Del Mar College’s Art and Drama Department held an opening event for the “Now Let Us Shift” art exhibition.
The Sept. 29 event featured both a panel discussion, which was held in the Bartlett Theatre, and an opening reception, which was held in the Joseph A. Cain Memorial Art Gallery.
“Now Let Us Shift” is a powerful celebration of life, culture and spirituality.
The art exhibition features 20 artists’ paintings and displays inspired by the life of Gloria E. Anzaldúa (1942-2004). These works connect with Anzaldúa’s writings of the U.S.-Mexico border.
According to TEX Libris, the Magazine of the University of Texas Libraries, Anzaldúa was a queer Chicana activist, writer, feminist theorist and poet.
Carlos Villarreal, a Del Mar College art adjunct professor as well as one of the 20 featured artists in the exhibition, focuses his art on what it means to be middle class and Latino.
Villarreal was introduced to Anzaldúa through a friend who gifted him one of her books.
“I really became drawn to it when I started working on my own thesis,” Villarreal said. “She was a very important Latino thinker, and writer, and essayist.”
In her childhood, Anzaldúa first learned about discrimination against Mexican Americans. Her experiences as she grew up motivated her writing for the rest of her career.
Alexis Ramos, another featured artist in the exhibit, focuses her art on culture and folk remedies passed down from ancestorial roots.
One of her featured pieces in the gallery, “Nopal en la Frente,” is an installation of foam cacti (nopales) taking over the display.
“The nopales are just taking over the exhibition in a way they shouldn’t be,” Ramos said. “But they’re there. And so for me, cactuses represent a way of kind of culture bleeding through. It’s something you really can’t ignore — you can’t avoid.”
Before the opening reception, four creators were brought together for a panel discussion, “Voices from the Borderlands: Art, Activism, and Identity.”
Grace Zuniga, Lauren Ford, Gina Palacios and Rigoberto González shared their own stories and perspectives on art making, their professional journey through the arts industry, and Anzaldúa’s legacy. Afterwards, a Q&A discussion was open to the audience.
Visitors of event were invited to experience Anzaldúa’s life and her ideas through these artists’ visuals.
Gerardo Cobarruvias, a Del Mar College graphic design professor, was inspired by one of Ramos’ displays, “Recetario/Recetas, Remedios, y Raíces,” an installation of different watercolor artworks hung on a red clothesline.
“It sent me back to my mom and my grandmother. That’s kind of how they hung their clothes,” Cobarruvias said. “I was surprised how emotional that made me feel. It made me feel like I was a kid again.”
The Joseph A. Cain Memorial Art Gallery is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Thursday and on from 9 a.m. to noon Fridays for those that are interested in viewing the exhibit’s featured artworks.
For more information about the exhibit, contact the Art Program at art@delmar.edu or 361-698-1216.
Foghorn News reporter Yolanda Garcia contributed to this article.
