This new artist talk series features artists from Xicanx: Dreamers + Changemakers / Soñadores + creadores del cambio speaking about their works. The roundtable dialogues will be moderated by exhibition co-curators Jill Baird and Greta de León. Xicanx Speaks! is an opportunity to learn more from these artists who are confronting the critical issues of our time such as racism, diversity, and identity.

The November 12 edition of Xicanx Speaks! will feature Alejandro Diaz, Carlos Frésquez and Ana Lilia Salinas.

Join us for the full series of Xicanx Speaks!:
September 24: Judith F. Baca, Sarah Castillo + Kathy Vargas
October 15: Celia Álvarez Muñozs, Linda Vallejo + Debora Kuetzpal Vasquez
October 22: Delilah Montoya, Oree Original + Alfred J. Quiroz
November 12: Alejandro Diaz, Carlos Frésquez + Ana Lilia Salinas
November 19: Julio César Morales, Celeste de Luna + Luis Valderas

This is a hybrid event that will take place in-person (drop-in) and online (registration required, link below).

Bios

Alejandro Diaz: Based in New York City since 1996, Alejandro Diaz is originally from San Antonio, where he developed an exciting and pertinent body of work exemplifying the complex and visually rich cultural milieu particular to South Texas and Mexico. Diaz’s conceptual, campy, and political cardboard signs—which he began making and selling on the streets of Manhattan in the late 1990s—are emblematic of his humour-infused politics and his involvement with art as a form of entertainment, activism, and public intervention. His ongoing series of cardboard signs continues to evolve, with some sayings now produced in neon.

Carlos Frésquez is inspired by cartoons, comic books and psychedelic posters. As a painter he loves bold colours. He uses his sense of humour to focus attention to critical issues and to poke fun. He was born in Denver, where he still resides. He received a B.A. from Metropolitan State University of Denver (1980) and an MFA from the University of Colorado Boulder (1995). Frésquez has lectured widely about Chicano art history and his own artwork and has exhibited his drawings, sculptures, prints, installations, and paintings in at least 30 U.S. states and ten different countries.

Ana Lilia Salinas was born in Alice, a small south Texas town. She received a BFA in 1986 and obtained a Master of Science in Bilingual Education in 1992 from Texas A & M University-Kingsville. Upon completing her education, she moved to Austin, Texas. Presently Salinas is a Dual Language Kindergarten teacher. Salinas’s artwork has been selected to be part of the Latino Art Collection and the Chicano print collection at the University of Texas at San Antonio. It has also been on the cover of blu, a Yale drama series written by Virginia Grise (2011), and featured in Tongues magazine. Her recent exhibitions include the 2020 Latino Art Exhibit in San Jose, California at the contemporary arts space MACLA (Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana), and in a mural project at Chicano Park in Austin.

THIS EVENT WAS FUNDED IN PART BY A GRANT FROM THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF STATE. THE OPINIONS, FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS STATED HEREIN ARE THOSE OF THE ORGANIZERS AND DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THOSE OF THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF STATE.