Aurora Reyes Flores

Happy Birthday Aurora Reyes Flores!

The Mexican writer and painter Aurora Reyes Flores was born today, September 9, in 1908, in Hidalgo Del Parral. Her father and grandfather were soldiers while her uncle was a philosopher and writer. Due to political strife the family fled to Mexico City directly after the start of the Revolution.  Here Aurora Reyes (as she was commonly known) attended the Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes. She is known to be one of the only women members of the Mexican muralism movement.

Following her first individual exhibition, Reyes showed her work in many collectives in the US, France, Cuba and of course Mexico. She created seven murals for various buildings and institution around Mexico. She also taught drawing and painting for the Secretariat of Public Education. 

Reyes was outspoken politically,  and acted on her politics in positive ways such as pushing for daycare centers for children of school teachers, participating in a hunger strike on behalf of political prisoners and founding the organization Ligo de Escritores y Artistas Revolucionarios. 

Alma Lopez

Happy Birthday Alma Lopez!

Born in Los Mochis, Sinaloa,  Alma Lopez is a Chicana artist and feminist (Lesbian) activist. She received her MFA from University of California at Irvine. Lopez uses digital art to juxtapose images of familiar Mexican cultural and historical figures to impress her point. Catholicism is often combined with indigenous art. Her art is meant to empower women and indigenous people. She aims to call attention to subjects of rape, gender discrimination, sexual and racial issues. Her work often draws controversy, protest.

In addition to her art, Lopez is also a lecturer at the University of California at Los Angeles, in the Department of Chicano/a Studies.

I am including her "Our Lady of Controversy" today...Alma's take on The Virgin of Guadalupe. In, Lopez' version, the Virgin wears a bikini of roses with indigenous symbols of the Aztec Moon Goddess patterned on her cloak. It is said that Lopez views the Virgin as more than a symbolic Catholic figure, but a representation of community, family.

Nacho Lopez

Happy Birthday Nacho Lopez!

Born in 1923, Ignacio Lopez Bocanegra, Nacho Lopez was a photojournalist. He was from Tampico, Tamaulipas and went to Instituto de Artes y Ciencias Cinemato-graficas, learning photography primarily from Manuel Alvarez Bravo.

His photojournalism career focused on shots for magazines. Lopez was too constrained by photojournalism, however, and branched out to documentaries and news stories, and photo essays (series of photos with captions telling a story). He felt photography was not meant to adorn walls but to "make obvious the ancestral cruelty of man against man, the greatness of (man's) love for things, and everyday things". He took pictures of prisoners, the poor, the marginalized. He also set up scenarios and documented observers' reactions.

Even though he worked in the field for only a decade or so, Lopez is considered a major influence to photojournalism. He is recognized internationally and a major retrospective of his work was held in 2008.

Mariana Yampolsky

Happy Birthday Mariana Yampolsky!

Photographer Mariana Yampolsky was born on September 6, 1925, in the US. She came to Mexico to study art and eventually became a citizen in 1958. Her father was a sculptor. She came from an intellectual, cultured family. She studied at University of Chicago and then moved to Mexico and attended La Esmeralda and later San Carlos Academy.She fell in love with Mexico and made it her home. After studying sculpture and painting, she eventually became a photographer to document her travel and political and art interests.

Yampolsky was a member of the Taller de Grafica Popular when it was not common for women to be members. The group aimed to create art to further its political views and messages. Yampolsky was a printmaker for the group and then began photographing her travels and the group's activities. She also documented rural Mexican culture and art. Her first solo exhibit was in 1960.

In addition to her art carer she was a curator and exhibition organizer for the Taller de Grafica Popular, and also an editor for primary school textbooks including many reproductions of art and culture.  Her work is included in collections and books all over the world. The Mariana Yampolsly Foundation honors her memory and promotes her life's work.

Tanya Aguiniga

Happy Birthday Tanya Aguiniga!

Born in Tijuana, in 1978, Tanya Aguiniga's work is primarily based on textiles. She studied at San Diego State University and Rhode Island Institute of Design, and is currently based in Los Angeles. She creates projects of handwoven fibers and also performance art, or "performance crafting" and installations. Her work combines modern techniques with traditional Mexican handcrafts. One such performance crafting project involved her tied to the Beverly Hills sign, wearing traditional Mexican clothing, while weaving.

Aguiniga has also been designing furniture since she was in college. Her textiles as well as her furniture have been featured in television programs on PBS and the DIY network.

Rosa Castillo Santiago

Happy Birthday Rosa Castillo Santiago!

Mexican sculptor and founding member of Salon de Plastica Mexicana, Rosa Castillo Santiago was born on September 4, 1910. She was raised in a humble rural home in Guachinango, Jalisco, protected by the remoteness of the village from the effects of the Mexican Revolution occurring at the time. Castillo created small clay figures in her spare time, desiring more than the small town could offer. Ater her husband died she and her small daughter relocated to Mexico City where she worked at menial jobs until happening upon La Esmeralda, where she began to take classes with drawing and painting teachers as well as sculptors Jose L. Ruiz, Luis Ortiz Monasterio and Francisco Zuniga.

In addition to her career as a sculptor, Castillo also taught at various primary schools. She exhibited in the US and Mexico. Her brother, Fidencio Castillo was also a sculptor and they had several joint exhibits including a retrospective of their work in 2004.

Carlos Orozco Romero

Happy Birthday Carlos Orozco Romero!

Mexican painter and cartoonist Carlos Orozco Romero was born on September 3, 1896, in Guadalajara. His father, a tailor, hired a painter, Luis de la Torre, to teach Carlos, believing that to be preferable to studying at an institution. He began supporting himself through his cartoons at age 13 and left Guadalajara for Mexico City, desiring to be part of the Mexican muralism movement, at 16.

He received a scholarship to study in Europe in the early 1920's from the state of Jalisco. He traveled to Belgium, France and Madrid, but abandoned his study when he became homesick for Mexico and his wife. Although he started his art career as a satirical cartoonist for various publications, Romero became a painter, leaning toward Cubism and Surrealism. He painted landscapes and portraits and his paintings have a dream-like quality of the Surrealists. His work was influenced by his travels in Europe, in particular artists Francisco Goya and Diego Velazquez. He also worked in set and costume design.

He was a co-founder of the Escuela Nacional al Pintura, Escultura y Grabado or "La Esmeralda", and also the gallery Palacio de Bellas Artes. He taught at La Esmeralda and Movimiento de Taller Libre which he also founded. Following his teaching career he was the director of Museo de Arte Moderno.

Romero received recognition and awards for his work. He had several important exhibitions in both the US and Mexico.