Santa Barraza

Agave Festival is excited to present legendary Chicana artist Santa Barraza on Saturday, June 1st. Have a look at the paintings in “Santa Barraza: Artist of the Borderlands” and you’ll understand immediately why we’re so excited that she’s joining us. For many years she has investigated the interrelationships between Mesoamerican / Indigenous and Catholic spirituality through the figures of Mayahuel, La Virgen de Guadalupe and the Agave within an art that equally situates itself within various traditions. To this core, she brings personal and familial histories to bear on an art that is both beautiful and remarkably distinctive. She will be joining Josh Franco and Kay Turner for a conversation about her work and related subjects. Don’t miss it!

Born in Kingsville, TX, Barraza’s work has been exhibited widely and for several decades. A short list of venues for her works: The National Gallery of American Art of Washington DC; Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Kohler Art Museum of Soboygen, Wisconsin; Intar Latin American Gallery at New York City; Museum of La Salle University of Philadelphia; Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum of Chicago.

In 1975, she co-founded the Mujeres Artistas del Suroeste, one of the first Latina visual arts organizations in Texas. In 1980, she opened Disenos Studios which was the first Chicano/a gallery in east Austin, Texas. She is currently Professor of Art at Texas A & M-Kingsville.