UCSC News
As part of the Santa Cruz Countywide series of Spoken/Unspoken exhbitions, The Mary Porter Sesnon Art Gallery at UCSC presents:
Spoken/Unspoken: Forms of Resistance
Opening Reception: Thursday, February 8, 4:30–6:30 p.m.
with remarks by visiting speakers at 6pm
curated by Shelby Graham and UCSC students
sponsored by the History of Art and Visual Culture department, the Chicano Latino Research Center and the Institute of Arts and Sciences at UCSC.
Please join us for the Sesnon Gallery Reception Feb. 8,
4:30 - 6:30pm with remarks by visiting speakers at 6pm
visiting speakers are Betty Avila and Alexa Kim from Self Help Graphics in Los Angeles.
Reception will feature light refreshments, music, student led tours and remarks about building community through the Arts.
Next Day Public Lecture: Art Transforms Communities on Friday, Feb. 9, 5:30 -7:00 p.m.
at the Museum of Art & History, 705 Front Street, downtown Santa Cruz, with printmaking activities available 5-8pm.
SANTA CRUZ, CA – (January 11, 2018) As part of Santa Cruz’s countywide SPOKEN/UNSPOKEN exhibition series, the Sesnon Art Gallery at the University of California, Santa Cruz highlights a collection of artists and activists engaged with forms of resistance. The term “resistance” can represent various profiles from opposition to struggle; it can also portray resilience, strength, courage, and standing up for basic rights. Many artists examine the strength behind resistance and challenge the status quo from politics to art making.
Selected artworks cover a range of outspoken topics of social justice from land rights to human rights, and in a variety of unspoken print media and conceptual practices. Many of the works in the exhibition are from Self Help Graphics, a print studio and gallery founded in 1970 in the heart of East Los Angeles, dedicated to the production, interpretation, and distribution of prints and other art media by Chicano/a and Latino/a artists.
With over 20 artists, this exhibition features work by: Ruth-Marion Baruch, Irene Carvajal, Jo Hanson, Laura Kina, Hung Liu, Yolanda Lopez, Irene Lusztig , and Yoko Ono, along with artifacts about Angela Davis and posters from the Guerrilla Girls. Self Help Graphics artists are: Laura E. Alvarez, Maria Elena Castro, Yreina Cervantez, Dolores Guerrero-Cruz, Raquel Gutierrez, Jean LaMarr, Alma Lopez, Laura Molina, Rebekah Miles, Delilah Montoya, Kimberly Robertson, Favianna Rodriguez, Marianne Sadowski, and Consuelo J. Underwood
This exhibition cannot capture all types of activism or resistance. Instead, this grouping offers a diversity of topics and artistic approaches focused on particular moments and themes—from questions of immigration and representation to the fight for equality—that remain relevant today. At the core of the exhibition is the concept that artists play a critical role in transforming our time and shaping the future.
The Sesnon Gallery encourages student and faculty research and will incorporate print media for messaging, free silk screening workshops, and inclusion of audio and video documenting forms of spoken resistance that continue from generation to generation.
Forms of Resistance is sponsored by the UCSC Arts Division, History of Art and Visual Culture department, Chicano Latino Research Center, the Institute of the Arts and Sciences at UCSC and ARRT, a local Santa Cruz Art Collective.
In conjunction with the Sesnon Gallery exhibition, The Museum of Art & History (MAH) will host a public lecture: Art Transforms Communities on Friday, Feb. 9, 5:30 -7:00 p.m. with guest speakers Betty Avila and Alexa Kim from Self Help Graphics in Los Angeles.
About the Speakers
Betty Avila’s work has centered on the intersection of the arts and social justice, with particular focus on community building, public space, and youth empowerment. Alexa Kim is Program Assistant and Community Outreach Coordinator at Self Help Graphics and Art. Ms. Kim develops and coordinates the volunteer program which makes possible cultural programs such as Dia de los Muertos and the Annual Print Fair & Exhibition.
Self Help Graphics is known for its multidisciplinary programs that promote artistic excellence and empower community by providing access to space, tools, training, and capital. See: https://www.selfhelpgraphics.com/ for more information.
Concurrently showing in the Porter Faculty Gallery is Spoken/Unspoken: ART AS RESPONSE/ARTIST AS CATALYST, an exhibition of local artists juried by: Andrea Borsuk and Angela Gleason. This exhibition examines art as a barometer of the current political landscape highlighting practices from the art studios of Santa Cruz County artists. Artists Respond and Resist Together (ARRT) is a Santa Cruz collective. This is the second juried exhibition of political artwork sponsored by ARRT. The mission of ARRT states, “We are an affiliation of artists joined together by our shared belief in the power of art to affect social change and protect democratic values. Our creative skills support progressive social actions in our local community and beyond.”
The Mary Porter Sesnon Art Gallery encourages interdisciplinary discourse through the lens of the arts. The gallery hours are Tuesday-Saturday 12-5 p.m. and Wednesday 12-8 p.m. The gallery is located at Porter College in the Arts Division on the campus of UC Santa Cruz, and is wheelchair accessible. Admission is always free and group tours are available by appointment: 831.459.3606.
PARKING
Short-term parking is available in metered areas at Porter College. At receptions there will be parking attendants selling event passes. During regular hours, you may purchase "A" parking permits at the main entrance campus kiosk during the day and at the Porter College lot between 4:30-8:30 p.m.
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Facebook: facebook.com/SesnonArtGallery
Twitter: @sesnongallery
Instagram: www.instagram.com/sesnonartgallery
Description of Speakers:
“Art Transforms Communities” -- Founded in 1970 in the heart of East Los Angeles, Self Help Graphics is dedicated to the production, interpretation, and distribution of prints and other art media by Chicano/a and Latino/a artists. It’s multi-disciplinary programs promote artistic excellence and empower community by providing access to space, tools, training, and capital. See: https://www.selfhelpgraphics.com/
Betty Avila’s work has centered on the intersection of the arts and social justice, with particular focus on community building, public space, and youth empowerment. She has served as a research assistant and outreach specialist at the Getty Research Institute, as assistant program manager at The Music Center, and as community relations manager at the Levitt Pavilion MacArthur Park. Ms. Avila is also a founding board member and past president of Multicultural Communities for Mobility, an organization that supports low-income cyclists, pedestrians and public transit users of color through advocacy and education. In 2015, Ms. Avila joined the Self Help Graphics and Art leadership team in 2015, where she serves as associate director. This organization has a 44-year nationally-recognized artistic legacy of empowering the Chicano and Latino communities of Los Angeles through the arts. Ms. Avila was named one of C-Suite Quarterly Magazine’s 2016 NextGen 10 in Philanthropy, Arts and Culture and an Impact-Maker to Watch by City Impact Labs in 2017. She received her B.A. in Literature at Pitzer College, has an M.A. in Arts Management from Claremont Graduate University, and is a 2008 Fulbright Fellow to Korea.
Alexa Kim is Program Assistant and Community Outreach Coordinator at Self Help Graphics and Art. Ms. Kim develops and coordinates the volunteer program which makes possible cultural programs such as Dia de los Muertos and the Annual Print Fair & Exhibition. Ms. Kim holds degrees in Art History and Sociology from Kalamazoo College and has held curatorial internships at Muckenthaler Cultural Center and the Japanese American National Museum. She was appraisal intern at the Yochim Arts consultation firm in Venice, California and worked in public relations at Barthelmes Display and Decoration in Germany. In addition to these positions, Ms. Kim has also organized community outreach workshops in Kalamazoo, Michigan such as “Partners in Art – Ministry with Community” in 2011 and “Partners in Art – Paint the Plate: Storytelling for Social Justice” in 2013.Spoken/Unspoken: Forms of Resistance
Related exhibition in the Porter College Faculty Gallery by community Artists from ARRT
Details to come...