Folk art exhibit honors Latin America
ADRIANA CAPILLA-GARCIA
THE SIGNAL
The first Hispanic Folk Art exhibit to grace the halls of UHCL is now on display in the Bayou Building, Atrium I, as part of Hispanic Heritage Month 2013. Students, staff and faculty submitted artwork that represents countries throughout Latin America.
The exhibit is currently on display and will show until Oct. 15 with a closing reception from 3 to 4 p.m. featuring participants who submitted artwork. It is one of many Hispanic Heritage Month 2013 events sponsored by the Office of Intercultural Student Services.
Exhibited pieces include famous paintings, artwork created by UHCL students, artifacts, sculptures, patterned fabric, and calendars from Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama and Puerto Rico.
Imelda Estrada-Wicks, coordinator for transition and retention services in ISS, arranged the calendar of events available for Hispanic Heritage Month.
Estrada-Wicks worked with the Hispanic Heritage Month team, which consists of UHCL students, faculty and staff members, to develop events that would honor Hispanic Heritage Month.
Once the Hispanic Heritage Month team selected the Folk Art Exhibit, Estrada-Wicks invited every student who is self-identified as Hispanic or of Latin descent via email to participate in the exhibit.
“We wanted as many countries as we could to be exhibited,” Estrada-Wicks said.
Estrada-Wicks succeeded with a total of eight different Latin American countries represented in the exhibit, which accounts for the nationality of 3,188 self-identified Hispanic students at UHCL.
Two of the participants who submitted artwork are staff. The rest of the artwork was submitted by students or UHCL alumni.
“We had a great response, from alumni and students especially,” Estrada-Wicks said. “The main [goal] of these Hispanic Heritage Month events is that we want students involved. This is a way for them to be part of the celebration and get to be a part of Hispanic Heritage Month.”
Estrada-Wicks stated that UHCL student Leroy Martinez contributed a Mayan calendar, Mayan Chi Chen Itza shirt, maracas and a Zampoña (pan flute). These are artifacts that have been in his family for generations and originally belonged to his great grandparents.
Some of the students who submitted art for a specific country are not of that nationality, such as a painting that represents Costa Rica submitted by UHCL student Roxanna Sumrall. Sumrall went on a trip to Costa Rica and was able to purchase the painting, “Quetzal,” on display.
Karina Acosta, sociology major, submitted an Aztec calendar hand-made right in front of her from tree bark she purchased in Cuernavaca, Mexico, for $10. The fact that the calendar’s cost was only $10 impacted Acosta greatly. Acosta felt it gave her culture a sense of humility, inimitability and pride.
“I thought, wow, only $10 —so cheap!” Acosta said. “I would have sold it for $50 or $60. It made me see and be proud of our heritage. For me, it is not like I can go to Cuernavaca and buy it again.”
Acosta was the first student at Lee College to graduate with an Associate Degree in Mexican-American Studies. She feels the art exhibit enhances cultural pride among UHCL students.
“I am very proud of my heritage,” Acosta said. “I think not only the Hispanic heritage, but any other culture out there, should be implemented in school.”
Acosta also expressed her excitement to meet the rest of the artists at the closing ceremony.
Other Hispanic Heritage Month events include: Latino film “Bless Me, Ultima!;” a film screening and discussion of “Granito: How to Nail a Dictator;” an Empowering Latinos Symposium led by Jose Angel Gutierrez and John Valadez; two on-campus Farmers Markets; a “Painting on Canvas: Culture vs. Heritage” painting session; a cultural blast dance; and a Latin American book and flag display in the Bayou Building, Atrium 1.
The final event of Hispanic Heritage Month is the “Citizenship and Immigration Forum,” a community project aimed at getting volunteers to help complete citizenship applications, that will be held Oct. 19 from 8 a.m. to noon at West End Multi-Service Center located at 170 Heights Blvd. in Houston.
For more information on Hispanic Heritage Month and event details, visit www.uhcl.edu/iiss/hispanic or contact Imelda Estrada-Wicks at 281-283-3373.
