Contact: Catherine J. Trujillo
805-756-2305
ctrujill@calpoly.edu
Cal Poly Kennedy Library Hosts Chicano Art Exhibit April 17 – June 16
SAN LUIS OBISPO – A fascinating exhibition highlighting the Los Angeles Latino experience is coming to Cal Poly. “ChismeArte, ¡Y Que!: Expanding L.A.’s Chicano Aesthetic,” a free and public exhibit, is scheduled to run April 17 through June 16 in the Kennedy Library Gallery at the Commons.
An opening reception and talk is scheduled at the same location for Thursday, April 24 from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Speakers include authors Alejandro Murguia, Victor Valle and Raul Villa.
The exhibition features ChismeArte Magazine, a Los Angeles-based Chicano arts and literary publication from the 1970s and early 1980s. It illustrates how this magazine of hybrid, radical street art, barrio iconography, and avant-garde literature questioned, expanded and experimented with the possibilities of Chicano urban identity.
Many critically acclaimed authors and artists will be highlighted. For writers Luis Rodríguez, Harry Gamboa and Helen Viramontes, and artists Gronk, Carlos Almaraz, John Valadez and Barbara Carrasco, ChismeArte offered an experimental space in their early careers.
Cal Poly ethnic studies, art and design, and graphic communication students wrote the narrative’s critical analysis, designed the layout for the exhibit’s look and feel, and provided graphic design for the exhibit’s promotion. Ethnic Studies Chair and former ChismeArte editor Victor Valle co-organized the effort.
The gallery will be open during normal library hours. All students, alumni, parents and friends are encouraged to visit the collection.
For more information, visit the Library’s Web site at www.lib.calpoly.edu/ or call 805-756-2305. For library hours, visit www.lib.calpoly.edu/about/hours. The event is sponsored by the Kennedy Library, the Ethnics Studies Department and the Chicana Latino Faculty Staff Association.
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