TANA

We are thrilled to share the opening of Cosmic Matriarchs, a new exhibition featuring the work of Dalila Paola Mendez, Lilia “Liliflor” Ramirez, and Suzy Hernandez. The featured work honors the earth, sacred elements, life-givers, and generations of birthing, healing, and love that align with ancestral remembering. This exhibition highlights the power of matriarchal lineages and femme roots amidst present-day realities that are destructive to our communities—from elders to youth, the earth, and generations to come.   Join us Friday, March 15, 5-7pm for an evening of thought provoking paintings and prints, refreshments, and live DJ!

 

EXHIBITION DATES: March 15 – May 1, 2019

In these images the viewer finds representations of the cycles of life and death, rebirth, regeneration, queer love, and an honoring of the earth as a life-giver of sacred resources, i.e. water, air, land, and fire, that are often disrespected, commodified, and currently out of balance due to climate injustice. The spirit-centered visuals these artists offer return the viewer to a humbleness and reverence for all that is sacred, especially life, breath, and our madre cosmica, as a pathway for healing and transformation.

Dalila Paola Mendez

Dalila Paola Mendez is an Indigenous Guatemalan/Salvadoran queer artist born and raised in Los Angeles. She was raised in an Armenian/Arab/Guatemalan/ Salvadoran household.   She credits Barnsdall Art Park classes for igniting her love for both photography and painting.

​She creates vibrant works that combine contemporary images with sacred references to indigenous iconography, knowledge, and folklore. Combining the new with the ancient, she explores ancestry as a way to reinterpret and navigate issues confronting our modern world. Through painting, printmaking, photography, and film her art visually narrates stories of resilience of cultures, elders, lgbtq, women, and the environment.

Lilia Ramirez

Lilia Ramirez p.k.a Liliflor is a cultural art educator championing youth in the arts, using art as a tool for healing and transformation. Since 1994 Lilia has been at the forefront of the Los Angeles youth movement; as co-founder of the Peace and Justice Center (PJC) in 1995, an innovative youth run center in Los Angeles. A decade later she received her B.A from UCLA’s World Arts and Cultural Studies. Lilia co-founded First Street Studios, soon after she served as Director of Annual Exhibitions for Mujeres de Maiz (International Women of Color Artist Collective & Zine), and curator at The Jean Deleage Gallery. Her current and past Artist Residencies include: LA Works, L.A.’s Best A.S.A.P, Casa 0101, L.A. Commons, City of Los Angeles Summer Night Lights, Arts 4 City Youth – Art As Resistance, African American Museum, Casa Coyo, Watts Labor Community Action Center, Theatre of Hearts, and Highways Art Gallery and ArtworxLa.

Suzy Hernández

Xicana artist Suzy Hernández, a radical tenderness bruja passing as a multidisciplinary artist viviendo en Davis CA, nacida en Chicanolandia (Los Angeles) Califas. Hernández has created works in performance art, fashion, pen and ink drawing, experimental audio y video, photography, and installation art for about two decades. A two-spirit being constantly trying to remember and return to where we originated from. No es de aqui ni de alla, pero de las estrellas. Her work concentrates on breaking down borders within ourselves to further decolonized the mind, body y espíritu. Invoking spirit personas como La Biker Curandera, Post-Apocoliptic Bruja, y La Llorona in her performances para ayudar a sanar las heridas. Creating images of these spirit personas in her two dimensional art work. Always drawing attention to the Xicano Indio raíces.

Since the late 90’s Hernández has had the privilege to show work alongside Karen Finley, Celia Herrera Rodriguez, Leigh Salgado, y Guillermo Gómez-Peña of La Pocha Nostra. Hernández attended California College of the Arts & Crafts en Oakland CA, where she studied printmaking and fiber-sculpture.

Suzy Hernández  is represented by Mat Gleason of Coagula Curatorial en Los Ángeles.

With the sun bright and warming us up, we welcome the sunshine into our studio when we can bear the heat! This session has brought new students in with a bunch of beautiful ideas.

This Spring, Yolo County Office of Education asked TANA to participate at the first ever Youth Empowerment Summit. This event is to teach and help youth understand why civic engagement is important and how they are a strong voting block. Two of our high school participants created a logo to be up for vote to be the official logo for next years event. Long time participant, Miguel Alonso, was the winner!

We also invite ya’ll to come join us at the end of this quarter for our Intern Exhibition June 8th, so that we may also support our up and coming young artists! Stay tuned for more details about this event.

Hello all! It has been awhile since we have given you an update on here!

 

We start studio for Spring Session today, Thursday April 19th, from 3-6 pm! We will also be open Saturday from 11 am – 4 pm this week. If you are interested in joining us, please contact Drucella Miranda at damiranda@ucdavis.edu.

 

There is exciting news about what has occurred over spring break though! TANA currently has a show up in Santa Cruz, CA at the Resource Center for Nonviolence. Appropriately titled Intersections, the show combines work from our studio with the work created in 1401, which is the silk-screening studio at UC Davis, that covers a diverse set of identities and issues people may face due to the intersections of their varying aspects of their lives. If you find yourself in Santa Cruz, feel free to stop by and check out the work Mondays-Thursdays from Noon – 4 pm! The show will be up until May 22nd.