowou t" com mi ttee at linco ln H igh School. Th is was the first g igan tic Chicano cult ural eve nt
of Cali forn ia and it inspired Francisco X . Ca mplis of San Francisco's Casa Hispana de Bellas Ar ces
to assem ble "Arre de los Barrios," a traveling exhibition of lati n Ame rican and Chicano en.'
Eventually th e cooperative g rou p Acre 6 was fo rmed, and it became, in its turn , the (largely
Chi cano) Galerfa de la R aze of San Francisco .
At the same rim e that the Piesra was being plan ned in Los Angeles, a seminal
g roup of San Francisco artists organ ized the Mexican American Liberation Art Front (MALA F)
wh ich, in March 19 6 9 , sponso red the "N ew Sym bols for la N ueva Raza" art exh ibit. MAlA F
was a m ilitant grou p for med "for the purpose of organ izing Chicano arrisrs who are in terested in
integrating art into the Chicano social revolution sweeping the cou mry.:" T he four arcisrs who
formed MAlAF we re Manuel H ernand ez-T ru jillo , Mal equ fas Montoya, Esteban Villa, and Rene
Yanez - all key figures in the prod uct ion and prom otion of m u ral painting. D u ring 197 1
Yanez, as co-d irector of the Galerfa de la Raza, was insrrumenral in promoting a m ural program
in the Missio n dist rict of San Francisco. Villa. and Jose Montoya (who also participated in
MAIAF>, es tablished the Rebel Chicano Art Front (later k nown as the Royal Ch icano A ir Force,
based on the ini tials R eAF) along wi th their students from Sacram en to Srare Colleg e. T his
occurred after teach ing positions had opened up for the rwo arrisrs in 196 9and 1970 respect ively.
Betw ee n 1969 and 1970, V illa and h is students painted the mural Emergmce of tbe ChicanoSocial
Straggle in a Bim /Illra/ Sociery on the walls of the Wash ington Neig hborhood Center." Employing
five gigant ic expressive fig ures, the m ural d elivers a m essag e about liberation through mil itant
self-defense and self-e nl ig hten me nt. At the sam e ti m e, Malaq ufas MOntoya and H ernand ez-
T ru jillo began worki ng on mural s in the East Oakland Develop ment Ce nter. T he form er
Fresno Wh o used the professional name Forese H opping , intended tht" fig u re to be a compos ite of Malcolm X (who was assassi nated
before th~ formati on of.th~ Black Pan~hers) and the Panthe rs. Both gTOUpS offered id eolog ical a ltt"rnat; ves to those of King .
5. FranclSCQ X . Camplls, intervIew w,th author. 29 Sepc"mb\"r 1978.
6. "N ueva Rau Art Show in Oakland ,- San Pr,m ri¥o Ch"'nidr. 2 1 March 19<>9.
7. Alan \'(/. Barnet! erroneously da les rhis m ural to 1968. See Com1HIIIl;ly Mllrals (C ranbu ry. NJ : a ssccuced U niversity Presses,
lnc., 1984 ), p- 67 and paui• .
27
 concerned armed srrugg!e, education, and self-knowledge; the latter sy mbol ically p rojected the
idea, through pre-Columbia n images of the jag uar (nigh t) and sU l1 light, rnar maize plants (i.e.
hu man beings) can g row in spite of vultures and oppression.
In 19 69 -70 , the G onzalez b rothers of Ease Los Angeles , working with a ream,
painted the mural, The Birth o!O/tr AI'! . j r was to be affi xed to the facade of the new Goez Imports
and Fine Arts Gallery when it opened . T he mural rep resen ted the IllHtiznje(m ixing)of the Spanish
and Ind ian peoples, rhc Mex ican ancestors ofrhose who were to p roduce Chicano art . G oez Ga llery
was a for-profi t space from the time ofit s ince ption. The gallery offered serv ices such as "a rt sales
of rradi rional , m odern and pre-Colu mbian painti ngs and sculp tures, restoration of th e fine arts,
imports from Mexico and Spa in, custo m des igned furnit ure, frames, advert ising des ign, [and the]
d esigning and ccnsrruc rion of m urals, m onum ents, sh rines, and fou ntain s." ~ Su bseq uently,
G oez became part of the comm uni ty mu ral p rogram and obtained fund ing to make wall
painting s. Artists from its ran ks were to play an im portant role in the East Los Ang eles mural
com m u ni ty . Such was rhe case fo r David Borello, who (w it h Wayne Alan iz H ealy) became one-
halfofLos D os Srreets cepers; and Charles "Garo'' Felix, who , by ini tiati ng and headi ng the mural
prog ram at Estrada Courts, m ade h is commi tme nt ro enhancing the living spece ofa worki ng class
com m u nit y.
In 1970, j udith Baca expanded the d efini tion of her teac h ing job wirh the
Deparrm enr of Recreation and Parks in ord er to orga nize g ang members of East Los Angeles in to
mural teams. Starting w ith twenty people from four different neighborhoods , Baca painted
murals during rhe summer, including Mi abuelita (My Litt le Grandmother), in a th ree-sid ed
bandshell of H ol lenbeck Park. After th is experience, she began to u nderstand that murals and
the visual symbols they em ployed could "b reak down the d ivisions among .. .people, g ive them
informa tion and change rheir en vironment ." 9
W it h t hese several examples, we can see that [he mural m ovement resulted from
an al most "spon taneous com bustion," influenced d irectly or in d irectly by the strikes and
. boycotts of the U nited Farm Workers Union , the mili tant Chicano Movem ent , and the sp iri tual
and cultural concerns of writers and artists who were acrive in the m ovement . T earro Campesi no
was one of rhe earliest cultural m anifestat ions of the new Ch icano Movement . Ou tward rippli ng
effects from the Union and the T heatre spread to other exp ressive forms in cludi ng literature,
8. GoezGallery brochure, c. 197 1. , . . .
9. J ud ith Baca, "O ur People are the Internal Exiles," an interview by Diane N eumaier 111 C"IturllJ In ContmllO'I, cd. Dou glas Kah n
and D iane N eumaier (Seattle: The Real Comet Press. 198;'). p. 6 7.
28
v isual arts, m us ic, and d ance to produce what can righ tly be called a "cu ltural exp losio n."
Between 1971 and 1975, early experime nts led to a virtual flood of murals, part icu larly in l os
Angeles wh ich could be called [h e m u ral cap ital of rhe Southwest, if nor the nat ion . Parallel
movements blossom ed in the San Francisco Bay citi es and in San Diego. From these areas it
spread , by rhe end of the decade , to many orher ciries in the state . We can record (in arb irtaryorder)
Santa Ana, O range, Tustin, Anaheim , Riverside, Santa Barbara, San ta Cru z, San Jose, R edwood
City, Gilroy, W atsonville, Palo Alto, Sebastopol, Santa Rosa, Windsor, Bakersfi eld , D elano,
Visalia, H anfo rd , Sanger, Fr esno , Malag a, Hig hway Ciry, Madera, Merced , D av is, and Vacaville.
The San Francisco Bay area includes Daly City, Berkeley, Oak land , Emeryville, H ayward , and
U nion Ci ty. Smaller cities surround ing Los Ang eles and San D ieg o were also invaded by mu rals.
• MURAL SU BJ ECTS
Ear ly T hem es
Themes for m ural s were sug g ested to artists by contemporary events and th e new ph ilosop hy of
the Chicano movement. T he fo llow ing categories g ive some idea of thei r rang e:
Religion: Pre-Columbian (especially Olrnec, T oltec, Aztec, and Mayaj dei ries such as Querzalcoarl
(the fe athered serpent), the ra in g od Tlaloc; the Aztec "Calendar Stone;" the Chac Mool and other
p re-Co lu m bian sig ns and sym bols; W est Mexican funerary dog s; pre-Columbian rituals; pyra-
m ids and te m ples; Christian chu rches; Christian sig ns and sym bols ; altars; t he Virgin of
G uadalu pe and/or he r roses; the crucified Christ and/or crosses, bleeding or flam ing hearts ,
thorns; bishops and parish p riests (someti mes sati rically).
I ndigenoltsmotifs:The reipartite head (Ind ian Spania rd/Mexica n or Ch ica no), contemporary N ati ve
Americans, P re-Col um bian warriors and families.
Historical events: P re-Columbian rulers (like the chronicle of Mixrec ruler 8-Deer); the Spanish
conq uistadores; colonial Mexican culture; the Mexican Revolu tion ; N ative American and
Ch ican o history.
lHodem portraits: Cesar Chavez, Reies Lopez Tij erina, Bmiliano Zapata, "Pancho" V illa, "La
Adeli ta ," Benito J uarez, Father Miguel Hidalgo. j ose M aria Morelos,John 'F. K en ned y, Emesco
"Che'' Guevara, Ruben Salazar, Luis Valdez, Mart in Luthe r K ing ,Jr. , Pablo Picasso, and David
A lfarc; Siq ueiros.
Political and social: On local issues: educat ion, pol ice b rutali ty, d rug abuse, prison cond itions;
gang warfare and gang prid e reflected in memorials ro deceased m embers; im ages of "hom e boys"
and "home gi rls;" health care , and po rtraits ofcom mu n.i ty people. On national issues: the strikes,
29
 marches, and boycotts of rhe l' rured Farm "(lurker; of Americu (liF\'V'): c-orking conditions of
tarm workers tstoop Iabor , mi.l.~nnr '",rorkers): grapes and wine themes reflecting che boycotts;
caricatures of ~ L'lIdc Sam:' and rbc paramilirary self-defense Chicano group called rhc Brown
Berets. On inremanonal issues: Images of the U,S. mi litary; guerrillas in the Th ird World ; the
war In Southeast Asia; and celebranons of Lati n American and Caribbean culture.
NOll~rcligl()1IJ spnboiJ: COli Solo;
or "OS" (roug hly translated as "the same to you") graffi t i, scales
of justice, tomb sto nes, hearts, feathers, chai ns and broken chains, mirrors, the Mexican eagle, the
U F\'(f black eagle, and the U,S. eegfe Iall w ith different meanings), T he UFW flag; the U.S. flag;
the Pan-African , Puerto Rican and Cuban flags;calm lerl/J (an ima ted skeletons ala Posad a); atomic
symbols; suns and sun symbols; fi re; exte nded hands, clasped hands and clenched fists; moons;
bags of g old ; and dollars.
Landscapes, flora and/ auna: Volcanos, snow-capped mounrains, deserts; cact us p lanes (nopal or
prickly pear, and maguey), palm rrees, corn planes and ears; horses and other animals.
Decorative motift: Superg raphics and other g eome tric abstractions; p re-Colum bian geometric
forms used decoratively; organic abstractions, mo tifs from Mexican folk art,
Family: Mo rber and child, mother and child ren. whole families, grandmothers . Families in ma ny
soc ial situations.
Urban culture: PlUh"co;la;, cholo;ltlJ. lowrider cars, graffiti , ciryscapes, sk yscrapers, barrio homes,
freewa ys, trains, etc.
Legendary or Illytbiral figllm: La U Qrona (the Weeping W oman), Superman , Popocarepd and
Ixteccih uad (vo lcanos in Mexico: Indian warrior and the sleeping woman , or rhe wam or carrying
the woman).
Texts: Words and ph rases used in the body of (or o ne side of) a m ural: man ifestos, titles,
to
explanations, names of pe rsonal ities, docume nts (his torical and contemporary), memorials, UNTITLED (HO AIEBOY). derail
poetry , and slog ans like "V iva la Raza," or "End Barrio W arfare." 1974
Manuel Cruz
Ramona Ga rdens H ousing Project, EUI Los Angeles,
Late r T hem e s total mU I"J J approx. 16 1 x 20'
Looking ahead to the post - 1. 97 5 period , we find that many of the above cherries con tinue to
appear. New subjects eme rg(:, Most notable is the tendency to incl ud e and co m ment on
inte rnational themes - parti cularly , in recen t years, on u nity between peoples of color.
Increasingly , solidarity w ith the op pressed peoples of Ce ntral America (with an em phasis on
N icarag ua, EI Salvad or, and Guatemala) are expressed in murals. T he most extensive projeer of
this nature was San Francisco's PLACA Project. The "Balm y AlleyMural Environment' incl ud ed
30
 more t han ,_,ew
m y-fi ve murals on Central America, which were painted by a mulri-erhnic group
"
or arnsrs In I 984.
10
Mu ral s wt:rt: also com m issioned d uring national and local celebrations such
JS t be U .S
g j c en rennial in 1976, the Los Angeles Bicentennial in 1981, and the 1984 Olympic
Go es held i n Los Angeles. On the occasion of the Los Angeles Bicentennial, moscof che murals
.....: la~dato(Y· O ne that was critical and undertook rodocum enr the history o( L.A. m inorities.
was Barbara C arrasco's portable paint ing The HiJ101) cf Los A nge/eJ: A Mexican Perspeane. As a
result, it was ( ejected , and bas nor been installed as of th is writing. " The Olympic murals, painted
by a mul rieth n ic g roup inclu di ngJ ud itb Baea, Wi llie Herro n, and Frank Romero, were eclectic
in style and tJ1em e. Baca, for example. undertook to celebrate (as a con tinuation of her historic

VIVA LI\ RAZ A

1977
Dan iel Galvcz; with O sha N cuman , Brian Thiele and S. Barre t t
1112 Adeline gc., San Francisco
I" 11: 70'

T HE HlS'rORY OF LA., 1\ A1EX1C:::A,!'-J PERSPECTIVE

1981 -8} . 10. ~ C01/ItJ:JW JI1 J\lIlrals Alaga zi nt (Fall 1984): 1O- 1}.

I Barba ra Carrasco
portable , unmounted 16' x 80'
I I . See ChlJ~Arlt, no. 9 (September 1983): 20- 21 .

33
Gr"" Wlatl mural prcjccc) rhe spo rts successes of women of colo r. Un forrunarcly, the locat ions
chosen for rhc rcn orrises were rhc wails of downtown freeways. a haza rd boch til the: painters and
the mororisrs who wished to see the work ..
Porrrairs included an expanded cast in thc:posr·19?j period: Diego Rivera, Frida
Kahle, and Jose Clemence Orozco were added to the rosrcr ofMexican artists; Los Angeles leader
Bert Corona, movie sta r Anthony Q uinn (among po rtraits of ma ny acto rs and actresses), U F\'"
leade r Dolores Huerta, L950s labor orga nizer Luisa Moreno, m urdered Chilean folk sing er Victor
j ara, and Northern Californ ia song write rs Daniel Valdez and Malv ina Reynold s now appeared .
Some unflarrering portrayals or
Ronald Reagan also showed up, as di d portraits of Northern
California art s people, incl ud ing muralist Ray Padan.
Themes from urban culture began to include street and community people ofall
types ~ particula rly in the phororealisr m urals of Los Ange les' John Valadez, and Oakland's
Daniel Galvez. Slu m lords and arson, food contam ination, and ju nk food have been added to the
roster of social evils. Fina lly, a g roup of te n mul tierhnic m uralists in San Francisco, undertook
a mural sculpture, A ll 11lj IJry 10 One is an btj llry 10 All . Sponsored by the Internat ional
Longshoremen's and Wareh ousemen's Union (ILWU)and the Mayor ofSan Francisco, the m ural
com memorated the 50th anniversary of the 19 34 G eneral Strike. Ray Patlan took a leading role
in the prod uction of this mural, as he did in the PLACA endeavor.
• WHO DID WHAT WHERE,
A rt and Mural Groups
AluralgrouPJ ha t'tb«11 rhnractn-iud by 1lx "teant"approarh, i.e. all art dirtdor working wilh
a grollp of artiJIJ analOf' romml/nilY raidous. Mitral amsn ba~ aho loliriud romRllln;ly
i/lPllt as a gltidt 10 rdeeance ofa gillt1J tbene and in articulation. The notion of an artistic
reatu collaborrltin8 011 (I public mural (a ll be fOll1ld in the early writillgI of Siqlle;roJ, however
the inausio» of (of ten untrained] COl/lIIl/O/ity partir;pnnl1as painters appears 10 be unique 10
the U.S. slrm fIlllralmo£'tflltnt of 1M 1970s. Subscribing to a colleel;f/;II philolOphy at the
point of prodll(/iOl1 com//trjhzrtJ 0 similar philosophy in regard 10 diJltf1J11la lion. Britfly
summarized [most] puhlicartiitl UJ()rk aJa :eam andaddrtJl lhnr work loacommllnity which,
hoptfitlly, w;lI ullderJIatld andllibseribe 10i ts mmagt. Tbis Jlona l1tgOIt! lilt il1dividlJalism
and elilhpl common 10 mainstream {tnt arts. I}
12. Suza nne Mu chnic,. ' An Fro m Ihe' Fast Lan.:," LM ' ''''ylt:l Ti llltS, 15 April 1984 , Fu m .,,1A[I/Kazi /U', pp. 76-7 9 ; and "Los Angeles
FI"C'C'WllY Mu...ls Honor tho: 23 rd O lymp iad ,~ 1_ &t:I Itml l JJ;IC'/. 5, no. 1 Qu Ir tAug ust 1984): 14~ 19 ...
13 . Shirra M. Goldman and Tomis Ybarnl-Fl'llUSI O, t\neC;'wZI'4: t\ CIM/»'thnui~ A" fIOI4UJ Bi!»iotr"phr ¥"Chir"". An. 196.5 -
1981 (& rkd C')': ChinDo S<:udiC'S Lib rtry Pub!i(lllior!s Uni l, Un ivC'rsicy of California, BC'rkl.'lC'y, 1985), p . 53.
The notion of a "team " or co llective, which characterized m u.ral production of [he early 1970s.
docs nor preclud e ind ividual murali sts making works of grear power and relevancy. H owever,
Chicano artists in all disciplines tended to ,group toget he r for m urua l support and , in the face of
insri curional neg lect or hostili ty, for com m issions and fund ing. We will briefly trace the
interaction be rween g roups and indiv idual artists and highlight some examples.
N orthern Cali fo rnia
Sacramento. Like many Chi cano arts organizat ions in Cal ifo rnia, the R oyal Chicano Air Force
( 969 ) and the umbrella g rou p known as t he Cenrro d e Arrisras Chicanos ( 1970), which form
the st ructu ral base for m urali sts in Sacramento (ap plications for fund ing, locating wall s, signi ng
contracts , and other log isti cal , not to mention spiritual support), maintain profiles o n a number
offron rs. Wi th roors in the farm workers organ izing drives and boycotts, as well as MALA F (the
Mexican America n Liberat io n Art Fro nt of 19 69 ), the th rus t of t he Ce ntro and the RCAF has
been econom ic, po lit ical, cult ura l, and social . In add ition to murals and sil kscreen p rog rams, the
Sacramento grou p has run classes for chi ldren, tee nagers, and seniors; reg ularl y celebrates
Mexican national and folk ho lidays; participates in Nat ive Amer ican rituals; has ru n a free
breakfast prog ram for children ; and maintains a boo ksrore and a gal lery. Poerry (Jose Montoya
is as well kn own for his poetry as his art), t heatre, d ance , m usic , and spores round our the
community cu rriculum .
V illa's 1969 mural (men tioned earlier) provided the inspiration for a contin uing
m ural program , some of it - su ppo rted until the program was cancelled - by federal fu nd ing
from CETA, the Comprehensive Employm ent an d Training Act . According to a Los A ngetes Times
article of Jul y 22, 1979 , R CAF artists pai nted fifteen m urals in Sacramento, incl uding a major
work depicting various aspects of Chicano cu lture at rhe city 's Southside Park. The Southside I"
Park m ura ls of 19 77 are by J uanishi O rosco, Esteban Vil la, J ose Mo nroya, J uan Ce rvantes,
Lorraine Garda, Sam R fos and Stan Pad illa. Centro artists also painted murals in Seattle
(Washington), Bu rley (Idaho), Tempe (Arizona), Chicano Park in San D ieg o, and Los Angeles.
Armando Cid decorated La Raza Bookstore with a mural in 1973, and wh en Sacramento Park
changed its name to Zapata Park in 1975 due [0 the efforts of com m u nity activists and Centro
art ists, Cid d id a mosaic m ural there. In 1979, Louis "T he Foo t" Gonzalez and J uan Ce rvantes
painred a larg e mural, AtrollmleJ de A ztldn, on a wall of their cooperat ive garage. It de picted a
14 . Cha rles Hilling er, "'The Ro ya] Ch icano lIi r Foln': AcrivislS in Sacramen to USC' H u mor (0 Instill PricC'," lM A,,~It1 Thms,
22 July 1979, SC'C lion I, p . 3 • .
3'
 proud Chicano mechanic hold ing a wrench a nd surrounded by billowing douds. a blazing sun,
and an eagle. In 1980. Centro arrisrs Esteban Villa, Stan Padilla and j uani shi O rosco designed
do four-story. 6') foot symbolic muml lo r the downtown city parking lor facing t he Srreer MaU.

T he exuberance and colleen vise pn nciples of the RCA r as wellas rheir dedicancn ro chc ed ucative
a nd commurury u plift nspecrs ofp ubli c urr were not limircd to the Sacmme nro area . Like MALAF.
the RCAP was an important influence on Chicano nrtis rs throughout t he scare, many of whom
did snrus with rhe Sacramento g roup or visited them to learn about t heir method s and
philosop hy. Ln fact , networking was established early , not only withi n California b ut throughout
rhe Southwest. Artists travelled ro the vario us "Canro al Pueblo" national events which, from
1977 o n, broughr together Chicano artists of all disciplines, and at whi ch visual artists pa inted
murals. The group whi ch unified Cal ifornia was the Sta te Coal ition of Arrisras, founded in 197 3
and known from 19 75 o n as C AP, the Conci lio de Arre Popular. Among its activities. CA P
p ublished t he mag azine ChismeAru.
San Francisco Bay Area. When the Gale rfa d e la Raza of San Francisco printed its fi rsr mural map
- rhe "Missio n Community Mural T our G uide" - ir listed ten mural sites: the 24 th Street
Mi ni-Park (1 9 7 4 ~S) ; the Mission Coalit ion Organization (N eig hborhood Legal A id, 1972);
H orizons Unlimited ( 19 7 1); t he Mi ssion Rebels mural ( 19 72 ); Jamestown Community Center
( 1972); the Bank of America (1974); the Mission Model cities N eig hborhood Center (974);
Paco's T acos (974); and the Balmy Alley murals (197 3). In the overwhelmingly Latino and
Asian Mission Dis rr icr are early works by some of the key Raza (Chicano and Lati no) muralisrs
of the city: Michael Rfos , Antho ny Machado, R ichard Mon tez, D oming o R ivera, J erry Concha,
the Mujeres Muralisras, Luis Corrazar, Jesus "Chuy'' Campusano, Manuel "Spain" Rodrfguez,
Ruben G uzman and others, d irected or assisted by non-Raza artists. In 1971, the Galena de la
Raza was a germinal force for Bay area mural ism . Itself an expression of increasing consolidat ion
wi thi n the ChicanofRazaartcommuni ty (MALM, rhe Casa Hi spana de Bellas Artes, Artes6, and FRIDA . BIU...80 ARD
1978
the Artiscas latina Am eri canos), the Galerfa was established in 1970 u nde r the d irecrorsh ip of Mike Rios
Nicarag ua n Rolando Castell6n . It was homeless in mid · 19 7 1, at wh ich t ime Rene Yanez applied Galerfa de la Rn a. Missio;l Dis rricr, San Franc isco
8' x 20'
fo r mural fundin g which permi tted the production of some of the wall paintings listed above.
T he Galerfa fi nally settled ar irs present 24 th St. & Bryant location where it fun cti ons act ively
to this d ay.
In 1975 , rhe Galerfa added an innovation to commun ity murals when it "appro-
priated " a Foster and Kleiser billboard on the side of its bu ildi ng to serve as an "annou nceme nt
m ural." Removed by the co m mercial com pany in December 1976 , the billboard was replaced
d ue to public pressure, and it changes reg ularly as artists paint new images and messages. A5
36
 Victor j ara. In 1979 , the tea m of Pa tlan, Neumann, and Thiele was commiss ioned by r1~e Eas~
Yanez poiured our, "Times. [weds, issues shift" and n frequen t changing of images and ideas
Bay Skills Center in Berkeley to paine a work skills-relared ":,llral. ~ot h ~at ~an and Galvez work
makes the billboard into a living and constant part of the community. The Galerfa withdrew
conr inuously in thei r very different realist styles. regrouping their arnsuc scrucrures as new
from mural prograrnnung 10 1976 when funding issues and the changing character of public
murals (for Yanez. their increasing vagueness and loss ofconcern with contemporary issues) made possibi lities and oppo rtun ities arise.
such a move desirable.' San Francisco was no t the only City that saw a dec rease in m ura l relevancy
and an increase in decorative m u rals by the end of 1975. Such a phenomeno n has been observed W omen Muralists
Three Chicanas _ Parricia Rodrfguea, Irene Perez , and Graciela Ca rrillo - and a Venez~e l an
nat ionally. It was accompanied by g rowing d ifficul ties with national am fun d in g that had
ar tist , Consuela Mend ez, were the orig inal Bay Area ream compr is i ~g the Mujere~ M~ rabs r~.
su ppo rt ed com muni ty mu ral ism and char had been part of g overnment pol icy in the early 19 70 's
AU bur Mendel. had d one rbei r fi rst murals in Balmy All ey the prevIOus year. Thei r friendship
to "cool our" m ilitancy and protests in inner cities across the narion .
Desp ite the G alena's withd rawal . many signifi cant murals co nt in ued co be
pain ted in San Francisco and other Bay area cities d uring the next ten years . Portable murals were
int roduced . Most notable were the e ig h t " People's Murals" co m m issioned by the San Francisco
Museum of Modern Art. Pai n ted by fo urteen m ul rie rhn ic art is ts, including G raciela Carrillo,
Anrhon y Machado, Robert Mendoza, Irene Perez, and Michael R fos, man y of the works were
powerful and m ilitant state ments . They con rrasred with many of the Bicen rennial arr product ion s
found elsewhere char were bland , "trend y" or d ecorati ve. Six years later, in May 1982, the Galerfa
com m issioned nineteen m ulri-erhnic artists to create po rtable murals in its g allery spa ce as part
or a month- lon g event called "In Prog ress", wh ich encouraged the public ro watch the artists ar
work. Included were Raza art ists Tony Chavez, J uan Fuentes, Daniel Galvez, Rayvan G on zales,
Yo land a L6pez , Raul Martinez, Emmanuel Montoya, Ray Patlan, M ichael R fos, Patricia Ro-
d riguez, "Spai n" Rod riguez, H erbert Siguenza, X avier Viramontes, and Rene Yanez.
Galvez, Montoya, and Patl an are rhree artists who starred to be kn own in rhe Bay
area after 19 75 . Patlan came to the Bay area from Ch icag o where he had produced a nota ble body
of murals during the earl y 19 70s. By 19 77 , Patlan and Patricia Rod riguez, work ing with
U niversity of Califo rnia Chicano Srudies st ud ents, had pa inted rwo m urals in Berkeley.
Between 19 77 and 197 9, Patlan and Galvez were active with Com monarrs. Galvez, a younger
arri sr work ing in a photorealis r style, co llabo rated with O sha Neumann, O 'Br ian Th iele and
Stephanie Barrerr on his desig n for Viva La Raw (1977 ) in Berkeley: it featured the imag e of a
huge truck dedicated to the fa rm workers and rhe Mexican muralis ts. Patlan, Neuma nn, T hiele ,
and ceramisr Anna de Leon achieved a major artisti c and social breakt hrough wi rh t he ir three-
d imen sional m u ral on rhe facade ofBerkeley's L1. Pefi a Cultural Center. Song o/Unity ( 1978 ) was PARA EL M ERCA DO. deta il
dedicated to the popu lar m usic of North and South America and to slain Chi lean songw riter 1974 ,
I~ Mujeres Murahsras (Patricia Rod rfguoa, Graciela Caril.l o, ~nsuelo Mf ndcz, Irene Perez)
South Van N ess Ave. and 24 th Sr., Mission Dist rict, San franCI sco
toea! mural approx. 10' x 50'
15. Barnerr, p . 243 _ 39
38
 was cemented when they rccci vcd their first comm ission for the Mission Model Cines Neighborhood
Cente r office parki ng lot In 1974 . Pa i ntjn~ LII' f}/()(lIlu!"itd , (orig inally titled PtOZPlile,.;C(1) whi ch
was intended J.S ;\ celebru rio n of the Larin cultu res in rbe Mission disrricr, each arcisr rook
responvibiliej- for her own subjecr ma tter. Ven ezuela. Bolivia, Mexico, and Pew were featured
wirh Images of the planes, animals, trad irional dances. costumes to be fo und in each stressing rhc
ma jor role of rhe family in each country . As rhe four arti sts developed and painted rhe mural ,
each modified her sections as she worked to crcare a unifi ed whole. No color ske tc h ever existed;
balancing was done in ad vance wirh line draw ings and at the mura l site itself as rhe painting
progressed. Each arrisr worked individually , secure in her confi dence rhar rogerher rhey could
achieve a good resul t. The second mu ral Para el Mercado (For rhe Market) was painted in two
halves by Carri llo and Mendez for Paco's Tacos stand and dealt wirb foods for the Latin American
marketplace. Brilliant color and fl at drawi ng were characte ristics that the four shared (all had
previou sly done silkscreen poste rs as we ll as paint ings). T he Mujeres' murals were challenged in
the com munity for being apolit ical; however they had decided that the men 's murals of the t ime
had tOO m uch "blood and g urs" and that they wanted a more positive image of thei r culture."
Wi th rhe help ofa num ber oforher women - Ester H ernandez, Miriam O livo, Ru th Rodriguez,
and non-Latina Susan Cervantes, the Mujcres pai nted m urals for tWOyears and then disbanded
and worked on as individuals.
W omen have been very active in Bay area m uralism . As with J ud irh Baca, who
played a pioneering role in Southern California in an artistic genre where women's part icipation
was d iscou raged by conventi on and their menfolk, the Mujeres were bo th ge rminal and inspi ra-
tional for women art ists of Norchern California. Many like Las Mu jeres Muralisras del Valle of
Fresno took courage from the ir exam ple. Fifteen Fresno women incl ud ing H elen G onzalez,
Cecelia Risco, Sylvia Fig ueroa, Theresa Vasq uez, and Lupe Gonzalez , started work in 1977 on
an outdoor 60 x 80 foor m ural fo r Parlier labor camp which was funded by La Broche del Valle.
Vandalized a year later with the word s "The white race is the rig ht race," it was rescored and
housed indoors.
W omen sr udenrs from San Diego calling themselves the Mu jeres Muralisras were
organized by Yolanda LOpez in 1977 to contribute a pillar mural on Indi an wom en duri ng the
M ural tbon wh ich revived painting at San D iego's Chicano Park . (The same park has an early
(c. 1973) women 's mural by t he Grupo de Santa Ana, also from Southern Californ ia, on the growth
of corn , the human fetus, and la Raza). A 1975 m ural picturing women of Latin America and
rwo joyous nudes with flutes was painted at Chicano Park by RCAF women Rosalinda Palacios,
40
16 . Irene Prrel, interview with authoe, 29 Ma)' 1982.
Antonia Mendoza, and Celia Rodrig uez who had returned inspired from the firs t International
W om en's Conferen ce of 1975 in Mexico City. They also painted a tribute to southern Black
prisoner, Joan Lircle, who had killed a sexually abusive guard .
In the 1980s, Juana Alicia has eme rged as a strong mura l ist with several works
in the Mission D istrict including Leu Ltchligtras (The Lettuce P ickers, 1983), and a 1985 mural
on the San Francisco Mime Trou p's headq uarters.
Mid Californ ia
Fresno. By no means was all mura l prod uct ion spontaneously begun , as seems the case in rhe 1968~
1970 period. Further research may reveal connect ive links even in this early period, not excluding
the infl uence of reachers with rem nants of New Deal ideas . In the decade of the seventies,
however, news t ravelled ourward from mural centers like San Francisco end Los Angeles through
personal and organ izational conraccs. Emesco Palom ino, "elder statesman" of La Brocha del
Val le of Fresno, received his art ed ucation in San Francisco from 1956-1 965 and began teachi ng
at Cali fornia State University , Fresno, in 19 70 . Poli ticized in the intervening years by h is search
for cultural ide ncicy and his contact w it h the Chicano movemen t in Colorado where he went to
live, he was active w ith the Colo rado M igrant Council and was a frien d of poe t Abelardo
Delgado. He k new of the Los Ange les H igh Schoo l walkouts and the strike at San Prancisco Srare
University when he painted his first mural in Fresno in 1971 : a flatbed truck seat ing fa rmworkers
on thei r way to the fields, surmounted by a nude Ch ican a "V irgi n" and an eagle w ith rad iating
sun rays taken from rhe Sunkisc Raisin logo. Both wefe flanked by a pre-Col um bian wa rrior, a
skeletal farm worker holding g rapes, and a great serpem . Palom ino was fami lia r with An tonio
Bern al's D el Rey m ural , and with Esteba n Villa's calaveras which the R e A P adapted from 19th
century Mexican engraver J ose G uadalupe Posada.
La Broch adel Valle was beg un by Palomino and other Fresno ires about 1974 and
officially incorporated as a non-profit g roup in April 1976 by Palomino, Fernando H ernandez,
Salvador Garcia, and Francisco Barrio. It then launched a program of exhibi ts and m ural
production . La Broch e was also affiliared with the Conci lio de Arre Popular. From 1978 on,
murals were painted in summer prog rams w ith you ng people under the di rect ion of the founders
of Brocha, as well as by Cecelia Aranaydo and J uan T urner. From 1976 to 198 1, Los Angeles
murali~t and organ izer G ilbert "Meg u" Sanchez Lujan raug hr at Fresno Ciry Co llege and became
active in Brocha. Between 19 79- L982,John Sierra co m pleted a 6600 square foot mural, Planting
of Cultures, on the Californ ia State Build ing in Fresno."
17 . IJoyd C. Caner, · Valley Life Mural in Fresno FiN lly Complete," lAS ""gJn TilWS. I Aug ust 198 2, Mecro secti on. p. I.
4'
 S,W.!OJt/SIJJJ!iI C rez. Santa C ruz, San J ose, Watson villc, and Gi lroy are so close to each ocher that
in rerchange occurred between them. and with Fresno. In the early 1970s, painterJ aime Valadez
\.. as associated with the Cent ro Cultural de la Genre de San J ose, and in 1978 he conducted the
Tierra Nues/ra and the Plor de la Comunidad mural projects. Accord ing to Alan Bamerc who
teaches in San Jose, the first mural was probab ly a frieze upon a legal-aid office painted in 1972
by Malaqulas Montoya. In 1974 , Rogelio Duarte of Los Angeles, apparendy working alone,
painted three murals at San J ose State and on a local market. II
In 1972, painter Eduardo Carri llo came to teach at the U niversity of California,
Santa Cruz. H is first mural had been a collective one in 1970 at me Chicano Studi es Research
Center of the U nive rsity of California, Los Angeles, painted with Ramses Noriega, Sergio
H ernandez an d Saul Solache. A respec ted easel painter since the early 1960s, Carrillo had been
arrested in Los Angeles duri ng t he 1970 Anri-Viecnam War Moratorium , and had taught at
Sacramen to State College from 1970-72, d ur ing the early years of the RCAF. In 1976 , he
donated a 2500 square foot mural to the Palomar Arcade in Santa Cruz called Birth. Death and
Resurrection wh ich was destroyed in 1978; Carri llo was never successful in having it restored . In
1979, he engaged a Mexican independence theme in a com missioned tile mural located at the
Placita del Dolores of Los Ange les' O lvera St reet.
\Vatsonville/Gilroy. In its Sum me r 1978 issue, Chij1JleArtt magazine illustrated a new mural by
the T ortuga Pat rol from W atson ville which was painted by students in the Gilroy recreation
Center, and d irected by Ray Romo and Ralph D'Oliveira. H umor, and a major input from )osC
Guadalu pe Posada, ate evident in this work . The same year, the Tecolore Corps pai nted a large
outdoor mu ral for the Gi lroy U nifi ed School Disrri cr.'?

Southern Californi a
Sa11!a Barbara. Mo re than any other individual, Manuel Unaue ra has provided the inspiration
8i\LLPI..A YERS (T LACH fT) and leadership for muralism in Santa Barbara. His activities have bee n centered at La Case de
1978
Tcrruga Pat rol (R a~ O lmo and Ralph de Oliveira)
la Raza, with the enthusiasti c suppo rt of its di rector of cult ural arts, Armando Vallejo. For a
Chicano Park , Gi lroy number ofyears U nzueta also taught mu ral classes at the University of Californi a, Santa Barbara.
8' x 50' "When I first accepted the challenge to paine mu rals at La Casade la Raza in 197 1," says U nzuc ra,
"I engulfed myselfin one of rhe g reaces r expe riences of my life." Comment ing on his murals inside

re. Barnett, pp. J57·D8.

19. Reproduced in rhe 1985 Social and Public An Resou rce Center calendar.
43
 Casa, he con nnues: 'T he m ural To tb« t\fa i cfl u Son}.:. (19-3) shows :l1}' concern and pride rewards
my Mexican past. A ByoJ/ s ."elIJOI) _ (972) is a very perso nal exp ression on my own views about
education and knowledge. Tbe NtlI., Spirit. (19' 3) is an intention ro portray the real ity of the
Ch icano movement. (A llegul)' to] Brosberbood, (1 97 3) shows my sincere atti tudes to re late ro all
people reg ard less of color of skin or cul tu ral background. ":" In 1979, Case approached the city
"for moral and finan cial support to paint murals over the g raffi ried walls of Onega Park"
(u nofficially known as Ruben Salazar Par k in place of the "old California Spanish family" after
which it is named ). Under the d irect ion of Val le]o, ni neteen mu rals were p rod uced by six local
artists guiding co m m u nity volunteers. The themes ranged from the Aztec era co cosm ic u n.iry. 21
Los AngtltS COlinl) and City. In 1969, about 2000 people orga ni zed by the Brown Berets
d emonstrated in East Los Ang eles to p rotest the Vietnam W ar and the high percentage of
Chicano military being ki lled in Southeast Asia. Anothe r march of 6,000 people took place in
February 19 70 . In August 19 70, the National Moratorium Comm ittee swelled the Los Angeles
demonstration to between 20,0 00 and 30,000 peop le. Attacked by sheriff's deputies, the march
•
was d ispersed wi th tear gas and , in a rela ted in cident, Los Angeles Times reporrer Ruben Salazar
was k illed . Vict ims from rhe arrack were car ried to the East Los Angeles D octor's H ospital where,
BLACK AND WHITE MORATORIUM MURA L
a year later, Frank Marrfnez of Mechicano Art Ce nter painted an unfin ished fresco picturing 1973
Ruben Salazar surro u nd ed by ch ild ren, pre-Columbian art, and folk motifs. R econstructed in Wi llie H erre n and Gronk
Esrrad u Cour ts Ho using Proj..cr, Easr Los Angeles
m osaic, the mural was mo u nted on an outside wall of the hospital wi thin t wo yeats. The same
approx. 20' x 30'
theme was repeated in 197 3 by W illie H erron and Gronk in their Estrada COutts black-and-white
m ural w ith a photo-derived image of the sheriffs ou tside the Silver Dollar Cafe where Salazar was 197 0 to 1975 period, m ost were pai nted under the spo nsorsh ip of several imporranr organiza-
ki lled. In 19 74, Sergio O'Cadiz of O range Counry, working with fi fty San ta An a College tions and agenc ies: Mech icano Art Center, the Goez Gallery, the Cultural Arts Section of the
students and three p rofessionals, pain ted a memoria l to m bstone to Ruben Salazar in a section of Department of Recreation and Parks ( 197 1) - which in 197 3 established the Inner City Murals
the Neally Library mural H istory and Evolu t ion of the Ch ican o in the U ni ted Stares. Salazar's P roject (bot h mulrierhnic) - the City Council-funded Cityw ide Mural Pro ject esrablished by
comb appears und er a cruc ified Indi an which was "q uo red" from Mexican muralist David Alfaro J udith Baca in 1974, and , finally , Baca's non-profit Social and Pu bl ic Art Resource Cenrer
Siqueiros' 19 32 whitewashed mu ral in Olvera St reet , Tropical A merica , to sugg est rbe parallel (SP ARC) set up in 197 6. In addi tion, there were individual mu ralists and small g roups who
ma rtyrdom of Salazar. 22 wo rked with in and without these structures, raising money (or work ing w ithout pay), in various
As the city (and coun ty) wi th the largest Mexican po p ula tion in the United ways.
St ates, Los Angeles also counrs w ith the larg est nu m ber of Chicano m urals in th e cou ntry . In the The mo st no table individual is Charles "Gar o" Felix who, though associated w ith
Goez Gallery, single-handedly org anized painters (includ ing hi mself) to create mura ls wit h the
com m u ni ty throughout the 1970s (beg inni ng in 19 7 3) at the City H ousing Authority'Sprojec t,
20. Manuel Unzuera, Itl lffa/s Art MI",~/s Art (Sama Barbill-;l . CA: Casa de la Raaa, n.d .) Estrada COUtts . Felix had as an exam p le the mu rals pai nted earlier at rhe Costello Recreation
2 1. Armilfldo Vallejo. ~Mu raJ es en prog reso," XJllllan, 3. no. 1 «(980): 24-37.
22 _ Sec chI' brochure TiN MEChA Mlmlt: r,,1I1h AllnilUUlry, / 974-1984. lnl:l by Shifn ~L Goldman (Santa Ana, CA: Rancho Center by Las Vistas Nuevas, d irected by judi th Baca. H is fi nanc ing was of the most meagre (or
Santiago Comm unity College Diserice, 1984). non -exis te nt) variety . Mu rals at Estrada were done with Ot w ithout teams, by professionals, and
.4 4,
 by self-raug hc pa inters. In addition to Felix, there were G il Llcrminclez, Alex Maya. Roberto
Chavez. David Borello, Sonny Marrinea, The Murali srics, Richard H ero, Manuel G on zalez,
Norma Monroya. Pran k Lo pez, W illie Herron . and G ronk. The Congrcso de Arri scas Ch icanos
en Azd an from San D iego, led by San Dieg uen Mario Torero, pai nted a mural of Che Guevara
with the slogan "\'<It: Are Not a Minority: '- \
Mechicano Art Center - whi ch in 1971 moved to Wh itt ier Boulevard near to
and w ith t he aid of the Doctor's H osp ital (a constant patron of Chi cano art) afrer a year on "gallery
row" in W est Los Angeles - no r only provided "open walls" for artists in its galleries, but also
taug ht community silkscreen classes and pa inred m urals. U ntil 1976 , wh en it dosed its doors
at another location, Mechicano was, for Los Angeles, the equivalen t of the Galena de la Raza for
San Francisco . Directed for many years by Leonard Castell anos , Mech icanc was the artistic home
and nurtu ring medium for artists like Frank Martinez, Frank Romero, Lucila V. G rijalva,
A rma ndo Cabrera, Leo Lim6n, Carlos Almaraz, W illiam Bejarano, Ismeel "Sm iley" Cazarez, and
veteran artist Dav id Ra mirez - aU of whom prod uced or direc ted murals. Mechicano's walls
and sidewal k were decorated with changing murals by Mexican artist Anton io Esparza , Susan
Saenz, Ray Atilano, Martin Martinez, Limen, and Cabrera. Castellanos was also devoted (0 super-
graphics which he painted in the neig hborhood and w ith a team on the outdoor stairs opposi te
Echo Park. (None of these murals exist rod ay.)
In 1973, Mech icano met to plan some twenty proposed mura ls in Los Angeles
neighborhood s. By this ti me, the g roup had experience with a compe ti tion funded by the
Docror's H osp ital (0 paint the backs of bus benches (97 1), and had received mural funding
from the N at ional Endowment for the Arts and the Ci ty H ousing Au thority. In the early 1970s,
murals were ofte n welcomed as a means of g reffi ri-abaremenr by governme nts and busi nesses
ali ke. T houg h Chicano artists ag reed to pain t mu rals ever graffi ti, among themselves many
conside red the g raffi ri as an art form and inreg rared it into or near their m urals. (For exam p le
H erro n and Gronk in a Ci ry Terrace mural. and Carlos Almaraz at the All Nations Neigh borhood
Center. In con-rase boch Mechicano, and artist Frank Rome ro, used sp ray cans for g raffiti-type
m ural pain rings .)
Mechica no direcred the pa in ring of murals near and w ithin the Ramona Gardens
Housing Project from 1973 on. Among the artists were J oe Rodrig uez, Manuel Cruz, Wayne
Alaniz H eal y, ] udi rh H ernandez, Wi Jl ie H err6n, Lim6n, Cabrera, Cazarea, and Al maraz. By
1974, Almaraz was pa rt of Los Four, a g roup organized by Gil bert sanchez Lujan which also
2}. Th i~ mura l W1$ twice vandaliud (dlC.last rime: in 1984 irnmediarely prior [0 rheO lympicflLnll'$ byaCubangroup)and twice
restored by Charla Fi li:.:.
46
included Roberto de la Rocha and Fran k Romero. They were joined by ] ud irb He rnandez, and
sti ll later byJ ohn Valadez - both of whom were muralisrs and produced murals as ind ividuals
c--
and as a g roup.
Other mural painting teams included rhe vanguard g roup ASCO, rwo ofwbose
members , \'(Iillie H err6n and G ronk, starred pa inti ng mura ls in 1972, individually and collec-
t ively. Abe tted by Parssi Valde z and H arry Gamboa, Jr. , ASCD iconoclastically lam pooned all
murals by prod ucing "instant murals" (such as tap ing Vald ez to a wall) and "walking murals"
(wi th cost umes and masks) as a form of performance art. T he two-man team , Los Dos
Srreerscape rs fl-iealy and David Botello), enlarged their group with George Yepes and became the
Easr Los Streerscepers, producing fixed and portable murals in Los Angeles and other ci ties.
In 19 76 , Baca - under the auspi ces of the Social and Public A rt Resource Center
began what was to be the longest m ural in Los Angeles - possibly anywhere: The History of
California, also know n interchangeablyas the G reat WallofLosAnge/esor the Tujunga WaJh Mu ral .
Carefull y researched , and drawing on the skills of many people over the years , the Great Wall has
been done in segmen rs starring with 1000 feet and continuing w ith 350 feet every summer for
19 78,1 980, 198 1, and 1983. It follows California history from the prehistoric dinosaurs, the
Ind ian serrlemems, the Spanish conquest, and the mig rat ion of Blacks, Mexicans, Chi nese,
Japanese, and whi tes to Californ ia, bu t at the same time rewrites that history. Sections of t he
m ural deal with the U .S. conques t of tile Sou thwest, wom en's suffrage, World W ar I , the g rowth
of H ollywoocl , the G reat Dep ression, W orld W ar II , the figh t against fascism abroad and racism
at hom e, the Zoot Suit R iots,) apanese internmen t camps,) ewish refugees.Iabor organ izers and
the social reverses for women, progressives, and people of color in the 1950s. It continues with
the ethnic o rig ins of rock and roll, the history of gay and lesbian rights, the Black civil rig hts
movem ent , rhe em ergence of the Beat movement , the forced assim ilation of Nat ive Americans,
and , finally , the images of O lympic cham pions from 1948 to 1964 - especially champion s of
color, and women . Baca is considering add ing to the mural , which now measures over 2400 feet
long by thirreen feet hig h, and updating its historical com po nent. (Among the Chicana artists
who have worked with Baca on the m ural are J ud ith H ernandez, O lga M uni z, Isabel Casrro,
Yreina Cervantez, and Parss i Va ldez.
Space does not permi t a list ing of all the artists, to say nQthjng of all the mu rals,
in L~s Angeles. It is esti mated that t here were 1000 th roug hout the ci ty in 19 78 ,24 of which,
24. Barnett, p. 166, citi ng a Cirywide Murals press t'C' 1~, J uly 1978.
47

T HE BROADWA Y MURAt . deDi!
• 1981
John V aladn . the Past' and Images of the Present) in 1978, a mural wh ich traces Mexican histo ry from Zapata
Victor Clothing Company. Inu:tLor
\ 742 South Broad way. Los Angeles,
8' x GO'
wirbour question, rhe greatest numbe r were Chicano-painted or d irected. As of nus writing, over
ten years later. the quant ity has risen.
T here has, however, been a drastic curtailing of mural productio n in Los Angeles
since the 1971 to 1975 g rounds well. Most self-taug ht artists have retired from muralism (or art)
altogether. Am ong the professionals, art ists have turned (0 other artistic modes. Of th ose still
doing murals , especially worthy of ment ion (in addition to J ud ith Baca with SPARC) is rbe
Victor Clothing Company complex of murals in downtown Los Angeles. The bui lding at 240
S. Broadway (now an arrisrs' haven) had long been adorned with a several-story mu ral by Kent
Twitchell of a br ide and g room , and a mural inside Victor's C lothing store on an indigenous
theme. After J ohn Valadez moved to a loft studio near Victor's Clothing, he began working on
The Broadway Mural, originally a 48 x 8 foot oil on canvas mounted o n eigh t 8 x 6 pa nels. Later
expanded to 60 feet , it was installed in 1981 above eye level ins ide Victor's. Based on Valadez's
immersion in, and photography of the buildings, sto res, and crowded srreers of shoppers on
Broad way, the mural is an aesthetic and social achi evement equal to Berk eley's Song 0/ Unity in
1978. After the O lympics, three murals were added ro the same building: next to Twitchell's
work , the Ease Los Srreerscapers did a huge mural on sports . On the Third Street side of the
bu ild ing , Eloy Torres executed a gigantic phororealisr portrait of actor Anthony Quinn, and
Frank Romero designed a brightly colo red and joyous image of a galloping horse and rider.
OrangeCOJl11fy. T wo arcisrs are responsible fo r the most important murals of this area: Mexican-
born and trained Sergio O'Cadiz, and Emigdio Vasquez who has lived since 1941 on Cypress
Street in the ci ty of O range. Since the 1960s, he has painted the urban experience of work ing
people in the barrio. In 1973 O'Cediz painted a semi-abst ract 40 x 12 foot mural using as main
moti fs the eagle and the jaguar. T hese appear on the facade of the J ames Monroe Elementary
School in Santa Ana. He also directed the 1974 MEChA mural at Santa Ana College, for wh ich
Emigdio Vasquez painted the PachJlco section. In 1975, O'Cadiz directed an enormous mural in
Fountain Valley, anold Mexican barrio whi ch had been wal led offfrom a modern Anglo town by
a 600 foot concrete wall .
Vasquez himself painted Reoerdos eM pasado y nnagenes del presente (Mem ories of
to Cesar Chavez, In 1979 , he painted The History ofthe Chicano Working Class. Comm issioned by
the city of Anaheim , Vasquez continued with a series ofmurals painted with young peop leamong
which are a History of Anaheim and , most notably, the 6 x 106 foot mu ral Nuestro Experiencia en
eI Siglo XX (Our Expe rience in the 20 th Century; 1980) on a Salva tion Army pa rking lot wall.
T his last work beg ins in 19 10 with images of Flores Magan, Z apata and the Mexican Revolut ion,
49
 NUESTRA EXPERIENCIA IN EL SIGLO X X , del;l.il
1980
Em igd io v asquez
Salvation Arm y parking lOt", Anaheim
6' J( 8'

and visually follows the history of the Mexican/Chicano peop les and the ir he roes and heroines of
the 1960s and 19 70s. Nor only is R ube n Salazar included , but also Ben Corona, intellectual and GER6N JAlO
1981
acrivisr from the 1950s to the present in the Los Angeles area - a he ro whose image has ap peared Victor Ochoa.
in no other mural to my knov....ledge. In more recenr years Vasq uez worked as muralist-in- c.rnltoCUl l Ur.U de 1;1. RllZll, Balboa. Park , San D iego
15'9' x 60'6"
residence fo r Bowers Museu m , and for Rancho Santiago Col lege, both in Santa Ana. Fo r a pe riod
of ri me, Manuel H ernandez-Trujillo, co-founder of MALA F in 1969. painted mural s and taugh t
muralism at rhe U nive rsity of California, Irvine, in Orange County and J udi th Baca has been
teaching a mural class at the same institution since 198 1.
50
 San Diego 10 tbe Mexican Border. Unli ke other areas, the twu major sites of muralism in San Di-
eg~ - Ch ic.ano Park and (he Centro Cultural de la Raza - have been the subject ofl engrhy his-
rorical studies: Eva Cockcrofr's "T he Story of Chicano Park," and Phillip Brookman's "EI Cen-
rro CUl tural.de la Raza, Fifteen Years." l ) Therefore, we can introduce materials on the San Diego
area murals In a more abbreviated way. Chicano Park was co nstructed under the term ina ting
struet~re of the Coronado Bridge which spanned the Bay beginning in 1969. The bridge, built
fo~ middle class com muters to the mainland , bisected and threatened ro destroy the Logan
nelghborhoo:t . ~n 1,970, the Chicano cornm uniry claimed the land beneath the bridge as a park
and planted It with trees and fl owers - thus mak ing it into "liberated rerrirory'' in the spirit of
ot~er people's parks of the 1960s. Since 1973, its pillars have been pai nted by artists fcom San
Diego an.d ma ny other pares of California, and it remains a living symbol of unity for the
~om m U Olty. NO( only are new murals reg ularly added , bu t a comprehens ive restoration p roject
IS underway to refurbish those that have su ffered the results of weatheri ng .
O ne ofthe leading spirirs of Chi cano Park since its inception was Salvador Robert
"Q ueso" Torres, who was ed ucated in the 1950s at the Col lege of Ares and Crafts in O ak land at
t he same time as J ose Montoya and Esteban Villa. Beyond the q uest io n of muralized pillars,
Torres. has. had a long -stand ing interest in the park as an environmental project involv ing its
extension mro the water under the bridge. The low retaining walls of the freeway were the fi rst
areas painted .b y Torres, G uillermo Aranda, Victor Oc hoa, Armando Nunez, Abean Q uevedo,
S~lvador Barajas, Arturo Roman , Guillermo Rosete, Mar io Torero, Coyote, and J oe Cervantes.
Pillars we~e. painted by local and invited artist s: groups came from Santa Ana, Los Ange les
(Charles Felix), ar.d Sacramento (me mbers of the Royal Ch icano Air Force). To the local arti sts
over the years were added Felipe Adame, Pablo de la Rosa, Feli pe Barbosa, Mane Lina, Louie
M~nzano, and ma ny ochers. A second set of p illars in 1977-78 (d uring the M uralthon) were
painted by To ny de Varga , Socorro Gam boa, and Anglo art ist M ichael Schnorr. Many murals
were pain red wit h the assistance of com m unity activists and students.
EI Cen tro Cultural de la Raza also has a long history. Its establishment was d ue
to the need for artists, dancers, poe ts, and actors ro have a space of their ow n. In 1971 under the
g Uidance,of poet Alurista, and of Torres, the Tolrecas en Aztlan acq uired, through pe rsistent
comm unIty-based demands, the round bu ilding in Balboa Park whi ch is the present Centro. T he
fi rst mural was begun in the interior by Aranda working with a team , and was finall y fin ished
~,. Eva Cockcrorl, 'The Story or ~~icano Park ,-"u,U". I'. ~. I (Spreng 1984): 79- 103: al\lf Philip Brookman , - EI Cenero
ultural de la Rau , FJrl~n Years. m Abu IN li Z/InN. ed. Ph ilIp Brookman and Guillerm o G omea-Pena (San Diego' Cenrrc
C ulcural de la Raaa, 1986 ). pp. 12 _ 53.
'2
in the mid 198 0s. The ou tside murals, some of which have changed over the years, are by M~rio
Aguilar, Aranda, Barajas, Arturo Roman , N ero del Sol, David ,Avalos, ~nton io de Her~osdlo,
Sam uel Llam as an d Antonia Perez. Vietor Ochoa , rhe one Chi cano artist who has con~l s te n tl y
worked on murals chroughour the years and served in multiple capaci ties, painted tI~e Ima~~ of
Geronimo which repl aced a huge calaiera on the srreerside curve of the wall. Oc hoa, 10 add ition
to murals at the Centro and Ch icano Park , has painted with g roups in She rman Littl e Park , at th.e
Bal boa Elementary School , in Oceanside, and many other locations. San Dieguans co nsider rheir
"turf" to incl ude all the area from the city to the Mexican border -s-and beyond. The latesr gro.up
to be organized from the Centro has been the Border Art W orkshoprraller d~ Art~ .Frontenzo
which promotes cultural events between San Diego and its sist er city in MexICO. TI Juana.
• CONCLUSIONS
It is obvious that many locat ions, mu rals, and artists have been left out of t his account. W~at has
been attempted has been a general overview of mural production, geographically .orgamzed; a
recounting of the participation of numerous arrises; the dy namics of interaction between
ind ividuals and the infrastructures they establ ished to carry out their pro jects; and the response
to localand world events by Chicano artistic com munit ies.
The eigh ties , sta rti ng with the Carte r ad m inist ration , have ~n f~m~ by a
swing to right wing politics in government, and a wo rsen ing econom ic and political Sl ~uatlon for
the majority of Nort h Americans that is parti cularly oppressive for peoples of the T hird ~orld
living in the United States. T hese co nd it ions are ac com panied by the threat and ~raetlc~ of
continental warfare that could escalate into an internatio nal nuclear encou nte r. SOCIal services
have been cut to the bone causing tremendous suffering, and there has been a reversal of man y
ga ins won by labor and wo rki ng peop le d uring the last fifty years. Support ~y go:ernment for
com munity and grassroots arc projects has also been d rastically cut , and the Situati on w~rsened
unde r the Reagan ad m inistrat ion wh ich foste red a "small business" ap proach fo r artists and
advocated support to the arts by large corpo rations and foundat ions. The con~eq~ence of such
support often leads to subtle, a nd not so subtle, censorsh ip and to self-censorsh ,~ 10 t~e form of
decorative soluti ons to murals. Iro nically, the interest of mainstream insti tuti ons I~ Chicano ~nd
" H ispanic" art prod uction in recent years has had che centrifugal effect of forcing coll.ectlve~
apart, of engendering elitist co mpet ition and indi vidualism (the old "every man :or h imself
synd rome.) Comb ined with fun ding d ifficul ties, these new atti tudes can have a SC tlOUS ~dverse
effect on com munity murals. For those courageous and ded icated murali st s who conti nue to
. paine meaningfu l works in t he fa ce of adversity , we owe our suppo rr and assistance.
'3
 At significant junctures in our human development we ask and
respond co fundamental questio ns concern ing our self-id en-
riry, ou r histo ry, and our fucure. T he same q uest ioning occurs
within g roups of people at particu lar moments in their histori-
cal tra jectory. For Mexican-descended people in the Uni ted Scares, the 1960s was such a period
ofi mrospeetion, ana lysis , and act ion. Mult iple socio-politica l mobi lizat ions brough t fo rth issues
of deep resonance within Mexican Am erican comm unit ies rhroughour the COU nt ry. Rural
agrarian strugg les, urban civil right confronracions, srudenr acrivis:n and myriadocher bacrles for
self-d etermi nation and cultural reclamat ion coalesced inro a collect ive national consciousness
known as the "Chicano Movement ." T he repertoire of varied poli tical responses reflected a hetero -
g eneous com m u nity uni ted by social positioning ofclass, race and erh nici ry wh ich cut across gen-
eratio nal and reg ional lines .
Among the com mon d enomi nators were the faces that most Chicanos belonged
to the working class, that they maintained varian ts of a ge nera lized Mexican cu lture, and that all
had the expe rience of living in the United Sta tes . Also they were ma in ly a young populati on
worki ng and living th roughout the country in the Northwes t , Mid west and Southwest.
Inscribed within a social nexus ofexploitation and disenfranch isement, Chicanos
asserted their historical im perati ve as g enerators ofcultu re rather than mere recepto rs ofcultural
exp ression from t he d om inant culture. Reclaimi ng t hei r imagination, they procla imed thei r self
HUELGA invention within an aesthetic project that linked visual artists, poets, musicans, and da ncers to
196~- 7 G

I Andy Zermeno, T311er G ru (j ~o of rhe U nited Farm Workers

photo off:;<:[ pes t er
the var iou s po litical fron rs of el mooimiento.
 • T HE CHICANO AESTHETIC PROJECT
An initial task was to re-think representation, the role of che anisr, and the social function of art.
In opposition to the dom inant culture, the Ch icano had been co nceived as the "other" and reduced
co a system of ideological fiction s in North American culture. Config urat ions of the "other"
always included themes of backwa rdness, degeneracy, and ineq uality. As Chicano visual artists
countered the exrem al vision s and commenced to create vital and pos it ive visions of themselves
and their environment th ey provide a challenge [Q orthodox , hierarchical cultu re by posit ioni ng
a more democratic forum wi t h open participation. Ind ividuals could be bo th workers and artists.
In fact , the visual art ist was seen as a sort of cultural worker. Art was necessary but not privileged
or special. V isual experience was thought to sti mulate the viewer to fuller co m prehension of the
com plex hu man environment and the social needs of people within it .
Remai ning outside the offi cial cultu ral apparatus , Chicano artists organized
alternative circuits to create, d issemina te, and market thei r artist ic prod uction. The interpretive
com munity, those who decide what counted and had value as art were ofte n the art ists t hemselves.
Goi ng against the normative trad it ion s of art as escape and com mod ity, a prevalent atti tude
rewards Chicano art ob jects was t hat they should provide aesthet ic pleasure and del ig ht whi le also
serv ing to ed ucate and ed ify.
communal celebrat ions in comfortable environments where art was dem ysn fied and g iven an
accesible ordina ry dimension .
• A NEW ART OF T HE PEOPLE
H aving cod ified the role of the artists as a visual educato r, having st ructured an altern ative art
circu it for production and distribution, and steadily working to create an aud ience, the
fundamental task was to elaborare lin mmlO arte del pJleblo (a new arr of the people) created from
~hared. experie~ce and based on commu nal art t radit ions. N ecessarily, a fi rst step was to
rn vesn gare, vali date , and incorpo rate authent ic expressive form s arising wi th in the com plex and
m ulti -faceted Ch icano community. In opposi tion to the hierarch ical dom inant cultu re with
im plici t di stinctions for "fi ne" and "fol k art ", attem pts were mad e to erad icate boundaries an d
inceg rare caregories. An initial recog ni tion was that everyday life and the lived environment were
the g rime const itue nt elements fo r the new aesthe t ic.

• ALT ERN AT IVE FORMS AND SPACES

Uni fi ed by the shared intenti on of using art as part of the struggle to achi eve new and more
cred ible h uman values, Chicano art ists by the m id - 19 70s had beco me producers of visual educa-
t ion. Murals, bi llboards, posters, easel pai nt ings, and new forms of com munal ceremonies all
served to establish a cod e of visual sig nification that was mean ingfu l, com monly undersrcod, and
collect ively validated . Reflecti ng a multi -cul tu ral reality, Chi cano art ama lgamated and united
elements from both Mexican and Ang lo American artist ic trad itions. T his art istic syncret ism
correspo nded to the historical 11JeJlizaje of the Chicano and provided art ists a vast repository of
subject matter and a wide repe rtoire of styles.
Beyo nd the form ulation of aesthetic models, the artist ic com munity began the
arduous task of creat ing a viewing audience. Recogn izin g the "high art" system with its norms
-\
of privilege and exclusion would be intolerant to Ch icano art , a non-art world centered network
of support and inform at ion was established . Exhibitio ns were not to be mou nted in museum s or PUERTO AL EG RE BAR
19805
galleries but rather in comm unity sites suc h as parks, storefronts or meet ing halls. An was Cord oVll
integ rated with polit ical ra llies, barrio soc ial events, and co mm uni ty cult ural celebrat io ns wh ere M ission Dist rict, San FD nciKo
apprcx. 10' x 25'
viewers were encouraged to interact with t he art and art ists. Exhibi tions promptly became A P.'lfwriiI-lYpe mural.
'6
'7
 Cu lrural practices of everyday life were seen as n utrient sources for Chicano art
forms . As barrio customs , rituals, and tradi t ions were investigated, they yielded boundless
sources of imagery. Man y com munities have long supported Span ish language newspapers (like
LeI Opinion in Los Ang eles) in wh ich artists have created a vig orous tradiron of satirical caricature
and illust ration. T hese graphic tradi tions were now contin ued in the Chicano Movement press .
Large scale outdoor painting (m ural s) in the exu berant style of Mexican pltlqlteria art often
decorate barrio groceries, meat markers, restau rants, and bars. Created and signed by skilled
commercial artists, such paintings can be nostalgic (an evocation ofa Mexican village), h umorous
(a butcher shop with a frieze of little pigs dressed as chefs and cooki ng human s), histo rical (a
resta urant with panels depict ing heroes of the Mexican Revol uti on) or information al (a bar named
"La Sirena" wi th a facade featuring cavorting mermaids , Neptune, sea nymphs and assorted sea
creatures). Painted in brilliant color wi th simple compositional schemes and a direcr rend ering
of forms, Chicano p/llqlteria type an is a colorful and charm ing ong oing rradirion of art in public
spaces; it is lively, witty, and often rhe torical. The historical panels from this tradi tion are
especially sig nifi cant in the develpme nr of Chicano m urals . O p posed to the d ecorative plllqmria
type art which is ou tdo ors, the historical panels were pain ted indoors in resrau ran rs o r com m u mrj-
• meeting halls , p laces wh ere fam ilies g athe red . These panels were self-contained pictorial
ren d erings of historical events such as rhe Battle of Puebla (in the 19th century) or the legend of
Cuauhtemoc (an Aztec hero of the 16th century). Function ing as d idact ic tools, they served as
visual remin ders of the historical past .
Another pervasive form ofpopular art in the barri o is the yearl y iss u edalmana qNe
(chromo-lithographed calendar) given to Customers by local merch ants who com m ission them
as promotional materials. Although created as advertisements to sell prod ucts, the atmanaqne
crad ition all y excl ud es rhe prod uct from the visual itself. Rather, the plates feat ure Mex ican ge nre
scenes such as evocations of milpas and rancbitoi (ag rarian landscapes), charms and their seno ritas ,
indigenous my ths, and the full pantheon of Mexican national heroes . The Virgen de G uad alupe
is another preferred image in rhe almanaqlles. O ften the calendar illustra tions are saved from year
to year and d isplayed in rhe household like con temporary posters.
Sin ce the Catholic rel igion is a paramount infl uence in rhe lives of rnosr Chicanos ,
SAC RED HEA RT
ie is na tural that artists g ain imspirat ion from relig ious imagery and practices. ESlampas and
OFJESUS altares have been a di rect iconog rap hic influence in the work of many Ch icano arrisrs. Esta mpas
20lh cemu ry are ch romo-l ithographed reli g ious images that are sold in barrio stores or d ispensed by church
.... "on ymous
.Yfexican lithograph g roups. They are vivi dly embellished depictions of favored image s such as El Sag rado Corazon
9' x 12" de J esus (the Sacred H eart of J esus), El Santo N ino d e Arocha (the Holy Ch ild of Arocha), La

59
 Virgen de San Juan de Los Lagos (the Virgin of San Juan of the Lakes), and myriad others .
Inexpensively or elaborarely fram ed , such images stand in almost every room of Chicano homes.
Each saint has an accompanying rale, and many young children are enthralled by the oral
rendi rions of thei r anci ent and he roic exp loits. Ind eed, the saints in the estampas are often regarded
as cultural heros. Having such an impact on the imag inat ion, it is no wonder that eJla"lpaJ
emerged as prima ry sou rces of Chicano imagery found in murals and other an forms .
In the ongoing assessment and re-interpretations of barrio cul ture, many arr isrs
foc used on (ll'ara (home rel igious shrines) as expressive forms whi ch typified the confl uence of
tradition and change. They are environmental pieces cha t project conti nui ng cultural and
spi ritual statements. In their creative eclecticism , allares reflect pa rticular concepts of beauty,
orthodox religi ous and spiritual beliefs, and disp lay t reas ured objects deriving from sign ificant
events and si tua t ions in the lives of their creators.
In Chicano homes , they served as pa rt of dai ly life. T ypical constit uents m igh t
include crocheted doill ies and embroidered cloths, fam ily photog raphs, reaerdos (personal
momenros such as flowers o r favors saved from a dance or parry), JIW/OJ (religious chromos or
statues) espec iall y venerated by the family, and a melange of many other elem ents. T he g rouping
of the various objects in a pa rticular space- atop the television set, on a kitchen counrer, atop
a bed room dresser, or in a spec iall y constructed nicho(wa ll shelf) appear to be random , but usual ly
respond the a conscious sensibil ilry and aesthetic judgement of what thi ngs belong together and
in what arrangement.
By the mid-1970s in rhe rhrusr to fo ment a nl/cvo arledel pl/ehle, Raza artists began
the process of investi gation and rei ntegration with vast resources of barrio popu lar arr. O ne
necessary cultural task was to de monstrate how the Ch icano com munity had mainrained and
adop ted eleme nts from Mexican folk culture. A llIlaT/aq/(eJ. altareJ, estampas and pl(lql(eria type art
were appropriated as examples of cultural continuity and adaptatio n. There was also a conscious
effo rt to validate expressive forms specifically rooted in the American urban experien ce. The
style, sta nce, and visual d iscourse of sub-cultures within the Chicano comm unity were also ac-
knowledged as generators ofspecific art forms . Placas (spray pa inted gang g raffit i), It:ll/(aje.r(india
ink rarroos made with improvised needl es), customizing of ranjlaJ (low-rider cars), youth ga ng
W HERE HEROES
A RE BORN regal ia,pinlo (p rison) arc such as panllelilOJ (ballpoint or pen and ink decorared hand kerchiefs), the
1983 self- presentation of tbotos and countl ess other expressive forms evoke and embod y a barrio
J uan Ord ui'ie1
sensibil ity - a sense of self worrh that is de fi an r, proud , and roored in resistan ce.
3881 No. Broadway
WI Los Angel" Wh.i1e learn ing and d rawing inspirat ion from conremporary barrio expressio ns,
6' X 20' Chicano artists also began the rask of reclaiming arti stic rradi rions rooted in ances tral heri tage.

61
 Sculptors especially found historical affinities in the santero and penitente art of the Southwest. The
potent santero traditon has ebbed and flowed but continues as a vital contemporary idiom . Santos
are sculpted or painted rep resentations of Christian saints often anon ymously created by self
taugh t or semi-professional artists. When carved in t he round either in separate sections or in a
sing le p iece, t he image is called a tndto; when pai nted on wooden panels, it is a rezablo . Santos were
ord inarily used in the home or in local ch urches as ob jects of venerati on. Althoug h func t ion ing
as religious icons, they were given human d imens ions and integ rated as art objects wit hin the
everyday life of the home. Chicano artists seeking to relate their work in a direct way with
commu nity concerns gained im petus from th is h istorical antecede nt ofan art form developed and
nourished directly within a social context .
T he Penitente Brotherhood , a secular relig ious order, was another sig nificant force
in the formarion ofa d urable arrisric exp ression in the Southwesr. Penisente esxmost often portrays
Chr ist in his Passion th rough life-sized. realistic statues of the Ecce Ho mo (sor rowful Chr ist) .
O ther typical penisente subjects are the skeleton or death uanitas fi gures rep resenting the folly and
transience of human life. Forceful examples are the caretas de la nuarte (death cats) which contain
powerful images of dearh affectionatel y known as Dona Sebastiana. The striking imagery and
emoti ve power of penitenle art had a profou nd impact on those Chicano artists fo rg ing an art which
sough t to comm unicate content with integ rity.
In penisente art , careful anencion to precise detail is seconda ry to the more
sig nific ant "exp ressive" qual it ies often rransmi rted by d istortion and exaggeration. Vigo rous
colo rarion , crude texture, and rhetorically simplified form s aid in creat ing the passionate mood
ofpenitente sculptural figures . T hese stylistic aspects could well be related to the socially consc ious
mu ral art be ing created in California. Con tem porary Chicano ar t, much of it ful l of indignation
and outrage, could clai m righ tful affinity wi th the emotively charged antecede nt expression of
penitente art.
K nowledge about the Indo-H ispanic art forms of the Southwest cam e neither DOLOR
1979
from academic or scholarly sources. It was gained from so urces within the movement like El Grito
Ralph Ma rad iaga
del Norte, a newspaper issued from Espanola, New Mexico starting in 1968. T his journal had a G aleria de ]a RazafSrud io 24
gress-roors orienracion a nd placed a ma jor emphasis on preserving t he culture of the ru ral ag rarian silkscrcen
24 ' l( 30'
class. Often, p hotographic essays focus ing o n local artisans or documenti ng t radit iona l ways of
life in the isolat ed jJlleblitos of northern N ew Mexico were featured. Cleofas Vig il. a pract icing
santero fro m the region, traveled widely speak ing to g toUPS of ar tists band ing together to form
the nascen t Chicano arts movem ent . T he carvers Patrocinio Barela, Celso Gallegos and J orge
lopez, all master se nteros, whose works were collected, documented , and exh ibited by Anglo
62
 patrons during the fi rst part of the century. gained renewed sig nificance within th e budding
associations of Chicano art ists . Old and tattered exhibit ion catalogues, newspaper clippings and
barely legib le magaz ine articles t hat documented t heir work were xeroxed and passed from hand
to hand CO be eagerly scru t inized and savored. Some an ises made pilgrimages ro the museums
and collect ions where their work was d isplayed and made photographs available co Movement
newspapers and magazines . Pri m ar ily t hrough th is process oforal t rad ition and informal sharing
of visual documentat ion, arrisrs in California became aware of one of th eir ancestral folk
trad itions, an art isti c trad ition rarely incorporated into "offic ial" art history. T hu s the recovery
and transmiss ion of sanrem and penitente art was accomplished by t he same SOrt or working class
artists who had p rod uced it.
Al thoug h penitente and sanrero art are not acknowledged as primary or direct
in fluen ces on Ch icano art (except for artisans maintain ing the trad ition in t he Sou rhwest), th ey
form ex plicit n utrient sources in t he esta blish men t of an artist ic cont in uu m with Chicano co m-
munities. Because of t heir popul ar roots and their development in a co m m u nal social nexus, they
offer abiding proofoft he process by which a durable art t rad ition ca n be integ rated inro d ai ly life.
Stressing public co nnection rather than private cog ni tion, artists continued their
quest to evolve flu id and integrat ive art fo rms. The goal was not si m p ly co recl aim vernacular
t rad itions but to re-interpret them in ways allowing for hi storica l change.
An orig inal inventive m anner of organ izing the com m un ity throug h art-centered
act ivit ies was the creation ofco llect ive secular celebra tions ofte n based on rradironal custom s. La
Fiesta del Maiz (Corn Festival), £ 1 Die de los lHlIertoJ (Day of the Dead ) and many other group
obse rvances we re d eveloped to nurture and sustain ethni c p ride and cu lt ural solidarity as a
necessary first step towards t he formulation or a new cul tural res ista nce. Artists working at the
various art ceaoer chroughour t he counrry set them selves the taskof inventing new forms ofsecu lar
ceremon ies and rituals; rhei r purpose being ro suscain and t ransmi t t he pol it ica l goals and cul tu ral
ideals of t he emerging Chicano et hos.
Especiall y p revalent were ceremoni als that st ressed nee-indig enous elements.
Ancient and su rvivi ng Ind ian cu lt ures were valued as root sou rces from whi ch to extract last ing
values that wo uld bring unity and cohesion to the heterog eneous Chicano comm un it y. Re-
enactment of ind igenous ritual s g ave the m odern Chicano com m u nit y access to the now myt hical
sources of its cu ltural identity and to assert rhar identity through sym bols that m ade StatementS
about unity , dest iny , su rv ival and end u rance. Furthermore, the neo-indigenismo purveyed in the
rit uals and ceremo nies gave aut ho rity and legi timacy to t he political indigeniJ1Jlo wh ich fl ou rished
as a d om inant aspecr of the cultural nat ionalist phase of the Ch icano Movement.
64
Affirm ation ofindigenous heritag e led artists to study and internalize the works
of Miguel Leon- Portil la, Ang el Garibay and ot her scho larly interpreters of the p h ilosophy and
an of the ancient Mexicans. Through such intellect ual channels as well as throug h the oral
tradition of co mmun ity eld ers and sages such as the Conchero dancer And res Seg ura, Chicano
artists gained insigh t into the spi rit ual and aesthetic roots of t heir own ex p ression. T he p yram id ,
rhe Aztec ca lendar stone, design mot ifs fro m ancient cul t u res and t he entire pan theon of g ods
from Mayan , Tol rec, and Aztec cul tures became root meta phors in Ch icano arr, not as em pty
reminders of past g lories bur as powerfu l sym bols of co ntempo rary relevance.
T he integ ration of cul tu ral sym bols with artistic exp ressio n was also g enerated
by the newly design ed form of communal cerem on ies m entioned above. On e such spectacle o f
much resonance was the commemoration of the firsc day of N ovem ber of £1 Dia de los AtHer/ OJ.
Customaril y in Chicano communi ties, thi s day was set aside for vi siti ng th e cem etery, cleaning
th e graves of loved ones , setting out fres h flow ers and remembering d eceased family members and
fri end s. T here we re no special rituals saved for individual medi ta t ions on mortality. Some
comm unities also ma intai ned the custom of publi sh ing calaveras, b roadsides of satirical verse
embell ished wi th drawings of sku lls and skeletons based o n t he art of Jose Guadalupe Posad a.
Recent arriva ls from Mexico mig ht st ill bake pall de »mertos, o r set up an of renda (a profuse ly
decorated altar with food and drin k offerings honori ng recent ly d eparted kin).
Perhaps receiving impetus from EI Teatro Campesino wh ich had long since in-
corporated the colaiera tradition in its production, artists at th e various antros foc used on th is
trad iti on as a sp ringboard for d evel ping viral new forms of co m m unal ceremon ies. Self H elp
Graphics, an art ists cooperative and com m uni ty art center in East Los Ang eles , can be cited as
an example of how artists used the Da y of the Dead trad ition to m obili ze t he co m m un ity wh ile
creati ng a sp irit of un it y and cultural pride. As described in a Self H elp G raphics p ress release ,
the celebration takes pl ace the firs t week of N ovember and is open to all of Los Ange les. Openi ng
with an indigenous ce remony at a near-by cemetery, t he activities of the day contin ue wi th a
colorful parade featuring costumes, pflpier macbe crosses and mask s, skeletons with sm iles and
papel pimdo (cu rour ti ssue paper banners). Led thro ug h th e streets b y t he sound s of tradi tional
music, the crowds watch and spontaneously join in to conclude t he march in front of al ta rs
assembled at th e Self H elp Grap h ics st ud io . H ere the celebrants present offerings to t he dead at
fes tively decorated altars const ructed by com m un ity parti cipants in workshops held months
befo~e the event. Performin g teatros, m usician g roups, and other festiv iti es continue into early
eVenmg concl ud ing w ith a cand le lit procession.
6'
 In the spon taneity and spi rit of the fest ival, the com muni ty has time to specu late
and take cog nizance of itself and its cul tu ral trad itions. T he new forms of comm unal celebrations
funct ioned as art is tic st rategies to symbolically transm it key assumpt.ions of the Chicano an
movement. They introd uced and propagated many of the sym bols, them es, and mot ifs be ing
cod ified into a visual vocabulary by Chicano art ists. Wh ile stressing p te-Co lom bian and in-
d igenous subject -ma tter, the em ergent visua l vocabulary also incorporated urban rypes and
explorations of the hybrid Chicano soc ial mil ieu .
Integ rally related to the human concerns of their local neighborhoods, artists
pursu ed the vital tasks of creati ng art forms that streng the ned the will , fort ified the cultural
identi ty, and clarified rhe consciousness ofthe com muniry. The forem ost aesthetic ai m conci nued
to be search for an organ ic unity between actual social livi ng and arr. By the m id- 19 70s posrers
and m urals were ubiqu itous purveyors of visual cultu re in Chicano co mm unit ies.
For their visual dialogue, artists soon cod ifi ed themes, motifs, an d iconography
which prov ided ideological direction and visual coherence to m ural and poster p roduct ion . In
the main, rhis arrisric vocabulary included referents to pre-Colum bian, Mexican , Ch icano, Ang lo
American, and in tern ational sources. T he search was for a visual lang uage t hat was clear,
emotionally charged , and easily understood .
Pre-Co lum bian citations include pyram ids, the Azt ec calendar stone, cul tural
heroes like Q uerzalcoarl , and deit ies like Tlaloc and Coar lic ue. From the Mexican heri tage
references to revolut iona ry heros an d cultural traditions are widespread . Potent cultu ral sym bols
like e/ maglley, La Virgen de G uadalu pe, and la ralavera are prevalent . Chicano motifs like placas
or the hlle/go thunderbird appe ar constantly with such heroic fi g ures as Che Guevara and Cesar
Chavez. Ang lo America provides sat irical visions of Uncle Sam , rhe Srarue of Li berty, and
caricaraures of the bourgeoisie _ bosses, landowners, and robber barons . Internationalism
entered the pictorial vocabu lary of Ch icano m urals and posters with motifs and iconographic
details from the people's strugg les in Vietnam, Africa, and Latin America.
C reati ng a d ialect ical an is an ongoi ng process and ma rks the ma tu re stage of the
Chicano an movem ent in the 1980s. Thi s phase entails the appropri ation of t he most advan ced
styles, techniq ues . and technolog ies in the persistent ,discipl ined, and cont inual effort toward de-
veloping an enhanced artof resistan ce - an art whi ch is not a resistance ro rhe marenals and form s
of art , but rather a resistance to entrenched social systems of po wer, excl usion, and negation.
A BAJD CON LA /l ll GRA
1979
Malaq uiu Mont oya
black and whi tC' s ilksc rcen poster
24 ' x 30' 67
 •

Amalia M£sa·Bains

~
Quest for
Identity:
Profile of
Two Chicana
Muralists The Chicano Movement can be seen as a coming of age, a self-
Bas~d on defi nition rooted in a cri t ical per iod of development both
ind ivid ual and social. Concerns with improved edu cat ion ,
Int~ rv i~ws with labor condi tions, biling ual support, land retrieval, and com-
Judit h F. Baca munity empowerment were bound together within the
and Patricia encompassi ng challenge of ident ity. For th e art ist, this self-
defin ition by vin:ue ofits historical placement was the impulse
Rod ri9u~~
for both personal and coll ective expression.
In a historical sense, the Chicano Movement co_uld be interpreted as collect ive
act ion toward cultural , polit ical, social, econom.c, or educational change. Viewed privately
throug h the self of the sing ular artist , the Moveme nt was a struggle with past heritage , societal
rejection, ado lescent cont rad ict ion, and inevitabl y, the need for purposeful ethical en listment.
This need to blend a historical and pe rsonal identi ty as Ch icano was a dr iving force in the social
act ivism of el mooimiento.
Those ind ivid ual arcisrs whose developing self was indelibly marked by this
experience refl ect the larger and more massive q uest for iden ti ty of their g roup. Acco rdi ng to Erik
Erikson in his groundbreak ing book, Life History and the Historical Moment:

A his/orical periodmay pm tn/ a singularch«lIClfora col/edit't rmeuiai which opens up unlimiud

idtmi/ie,sffW lhoseu'ho, b)' a combina/ioll ofuRYl/linm , giftedness, and rompttttlct, rtpmmt a nnu
-Zoot Suil Riots ', d erail, GREA. T WAU OF WS A "JGELES
198 1 leadership, a new elite, and new l}peJ rising /0 dominance i" t1 flew peep/t. I
J ud ith F. Bao.
T u jung
I a \'(Iash
I Dr-.linag. e Cana l' San Fernando V, II--y·, tos A ng eIes
[01".1 mu.... OV~r 1/2 mile long , [h is derail approx . 13 ' x H' I. Erik Erikson, U/ t Him '] aNd fbt HiJ/Or ;mf M omeNt (Nrw York: \ 'iI . W . N Or!on & Co., 197'5), p. 2 1.
69
 T he Chicano mural rnovemen r was a major effort in che expressive arts which
expanded these concerns ofidentiry through a public discourse. Mura ls served as a larger tha n life
visual voice linking com munities, narrating m issing histories, presenting cult ural th emes, reap.
propriacing neig hborhood space, and creat ing a new imagery of the Chicano. As a funct ion of
identity development, murals provided idealized portrai ts which celebrated fami ly and cultural
practices. T hei r themes often outl ined poli t ica l demands and spiritual beliefs significant to the
larger Chica no community.
Wi thi n this mural movement collectives and brigades which sought to develop
collaborat ive models and struc tures provided important leadersh ip. This leadership was marked
by the active presence of women muralists. As women they broug ht gender perspective to the
issues of identity and com munity ; as artists they affirmed a p ublic expression that incorporated
both historic an d personal narrati ve. Patricia Rodrfguea form erly of the 1970s mural collective,
Mujeres Muralisms, is a sig nificant figure in Chicano cultural activity within the movement.
J udith F. Baca, creator of the Great \'Voll of Los A ngela cont inues to be a moving force in mura l
activi t ies internati onally. In looking at rhe developmenr ofth ese two leadi ng muralisrs as women,
art ists, and parti ci pants in the Ch icano Movement we can perhaps begin to understand the rela-
tionshi p between social and indi vid ual identi ty. T heir journey is of an individ ual and personal
natu re, yet like a mirror it refl ects the life histo ry of a com munity.

• PATRICIA RODR IG UEZ

For Patricia Rodriguez th e earliest child hood sense of boundaries was of solidity and protection
from her own com munity as well as of excl usion and alienat ion from an Anglo societ y. She was
born in Texas to a Ch icana sing le parent of the Zoo t suit era and was raised by her grandmothe r
while her moth er worked . Her earli est recolle ctions were of a racially tense separation between
Mexicans and Anglos:
\'Veknew tbat thn-e were certain territories ue didn'l go into. erptciolly in T O:OJ. It U'aJ FA NT AS Y WORLD FOR Ol/ LOREN
197::>
oery dose-emt, WI! hod 0/11' oum barrios and 0 111' own districts. In Jchool wegot ((dIed names Patricia Rodriguez. G raciela u,-i llo, and Irene Perez .. s , .
and thingJ like tbas. . . B S '{
Ralph Marad laga Min i-Park . 2ith and ryant [S., ,. ISSI' ·on D 'Sfr1CI . an ranCISCO
approx. 30' x IY
Despite th e restrictiveness of the comm unity sett ing, Patric ia Rodrfguea' grand-
mother was able to provide an optimistic model, clearly becom ing a source of strength. He r
caretaki ng played a major role in the early developmen t of a fem in ine ide nt ificat ion.
She had(/10/ ofstrengtband energy. Sbebrongbt meup muil tbe flgeojJel/t!1l. JO I uias molded
after her pretty much instead ofmy mother. She u-as /-'elY prodllctive. 11f')' creatne... She
enjoyed every/bing abonr lift. She was never bitter, never depressed.
70
 •

It was in this setting of community cul tu re that Rodrfguea experienced those

sou rces th at have cont inued to playa parr in her creative identity. The inte rplay of fami ly
gatherings and barrio festiv it ies provided an acceptable method of fe mi nine creat ivi ty. T hrough
cultural and comm unal trad iti ons th e artis t developed a sense of product ivity:
\'Vhen I was grouang liP in the little Texas fown, we J/Ied to hatlt 10fS o[ jamt/) ctJJ. which
are les/hlt days - chllrch celebrafionJ, Alo/her's day, or something like that - and
everybody uf()rks IOWd l,J tbat day. lt's oery festive... \Vomen producea 10/ ofpillow ram.
embroidery, knilling. )oJholders or aprons or doilies. A ll tbar WfI.J very colorf u/, tt tva! a
big event. II had a lo! of ellKI on me. I was "'erJ excited abofll what my grandmother WaJ
showing and tht neighbor mas showing,
Th is sense of shared expression p rovid ed by the nurtun ng setting of her
g rand mothe r's suppo rt stirred her fi rst explorations in art making:
I Can remember being creative ever since I uos a tbitd.: the earliest thing I can remember
is being at a neigbbor'sbouse when / still tioed with my grandmaber in Texasand creating
a dress and trying tosew it, A clllally, / didn't sew it ~alm when the lady tried 10 PIli
tbedress all the doll, it cameapart, 8 111, it toasa dress tbat had IWOparts 10 it which usas
very interesting 10 her, She was amazed that I cOllld do that,
T he move to Californ ia in her ch ild hood allowed Patricia Rodriguez to neg oti ate
a new sense of openess about cultural boundaries, It also provided a conflicrual sit uat ion as she
struggled with the loss of he r g randm other, the eme rgence of a new stepfather and a new
cornmuru ry:
I Camef roma 'I-'eTJ repressive type of back.grolmd where)'oll jllst didn't hang oat with }.nglos
- m ,[w they 'U £rt very poorand lhey camefrom tht s4meneighhorhoods wecamefrom, ln
California the division wasn't as blatant, \Ve all bnng ast togober.. It WaS no/ easy in
tbe beginning became/ didn't know ifl sholtld trill! them, or whether it WaS theright thing
to do, or if l wOltid gel into t1'OlIble.
Ad olescent strugg les gave way to the opportunity for self-exp ression under these
new infl uences. Du ring this pe riod , Rodrig uez began ro formulate a sense of herself as an artist.
T h is ambit ion was influenced by recogni tion fro m ochers:
\Vhen l toas in junior high / had a uJOnderfll1 art teacher who 'WtIS gay and very creative
l.tI TlNOAJlIEHJCA
...Hekepftl1COllraging me. Hesaid, "YoII'regoing tobean artist, YOII'vegOItogo tocoUege."
1914
A nd J said, "lVell, J'I/t always wanted to be an artist." las Mu jeres Mu ralistas
The interact ion wi th a caring ad ul t outs id e the fam ily served as a bridg e to greater (Patricia Rodrig uez, O reclela Carillo, Co nsceto Mendez, Irene Perez)
Mi5.Sion St reet !xtwt>en 2 ~ t h and 26 th Srs.. Mission District , San Fra ncisco
aspi rations. As fo r so many adolescents, the in te rest and concern of a significan t teache r provided approx. 2 ~' x 70'
72
 the motivation for independence. \Vh ile the Anglo environment was at nmes isolati ng ,
Rod rig uez' artist ic aptitude was essent ial to her self-esteem and competency.
With this wideni ng sense of ident ity her artistic impulses flourished and she
began to envision her futu re as an an ise. For Rodriguez as for many Chicanos of her generation ,
the lim itat ions im posed by soc ial attitudes were an obstac le in developing her sense offuture. YCt
Pat ricia Rodrfguez relied on her growing sense of end urance and perseveran ce, encouraged by th e
model of her moth er:
I ioas vny imprwed with her became she was also very enduring and hardworking. She
hada p~silivt!alli1Jldeabo"t eoerytbing anddidn't let dllylhing get in her way. Shea/Ii'ays
tlJfJlighf tbat I sho,,/d strioe fflY the best, I should strive f or the highest JJ(JJJible, uibetber it
be in high school or to gel a job.
Duri ng this st ruggle for independence and future, she was for a time married to
an Ang lo. After her marriage ended in divorce, she began realizing her potential as an arrisr. The
collect ive force of the poli tical change for Chicanos began co sweep her along as she joined th e
Movemenr.Tbe turn ing point was rhar I was, fo r the fi rst t ime, in che erwironm en r of the Chi cano
Movement.
There werea lot of things going Off, a lot of dC111011JiI"ations, a lot ofexciting moments. I
decided if I can do all these things and be a woman who can work for the rigbts 0/ Cbi-
({1I1 OS to be at the University, 'Work for the rights of women. work for the rights ifuoreers,
then I sbosld be able to work/or my own rights, to makemy dreams cometrue. It was the
ideal oftrying to be liberatedand trying to befeminist, oftrying 10 WGrk for something yo"
co,,1d never achieve otherwise becallSe sKiety wo" ldn'tlet yo". I jasr worked toward tbat,
Making use of an art scholarship, she went to arr school, however she found it to
be isolati ng and chaotic. The fo rmali ty and srrucrure she expec ted to fi nd there was based on a
romantic ized percept ion that proved to be untrue.
t rbosgbt art school was going to be like the Hollywood movies ofthe ] 940s where )'0" have
to wear a smock and a beret. The only role models I had were television and maybe
Hollywood movies where some middle-class gid went to Paris to art school.
In the ferm en t of new ideas and potentialit ies ge nerated by el movi"'ientoshe joined
other Chicanos comm itted to fight ing for their right to higher ed ucat ion. In the conrexr of this
momentum . a new consciousness was formed and earlier idenrificarions ofst re ng rb and persever-
an ce became layers in t he development of her self concept as an art ist . What she was unable to find
in support in the majori ty inst it ut ions she d iscovered in her barrio activit ies. But even th is
collec tive work was restricted by the polui cel expectations of he r male counterparts:
7.
They responded u ntb "well, it's aile bill it dcesn't say vtry much. " A nd I said, "well, nat
everything has 10 bepalitical. " T!Je,-e'; osber tbings that onecan say, especial/y asan artist,
I mean it's in an artist's creed toexpress how lhey feeL .I net," believed thai )'011 had tobe
so dogmatic, in/act. I resented it, But I uenr ti-Iong with it became I wasvery much involved
with the group.
She began stu dy ing the work of the Mexican m uralists and was inspired to join
other women art ists in a group called Mujeres Mu ralistas. T he development of the women 's
painti ng g roup allowed her access to new ideas and exp ressions on a public level.
Thefact that ! UJo;painting.that I was doing Iarge-scalefignres, that I was working with
massive scale and I was 0111 in pllh/ic, made it a lot more exciting.
As her community arrachmenr deepened , the artist relied more on the cultural
sou rces of her own expe riences as content and model in her murals. In particu lar, the consistent
patterns ofcelebration , ki nshi p, and comm unity from her chi ldhood became pa rt ofthe mu ralist 's
themes and imagery that were translated through the collect ive vision of th e M ujeres M uralistas.
A lot of the rimals and the richness 0/ theculture, tbe combinations 0/ mltuml beliefs that
the/amily has and 0/theparticular groups I've been iaitb are tbe influences I have now.
But they all go back to my grandmother, or to my earty childhood. They derive/rom my
early stages of development.
J oining with the collect ive mural movement she conti nued to maintain an ideal
sense of arti st ic iden ti ty, a role imbued with a larger m ission . .This sense of m ission, despi te the
cha nges in her art all iances and in the Movement, is expressed by her perseverance:
Aty philosophy is that an artist should IN dedicated. Sometimes it is very'diffimlt. Some
poplesay, "bmband and wife and kids first, and if tbm's time, there's art. .. And I say,
"no. " I say, "art first. A rt first, everything else second", It takes work and means some
sacrifices ill yosr life...i/)'oll call yoursel]an artist, )'0/1 have 10 Pl1t 0111. YOl1 htweto work
hard. YOl1 hatlt toproduce work,
T he inspirations , sources an d contrad ict ions that pro voked change for Patricia
Rod riguez solidifi ed a comm it ment and sense 0: self inextri cably tied to bot h her identity as a
Chi cana and as an arti st . In a collective sense the Ch icano adolescence provi ded a major impetus
to el mooimimto. T he awareness of inj ustice rbar is intensifi ed for evety adolescent was doubly
intense for m inority youth. Like orher adolescen rs, Patricia Rodriguez relied on her ow n g rowing
artistic competency as an escape from t he sense of frustration and limitation encountered in
school where tracking and discrimi nation were everyday events.
75
 You understood what discrimination was about,.. 1jelt that I hada responsibility, 1had
a duty as part of this )'otmger gmeration u-itb this kind of consciousness totry and correa
some of those things. It was like enlisting in the arm)'. If I had to have art become part
of that duty for x amount oftime. thm it would, became it was simply something that I
would have felt terrible if 1 had not done.
Personal development propelled Patricia Rod riguez coward her own amsnc
needs and the Chi cano collectivity provided a context for social change. Mujeres Muralisras was
formed out ora need for women to work toge ther in a supportive way. Like earlier familial models,
the Mujeres Muralis ras included only women : Irene Perez (G uatemalan), Graciela Carrillo
(Chi cano), Consuelo Mendez (Venezuelan), and Patricia Rodrfguez. In man y ways, the g roup was
also a prototype for t he development of movemenr values wh ich reinforced publicly accessible ,
anti-elite work ofe ccl lective nature. T he images of their murals, Laci noamerica and Pecos Tacos,
expressed a pan-American aesthetic where highly visible images of women and emphas is on
ceremony, celebrat ion, caretaking , harvest and a conti nental terrain worked toward th e creation
of a new mythology. T he power of the murals relied on precisel y that widely held memory of th e
everyday wh ich allowed the work of the Mujeres Mural isras to provide a recollective function for
a broad com mun ity during a historic period t ime,or
• JUDITH F. BA CA
In t he period of t he Chicano Movement life paths crossed the historic t ra jectory of the group.
Making sense out of th is juncture req uires us to refl ect on the key elements, personal histo ries,
memories, and recollecti ons that marked th is experien ce. ForJ ud ith Baca, perhaps it was th e srory
of her ow n famil ies m igrat ion to Californ ia shortly before her birch that fi rst made her aware of
the oppression and resistance of women. She was reared in a matriarchal family. As fo r many
Chicanos of her generat ion, her g randmot her offered a constant nurtur ing while her single mother
made a living .
Aly Mother ioasu't young when I was born, she was 23. They hadbeen Iivillg in Colorado.
The barrio was a very big, very oJd A"exicall collmumity. She had oIder brothers who UPRISING OF THE tl1 UJ ERE.S , d.,lai!
1979
complelely rontrolledber lift, a situation which she collldll't bear allY more. SIx made the )ud i[h F. Baca
journey west. She was thepioneer in the family. portllbl.,. aeryl;, on wood
8' x 24'
The struggl e of th is family of women became a model for the artist's later
structures of fem inist empowerment . J ud ith Baca was greatl y influenced by the character and
ind igenous sensi bility of her grandrnorher while her mother's working class perseverance in
providing for a di sabled sister, an elderly mother, a younge r sister, and her daughter created a
76
 model of service and dedication that inspired the young J udi th Baca. In part icular, her
grandmo ther's beliefs and practices created a worldview for the arti st (hat remains a potent force th e commune1 narure O f her work was valid as art. Yet , her col lective
d work
I w it h. you t h gangs in
barri breakth rough in her own self-defi nition, her ow n eve
the arrm was a • .
opmenc:
. . fi he
in her own ph ilosophy regarding the environment, harmony and world relations:
he l ked 'th the kids theexperience WaJ JO 1/tOtJing and so big: b1/a~l1~e 1/, ~r t
My grandmolherU1aJ a lJerY spiritual, vtry Indi,m . /ooleing woman. I remember walking \\'1 11 WOP'. WI .. . her They were g IVing 1JOfceJ to
first timepeople were takhtg co",m/lmty action 111 art toget . d k' h
down the street withherandhelding her handandknowing thai sonIehow wewere wolking
down the uTong streets in/he wrong coumry and we wert completely 01({ ojslep with what
the people who bad not spoken, whose stories were largely not told ':/1 fa mg
' I owned bv other hNlh/e. l saw the men who were Pllltlllg me down 0 w at
J:;m;a:
were large y ho he people l was
was happming here. Shegovt me a rremendom spiritual force. Ilhink she b«ame the ideal
ofwhat love should be. I really findthis the absolille jOlmdafi on ofmy cOllfitiuln . J know
J r -rr . .
did, follow Illy lead. I began to see that some thing was ~orng on, I u:
my sense ofself was formed al thai time. working with 'w ert king changed, bow l was also changmg and teaming.
H er involvement with young people has been a conti nu ing aspec t of her work
H er mother's marriage ro an Anglo proved to be a conflicrual relati onship for whi ch is refl ect ive of her own st ruggles and beliefs:
Baca. She responded co th is sense of al ienation by increas ing her reliance on rhe extended fam ily
/ 'm very anatbed to Joung /Jt'Op/ebecame / identify with their ndJtllion, tbe strugg~ /heJ.' rt
and assert ing more and more control of herself th rough her an . An early marriage co an Ang lo
. through! be/itvt that they hafJtafuture, that they are the galtgeof what ; JOC/~t~
made possible some separa tion from family co nflic ts and provided a suppe-r for her an ed ucation.
1;;;;111g or nor'doing tonatJlre - they are the harometerofracism. That's why l work w it
H er marriage ending in d ivorce, Baca found solace, conso latio n and a sense ofpower in her errisric
abilities. Yet her ea rly an lacked a sense of purpose. She remembers a moment after graduation youth. ki
f h G t U't. 1/
Moving fro m barrio co m m u ni t y murals to the underra 109 0 ~r e. . TM a,
when a simple inquiry by her grandmother called t hese issues into q ues tion :
Baca moved into a period ofg reater p roductivity and i nvo lve~ en t ~i ( h issues ~f rem I01s: . It : :
I was thefirst woman in thefmnily ever tograduatefrom college. There was a big party. a movement nor wi thout some co nflicts, but as her sense of Identi ty as an art ist grew , r ere
Everyonecame. l took mycertificate tomy grandmother the nightof llrygradl!otionandsaid, an acceptance of t he unconventional path her life would take.
"Look." I was very happy. She took me illt!) the back bedroom ofIIry littleapartment and
she said, "Show mewhat yOIl do." So l twk ont what / couldfind that was realistic, some T be ronsta nt is yOllr;elf And tbeextension ,f yOllr~e
. oJ "J ISyOIl r wore
. Jr' . . . Tberearenorolemodels
kfi '
drawings, and showed them to her. She said jllJ1 One thing, "What's it forl" ! was
devastatedby that onelittleremark. ! 'wasgoing to say "To hang on your usdls," but she
was right. "What was it f or?" Her qtastion really gllided mefrom that point on. l knew
my lifeanddeal with what that might mean. Thereis a co'if/i~ be/ween r:
tobe a woman m emially aloneand willing to do that - wzllmg toPllt II/Y.u:or mt.tn
and be~llg
a lone woman, it; a conflia between not making the comentional laHuly, ~" rec;~atll/g
•

I had to UIe this partimlar skill ! had, bllt that it had to be connected with something that the comfort and Jecurity of that without doing it the way it has been done 111 my . asory.
had meaning or purpose beyond my selfgralijicalion and couidspeak to the people ! cared Yet even her new mode l of a femini st id entity d id not sever her link to.cu.l tural
most abollt, 'ny family and cOHim/mity.
sources. She derived energy from t he cu lt ural beliefs and experiences of her comrnumry:
Baca turned m ore intensely co her wo rk as an art ist and reacher as she struggled
to defi ne her role. As a woman and a C hicana she did not seem to fi t wi thin the romantic imag e
/ struggle not to be lost from my CIIlturebecause ! think it is the Vtl': spirit .of ~rn;
My work is informed by the connection. There'sforce in the cannearon. / 1 IS t ease rom
/r:
of th e boh emian whi te male art ist work ing in a garret: which the work flows. ,
! didn 't think / had the right to ca// myselfa" artist, became the image ofwho em artist T he pervasive elem ent of resistance that colored t he larger Ch icano ~o vem ent
was didn't fn. / did,,'t know tbat / couM make my OMI definition. . as assumpoons
also affected C hi cano artists . a bout t be p rivar e and elit ist. natu
f re ofblic
arti stcoand art-
llec ti ve
The cole of rhe artist, the issue ofdefi n ition, conrin ued co be a problem as) udi rh making were overturned. Even as a mu ra I ·rsr m · vo Ived with che conscrucrion . .o a puh i Ib,sh ped her
Baca began to work wi t hin rhe collectiv ity of the Chicano Movement . She q uestioned whether
movem ent In ' art, J udiIt h Boca did nor, lose touch wi th rhe personal m otivations W IC a
78 p roduction:
79
 If /here's a sosra ofpain, I do not avoid it. I think mgeand the transformation ofit ima
positive action is one of tht great somas 0/productivity for me. Rageat injustice or 0/ the
spirifflal disharmony with the earth, u dtb uibat is[emale is a starling poim from which
10 develop alternatnes. In thesubsequent problem solving one thing leads 10 anotber. 1am
part ofthflt proem, [ really believe tbat someumes I'm carriedby this great wave of uhat
happens when I Pllt people /ogtfhw,
From Baca's earlies t work of o rgan izing you rh ga ngs ro do mural work . ro the
Great \Vall. ro her cu rrent travel ing piece The World \'(IaU (on societal t ransformation ro peace).
the arrist has been concerned with p ublic space. commu nity empowerment . and creat ing
relationsh ips between d iscordant peo ple.
Onedoes 0 1/ analysis of a site and it doesn't matter whether it 's East Los A ngeles or whnher
it's Skid Row or whether if's a migran/fa rm worker's toum. In each cast )'011 begin isitb
an analysis of lhat site, A ndy OIl begintofind 0111 iobat are tbesocial oswell asthephysical
elements ofa parliclliar jJlace...jJri111ary, is to really look (1/ the social siluat ion even be/ore
thephysical side becameifthe social situation dictates tbat it is an important site towork.
at, then even if the physical sift is difficult or almost impossible, I may sriil rbance II.
T he comm unity part icipa to ry process Baca developed . wh ich involves im pur
from histori ans, cultural informants. sroryrellers , com muni ty residents and young artists, has
become an irnporrant model for collecti ve mu rals. T he collective process was based on the need
ro create murals by Ch icanos for Ch icanos, Consequently. models of com munity invol vem ent
were essential ingredients in allowing the hisroriesand ideas of the murals to reach their inrended
audience.
Although the collect ive process draws in many diverse infl uences, it is Baca's well
developed fi lmic nar rat ive using con necting images that lends the uniq ue q uali ty to wo rks such
as the Great \'(1011. She describes its metaphoric quality as fo llows:
In the case 0/ the Great Wall the metapbor really is tbe bridge. It's aboli/ the interrda-
tionship between nbnic and racial groliPS, the develop1llt1lt of in/erracial bannony. The
prodllct _ there art nail)' two prodmts - the 11111'-01 and anotber prodsct which is
invisible, the interracial harmony between the!Jeople who have been involved
In t he long history or Californ ia's comm unit ies of color conflicts between racial
groups are a his toric reality, J ud ith Baca's work serves to bind together disparate hi stories and
~ Di v ision of [he Barrios and Chavn Ravir>t'" from the- G REA T WALL OF LOS AN GELES adversarial consriruencies. In particu lar. the individual [uncrures of he r life have intersected with
1983 the historical moment of the C hicano. Femi nist . and Public Art movements. In th is respect her
J ud ith F. Baca
T u junga W ash Drainage Canal, San Fern ando Valley, Los Ang"l e~
life history has encompassed mult iple cultural realit ies. Yet there is a common th read of social
81
tot al mural over 1/2 mile long . [his derail ep prcx- 13' x 35 '
 indignation , res istance and struggle for justice that permeates her murals. Through her work she
has forged a new defi nit ion of the urban art ist:
I consider myselfan urban artist, ' hal is, I'm parliada dy toned into an urban environ-
man which could he the barrio thaI I grew lip in. I believe that OJ an erban artist J haut
to be respomioe to the urban enoiromnem. I'm interestedin tbe transformation of/hephysical
el1t1;r0Il1Iie111 as wt!/1 and tberreation of a spare thaI in itselfreflects the people wholive there.
I see nl)'selj as an imlrJI11le111 to gitlt ooias (0 the the general sentiment.
• CONCLUSION
The parallels between the idenu ry developm ent of Parrica Rodrigu ez and Jud ith Baea ate nor
surprisi ng when they are viewed in th e context of the ir generation, their region, and their
historical epoch. T he forces of m ig ration, extended fam ily, racism , and sexism were encoun tered
in a historic period of massive social change for coun tless orher Chicanas of thei r age. The mann er
of transformation available to the arrisr has al lowed them to use what was personal and ind ividual
in service o f their group. Like o ther Chicanas un der sim ilar circumstances of m igration and
change, the grandmorhee served as a sanctua ry ofculture and a bridge to memories and heritag e,
serving both as conrenr and model for the ir murals. In the same fashion, the folk ceremonies and
healing and relig ious arrifacrs of their fam iIies formed a sp iriruali ry and sense ofcontinui ty crit ical
eo their de velopment.
T he crisis of adolescence, as well as the d iscrepancy between the accepted norms
of Ang lo America and thei r own experiences propelled these women into the development ofthe ir
ta lent, their only avenue ofselfesteem . Most important is the conti nuous strugg le eo resolve the
•
role of woman as art ist. Beset by the ge nd er-bou nd image ofa white male art ist, both) udi rh Beca
and Patricia Rod rIguez redefined , in thei r ind ivid ual manner, the arcisr as fema le. Forg oing
marriage and child ren, the journey of the self has been marked by the creat ive expression of
cultu ral belief.
As wom en of a movement dominated by men, they have provided rheir own
reparations for the pain of personal con fli ct, soc ietal racism and the limi ta tions of gender roles.
In the larg est sense the women 's models ofcol lecri vi ty, inel usiveness, spa tial retrieval , and histori c
"Pi ckers" from GUADALU PE "'lU RAl~
and persona l me mory have become shared eleme nts in the d evelopment ofmural narrat ives am ong 1990
Ch icanos . In each, life history has encou ntered his to rical mo ment in a junctu re where on ly wom en J ud ith 11. Baca
Leroy Park , Guadalupe
of their" unruliness, g ifeed ness and com petence" could have risen to leadersh ip. The explora tion
acrylic on pl ywood , •
of individ ual identity has become a reflection of a g reater cult ural identi ty among Chicanos. In total mural (4 panels}, S' It 2S' S' . [hi s panel S' x 7 2 .
this pe riod of historic redefi nition t he role of these lead ing women muralists provides a stud y of
intention and belief common to Chicanos of their generation.
82
 Marcos
Sanchez·Tranquilino

~
Murales del
Movimiento: A Cbicano is 0 Af tx;( a 1l Amtri{on who doe!
1/ot Milt 0 11 Anglo imoJt ofhim!tlf
Chicano _ Ruben Salazar, 1970

Mura ls "O RALE RAZA!," the textual focus of Frank Fierro's colorful
and the 19 74 mural at the Est rada Courts H ousing Pro ject in East Los
Angeles, is an exuberant g reet ing to all Chicanos. The literal
Disco urses Eng lish translat ion of th is g reeti ng is awkward , mean ing
of Art and "R ig ht O n! Mexican Am erican People: ' H owever, the id io-
matic Chica no translat ion would be close r to " Rig ht on! my
America n- People," or even "my Commun ity ." The g reeti ng im rnedi-
• • arel y establishes a cultu ral recogn ition between the Chicano
Ilation m uralist and t he Chicano viewer, acknowledging both as be-
longi ng to the national Ch icano com m unity. The m urals as well as the other arts of this
commu nity played a sem ina l role in the esta blish ment of th is important in tra-cul tural bridge,
the effect s of wh ich ulti mately had significant implication s for U nited Sta tes soc iety in general
and Chicanos in patt icu lar. As w ith the majori ty of Chicano murals of its period, "Orale Raza!"
art iculated a cultural represe ntation of bot h reg ional and nat iona l political agendas for el
mooimiento, the Chicano civil rig hts movement wh ich began in the mid- 1960s and cont inued
through various nansforrnarions into the late 1970s and beyond.
Chicanos (men) and Chicanas (women) representing this new cu ltu ral/political
identity eme rged from the long establ ished U.S. Mexican (or Mexican Amer ican) community,
ONAL[ RAZtl and sought to red ress t heir plight through a series oforgan ized pol itical efforts desig ned to recove r
1974
f ran k Fierro their civi l rights as Ame rican ci tizens . Towards its goal to effect substantial chan ge , this new
Esrrada Cou rt5 Housing Projecr East Los J\ , I comm uniry enlisted the assistance of Chicanos o n all fronts, i.e. from labo r, ed ucation, and
approx. 20' x 30' ' ng e es
pol itics, as well as from t he visual and performi ng arts . T he response from everyone was
85
 . ilacion in add ition to t he absence of docume~ted
The myriad responses co assi m " 'd" ib le for Mexicans in the United
overwhelming, incl udi ng that of the artistic com m uni ty, due in part to its particular excl usion . "A Icanhisrory rna e ltl m possl 19 60,
from meaningfu l partici pation wi t hin t he mai nstream art world. U .S. Mex ican co ntribu u onsI"
(O
n men . ' 11
hesive nanona y recogru -
iaed g cou p befote t he late
if
,
States [0 develop as a po mea y co .' h d d earl ier. Thus, they had litt le.I any ,
T he call to arrisrs to actively participate in th is movement coinc id ed wit h their I OtgaOlzlOg a occure . I
alt hough many reg iona attempts at I ~~ d nde rstood by the larger SOCiety, n
pe rsonal and political need s for individual self-fu lfi llment and t he opportuni ty to d emons t rate . h h e acknow euge or u . . I .
voice in the mannet in whic t ey wer . s continued to be practiced In ISO anon
t heir capaci ty to create legitimate form s and practices equal co t hose of Anglo culture. There was . d M .can Amencan art '- b
the real m of the arts, Mexican an eXI . . in rhe national discou rse of fine art ur
no Chicano art produced before 19 6 5; ir came inro exisrence with t he Movement. What is ca lled \I ed to pa rticipate I ' . n
in the barrioJ. 2 They were not a ow T h is lack of cultural-political represe ntauo
Mex ican American art fit s a categ ory of art p roduction in which both the wo rks an d the artists
con fi ned reg ionally at t he level of. folk ~rtsu S M exicans not only lacked cul tu re b ur were
rep resent various d egrees of assimilati on. ' Unlike Chicano art wh ich was cons id ered an integ ral
support ed uni nformed popu lat nouons t . a~-l .' ' of Mexicans livi ng in Mexico done by
com ponen t ofChicano liberation , Mexican American art was mainly co ncerned with formal and . ' Wh 'l t here ex tsreo Imagery · , d irh i h
incapab le of creat LOg It. Ie. his sid of the border we re unrecog nt ze Wit LO r e
artistic resolut ions. Chican o art represented t he artist ic o utput of m en and women who: raiseworrhy Mexican artists, MeXIcans on r IS sr e
identified themselves as be ing in alliance with the m eans and en d s of el movim iemo: bel ieved p . h' try .
c:;w:egories of art p roduced In t IS coun . . . from American popular imagery , MeXicans
t hat an was never fo r its own sake; s urvived Americanization and soug ht to reclaim their Mexican Although not com plete ly rmssmg . n by d erogatory stereotypes.
he ritage as necessary to their cu rre nt U .S. identities. h teleg ated to repres entlo fUS
and Mexican Americans were, oweve r,. of hi scorically or art istically co rrect im~ge.ry 0 ' .'
For Ch ican os, "Ame rican h istory" has not been a fair retelli ng of t heir his tories.
Prior [0 the Chicano Movement , the creation ld h co ns ti t uted a visual contrad lCtlon to chis
It has instead meant the im posit ion of a whi te Ang lo-Saxon proresranr cul t u ral t ra jec to ry over Mex ican s b y other Am ericans or themselves WOli . ave "
country's insistence on itself as a "~ultur~l m~ltlngf~tdependence from England in the l ~th
ti me and space as t he U nited Scates increased it political borders in t he 19 th centu ry to include
Texas, Arizona, California, N ew Mexico , U tah , N evada, parts of Wyom ing and Colorado , that
Since t h is country s d ec aratlo~ 0 bil i p resent irself as a un ified sovere ig n
is the terri tories and peoples ofwhat is now called t he Sout hwest. T hose popu lations represe n ted dicated on u s a I icy to 1(
Cen ru rv its narionh nod h as been pre . . . depended upon the acrua or
a regionally d iverse developm ent of Mexican cul tures in t he Un ited States who had to be -P . I' l ik II uOlfym g st rategies, .
en ti ty . Arnencan nat rona Ism , I e a . h . ulations Thetefo re, the malOstream-
"Am ericani zed" u nder t he mand ate of M anifest Desti ny, t he p revaili ng ex pansionist ph ilosophy . . f hi nT'S dlversc et OICpoP ' . .J 1
symbolic) co-habltatlono r ISCount . / I I · pot" cou ld on ly be achleveo as ong
of t he times. f . a "culru ra me ung . . f II
ingeffect of t he concep t 0 Amenca as d. 1 It.. eal uniry. Whatever socLn1plta s
The Americanization ofM exicans in th is country can be seen as a h istory of bath ~ -, b ppose nat rona cu \.U ,
as ethnic d ifferen ce was su b surnec ya su . kl be~me gap ing holes when ever ItS
resistance and affi rmat ion i n their struggle to survive not as an alien residenr u nderclass, but . hi inon t hey q u rc Y ......
were inherently included Wit h r IS propos. ,I , h plu ralist myth , a homogeneous yet
rather as a m u lti plici t y of cit izen classes contributing co t he Am erican social whole. Unfortu- C II h l nslstence o n c e .. I '
p ractice attempted to IO ow t eory . f 1 s p rivilege and erhnic exclusion. r rs
nately, their history also has un t il very recen tly been circum scribed by soc ial assignment on t he . " . eiled a structu re 0 c a s . " it s
p lu ralist ic "American soc iet y v I I I ngaged in nat ionali st st rateg ies 10 I
part of the domi nant class. Although class ified as an American minority, U .S. Mexicans important to note t hat rhe emergi r.g C hicano cu rure a so e
nevertheless found li t tle acceptance un less t hey would assi m ilate, Th is meant that acceptance
st ruggle for su rvival. . a! image of the Ch icano com m u n it y (often
was p redica ted upon t he exp ressed display ofa p reference for Ang lo cult ure - especially the use Prior to t he Movement, t he. na~ ~on 1 ) h d been p ri marily defined by non-
of Er.glish - over Mexican cu lt u re, Whi le some members of th is group cou ld an d would I b n sk lOneu peop e a
eth nical ly mis recogni zed as on y rOW-
assi m ilate, others were not wi ll ing cr able.
A I 178 \ 1985 (Los Angek-s: Chicano
I Cast illo 11.1/ IllNltralM HiJ/Ory 8/ Mexican I..IIJ ~~ tl ~ l...nhors ci(edass segralion;
i7
2. Antonio R'os. Busraman , . an~ p« ~ni" el'loity'ofCalifornia. l.os Ange les, I ?8~). P~ba--~Ol~ meansof~cultural self--defeOSf"'
I . For funll<"r d iscussioo orMexican American art sec: also: J acin to Quirarte, MexICan Ameriran ArciJIS(Ausrin:Uni versit yofTexllS Studies Research Cen ter Pu b"rcsncos. d raging Mexican arts to sray wllh lr, t
P ~s , 1973), and Shifra M. Gold man and Tomas Ybarra. Fl1Iusto, Am Chicano: .... C_ prchtIlJio't AlinolalM Bibliograpby ojChiral1O
"' 87
alielUtion,a nd isolation in Los Angelesan enCOU
II.rc. 196:H 981 (Berkeley: Chicano Studies Library Publia t ions Unit, Uni versity of Cal ifom ilr., Berkeley, 198)), p 26· 29 .
86
 READ BETWEf:N T HE LINES
1 97 ~
David Rivas Borello
Ford and O lym pic Hlvd s., E llS! Los Anl)dcs
10 ' x 20'

3. George Carpenter Barker. "Porh"ro: An Am erican-Spanish 1H8 0l and irs Social Functions in T ucson, Arizona," StJ(;ol Sritllrt
lilll/el;" (Uni versity of Ariwnal no. 18, reissued Decem ber 19~8. p- 19.
4. Whil" the term "Chicmo" Can be read to sig nify a :><,panll;St sranct-a nd indeed , such an interpretation was c ncounlg''<l by
Chi canos at the time-it can be interpreted sim ultaoeously as a synthes is: as an idemity of mrvival emerg ing [rom rhe meshing
nf two bisrcrically antagonistic cul tures.
88
 The su bsequent recog nit ion by U.S_Mexi cans of them selves and thei r co mm u-
nityas "Chicano," was a major prerequi site for achieving social integration into American life on
their own terms. T he Movement soug ht change through peaceful intervent io ns; however, its
some t imes mil itant profile was put forth when necessary as the appropri ate response to an
aggressive Anglo-dom inated society .
Like the Black civil rights movement which began in the 1950s, the Chicano
Movem ent beg inning in 1965 sought to reclaim the civil rig hts of Chicanos which had been
historica lly and syscernacically denied t hem since the Mexican Amer ican W ar. The denial ofcivil
rights for mo re than a century to U.S. Mexicans had relegated them to second-class citizenship.
By the mid - 1960s Chicanos saw them selves as a colonized g roup d isen franchised from civic,
polit ical, and econom ic opportu nity by Ame rican soci al st ructures . They had become a resource
pool for unski lled labor needs as well as d raftees and recru its for the V ietnam War. 5
T hroug h inter-regional networking ofurba n and rural act ivists incl ud ing poe ts,
artists, students, academicians, and o thers, the Chicano com munity dep loyed a nation-wide
conceptual st ruc ture or Chicano "wo rld view" known as cbicanismo in order to facilita te the
movement towards collective political sel f-fulfi llme nt . Planes or manifestos, such as the Plan
Espirirual de Aztl an , were collectively created to set fort h the broad philosophical prem ises for
rhe unde rstandi ng as well as the pract ice of cbicanismo.
In effect, cbicanismo was a complex of natio nalist strateg ies by which Chicano
origins and histories, as well as present and futu re identi ties, were const ructed and legi tim ized .
Furthermore, it provided a context for historical reclamation of the self through the affirmati on
of Ch icano cult ural narratives while resisti ng Anglo models of assimilation. The renaming of the
American Southwest as Aztl an wit hin the national Ch icano com munity was an im portant initial
Step in reclaiming the land-base upon wh ich furt her de velopment of this Chicano world view
could take place.
T he name Azd an was bo rrowed by Chicanos from rhe l 6 th century Aztecs who
sett led in central Mexico. T heir seat of power was located in what is known tod ay as Mexico Ciry.
For t hem, AztIan desig nated the geog rap hical area of thei r origi n. In t hei r N abuad language
Azrlan meant "land to the nort h" among other related inrerp reracions." Chicanos considered this
~. Rodolfo f .....cuna. Orrllpitd AJMrira: A H illOry ~ ChKall~s. 2d ed. (New York: Harpe r and Row. 198 \), 1'. 3,66-367. T he
perr~ntag~ ofChicallQ war casualnes at 19.4 of total soldiers killo:d from the Southwesr bcrwl.'CnJanuary 196 1 and F ~ bruary 196 7
outnum bered their national r~presem a t ion for the same area of 10- 12% .
6. Luis Valdc~ and Stan Stt'" ioer. eds., Aula,,: 1\.9 AIIlhtNID ~ III",irlitll t'l IIIn';rlitll !.iln>lllllT ( N~w Yo rk; Yintage Books, 1972),
p. 40 1.
90
northern land co be th e American Southwest, and thus the borden; of the Ch icano Azetan were
perceived to be the same as those of the Aztecs' original homeland. Wh ile AztJan served as the
location of th e origins for th e Aztecs, it now also signifi ed th e roots of a 20th century Chi cano
"archaeology ," that is socially identified St ruc tures for historical reconstruct ion and cul tural
reclamation.
Because U.S. Mexicans had systematically been denied a fair and legitimate role
in "American history," they were fo rced to look outside their U.S. home fo r one. Due to thei r
ancestra l ties t hey were able co look without any hesitation to Mexico [0 provide a hi storical and
culrural continuity. In this way. Chicanos were able to establish their own history whi ch was
indeed traceable in part through Mexico bu r more Irnporran rly, an d ironical ly, had its beg innings
with in the borders of wh at is now the American Sou thwest . Azdan mapped out the conceptual
an~ ~h~s ical rerritories by which Chicanos could affirm cui rural and his torica l genealogies
legi rimi aed by the ancien t Mexican past. Besides laying clai m to an Aztec patrimony, they were
able to claim the cult urally ad vanced civili zations ofth e Ol mecs and the Maya. In the arts, Azthin
fostered the inclusion of infin ite ph ilosophica l, literal, and figurative refere nces to th is pre-
European berirage,"
T radi tion all y in chis country, U .S. Mexicans involved in the arts could o nly attai n
a measure ofsuccess by working wirh in rhe para me ters of the "cuirural melr i ng pot " fallacy. T hey,
like all art ists, were expected to follo w, perpetua te and even esta blish new t rend s within the
confines of wh at was k nown as the International (Euro-Ame ricnn) art world , while suppressing
any potential references to or acknow ledg me nts of erhnicity in the ir work." 1n add ition to
suppressing eth nicity for fine art purposes , U.S. Mexicans art is ts also had to avoid o r deny ethn ic
imagery whose mean ing had been debased throug h negative associat ion with de rogatory
stereotypes of Mexicans_on both sides of the border. T hese negative images had ob tained a wide
currency, and ironically a meas ure of legiti macy on all levels of Am er ican cu lture.
T hese various form s of cult ural suppression , coupled wi th the face that Mexicans living
in the U nited Sta tes predom inantly belonged to an econom ic class which could not easily affo rd
the luxury ofconsidering art as a profess ion, served to help valida te t he po pular notion rhar U.S.
7. To scene n iti'7' [ ik~ J uan G6rn~~-QLinoncs it sewed to immerse d~ G uano (;om muni ty into an uncrit ical remanriclzed
arrC?ca~ of rbe h,sloncal JmI. Sa-J uan G6mu -QuifMmes, /'IIa k "" StlltktrU f»r la l&u : ThrChk"l/tJ SllItUnt MOf-~nt In SfJIlfhrnr
Calijill7f,lit '?67.- 1 977(~nta .Barbal'"ll. W\: ~di.lor;a1 la CaUSll. 19 78 ). In the serviceof prciecring a unified national Chicano image,
so":lc ~om bmanO n50fl1Jstofl.("aily an~agorllsnc elements su~h as Spanish conquistadors and Alt~C nob les togethe r (;o n5 ritulcd a
deliberate suppression of raCial. ethnic, gender, a nd d ass dlff~ren(;~ Of even conflict.
8. 9u;rart~, P~~~ace. Beyond .th~ iss~ ceoceming "universal" and "in reroarioeal" art, are rbe add itionai ones wh ich idemify
~th~(; art ~ pohr~cal. As s~h It. is ccesideeed to have Icssnarutt and YlIIuc: than so-called "ocn-polir jcal," "eon-propagandist ic"
Universal an . fun her discussion of art a nd value follows in rhe text. 5« abo note no. 9.
91
 Mexicans (li ke or her et hnic minorit ies in the U nited States) could nor produce fi ne art or a fine
art cul ture . That idea was further supported by th e consc ious exclusion ofeth nic diversity as part
of th e mainstream process of prod ucing the "market value of culrure." " The fixi ng of value in
th is system depends upon a hierarchical st ructuring which assig ns a lower value to art whi ch is
not considered "fi ne" or "vang uard" whi le assig ning a much greater valu e (and th erefore greater
social Stat us) to aft which is claimed to be of thac lofty catego ry. "Fine an " in America could
only maintain such a high status if it suppressed an y references co erhnici cy which would
otherwise surely lower its posit ion on the art market value scale rc that of "folk" art. Chicano
art in general, and murals in particular, generating from a hisrorically specific. com muni ty- based
conte xt went contrary to rhis mainsrream-supporced value hierarchy.
The mainsrream media portrayed rhe Chicano mural movement primaril y as one
group's colorful attem pt to reclaim the decaying American urbanscape. Murals were to be
unders tood mostl y as environmental change and not as arr .!" The Ang lo-domi nated art
comm unity cont ributed to the suppression ofChicano murals as art because th ey were judged by
criteria as defined by Euro-American art trad it ions in th e market place, and supported by
academ ic arr histori cal st udies. The art market anel academ ia furt her concribured to chis bias we A RE NOT A III INOR/ T Y
1978
against U.S. Mexicans by vi rt ually igno ring developm ents in Mexican and Lat in American fine Cong rcsso de Arti sws C hicanos en Aulan
arts even withi n the context of "Internati onal" Modern Art. (Ma'io T orero with b pilm..., Rocky, EI Lton, Zade)
Esu ada Co urtS Housing P rcjece,
Striving to meer the needs of th e Chicano communi ty throug h t he visual Eas, Los Angeles
articulat ion of its newly constructed political positions, th e painting of virtuall y thousands of :lppl'Ox. 20' x 30'

Chicano murals throughout t he Southwest and Midwesr were inscru rnenral in rhe demysrifica-
cion of popularly held notions of Mexican Americans as poli tically passive anell acking history as
well as cul ture. Much of the work to be done in this arena meant th e supplanting of negati ve
images of U .S. Mexicans by portrayals based on a mo re realistic and complete interpretation of
a broader-based and ethnically diverse Am erican history. Muralists became importa nt educators
as th ey painted Chicano contribut ions to American society not included in school cexebooks.
Through rhicamsmo, they also hig hligh ted th e ancient cultures of Mexico in order to show
histo rical conti nuity and cultural legi t imacy. Throughout, th ese art ists inspired everyone with
their sizable talents.
9. Raymond W illiams. C.I,.",(London: Fon tana Paperbacks, 1981). p. 127. "T'he rerm 'culture' in - ,N, markt ' v::d...,ofCUItIlCe·
mers [0 tile inn imt ioos and pl1lCtiCt5 of music. liu: ...ru re, tn...:l'er. film , and ,he visual arts.
10. So:e. 'T N, Mura l Messag e,-T,_ Magaz' M, 7 April 1975. n.p. An an icle co"~nng lilt QiClno murals in Ease Los Angeles
app...a n.-d in tilt "environ ment" $('Clion whi l... the-an-s«lion feat ured pain te r Franels Bacon and his current work in Nt w Ymk
Cily .
92
Ch icano murals, along with oth er art ist ic and po litical effo rrs of the Movement,
• arrempred [Q rad ically change many of rbe rnisperceprions previously mentioned regardi ng
Chicanos, thei r arc, rheir artists, borh wirhi n and wichcur the community , Chicano murals go
beyond signifyi ng artistic accomplishment , they stand as a resramenr to the capacity of u.s.
Mexicans co organ ize. plan and direct rhem selves toward the process of social change and the
production of arc, includ ing the reconstruct ion of meaning of their exploited and abused et hnic
pre-Chicano period imagery. In particular, th e prolific creat ion of murals represented successful
collective effo rts on th e parr of the comm unity roward nati onal self-defi nit ion through political
and cul tural activism. As they put into effect th e ideals of Chicano liberation through th is
organizing process, arcisrs and members ofth e Mexican American commun it iesserved ro ed ucare
each other, whil e also edu cating non -Chicanes.
93
 T hroug hout the early mural-making period , ind ividual as we ll as collective
efforts at self-definit ion were g iven tentati ve validation by the emerg ing region al Chicano
com m u nities as activ ists and artists co nstantly ret u rn ed to t hem for affirm ation as well as for
insp iration and suppon. The comm unity was the beg inning and the end in terms of the murals '
articulation of the sources and goals of the Chicano M ovement . Perhaps one reeson that murals
were so abundant so q uickly was t he al l-i m po rtanc reciprocating relationship they en joyed w ith
the stro ng early political mo bilizations towards the ful fillment of the Movement 's immediate
goals. O n a person al level , it cannot be de nied t hat the Chicano mural movement prov ided an
attract ive showcase as well as a train ing ground wh ere the art ists could g ain basic and advanced
technical expe rtise (for other art forms as well), while enjoying collective supp orr from the ir
commu nity. Mura l maki ng represented the com m unity 'S public efforts at self-de fi ni t ion in and
throug h an artistic form wh ich d id not requ ire valida tion by the academ ic, museum or g allery
oriented arr worl d . Fu rt hermore, pe rsonal com m itment to contemporary com munity-based
polit ics could be affirmed throu gh the organ izing of barrio residents wh o pa rticipated in the
des ign and execution of the m urals . (O ften murals could go up on ly because the art ist and his/
her crew were paid a nomi na l fee or d onated their labo r.) Ch icano artists who "returned to the
communi ty " sough t to experience the new fo und energ y whi ch was fueled by the po litical
idealism of social chang e. In ad d irion, as Chicano art ists worked with their commu ni ty, rhey
"reclai med" not only the repressed positive imagery of U .S. Mexicans but also the walls of the
barrios whic h had prev io usly served onl y to resrri cr them.'!
T hese early years of the Chicano mural mo vement were particularly exciting due
to the experimentation continually called for by the emerg ing un ique Ch icano mural form .
H owever, the prodigious success of the Chicano mural wou ld not have been possible without the
incl usion and pa rticipation of thousands of Chicano yourh. A stud y on the ma king of early murals
in East Los Angeles, in part icular, has served to d emonstrate the de pend ence on the pre-existing
for ms and practices of Chicano youth cul t ure in assisting to organi ze the painting of murals in
the Chicano barrios, 12 For many yo ung murali sts, the long established practice of barrio
I ~ . Nored in conversation. Joh n 'r-ss is a prof.... ~o r of art theory, criticism , and history at the State University of N ew York,
Bing ham ton, H e has published exren~ i vel y on the develop mem of stare/social srrucru res of e mpowerment.
12.. r.b rco, sanchez-T ran<j uilino, "Ali Cmit No Es 5/1 CaM: Chicano Mu rals and Ba rrio CaJligraphy as Systems ofSigni fi carion
at ~s tra~a ("..oucts· (Ma~ rers ' Tlwsis, University of California, Los Ang d cs, 1990), n.p. J udy Baca. "O"r People arc the Inrernal
EXIles:' Interview by Diane N ewrnaier in C"It,tre.J ill COlllwtioll, ed. Doug las Kahn and Diane Neum aier (Sea rrle : T he Real Comet
~ress , 1985!, p- 05-68. See also, Joan W . Moo re, Hamehayt: Gangs, Dr:lgJ. ({lid PriSOIlS illl~ Barrios of Los Angeles (Phi ladelphi a:
1 emple U nIversity ~re", 1978 ), f:oc furrher descrip~i ons of you th participation See also: Jam es Dieg o Vig il, Burrio Gangs:
S/ rmli[e and ldtntuy 1>1 Sail/hem Califorma (Austin : University of Texas Press, 1988 ).
94
I
callig raphy , a highly devel oped system of artist ic standards by which to properly create and
ap preciate neigh borhood "g raffi ti ," played a crucial role in prepari ng them to reattack the same
walls with mouimiento imag ery .
In fac t , Chicano m urals sprung up wherever there had been a wal l displaying this
"g raffiti." Murals were pai nted there not to necessarily censor the "graffit i," but beca use the wal ls
also represented the im portant locat ions of effect ive p ublic comm unicat ion for a particular
seg ment of youths in the barrios. T his fact alo ne sets Chicano murals uniq uely apart from vague
references to their connections to early 20th cent ury murals d one in Mexico. W hile t he M exican
murals were funded , sanct ioned and p romoted on g overnment bu ild ings (usually painted in the
interiors) by a pose- Lo t 0 Mexican Revolution administration, Ch icano m ura ls appeared virtu ally
overnight on the sides of zopaten as (shoe stores), panaderias (bakeries), camicenas (meat mar kets),
centros (communicy-based a rt centers), other store fronts, fences, and alleys.
W hile Chicano m urals would conti nue to demonstrate the stre ng th of a public
visual articulation ofChicano li beration into the m id-1 980s and beyon d , their in itial creation and
p urpose also p rov id ed suppo rt fo r a larger ar t context in the barrios. That context p layed a very
important role in the realizarion for many Chicanos and Chicanas which was that "they could
indeed create art ." 13 T his is a deceptively simple lesson whose value may better be appreciated
wh en one com pa res it to the long history of artistic an d other suppression of the Chicano
community. For an art ist such as Wi llie H erro n mural mak ing in East Los Angeles had p resenred
him wi th particular cultural poli tical challe nge s whi ch he would continue to ad d ress through
pa int ing and conceptual performance art, as well as throug h music-as the lead er of the cri tically
acclaimed Chicano rock and roll band Los Illeg als.
W illie H erron's m u ral , The Wall that Cracked Open , 1972, sought to infuse a
Ch icano social consciousness into the potenti ally self-destructing youth "gang" me mbers of his
commun ity , as it also sig nall ed his probing of the limi ts of the m ural form. In orde r to reach his
desired audience, H erron painted the mural in his neighborhood , in an alley frequented by the
young people he wan red to reach .
Although H er ron had previously painted a m ura l at the en trance to this same
alley , The\Vall that Cracked Open, painted in the mid dle of the alley, is a poig nant personal protest
agai nst a local youth g ang's brutal beating of his brother , as well as a powerfu l polit ical protest
against the destructi ve effects of alienation suffered by t he ci ty's Chicano comm unity. To
provide a more relevant street culture di mension to the m ural's content , he integrated his d esig n
13, G ronk , interv iew with aut hor, Los Angeles, CA , 1 1 Novem ber, 1984 .
95
I

INSTA NT AIUR AL
1974
ASCO Chicano Peefcrmaoce G rou p
W hittlc! &uJ ~rd , East Los Angd t'5
ASCO members Pami Valdel and H um berto S;andov:a1
were raped (0 the wall by G ronk.

of a gang-victi m ized bleed ing young man, fig hting youth, and crying grandmother with the
"graff ti" already on the walllefr by the young barrio calligrap hers of t he area . By i ncorporati rig
the Ch icano "graffi ti" in ro an "art work, " Herron ini tia red a crit ical techinki ng ofg raffiti as solely
signifying vandalism wh ich in turn has led ro a deeper understanding ofth e relationship between
so-called Chicano g raffi t i and Chicano murals."
Th rough an art ist ically produced illusion of the mural's victimized sub ject as
well as his arrackers breaking through the wall on which they are actually painted , Herron was
able CO demonstrate how space in th e mural form could be manipulated to produce a qu esti oning
of th e fo rm itself. Althoug h Herron would concinue to paint im portant murals by himself and
with others, this particular mural made him keenly aware that Chicano art also had to break away
from th e walls or boundaries creared by Chicanos and non -Chicanes alike .
T HE WA LL THA T CRACKED OPEN
1972
W illie H errOn 14. J eny Romoesk y and Sally R. Romouky, 1AJ ,""v'n &m~ Call'KMPb, (Los Angeles: o...WSO:l'S Book Sbop, 19 76 >. presen ts
an analysis of lilt social and lll'$(ht.-tic crileria which separates Ihis panirular form of p ubl ic comm unicanon from common
4 12) CilY Tem. rear; Easl Los Angeles
25' x 16' vaodaliaing -rype g raffiti. See also. Marcos Sanchez-T ranq uilino, n.p.
97
 By lace 1972, Willie Herron, Harry Gamboajr., Parssi Valdez, and Gronk , as the
pioneer Chicano conceptual art performance collect ive in th e United Scates, were the first to
recog nize the pe rformarive aspect of m ural making as an art form in irself Some of their earlies t
conceptual art performances continued H erron 's earlier resting of t he bounda ries of th e mural
fo rm by using it as the basis fo r at least two importa nt performances. Towards the end of 197 2,
the \'(Itdking Mural went beyon d the breaking through of walls found in W illie's earl ier mural
by havi ng the ASCO mem bers become living eleme nts of murals seeking to free themselves from
thei r form al and cu ltural resrricrionsas they walked down Whinier Boulevard , the bustling ma in
commercial artery of East Los Angeles, the heart of the Ch icano com munity. T wo years later, in
the same area, G ronk fastened Herb Sandoval and Parssi Valdez ro an exterior wall with co mmon
masking tape two inches wide, thereby creating the Instant Alllral, bringi ng into quest ion what
const ituted a mural. jusr as important, ir also quesrioned our own complici ry in the pe rpetuat ion
of boundaries which confi ne us by exposing thei r frailty (masking tape).
ln both of these examples ASCO questioned the assumed continuing vitality of
some painted murals. By excha ng ing livi ng forms for pai nted ones in vital areas of social
interchange, the Instant Mural art iculated a concern with the parti cular effects of co nt inually
reviving pre-Columbian and other imagery whi ch could unfortunately become cliche-ridden and
prevent the explorat ion of new concep tual and iconog raphic ter ritori es. T hroug h innovative
presentat ions, ASCO joined other comm unity art ists in poi nt ing out the threat of weakening the
Chica no co mm unity's capac ity fo r cul tu ral self-c riticism by the unquest ioned contin ued use of
the romant ic elements of Ch icano nationalist st rategies. ASCO's work contributed to a
reassessment of the use of pre-Columbian symbols and other icons from Mexican (not Ch icano)
history in terms of whether they affected the immediate needs of the Chicano community in a
. . .
posmve o r negat ive manner.
At the present time, Chicanos th roughout the U nited States continue ro make
murals. Although the type of Chicano mural which was created by g rass roots organizing is no
longe r produced , murals by Chicanos art icu lating a social awareness of that commun ity brought
on by the Movement are sti ll being made. In 1984 , T he O lympics Organi zing Committee
commissioned several murals for the freeways of Los Angeles of which three were done by
Chicanos (Hi/til1g the Wall by J ud y Baca, Lscbas dtl Mundo by W illie Herron, and Going to tbe
Olympia by Frank Rome ro). T hat same year t he East Los Sc reerscapers created the New Fire mu ral GOING TO THE OL Y/\ l PKS
which connected the 1984 O lympics with a pre-Columb ian rit ual on a three-story build ing in 1984
the heart of the ci ty. In 198 9 , Yreina Cervantez created La Gfrenda, a ci ty-funded mural Frank Romero
10 \ Freeway, Los Angeles
ad m inistered throug h t he Social and Publ ic Art Resource Center (SPA RC) which co nnected the 22' ~ 10}'
98
 plight of Central Americans with those of Chicanos by honoring D olores H uerta, co-founder of
t he Uni ted Farm workers Uni on .
Indeed , Chicano art ists have changed the focus of their attention over t he years
accordi ng to the social debates wh ich currenrly affened their commun ity . T be conrenr ofpresenr-
day Chicano murals is nevertheless informed by a cu ltural and polit ical conscious ness developed
in the earlier days of the Movement . This is also true for the co ncenr of much of Chicano art
produced in t he st ud io . C hicano art is currenrl y entering its "appreciation" period as it gai ns
increased accep tance in the larger ar t market. It is highly valued for t he art market as a new source
of color, fo rm , imagery and te xt. H owever, the understanding of it can only be ach ieved throug h
analysis of itS hisrorical roots and developmen r. Pa radoxically, its certifi ed roors (throug h social
art histories) in social resista nce w ill inc rease its value in the ma rket place. Chicanos, bo th artists
and non-art is ts, in add it ion to everyone else in this country, are having to reform ulate the contexts
of their identities as the dem ands of living in an increasingly publicly acknowled ged mul ti -
cultural society beg ins to seriously im pinge upon hard-earned recent social positionings.
In the wake of the cur rent dism antling of narion-srares into new global config u-
rat ion s insp ired by the mu lti-national corporate model, this country's nation -ness, like that of
the test of the "First World" (whethe r they conside r t hemselves core or periphery nat ion s), is
being called into q uestion. " Americanization of ethnic minoriti es in the U.S. is still with us,
The term "H ispanic" is currently the preferred catch-all assig nati o n by the Ad-
ministration , the media and comme rcial product advertisers for Chicanos, Puerto Ricans,
Cubans, and o ther Latinos. As such, there promises to be a cont inuous flurry of new ste reotypical
imagery from these sectors which attempt to reptesent this he terogeneous co mmu nity as a
cultural unity. In every case, claims ofan assimilated U .S. H ispanic unity will be incorrect. For
Chicanos and other Lat inos it supposed ly sig nifies that they are no lo nger to be considered
•
"outside" of the American ma instteam . However, by consolidat ing these diverse group identities
withou t regard to part icular contributions by or needs of each g roup, the term itselfbecomes on e
of assig nment into a sub-national category.
Assimilation through the H ispanic model is a legacy of Ame rican ization efforts
inherited from the N ixon adminisrrarion which sought to rep lace Johnson's W ar on Poverty
prog rams with the Office of M inorit y Enterprise in an effort to "encourage Black and brown
capital ism ." \6 It represents a process of Americanizat ion by defau lt for the convenience of the
adm inisrrative and business secrors which tend to trad ic ional ly support conservative political and
cultural agendas. Fot Chicanos the term is especially insensiti ve. For it robs them of the
opportun ity to ack nowledge their ind igenous Mexican heri tage while it privileges the colonialist
European culture of Spai n,
T he q uestion m ust remain open whether these seccors, in add ition to all of this
country's citizens who consider themselves Ame rican, can appreciat e the legacy of t he Chicano
Movement in thi s context: that (he Chicano experience represents a mod el for all Americans to
acknowled ge their current idencic y as an ourcome of ewe (or more) living histori es coming
together; char there is a mult iplicity of ways to be American; that the word "Chicano" is an
Am erican word (not only an English, or on ly a Spanish word) because it sig nifi es the un iq ue
ama lgamat ion of the old and new identities w irhout the denial of one in favor of the other . That
is Ch icano ; tha r is Am erican.
Los Angeles
O ctober 1989

15., SHIMt H aJJ , "O ld and .New ldcn ricics," record ed leerure delivered 13 and 14 Ma rch 198 9 at the Un ivers ity Ce nter, State
Um vetsltyo .f N ew York, ~mgh,amto n . See also,J ud ilh McW ill ic, -ne Migl1l cions of Mean ing ,'· Yiuom. 1-9$ tI.>ige/u(FalJ 198 9):
p. 4 -5 : ( mng J am es Cl Ifford s o bservatio n on the p resent sta te of increased global ization, "where syncret ism and parod ic
lIl ven t lon an- r..,com ing the rul e, not the except ion, an urban mu lt i-national world of insriru rional uan sience - where American
~ I o thes mad e in Korea a r~ worn by young people in Russi a, whl're ,,"eryonl" s 'roots" are in some degree cut _ in such a wo rld
,t becomes inc reasinglv d ifficulc to attach hu man ide ntity and meanin g ro a cche renr 'cu lru re' o r 'lang uage' ,. McW i1 1ie concludes
~hat ",ma.' s comm un icat ions ~nd t ravel. the et hnit heteroge neity of nat ions and the accelemrion of our planer have mad e t he 16. Rod olfo F. Acuna, A CO/mlllmily Under Siege." A Cbronidc of Cbicanes EnS! of I~ I-os Angeles RiVl'r 1945 -1975 (Los A ngel e.~:
tsolatlo nlst p rogram s of p revious generations obsclcr e." Chicano Studies Research Cors e r Publicat ions, Un ive rsity of Cal iforn ia, Los Angeles. I98 4), p. \ 80.
10 1
100
,
 • CONTRIBUTORS • LIST OF P LATES

• Holly Barnet-Sanchez is an an historian, one of rwo project coord inators for the UCLA W ight
Cover. J uana Alicia, Las Lech"glleras, 1983, photo: TIm Drescher.
Gallery 's interpret ive exhibition of the Chicano arr movement: "Chicano An: Resistance and
Affi rmation, 1965-85," was an archi vi st for SPARes California Ch icano Mural Slide Archive, 1. Carlos Almaraz with young people from the 3rd S(. gang, No compre oinc Gallo, 1974,
and has lectured and wri tten on Pre-Colum bian and Ch icano art. p hoto: Shifra M. Goldman , p. 4
2. East Los Srreerscapers, "La Fam ilia" from Cbicano Time Trip, 1977 ,
• Eva Spe rli ng Cockcrofc is a mura list, photog rapher and writer. An author of Towarda PtQpleJ photo: W ayne H ealy, p. 8
A rt: The Contemporary Mllral Afovtmenl, (N. Y.: E.P. Dutton , 1977 ), she has also wrircen
extensively for books and national magazines on mura l art, arr and society, Lati n American and 3. J ose Montoya and the Royal Ch icano Air Force, Chicano Park Freeu1ay pylon, 197 5.
Chicano art. photo: Centro Cul tural de la Raza, p. 11
4. Cornmonarrs, Song oj Unify, 1978, photo: Tim D rescher, p. 13
• Shifra M. Goldman is an art historian. She teaches at Rancho Sant iago College in Santa Ana,
5. Jud ith F. Baca, Hitting the Wall, 1984 , photo: G ia Roland , p. 15
California, is a Research Associate with the Lat in American Center, Va A, th e author of Con-
temporary Mexican Painting in a Tillie ojCha'lge, and co-comp iler of Arte Chicano. A Comprehensive 6. Yreina Cervantez, La Ojjrenda, phoro: J im P rigoff, p. 19
Annotaled Bihliography, 1965-/ 981 , with Tomas Ybarra-Frausto. 7. Mike Rfos, Inspire ( 0 Aspire, 198 7, photo: Tim Drescher, p. 20
8. Anton io Bernal, T he Del Rey Mural, 1968, photo: Robert Sommer , p. 22
• Amalia Mesa-Bai ns is a Ph D in psycholog y, educat ional consultant to the San Francisco
Unifi ed School D ist rict, an artist, and the author of several articles deali ng with contemporary 9. Manuel Cruz, Untitled (Homeboy), 1974 , photo : Al Flores, p. 3 1
Ch icano cultural rep resentation. She currently is servi ng as Comm issioner of Art for the City of 10 . Barbara Carrasco, The History oj LA ., A Mexican Perspeaioe, 198 1-3,
San Francisco.
photo cour tesy Barbara Carrasco, p . 32

• Marcos Sanchez T ranquilino is an art histori an, one of two project coordinators for "Chica no
Art: Resisrance and Affirm ation, 196 5-85,"and was an archivist for SPARe s Cal ifornia Ch icano
Mural Slide Archi ve. He has written , lectured , and published on the subject of Chicano an ,
includ ing the relat ionships berween Chicano mu rals and Chicano graffi t i of the early 1970s.
11. Daniel Ga lvez with O sha N eu man, Brian Th iele and S. Barrett , Viva fa Reza, 1977 ,
phoro: Linda Ebcr, p. 33
12. M ike Rios, Frida. Billboard, 1978, phoro: T im Drescher , p. 37
13. Las Mujeres Muralisras, Para el Mercado, 19 74 , photo: Eva Cockcrofc, p - 39

• Tomas Ybarra-Frausto teaches Lat in American literature, literary theory and Chicano
literature at Stanford University. H e has wr it ten extensively on Chicano cultural product ion , a
a recent publ icat ion being A rteChicano, A COlllprehens;,:eA nno/ated Bibliography, 1965- 198 1, co-
authored with Shifra M. Goldman. Currently, he is the Associate Di rector of Arts and
Humanities for th e Rockefeller Foundation.
14 . Tortuga Patrol , Ball/Jiayers (TIt1chit), 1978 , phoro: Ti m Drescher, p. 42
1S. W illie Herr6n and Gronk , Black and \'(Ihite Moratorium Mllral, 1973,
phoco: SPARC archive, p. 45
16 . J ohn Valadez, The Broadway Mural, 198 1, phoco: Eva Cockcrofr, p. 48

103
102
 17. Em igdio Vasq uez, Nuestra Experiencia in el Siglo X X, 1980, photo: Shifra Goldman , p . 50 • SUGGEST IO N S FOR FURTHER READING
18 . Viccor Ochoa, Geronimo, 198 1, photo: Centro Cultural de la Raza, p. 5 1 . no Studies
A ZTLA N: Chicanojonrnal of tht Social Sciences and the Arts. Los Ang eles: Chic'
19. Andy Zermeno, H lle/ga, 1965 -70, photo: Marcos Sanchez-Tranquili no, p. 54 Research Center, U n iversi ty of Cal ifomia, Los A ngeles. 1970-to the p resent.
20. Cordova, Puerto A legre Bm", 19805, photo: Marcos Sanchez-Tranquilino, p . 57 . ."er,i ty Presses,
Barnett, Alan W ., Community Murals. Cran b u ry, N ew J ersey: Associaced Un i
21. Anonymous, Sacred Hearl o/Jes"s, 20th Centu ry; Mexican, photo: Blair Partridge, p. 58 Inc., 19 84.
22 . J uan Ordufiez, Where Heroes art Born, 1983, photo: Marcos Sdncbez-T ranquili no, p. 60 , , h COl1 fempOI"dIJ'
Cockcrofr, Eva , J ohn W eber, and James Cockcroft. Toward a People s Ar/: T e
23 . Ralph Maradiaga, Dolor, 1979 , photo: Marcos Sanchez-T ranquilino, p. 63 Mural M(Well/ent. N ew York: E. P. Dutton & Co., 19 77 .
24 . Malaqufas Montoya, A bajo con la A{igYa, 1979. photo: Blair Partridge, p . 66 . . . , p ie from
Commsmty Mlirais i\lagazine, 197 8-1 98 8 . ComPlmllty Murals Magazme IS availo
25 . ] udith F. Baca, "ZOOt Su it Riots" from the G reat \Vall 0/ UJ; Angeles, 198 1,
CMM , 1019 Shattuck Aven ue, Berkeley, CA 94707.
phoco: Lind a Eber, p- 68
. . A l/1Iototed
26. Pat ricia Rod rig uez, Graciela Carillo, and Irene Perez , Famasy \floridf or Children, 197 5, Goldman , Shifra M ., and Tom as Ybarra-Frausto. Am Chicano: A. ComprehenslI/l . atiOnS
.
. ' IbllC
ph oro: Tim Drescher , p. 7 1 Bibliography ofChicano Art, 1965 ~ 1981. Ber keley: Ch ican o Stud ies Library Pv
27 . Las Mu jeres M uralisras, Latinoamenca, 1974, p hoto: Eva Cockcrofr, p. 7 3 U n it, Un iversity of Californ ia, Berkeley, 1985 .

28 . Jud irh F. Baca, Uprising ofthe Mlij ereJ, 19 79 , photo: Linda Eber, p. 77
. • . ' . {states. N ew
McW illiam s, Carey. N orth From A1exICO: [ he Spanish-Speaking People of fht Unlltl
29. J ud ith F. Baca, " D ivision of the Bar rios and Chavez Ravine" from the Grea/ \rIall of Los York : G reenwood P ress, 19 68 .
Angeles, 198 3, photo : G ia Roland , p. 80 1989.
M unoz, Carlos , J r. Youth, ldentity. Power, Tbe Chicano lHOlfemmt . London : VerSo,
30. j udith F. Baca, "Pickers" from GlIadalllpe Mural, 1990, p hoto: Gia Roland , p. 83
. .. 19 7 3,
3 1. Frank Fierro, Orate Rozo , 1974 , photo: SPA RC archive, p. 84 Q ui rarte,]acinto. Mexican A merican Artists. Austin : Univers ity o f Texas Press -

3 2. David R ivas Bote llo , Read Ben oeen the Linn , 1975 , photo: D avid Bo tello , p. 8 9 . . . ' . UP A ngeles,
R fos-B usramanre, An tonio and Pedro Castillo. A n ltlnstrated History of MexICa" h # 12
33. Ccngresso d e Ar cisras Ch icanos en Aztlan , We are not a Minority, 1978 , 178 1- 198 5 . Los Angeles: Ch icano Stud ies Res earch Ce nter Publi cations Mon Og fol P ,
ph oto: T im Drescher , p . 93 U n iversi ty of Ca liforn ia, Los An geles, 1986.
34 . Willie H erron, The \'(Iall that Cracked Open , 197 2, p hoto: Will ie H erron, p. 96 " ca n Press,
Rog ovi n, Mark, Marie Burton and H olly H ig hfi ll. Mural A1anual. Boston : Be'
35. ASCO ,/ns/am A1ural , 19 74 , ph oto: H arry Ga m boa , p. 97 1975.
36. Prank Romero, GOiflg to the Olympics, 1984 , ph oto: Doug las M . Parker , p. 99 ·ltI,pfm·e.
Valdez, Luis and Stan Steine r, eds. Aztldn: An A ntboiogy of ,Hexican AlJi/11"ican LI
N ew Yo rk: Vin tag e Books, 19 72. 10 5
104
Over the put twenty,..., ChicanoArlists have made a unique
contribution to public an in california "ansfcH mill9lhousands
ofwalls into colorful artworks that uprcss the dreams, achieve -
ments, aspirations and culturalldcnlityof the Mulcan-Amcrican
community. Sign. From th. Hean tells the inside story of the
development of this n_ a nd important American art form in
four Interpretive essays by noted Chicano scholars about Its
historical, artistic, and educational significance.

Social and Public Art Resource Center

'.C:i.:"...'.,.......leln....... .... '

.UIl ...I.... k it • "'''a .,
P.".tedIn Sin&..-e $14.95