Creative Collectives

by Ochoa, Maria

• ISBN13: 9780826321107
• ISBN10: 0826321100
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-11-01
• Publisher: Univ of New Mexico Pr

Summary

A compelling blend of art history, social analysis, and personal testimony, this book presents a new paradigm for understanding Chicana/o studies. By following the artistic and ideological journeys of two groups of northern California Chicana artists, María Ochoa argues that the women involved in these collectives created complex images whose powerful visual social commentary sprang from the daily experiences of their lives. Ochoa's artistic narrative first focuses on Mujeres Muralistas, a path-breaking San Francisco group of mural painters organised in the early 1970s at the height of the Chicana/o Movement. The story then turns its attention to Co-Madres Artistas, a group of artists who came together in the 1990s after spending decades tending their families, becoming successful in their careers, and launching key Chicana/o cultural institutions in the Sacramento Valley. Ochoa tells the stories of the individual members of these collectives to show how they combined art and activism. Through an innovative application of oral history interviews, a fascinating compilation of individual and collective stories emerges.

Author Biography

Maria Ochoa teaches at San Jose State University in the Department of Social Science. She is co-founder of the Research Cluster for the Study of Women of Color at the Center for Cultural Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz.

Table of Contents

List of Plates	viii
Foreword	xi
Amalia Mesa-Bains
Acknowledgments	xiii
Prologue Never Underestimate the Tenacity of a Mexican Woman	xv
Introduction Mujeres y Co-Madres: Creativity and Collectivity	1	(14)
Chapter 1 Movements: Departures, Delays, Arrivals	15	(18)
Chapter 2 Mujeres Muralistas: "We Offer You Colors We Make"	33	(26)
Chapter 3 Co-Madres Artistas: "We Belong to the Community"	59	(28)
Chapter 4 Coatlicue's Cartography: Mapping Hybridity and Creative Collectivity	87	(6)
Plates The Artistry of Mujeres Muralistas and Co-Madres Artistas	93	(32)
Bibliography	125	(10)
Index	135