CSRC Newsletter - January 2012
Volume 10, Number 5
Director's Message
Happy New Year! While 2011 will be remembered for its many challenges, it remained a productive period for us at the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center! Highlights include:
- Five simultaneous Pacific Standard Time art exhibitions across Los Angeles, which have been covered in nearly 60 articles in local, national, and international media and a 30-minute documentary produced in Spain.
- A groundbreaking report on hate speech in the media, with two more reports in the pipeline.
- International awards for two books in our A Ver series and the release of four other books.
- New archival collections related to Congressman Esteban Torres, the Patricia Correia Gallery, photographer Richard Valverde, the Mexican American Bar Association of Los Angeles, and the death of journalist Ruben Salazar, among many others.
- The renovation and redesign of the CSRC Library, expanding its capacity and enhancing its functionality.
Thanks to everyone who made these and other efforts possible: staff, faculty, students, community partners, and all our many supporters. We look forward to working with you in 2012! This year the CSRC will experience an exciting evolution as the umbrella organization for the ethnic studies research centers—the UCLA Institute of American Cultures—acquires new status as a campus-wide priority with its own vice provost. In addition to our ongoing research and public programs, the CSRC will contribute to collaborative and multiethnic efforts to advance understanding of the new social and cultural realities in the emerging America.
Chon A. Noriega
Director and Professor
News
Civic Virtue exhibitions debuted
L.A. Xicano co-curator Pilar Tompkins Rivas oversaw the opening in December of her last Pacific Standard Time exhibition, Civic Virtue: The Impact of the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery and the Watts Towers Arts Center. Civic Virtue, which is split between the locations, explores the intertwined histories of two of Los Angeles’s oldest and most diverse centers of artistic activity, both operated by the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs. The exhibition runs through February 12.
CSRC director to speak at archive launch
On January 20 Chon A. Noriega, CSRC director, will present a paper titled “‘The Museum of the Future’: Raphael Montañez Ortiz, Destructivism, and Institution Building” as part of “Mining the Archive: New Paths for Latin American/Latino Art Research,” an international symposium at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. The symposium is part of a two-day launch of a digital archive of documents related to twentieth-century Latin American and Latino art. CSRC was involved in the development of the archive, which was created by the museum and its research institution, the International Center for the Arts of the Americas (ICAA).
CSRC staff member led sister city delegation
In November Carlos Haro, CSRC assistant director emeritus, led a delegation from Montebello, California, to Ashiya, Japan, in honor of the fiftieth anniversary of the sister city agreement between the two cities. More than two hundred students, most in high school, have lived abroad through the sister city program. Haro is president of the Montebello-Ashiya Sister City Association.
CSRC librarian admitted to Law Fellows Program
Congratulations to Lizette Guerra, CSRC Librarian, who has been admitted to the UCLA School of Law’s Law Fellows Program! For the first half of 2012 Guerra will be attending Saturday sessions that are designed to prepare participants for admission to and success in law school.
New videos posted to CSRC YouTube
In December CSRC posted nine new videos from “L.A. Xicano: A Symposium on Art and Place Over Time,” held November 6, to the CSRC’s YouTube channel. The videos feature talks by Tomas Ybarra Frausto, art historian and scholar; Sandra de la Loza, artist and scholar; Rita Gonzalez, LACMA curator; Colin Gunckel, University of Michigan professor; Rubén Ortiz-Torres, filmmaker and curator; Karen Mary Davalos, Loyola Marymount University professor; George Lipsitz, UCSB professor; and Reina Prado, USC doctoral candidate. Included is a panel discussion moderated by Chon A. Noriega, CSRC director, and a performance by artist Arturo Romo and poet Sesshu Foster. Also featured is an expanded edit of Harry Gamboa Jr.’s interview with noted photographer Oscar Castillo.
CSRC in the news
"Spotlight on Professor Maylei Blackwell"
Article about Blackwell's research; she is on the CSRC's Faculty Advisory Committee.
La Bloga, December 26, 2011 (PDF)
"A Year-End List for Los Angeles Murals"
Mentions Mapping Another L.A. and Mural Remix.
Departures, December 22, 2011 (PDF)
“Tere Romo and a Seven-Year Quest for Art Along the Hyphen”
Article discusses the exhibition and its development.
Trading Posts, December 22, 2011 (PDF)
“3 Jolting Pacific Standard Time Installations at LACMA”
Review of Mural Remix: Sandra de la Loza.
LAist, December 20, 2011 (PDF)
"Pacific Standard Time Week 12"
Includes a review of Art Along the Hyphen, illustrated with a work by Roberto Chavez.
Bangstyle, December 19, 2011 (PDF)
“Best of 2011 in Art: Christopher Knight”
An early evaluation of Pacific Standard Time’s legacy.
Los Angeles Times, December 18, 2011 (PDF)
“PST, A to Z: 'Art Along the Hyphen,’ at Fowler Museum, ‘Mural Remix’ at LACMA”
Review of Art Along the Hyphen.
Culture Monster, December 15, 2011 (PDF)
“PST, A to Z: 'Mapping Another L.A.,’ at Fowler Museum, ‘Mural Remix’ at LACMA”
Another plug for Mapping Another L.A.
“A Lot Is Happening at the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center in December”
News about donations to the CSRC Library by Armando Durón and Patricia Correia.
La Bloga, December 12, 2011 (PDF)
“On View: ‘Common Ground’ at the American Museum of Ceramic Art”
Dora De Larios, whose work appears in Art Along the Hyphen, is featured in this article on a Pacific Standard Time exhibition.
Los Angeles Times, December 11, 2011 (PDF)
“Pacific Standard Time 2: L.A. Xicano”
Video about the CSRC’s exhibitions for the Getty initiative.
“Asco: Elite of the Obscure, a Retrospective Book Wins Award”
Chon A. Noriega, CSRC director, contributed to this exhibition catalog, and the CSRC was a lender to the exhibition.
WCMA Blog, December 8, 2011 (PDF)
“Neo-Pachukismo y Funk Tántrico”
Article about Ruben Guevara, whose papers are in the CSRC archive.
Milenio, December 7, 2011 (PDF)
“The MEX/LA Art Show: Five Things to Know”
Ruben Guevara, whose papers are in the CSRC archive, recommends Mapping Another L.A.
The Hollywood Reporter, December 4, 2011 (PDF)
“A Look Back at L.A.'s First Mexican American Artists”
Review of Art Along the Hyphen.
VCStar.com, December 2, 2011 (PDF)
“UCLA Holds First Undocumented Event as Part of L.A. Xicano Public Programming Series”
Previews the CSRC’s first Undocumented Event, featuring artists and the Mobile Mural Lab.
La Bloga, December 2, 2011 (PDF)
“‘Contested Visions’ Unveils Contrasting Histories of Colonial Latin America”
The LACMA exhibition is curated by Charlene Villaseñor-Black, chair of the CSRC Faculty Advisory Committee.
UCLA Today, November 21, 2011 (PDF)
PDFs of all articles are available on the CSRC website.
Events
Screening of Miss Bala
The CSRC and the Latin American Institute will co-sponsor a Melnitz Movies screening of Miss Bala on Tuesday, January 10, 7:30 p.m., at the James Bridges Theater (1409 Melnitz Hall). Miss Bala was directed by Gerardo Naranjo and is Mexico’s submission in the Best Foreign Film category for the 2012 Academy Awards. Free tickets are available at the Melnitz box office one hour before showtime and are given out on a first come, first served basis. One ticket per person.
ArtTalk for Teachers: Mapping Another L.A. in Your Classroom
On Thursday, January 12, 4:00–7:00 p.m., at the Fowler Museum, L.A. Xicano curators Chon A. Noriega and Pilar Tompkins Rivas will present a Mapping Another L.A. event designed especially for teachers. Noriega, Rivas, and featured artists will offer walkthroughs of the exhibition, discussions about the works on view, and art-making activities. The event is free for Fowler members; tickets for nonmembers are $15. Please RSVP to reserve a space: (310) 825-7325.
Film chronicling Chicano murals to screen
In 1981 French filmmaker Agnès Varda turned her lens on L.A. mural art in Mur Murs, which features many Chicano artists and their works, including Asco’s The Death of Fashion, a performance piece that was created for the film. Mur Murs will be screened in its entirety on Thursday, January 19, 6:00 p.m., in UCLA’s Fowler Museum auditorium. This free event is one of many being offered by the Fowler in conjunction with Mapping Another L.A.: The Chicano Art Movement.
Mural Remix tour redux scheduled
L.A. Xicano co-curator Pilar Tompkins Rivas will lead a second day-long tour of murals and exhibitions on Saturday, January 21. The event starts at 10:00 a.m. at the UCLA Fowler Museum with a tour of Mapping Another L.A.: The Chicano Art Movement. Guests will then travel to LACMA for a tour of Mural Remix: Sandra de la Loza; en route, de la Loza will introduce her exhibition. The next stop is Ramona Gardens, where artist Judithe Hernández will talk about muralism in East Los Angeles. The tour concludes with a visit to the site of Willie Herrón III’s newly commissioned mural, which pays homage to Asco’s iconic performance Walking Mural (1972). The event is free, but reservations are required via email: fowlerprograms@arts.ucla.edu.
Artist Hernández to discuss her work
Artist Judithe Hernández will discuss her work in the CSRC’s Mapping Another L.A.: The Chicano Art Movement exhibition. She will highlight the role of women in the Chicano art movement and the relationships among the members of Los Four, Centro de Art Público, and Mechicano Art Center. The event will take place on Wednesday, January 25, 12:00 p.m., at UCLA’s Fowler Museum. The program is free.
More Undocumented Events in January
The Undocumented Event series, which began last month at the Boyle Heights Farmers Market, will continue in January with pop-up events and activities. Time, date, and place will be announced at least twenty-four hours in advance through social media as well as via email. Each event will be different in nature and will involve community members and Chicano artists in varied capacities. The events will cover a range of themes—paper fashion, music, muralism, and other visual arts—and will take place at public sites throughout Los Angeles, including the Fowler Museum at UCLA. The series runs through February 26, 2012, when the last of the CSRC’s five L.A. Xicano exhibitions will close. Don’t miss the next Undocumented Event—“friend” CSRC and L.A. Xicano on Facebook!
CSRC Library
Friends of the Library program activities
Friends of the Library events in December included a special holiday cocktail reception to close Chican@s Collect: The Durón Family Collection, one of the CSRC’s L.A. Xicano exhibitions. Chican@s Collect highlighted not only works of art but also the Durón collection library, which was critical to the research for the L.A. Xicano project.
During the winter quarter the CSRC will host a Friends of the Library workshop titled “Preserving the Past for the Future: Applying Basic Archival Principles to Your Family Papers and Photographs.” The workshop will provide Friends with a set of guidelines for arranging, describing, and storing their personal papers and photographs for long-term preservation. Date to be announced.
The Friends program offers its members unique volunteer opportunities, special interest workshops, and a number of events held at the CSRC Library. If you would like to learn more about the Friends of the Library or are interested in joining, please contact the Lizette Guerra, CSRC librarian, at lguerra@chicano.ucla.edu.
New archival collection
The CSRC is proud to announce the acquisition of the David Morin Image Collection. Morin is a documentary photographer who has been taking pictures since the 1970s. A native Angelino, Morin has recorded Chicano artists such Gilbert “Magu” Lujan and the East Los Streetscapers at work and documented several art exhibitions. The collection also includes approximately 2,000 slides and photographs taken during Morin’s travels around Latin America. CSRC staff plan to digitize Morin’s images and make them available through the UCLA Digital Library. Researchers who wish to consult CSRC collections may contact Lizette Guerra, CSRC Librarian, at lguerra@chicano.ucla.edu.
New CSRC Library holdings
The CSRC Library has added approximately 300 new titles, including monographs, serials, thesis and dissertations, and videos, donated by various sources: Chon A. Noriega, CSRC director; Diane de Anda, Chicana author and professor emerita in the Department of Social Welfare at the UCLA School of Public Affairs; Daniel Olivas, Chicano author and supervising deputy attorney general with the California Department of Justice; Pilar Castañeda, Chicano author; the Roybal family; and the United Farm Workers. These donations are in addition to new monographs and serials donated by the CSRC Press. All of these items will be listed in the UCLA Library catalog and available for on-site research by the end of February.
Recent additions to existing collections
The CSRC has acquired an additional 41 linear feet from the Roybal family that will be added to the existing Edward R. Roybal Papers. The collection now totals 858.5 linear feet—by far the CSRC’s largest collection. This addition includes some congressional papers, although most of the materials relate to Roybal’s efforts to improve access to health care in the years following his retirement from public office.
The library also acquired an additional 3 linear feet of material for the David Damian Figueroa Papers. These materials document Figueroa’s career as a civil rights advocate through his work in MALDEF. They include photographs, correspondence, ephemera, books, serials, and audio and visual materials that portray many Chicana notables, including Dolores Huerta and Eva Longoria.
The Mexican American Bar Association (MABA) recently donated an additional 9 linear feet to its archival collection. These materials are from to the 1980s and 1990s and include various organizational papers: membership records, directories, events documents, committee papers, attorney referrals, outreach materials, and ephemera.
The Maria Acosta Duran and James and Margarita Mendez Papers also continue to grow, with each of the two complementary collections gaining a linear foot. New materials include photographs, correspondence, awards, and ephemera from the 1940s through the 1970s.
Bidding a fond farewell
The CSRC congratulates Saraí Carillo, work-study staff at the library, for completing her undergraduate degree in history at UCLA this winter quarter. Carillo worked at the CSRC Library for two years, and in that time she processed, preserved, and described the Vista en L.A. Collection, totaling 100 linear feet; uploaded and attached metadata to the Oscar Castillo Photograph Collection, available through the UCLA Digital Library; and made great strides in processing the Ricardo Muñoz Papers. We will miss her and wish her the very best in her future endeavors.
CSRC Press
Floricanto en Aztlán
The CSRC Press is pleased to announce a new edition of Alurista’s Floricanto en Aztlán. Originally issued in 1971, at the height of the Chicano Movement, this groundbreaking set of poems presented a new and essentially Chicano poetic language that combines Spanish and English with references to the indigenous languages of Mexico. In Floricanto en Aztlán Alurista calls on Chicanos to celebrate their heritage and to find their political voice.
This edition contains a new preface by the poet—Alberto Baltazar Urista Heredia—and the original art by Judithe Hernández. Hernández’s work is featured in three Pacific Standard Time exhibitions. Order Floricanto en Aztlán today from the distributor, the University of Washington Press.
Press welcomes new editorial assistant
Veronika Ferdman, MA student in cinema and media studies at UCLA, has joined the staff of Aztlán as an editorial assistant. Ferdman, whose academic interests include avant-garde cinema and film programming, is coordinating book reviews for the journal. The Press welcomes her to the team!
Opportunities
CSRC offers visiting scholar fellowship
CSRC, under the auspices of the Institute of American Cultures (IAC), is offering a fellowship to one visiting scholar or researcher to support Chicana/o-related research for the 2012-13 academic year. The recipient will receive up to a nine-month stipend of $32,000 to $35,000 (contingent on rank, experience, and date of completion of their terminal degree) plus health benefits. UCLA faculty, staff, and currently enrolled students are not eligible to apply. Completed applications are due by February 1, 2012. For further information and an application, please contact Javier Iribarren, CSRC assistant director, at 310-794-9646 or at jiribarren@chicano.ucla.edu, or visit the IAC website.