L.A. Xicano Oral Histories

In   this set of interviews, artists talk about childhood, education, and career and inspirations for their art. Their recollections offer insight into not only the work of the individual artists but also how these artists were interconnected and were affected by cultural and political developments, particularly the Chicano Movement.

 

Judy Baca (currently being updated)

Topics: art education; Catholic education; CETA; Chicano Art: Resistance and Affirmation; childhood in Los Angeles; Citywide Mural Project; college education; community collaborations; developing and executing murals; East Los Streetscapers; East Side Murals; family background; federal funding; feminism; Goez Art Studios and Gallery; Great Wall of Los Angeles; international collaborations; LA Fine Arts Squad; Mechicano Art Center; Neighborhood Pride Project; politics and art; Project HEAVY; projects for city of Los Angeles; projects in Latin America; SPARC; Taller Siqueiros; teaching and residencies; Las Vistas Nuevas; Woman's Building; work with gang members; World Wall; World War II

 

Charles “Chaz” Bojórquez (PDF)

Topics: Cheech Marin; childhood in Los Angeles; college education; Chicanarte; Chicano Art: Resistance and Affirmation; cholo culture; commercial market for Chicano art; family background; Goez Art Studios and Gallery; graffiti art; Graffiti Arts Coalition; Mechicano Art Center; Patricia Correia Gallery; print-making techniques; Self Help Graphics & Art; tagging techniques; travel in Mexico, Central America, Polynesia, East Asia, Europe; work as graphic artist; Zero One Gallery

 

David Botello (PDF)

Topics: family background; childhood in Los Angeles; college education; high school education; work as graphic artist

 

Barbara Carrasco (PDF)

Topics: artist-in-residence at Children’s Hospital; Caminos; Catholic education; Centro de Arte Público/Public Art Center; César Chávez; Chicano Codices; childhood in Los Angeles; Chismearte; Citywide Mural Project; college education; Community Redevelopment Agency projects; Day of the Dead; developing and executing murals; family background; LA galleries; La Gente; Latino Writers Workshop; MEChA; Mechicano Art Center; Nosotros; printmaking techniques; Self Help Graphics & Art; Streetscapers; Woman’s Building

 

Leonard Castellanos (PDF)

Topics: artistic training; Cal State LA art department; Chouinard Art Institute; college education; Goez Art Studios and Gallery; print making; The East Los Angeles Community Union

 

Roberto “Tito” Delgado (PDF)

Topics: family background; Chicano Art: Resistance and Affirmation; childhood in Los Angeles; college education; Fulbright fellowships; Mexican politics and culture; military service; mural execution; politics and public art; printmaking techniques; public art projects in Mexico, Central America, and the United States; Self Help Graphics & Art

 

Richard Duardo (PDF)

Topics: Asco; Brockman Gal­lery; Centro de Arte Público/Public Art Center; CETA; Cheech Marin; Chicanarte; Chicano Visions; childhood in East Los Angeles; Chismearte; college education; East LA walkouts; Educational Opportunity Program; family background; Gemini GEL; Hecho en Aztlán Multiples; LA city politics; LACMA prints department; LA punk scene; Los Angeles collectors; Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions; Multiples Fine Arts; Los Four; Om Laboratories; Pasadena Art Center; printmaking techniques; Royal Chicano Air Force; Self Help Graphics & Art; Shifra Goldman; SPARC; Teatro Campesino; travel in Hawaii; Truckload of Art; Western Exterminators; UCLA art department

 

Margaret Garcia (PDF)

Topics: Art Center (Pasadena); artistic process; Art of the Other Mexico; childhood in Boyle Heights; Central American Resource Center; Chicano Art: Resistance and Affirmation; Chicana/o identity; Chicano Visions: American Painters on the Verge; Citywide Mural Project; college education; commercial market for Chicano art; Con Safos; CSUN art department; Day of the Dead; documentation of work; drawing technique; family background; grants; high school education; Los Angelenos/Chicano Painters of LA; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Los Angeles galleries; Los Angeles Photography Center; Los Four; Metro station commission; developing and executing murals; painting technique; Pintores de Aztlán; printmaking technique; Self Help Graphics & Art; teaching at-risk youth; teaching in prisons; travel in Mexico; USC art department; work as restorer

 

Johnny Gonzalez (PDF)

Topics: Association of Mexican American Educators; Catholic school education; Chicano Moratorium; childhood in East Los Angeles; Community Service Organization; East LA media; East LA Mural Day; Eastside music scene; family background; film projects; Goez Art Studios and Gallery; Goez Imports and Fine Arts; LA riots; Mesoamerican culture; Mexican muralists; mural projects; Nosotros; Plaza de la Raza; promotion of East LA tourism; Streetscapers; travel in Mexico and Europe; The East Los Angeles Community Union; The East Los Angeles School of Mexican American Fine Arts; United Neighborhoods Organization; work as graphic artist

 

Judithe Hernández (PDF)

Topics: Asco; childhood in Los Angeles; Citywide Mural Project; college education; Concilio de Arte Popular; family background; Goez Art Studios and Gallery; high school education; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Los Four; Los Four/Murals of Aztlán; Mechicano Art Center; mural development and execution; Otis Art Institute; Royal Chicano Air Force; Self Help Graphics & Art; SPARC; Streetscapers

 

Leo Limón (PDF)

Topics: Centro de Arte Público/Public Art Center; Chicano Art: Resistance and Affirmation; Chicanarte; childhood in East Los Angeles; college education; Cultural Arts Foundation; Day of the Dead; family background; Los Four; Gemini GEL; Mechicano Art Center; military service; printmaking techniques; search for Chicano culture; Self Help Graphics & Art; teaching in college; travel in Europe

 

Gilbert “Magu” Luján (PDF)

Topics: Centro de Arte Público/Public Art Center; César Chávez; Cheech Marin; childhood in East Los Angeles; college education; Concilio de Fresno; Confederation of Low-riders; Day of the Dead; defining, developing Chicano art; East LA culture in 1950s and 1960s; family background; Los Four; lowrider culture; Mental Menudos; military service; teaching college classes

 

Monica Palacios (PDF)

Topics: Culture Clash; education in Catholic school; growing up in San Jose; Latino Theatre Initiative; screenwriting projects; stand-up comedy; teaching in public school and college; work in theater; VIVA

 

John Valadez (PDF)

Topics: Art of the Other Mexico; Centro de Arte Público; Centro de la Raza; Chicano Liberation Front; Chicano Visions; Citywide Mural Project; Community Redevelopment Agency; commercial market for Chicano art; CSLB art department; ELAC theater, Chicano studies departments; Chismearte; family background; growing up in East LA; high school education; Hispanic Art in the United States; LA collectors; LA galleries; Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions; Los Four; MEChA; Mechicano Art Center; mural development and execution; Nosotros; Pintores de Aztlán; Self Help Graphics & Art; Streetscapers; teaching in college; teatro, Teatro Campesino; travel in Europe; Victor Clothing Company murals; work as graphic artist; work for UFW; work in Mexico

 

Linda Vallejo (PDF)

Topics: Calmécac; Catholic school education; Chicano, Mexican, and Native American cultures; Chicano Art: Resistance and Affirmation; childhood in Germany and the United States; college education; commercial market for Chicano art; Day of the Dead; Dimensions of Realism; family background; Fiesta de Colores; Flores de Aztlán; Galería Otra Vez; grant writing; indigena movement; influence of European and American painters; Galería Las Américas; Goez Art Studios and Gallery; Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions; Mechicano Art Center; Royal Chicano Air Force; Self Help Graphics & Art; SPARC; Streetscapers; travel in the United States, Europe, and Mexico; teaching college classes; Teatro Campesino; Woman’s Building; working processes