¡Viva la Communidad!
¡Viva la Communidad! presented in partnership with Seattle Central College Student Leadership celebrates Latinx Heritage Month.
Exhibition opens September 15th and runs through November 2nd. An opening reception will be held the evening of Thursday, September 29th from 4-7pm.
Featuring Artists:
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Chirstie Tirado
Mi obra artística ha estado siempre vinculada a las diversas diásporas que constituyen mi identidad Mexicoamericana. Al ser la hija de padre y madre migrantes, mi creación estética no solo representa mis realidades personales, sino que también busca ilustrar las narrativas de aquellos que como mis progenitores, han sido desdibujados en su desarraigo.
En los últimos años, mis creaciones artísticas se han centrado conceptual, ética y estéticamente en ilustrar diferentes perspectivas del trabajo realizado por los trabajadores agrícolas migrantes Mexicanos, cuyo arduo trabajo y orgullo laboral apoyan la próspera industria agrícola del centro Centro de Washington. Más recientemente, esta serie se ha ampliado para incluir retratos de personas que han servido como trabajadores esenciales durante la pandemia. La intención de estos grabados e impresiones es la de poner en relieve (metafórica y literalmente) un sector fundamental de nuestras comunidades cuyo trabajo y existencia pasan comúnmente desapercibidos y sin mayor reconocimiento. Por lo tanto, quiero que mis impresiones no sólo te inviten a reflexionar sobre temas relacionados con las diásporas que componen y sostienen nuestra nación, sino que también generen conversaciones sobre las realidades del trabajo realizado por los trabajadores esenciales de Estados Unidos y, por extensión, para resaltar su valor y contribución a esta región y a la economía general de nuestra nación.
Con este fin, mis obras se encuentran en intersecciones cruciales: de la estética y la política, de la configuración de la América urbana y rural, de la justicia social y las desigualdades estructurales que nos impregnan, de la diversidad y la exclusión.
Christie Tirado es una artista dedicada a las artes visuales así como maestra de arte a los niveles básico y medio de educación escolar. Con títulos profesionales obtenidos en la Universidad de Washington (en impresión y cerámica) y la Universidad Heritage (en pedagogía y docencia), Christie se desempeña actualmente como artista y maestra de arte en Yakima, Washington. Christie encuentra en el arte, la forma de apoyar de manera continua la educación y desarrollo de sus estudiantes y sus comunidades. Galardonada con la beca Larry Sommers (Larry Sommers Fellowship 2020) por parte de Artes Impresas de Seattle (Seattle Print Arts), Christie se encuentra enfocada actualmente en un proyecto creativo que tiene por objetivo inicialmente el representar diversos aspectos de la labor llevada a cabo por trabajadores agrícolas migrantes–y por todos aquellos trabajadores esenciales durante la pandemia.
Através de este proyecto sobre trabajadores esenciales, Christie busca articular a la usanza de las Artes Gráficas Mexicanas, lo estético con lo político, lo personal con lo social. El resultado de este trabajo ha sido presentado (y agregado a colecciones) en diversos espacios en el Estado de Washington, incluyendo: La Comisión de Arte del Estado de Washington (Washington State Arts Commission,) el Sun Valley Museo de Arte, así como las Gallerías Davidson (Davidson Galleries), Spokane Falls Community College y SOIL galleria en Seattle. Sus obras también han aparecido en High Country News y ProPublica.
Si tiene curiosidad de saber más acerca del trabajo artístico de Christie, por favor visite su sitio en internet christietiradoarte.com o sígala en Instagram @christietirado_arte Muchas gracias a: tod@s l@s trabajador@s agrícolas que cultivan la tierra.
Artist statement
Christie Tirado
My artwork has initially revolved around the many diasporas that compose my Mexican American identity. Yet, as the daughter of two immigrant parents from Mexico, my artistic creation is not merely centered on my own realities, but also focused on articulating the livelihoods of those who oftentimes go unheard and unseen. Over the past couple of years, my artwork has conceptually and aesthetically focused on illustrating different perspectives of the labor conducted by Mexican migrant farmworkers–whose arduous labor and work supports the thriving agricultural industry of Central Washington. Most recently, this series has expanded to include portraits of people who have served as essential workers during the pandemic.
The objective of this series is to render visible a demographic whose hard work often goes unrecognized. I want my prints therefore not only to tackle issues related to the diasporas that compose and sustain our nation, but also to generate conversations about the realities of the labor carried out by America’s essential workers–and by extension, to highlight their value and contribution to this region and our nation’s overall economy. To this end, my artwork is located at crucial intersections: of aesthetics and politics, of the configuration of urban and rural America, of social justice and the structural inequalities that pervade us, of diversity and exclusion.
Christie Tirado is an artist and an art teacher in Yakima, Washington. With degrees from both the University of Washington and Heritage University, she is passionate about working with children and the community to support their education and realities through the arts.
A recipient of the Larry Sommers Fellowship from Seattle Print Arts 2020, Tirado is currently focused on illustrating different perspectives of the work carried out by Mexican farmworkers— as well as other essential workers during the pandemic. By intentionally bringing together diverse realms, and utilizing print as a vehicle for social justice, she mixes aesthetics and politics, within the personal and social. Her artwork has been featured and collected
throughout the West coast, including Washington State’s Art Commission, Sun Valley Museum of Art, Spokane Falls Community College, Davidson Galleries, & SOIL Gallery in Seattle. Her work has also been featured on High Country News and ProPublica.
If you want to learn more about Christie’s art, you can go to her website at christietiradoarte.com or follow her on Instagram as christietirado_arte.
Special thanks to: all the farmworkers who cultivate la tierra and feed our nation.
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Nico Inzerella is a Mexican-American/Jewish-American multimedia artist, born and raised between Southern California and Seattle. The themes and images of Nico’s art often reflect Indigenous life and immigration throughout the Americas. He received his B.F.A. from Western Washington University - School of the Arts. He is a faculty art instructor at North Seattle College through their Continuing Education program. He is also a full-time web developer at the same college. His art has been exhibited throughout Washington State and he has art on permanent collection with the City of Seattle, Daybreak Star Cultural Center, ArtsWa, RACC City of Portland (Oregon), the City of Bellevue, Chief Seattle Club, 2828 Martin, Odessa Brown Children’s Clinic, the City of Shoreline and many other locations. He has been recognized by the Wing Luke Museum, SOIL Art Gallery, Crosscut Magazine, Schack Art Gallery and Columbia City Gallery.
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Scott Méxcal (né McCall) was born amidst the nopal and yucca on the bank of the Rio Grande river in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Scott's ancestors have lived along the river on both sides of what is today the Mexican/U.S border for countless generations. Scott is Chicano, descended from indigenous people and Spanish/European colonizers.
Scott spent his young life in the family garage building lowrider-bikes and cars, in the barrio creating street art and tattooing, and in the Catholic church where the lines between spirituality, healing, and art blurred together in his mind. For the past twenty years, Scott has called the traditional homeland of the Duwamish people; Seattle, Washington, his home. Wherever he goes his ancestors, and cultural traditions are with him in his heart.
Scott's decision to move to the Pacific Northwest many years ago was due to growing up with a passion for grunge music and wanting to be a part of the vibrant creative community in Seattle. Since that time, he has contributed to the creative cultural fabric of the city as a graphic designer, a public artist, a youth art mentor, and art activist. His work has hung in numerous exhibitions throughout the city and surrounding area.
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Edgar Fabián Frías works in installation, photography, video art, sound, sculpture, printed textiles, GIFs, performance, social practice, and community organizing, among other forms. Frías is Wixárika and their family is from Mexico, though they have lived in the United States for most of their life. Their art addresses historical legacies and acts of resistance, resiliency, and radical imagination within the context of Indigenous Futurism, spirituality, play, pedagogy, animism, and queer aesthetics. Weaving together the traditional and ancestral with the contemporaneous and emergent.
Born in East Los Angeles in 1983, Frías received dual BA degrees in Psychology and Studio Art from the UC, Riverside. In 2013, they received an MA in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon, with an emphasis on Interpersonal Neurobiology and Somatic Psychotherapy. Frías received their MFA in Art Practice from UC Berkeley in 2022.
Their work has been exhibited internationally, including the Vincent Price Art Museum, Institute of Contemporary Art San Francisco, Oregon Contemporary, MOCA Jacksonville, Performance is Alive, Project Space Festival Juárez, and ArtBo, among others. Their work has appeared in Cosmopolitan, Taschen, Bustle, Los Angeles Times, Slate, CVLT Nation, Terremoto, Hyperallergic, and other publications.
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Jake Prendez was born in San Jacinto California but raised in Bothell Washington. He returned to California after receiving his Bachelor’s in American Ethnic Studies from the University of Washington to work on his Master’s in Chicana/o Studies from CSU Northridge.
Jake is a strong advocate for youth empowerment and the power of positive reinforcement. He became involved in gang culture as early as middle school. Later he began to turn things around and became heavily involved the Chicano Movement and orgs like MEChA.
Today, Jake Prendez is a renowned Chicano artist exhibiting his art and lecturing across the country. He is also the owner/ co-director of the Nepantla Cultural Arts Gallery where he runs the day to day operations and art exhibitions.
His oil paintings and digital artwork are created with a specific focus on themes relating to Chicanx and Indigenous culture, social justice, pop culture, and satire. Jake’s work is an amalgamation of my life experiences. It represents his Chicano background, his life lived back and forth from Los Angeles and Seattle, it represents love and heart break, oppression and resilience, laughter and tears. It’s as if I took all his life experiences, put in a blender and poured out onto canvas.
Images:
Ojo de Brujx,Edgar Fabián Frías (installation view)
upper left: Chichén, Nico Inzerella