May 7 - June 4, 2022
From the Latino Cultural Center:
“For twenty years, Dallas-based artist, educator, and curator, Tina Medina has explored issues related to representation, migration, power, and pain. As a Xicana, Medina’s art reflects her culture and family history as she aims to understand and reconcile lifetimes of loss through colonization and assimilation. Curated by Jessica Fuentes, this exhibition demonstrates the connective threads—from ways of working to recurring themes—that resonate throughout Medina’s career. Her early works, which draw inspiration from paños (handkerchiefs that prisoners would decorate with pen and color pencils) are just the beginning of a continued practice of working with fabric. And while early in her practice, Medina focuses on identity through an investigation of stereotypes, her interest in examining identity expands over time to include broader cultural identities and struggles. Deviating from a strictly chronological display, Medina’s work is presented in six thematic sections: Power Poses, Ethnic Art, Fabric of Time, Coping Mechanisms, Patterning the Past, and Across Borders.
In addition to exhibiting past work, Medina presents new pieces including a site-specific installation which connects a video performance work created during the pandemic to her earlier paño pieces. During the reception she will also present a new performance piece in collaboration with choreographer Precious Harris, based on Medina’s newest series of works about migration and the toil of farmworkers.
Tina Medina: Xicanisma, A Retrospective, will be on view at the Latino Cultural Center from May 7 through June 4, 2022. A reception will be held on Saturday, May 7 from 6 – 8 p.m.
About the Artist:
Tina Medina is an artist, educator, and curator living in Dallas, Texas. Originally from West Texas, Medina earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at Texas Tech University and Master of Fine Arts degree at the University of North Texas. Since 2006 Medina has served as a full-time professor of art at the Mountain View campus of Dallas College. For over 16 years Medina has contributed to numerous art jury panels, speaking engagements, discussion panels and workshops in the city of Dallas, including being a member of the oldest artist-run co-op in Texas, 500X Gallery, and serving on City of Dallas Public Art Committees. Medina’s art has been exhibited nationally in exhibits such as Immigration, Migration, Movement & The Humanities at Arizona State University and Strive: An Exhibition Highlighting American Immigration & the American Dream at the D’Art Center in Norfolk, Virginia. Most recently her work was selected to be showcased in Arte Latino Now 2021, a virtual exhibition for the Center for Latino Studies at Queens University Charlotte in North Carolina, the Changarrito Artist of the Month 2021 for Mexic-Arte Museum in Austin and in a solo exhibition, They Didn’t Know We Were Seeds, at Norman Brown Gallery at the Goldmark Cultural Center in Dallas. She has curated exhibits such as Contemporary Latino American Artists of the Metroplex, ELLA: Exhibiting Local Latina Artists and Her Obsidian Intentions: Contemporary Latina Artists. In 2021 Medina co-founded Nuestra Artist Collective and will collaborate with several other Texas women artists who make art about the U.S./Mexico border to create the exhibit Fronteriza which will travel from Dallas to San Antonio and El Paso/Juarez. Learn more about the artist at https://www.tinamedina.com/. About the Curator: Jessica Fuentes is an artist, educator, author, and consultant. She received a BA in Art & Performance from the University of Texas at Dallas (2004) and an MA in Art Education with a Museum Certification from the University of North Texas (2013). As an art educator with 15 years of experience, Fuentes has taught learners of all ages in classrooms, higher education, and museums. Over the years, she has also contributed to institutional publications and national blogs. In 2021, her first peer-reviewed publication, The Need for Educators of Color in K-12 Museum Tours, appeared in the Journal of Museum Education and she authored the chapter, “Representation Matters: Diversifying School Tour Curriculum” in the book Creating Meaningful Museum Experiences for K-12 Audiences: How to Connect with Teachers and Students (October 2021), edited by Tara Young. Currently, Fuentes is the News Editor for Glasstire, Director of Kinfolk House, and a freelance museum consultant. Additionally, she serves on the boards of Make Art with Purpose (MAP) and Artes de la Rosa and on the Education Planning Committee for the Smithsonian Latino Center. Learn more about the curator at http://jessicafuentes.com/.”
Reception: May 7, 2022 | 6–8 pm
2600 Live Oak
Dallas, 75204 TX
(214) 671-0045
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