{"id":18058,"date":"2022-09-23T15:12:52","date_gmt":"2022-09-23T21:12:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/?p=18058"},"modified":"2022-09-23T15:12:52","modified_gmt":"2022-09-23T21:12:52","slug":"arte-mestiza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/2022\/09\/arte-mestiza\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Arte Mestiza\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

An Artist and a Museum Director Say CC FAC\u2019s Backyard Mural Needs More Care<\/h2>\n

\u201c<\/em>Arte Mestiza\u201d is crumbling.<\/p>\n

Many walk by the once-vibrant, 200-foot long monument to Chicano\/a\/x muralism without noticing it. Some who do only stop to remark on how it\u2019s seen better days. Fewer still know the mural\u2019s actually part of the collection of the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College. It\u2019d be hard to blame them.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

\u201cArte Mestiza\u201d mural artist Emanuel Martinez on Aug. 9, 2022. Photo by Lonnie Timmons III<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cArte Mestiza\u201d was painted by Emanuel Martinez, a towering figure in the art form, and Chicano\/a\/x community members in the 1980s. It was donated to the museum by the Hispanic Arts Council, as a gift from the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe content of the mural is very significant to our culture, our heritage, our people,\u201d Martinez says. \u201cIt tells a story about our contributions to the arts.\u201d<\/p>\n

But in the over three decades that it\u2019s haunted the parking lot of the FAC, the acrylic epic has been left to pollution and the elements with little to no care, Martinez says.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrankly, I don\u2019t know of any care that they have done \u2026 in the last 35 years or so \u2014 not even so much as pressure washing it,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a shame for an institution \u2026 to be so negligent of one of their \u2014 I think it\u2019s a collection piece, maybe they still don\u2019t see (it) that way, but that\u2019s the way they accepted it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michael Christiano, who joined the FAC as director of visual arts and museum in Fall 2021, says that as a public, outdoor work of art, \u201cArte Mestiza\u201d requires a \u201cdifferent level of care.\u201d Nevertheless, he says the mural is a \u201ccritical work of art for the collection.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a project that\u2019s been too long neglected, and it\u2019s very much a priority for us,\u201d he says. \u201cI can\u2019t really speak to what happened prior, but my understanding is that there was not sufficient attention paid to the upkeep of this mural, and that\u2019s not acceptable practice for us going forward at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Historic <\/a>
Historic photos of the mural during its creation in the 1980s. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Historic <\/a>
Historic photos of the mural during its creation in the 1980s. <\/div> <\/div>
\"Historic <\/a>
Historic photos of the mural during its creation in the 1980s. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

Christiano says the museum is looking into getting a conservator to assess it and come up with recommendations for better protection, like metal flashing for weatherproofing, better drainage, and guards to keep people from parking too close or from snow being piled up against the wall.<\/p>\n

That\u2019d be the first step in a multi-year conservation effort that would eventually bring Martinez back for \u201ccommunity-driven restoration,\u201d he says. That effort would partly be paid for with the FAC\u2019s operating budget, possibly alongside grants the FAC is pursuing to help fund the cause.<\/p>\n

A conservator hasn\u2019t been found yet, Christiano says, but the FAC hopes to get that phase done this fall.<\/p>\n

\u201cArte Mestiza\u2019s\u201d decline is emblematic of a larger picture, one of a dwindling number of Chicano\/a\/x murals because of neglect and erasure, says Martinez\u2019s daughter, Chicano\/a\/x Murals of Colorado Project Director Lucha Martinez de Luna.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very representative of overall how \u2026 (Chicano\/a\/x) murals have been disregarded and not considered of any type of cultural or artistic value,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

But recently, Chicano\/a\/x murals have gotten some of the attention they need.<\/p>\n

In May, the National Trust for Historic Preservation recognized Colorado\u2019s Chicano\/a\/x murals on its annual list of America\u2019s 11 most endangered historic places.<\/p>\n

Martinez de Luna says that\u2019ll bring both the awareness she\u2019s fought a years-long fight for and the possibility of grants to protect the murals.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Nancy Rios works in collaboration with Chicano\/a\/x Murals of Colorado Project, the FAC, and the artist to restore and conserve the mural on Aug. 9, 2022. Photo by Lonnie Timmons III<\/p><\/div>\n

It was the first time murals have been on the list, CMCP Education Director Nancy R\u00edos says.<\/p>\n

R\u00edos is also program director of CC\u2019s Mobile Arts Program and has taught courses at the college over the years. As a Hulbert-Mellon Faculty Scholar she began researching \u201cArte Mestiza\u201d in 2019. She said the FAC\u2019s talked about taking care of the mural, but it\u2019s pulled in many directions.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just doesn\u2019t get the concerted effort it really needs,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Martinez, who says he\u2019s frustrated despite the promises, thinks the work just needs to move faster.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere should be some urgency here \u2014 do it while I\u2019m alive \u2026 in a few months, I\u2019m going to be 75 years old. I\u2019m not going to paint murals all my life,\u201d he says. \u201cWhat it might involve is just us doing it ourselves \u2026 that may be the last resort, and the only way it\u2019s going to get done.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An artist and a museum director say CC FAC\u2019s backyard mural needs more care.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1496,"featured_media":17989,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[131],"tags":[132],"class_list":["post-18058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-summer-2022","tag-arts-at-cc"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/files\/2022\/09\/19_RS74713_20220809_nancy-rios_mural_9222.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1496"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18058"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18058\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18085,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18058\/revisions\/18085"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/bulletin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}