Archives of American Art

Oral history interview with Carmen Lomas Garza

Summary

Collection ID:
AAA.garza97
Creators:
Garza, Carmen Lomas
Karlstrom, Paul J.
Dates:
1997 Apr. 10-May 27
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
5 Sound cassettes
Sound recording (4 hrs.)
analog
122 Pages
Transcript
Repository:

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
An interview of Carmen Lomas Garza conducted 1997 Apr. 10-May 27, by Paul Karlstrom, for the Archives of American Art.
Scope and Contents
Lomas Garza discusses her working environment at Hunter Point Shipyard, a former naval facility on San Francisco Bay, near Candlestick Park, occupied by artists and small businesses; growing up in Kingsville, Tex., near Corpus Christi; her education at Texas A and I University (now Texas A and M) and graduating from the University of Texas at Austin with a B.S. in art education (1969); her activism in the Chicano movement during her college years; joining the farm workers march in Kingsville in 1965; installing an art show for MAYO (Mexican Workers Youth Organization) conference in 1969; the impact upon her of MAYO's walkout at Robstown High School, Tex., while she was a student teacher there, in protest of the lack of Mexican American teachers and curriculum; joining Galeria de La Raza in San Francisco, 1976, while a graduate student at Washington State University and the effect it had on the development of her career as an artist; the inspiration of her mother, who painted "lotteria tablas" (figures on boards; game cards); her interest in children's art; using family experiences for her "monitos" or "little figures" (cards painted with sets of fifteen numbers); and preserving her Mexican-American traditions as a basis for her identity.

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
Carmen Lomas Garza (1948-) is a painter from California.

Administration

Sponsor
The digital preservation of this interview received Federal support from the Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators. Funding for the interview received from a donation to AAA from the Los Angeles women's art organization Double X.

Digital Content


Using the Collection

Conditions Governing Access
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.

Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Painters -- California Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Latino and Latin American artists Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Sound recordings Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Interviews Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Chicano artists Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Chicano art movement Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Chicano movement Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Women artists Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Women painters Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
GalerĂ­a de la Raza (San Francisco, Calif.) Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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