Archives of American Art

Oral history interview with Liliana Wilson

Summary

Collection ID:
AAA.wilson04
Creators:
Wilson, Liliana, 1953-
Cordova, Cary
Recuerdos Orales: Interviews of the Latino Art Community in Texas
Dates:
2004, July 13-27
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
99 Pages
Transcript
Repository:

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
An interview of Liliana Wilson conducted 2004 July 13-27, by Cary Cordova, for the Archives of American Art, in Austin, Texas.
Scope and Contents
Wilson displays a slideshow of her works and discusses Disparecidos en el Cielo; The Gatekeepers; The Immigrants; Man Running from Himself; Girl and Red Fish; Self-Portrait; Organic Barbed Wire; The Fish Tree; The Wedding; Desperate Housewife; The Lovers; The Meaning of Life; Lies; Proposition 187; Luciano; Time; Shift; El dia en que le hicieron pedazos la corona; Casi Gomez; Man and Leaf, and others. Wilson also discusses her relationship with Gloria Anzaldua; her sister's kidnapping by the Pinochet regime; experiences winning art contests at primary school; her uncommon last name; her use of Catholic imagery; her bad experience teaching; her childhood in Valparaiso, Chile; the patriarchal qualities of Chilean culture; attending architecture school and then transferring to law; her father's death and the family's resulting financial struggles; her disdain for traditional political paradigms; Santiago during the 1973 coup by Augusto Pinochet; her apartment being raided by the Army; moving to America and working as an au pair; enrolling in Austin Community College; her color choices in her paintings; moving to San Francisco; her various jobs doing commercial art; her early grant from MACLA; her anti-social nature, and how Anzaldua's nature is similar; her various residences in San Francisco; her conversion to Buddhism; moving back to Austin and her love for its community; learning to promote her own work; painting nude forms; her disdain for certain Catholic ideologies; the painters which she considers influences, such as Bosch, Kahlo, and Klee; her inability to be recognized by museums; the masculine nature of art academia; her involvement in the San Antonio arts scene; and the positive qualities of the United States. Wilson also discusses Cynthia Perez, Mia Gonzales, Jesse Treviño, Rene Yañez, Pema Chödrön, Neil Wilson, Arturo Almeida, Mary Margaret Navarro, Marjorie Agosin, and others.

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
Liliana Wilson (1953-) is a Chilean born artist in Austin, Texas. Cary Cordova (1970-) is an art historian from Austin, Texas.

Administration

Sponsor
This interview is part of the series "Recuerdos Orales: Interviews of the Latino Art Community in Texas," supported by Federal funds for Latino programming, administered by the Smithsonian Center for Latino Initiatives. 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.

Digital Content


Using the Collection

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

More Information

General

General
Originally recorded on 6 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 8 digital wav files. Duration is 4 hr., 55 min.


Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Art -- Study and teaching -- Chile Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Painting Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Religion in art Topical 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
Painters -- Texas -- Austin Occupation Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Women artists Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Women painters Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Pinochet Ugarte, Augusto Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Treviño, Jesse, 1946- Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Yanez, Rene Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Anzaldúa, Gloria Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Perez, Cynthia Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Chödrön, Pema Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Agosin, Marjorie Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Gonzales, Mia Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Wilson, Neil Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Almeida, Arturo Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Navarro, Mary Margaret Personal Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Recuerdos Orales: Interviews of the Latino Art Community in Texas Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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