Linda Vallejo
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Linda Vallejo (born 1951 in
East Los Angeles East Los Angeles ( es, Este de Los Ángeles), or East L.A., is an unincorporated area in Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 118,786, a drop of 6.1% from 2010, when it was 126,496. For statistical purpo ...
) is an American
artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse refers to a practitioner in the visual arts only. However, th ...
known for painting, sculpture and ceramics. Her work often addresses her
Mexican-American Mexican Americans ( es, mexicano-estadounidenses, , or ) are Americans of full or partial Mexican heritage. In 2019, Mexican Americans comprised 11.3% of the US population and 61.5% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% of Mexica ...
ethnic identity within the context of American art and popular culture. The founder of the commercial art gallery ''Galería Las Américas, ''she is also an arts educator and has been involved in'' ''traditional Native American and Mexican rituals and ceremonies for many years. Vallejo's work was included in three exhibitions organized as part of the Getty-sponsored "Pacific Standard Time: Art in Los Angeles 1945-1980"- "Doin' It in Public: Feminism and Art at the
Woman's Building The Woman's Building was a non-profit arts and education center located in Los Angeles, California. The Woman's Building focused on feminist art and served as a venue for the women's movement and was spearheaded by artist Judy Chicago, graphic de ...
,"
Otis College of Art and Design Otis College of Art and Design is a private art and design school in Los Angeles, California. Established in 1918, it was the city's first independent professional school of art. The main campus is located in the former IBM Aerospace headquarte ...
; "Breaking in Two: Provocative Visions of Motherhood," Santa Monica Arena 1; and "Mapping Another LA: The Chicano Art Movement," UCLA
Fowler Museum The Fowler Museum at UCLA, commonly known as The Fowler, and formerly Museum of Cultural History and Fowler Museum of Cultural History, is a museum on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) which explores art and material ...
.


Biography

Linda Vallejo was born in East Los Angeles. Her father entered the
United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...
as a commissioned officer and frequently moved the family. Vallejo received a Bachelor of Arts degree in
Fine Arts In European academic traditions, fine art is developed primarily for aesthetics or creative expression, distinguishing it from decorative art or applied art, which also has to serve some practical function, such as pottery or most metalwork ...
from
Whittier College Whittier College (Whittier Academy (1887–1901)) is a private liberal arts college in Whittier, California. It is a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) and, as of fall 2022, had approximately 1,300 (undergraduate and graduate) students. It was ...
in 1973, studied
lithography Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...
at the University of Madrid, Spain, and earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from
California State University, Long Beach California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) is a public research university in Long Beach, California. The 322-acre campus is the second largest of the 23-school California State University system (CSU) and one of the largest universities i ...
in 1978. Vallejo lives in
Topanga, California Topanga () (Tongva: ''Topaa'nga'') is a census-designated place (CDP) in western Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located in the Santa Monica Mountains, the community exists in Topanga Canyon and the surrounding hills. The narrow s ...
, with her husband Ron Dillaway, whom she married in 1977. She has two sons, Robert and Paul. In 1973, Vallejo was one of the early art teachers at Self-Help Graphics Barrio Mobile Art Studio, an arts non-profit primarily serving the Latino community of Los Angeles with arts education, printmaking and support. Over the years, she participated in numerous exhibitions at Self-Help Graphics. Her latest offering is an online grant writing course called A to Z Grantwriting. A to Z Grantwriting was established in 1985 with a 3-hour grantwriting class taught through the Learning Annex adult evening classes. In 1995 Ms. Vallejo expanded this workshop to create the A to Z Grantwriting Online Course, a 12 lesson / six-week on-line course with hundreds of resources, tools, samples, and examples. It includes free online writing resources for grantwriters or arts professionals who want to learn how to write a grant.


Art

Vallejo's early works address symbolism of indigenous traditions of Mexico and the Americas through the genre of painting. In many of these works, she used surrealism to create a sense of a dream-state in her paintings. Many of her works were motivated by "dreams and premonitions." After purchasing a
Dick and Jane ''Dick and Jane'' are the two main characters created by Zerna Sharp for a series of basal readers written by William S. Gray to teach children to read. The characters first appeared in the ''Elson-Gray Readers'' in 1930 and continued in a sub ...
primer at a thrift store, she got the idea to change their skin color. Around 2010, she began appropriating American pop icons like
Mickey Mickey is a given name and nickname, almost always masculine and often a short form (hypocorism) of Michael (given name), Michael, and occasionally a surname. Notable people and characters with the name include: People Given name or nickname Men ...
,
Minnie Mouse Minnie Mouse is a cartoon character created by The Walt Disney Company. As the longtime sweetheart of Mickey Mouse, she is an anthropomorphic mouse with white gloves, a bow, polka-dotted dress, white bloomers, and low-heeled shoes occasionally w ...
,
Cinderella "Cinderella",; french: link=no, Cendrillon; german: link=no, Aschenputtel) or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a folk tale with thousands of variants throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsi ...
,
Fred Flintstone Fred Flintstone is the main character of the animated sitcom '' The Flintstones'', which aired during prime-time on ABC during the original series' run from 1960 to 1966. Fred is the husband of Wilma Flintstone and father of Pebbles Flintsto ...
,
Barney Rubble Barney Rubble is a fictional character who appears in the television animated series ''The Flintstones''. He is the diminutive, blond-haired caveman husband of Betty Rubble and adoptive father of Bamm-Bamm Rubble. His best friend is his next d ...
,
Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...
(El Vis),
Marilyn Monroe Marilyn Monroe (; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; 1 June 1926 4 August 1962) was an American actress. Famous for playing comedic " blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and early 1960s, as wel ...
(Marielena), historical figures such as
Marie Antoinette Marie Antoinette Josèphe Jeanne (; ; née Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last queen of France before the French Revolution. She was born an archduchess of Austria, and was the penultimate child a ...
and
Louis-Auguste Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was e ...
, and numerous American presidents, presenting them all as Mexicans with tanned skin (sometimes with tattoos) in her series titled "Make 'Em All Mexicans." In 2014, Chicano Studies scholar Karen Mary Davalos presented the paper "Linda Vallejo: An Arc of Indigenous Spirituality and Indigenist Sensibility" at the Roundtable of Latina Feminism at John Carroll University. Davalos first presented this paper at the Third Biennial National Conference of Latino Art Now in 2010. Davalos notes, “From one perspective, Vallejo has stolen, denied, and suppressed white representational power, and with a brush stroke, she has recoded it brown. Vallejo’s ake'Em All Mexicanseries is quietly disorienting, fiercely defies closure, and invokes uncertainty. Viewers have the sense that Vallejo is not yet finished with her social critique. Racial coding, she reminds us, is only skin-deep.” In 2016, she reprised "Make 'Em All Mexican" at the request of UCLA Film Professor
Chon Noriega Chon A. Noriega is an American art historian, media scholar, and curator. Noriega is professor of cinema and media studies at UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. He was also the director of the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center (CSRC) ...
. By "brown-washing" Hollywood celebrities
Cate Blanchett Catherine Elise Blanchett (; born 14 May 1969) is an Australian actor. Regarded as one of the finest performers of her generation, she is known for her versatile work across independent films, blockbusters, and the stage. She has received nu ...
(Catarina Blancarte),
Ben Affleck Benjamin Géza Affleck (born August 15, 1972) is an American actor and filmmaker. His accolades include two Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards and a Volpi Cup. Affleck began his career as a child when he starred in the PBS educationa ...
and
Matt Damon Matthew Paige Damon (; born October 8, 1970) is an American actor, film producer, and screenwriter. Ranked among ''Forbes'' most bankable stars, the films in which he has appeared have collectively earned over $3.88 billion at the North Americ ...
(Mateo y Bernardo),
Audrey Hepburn Audrey Hepburn (born Audrey Kathleen Ruston; 4 May 1929 – 20 January 1993) was a British actress and humanitarian. Recognised as both a film and fashion icon, she was ranked by the American Film Institute as the AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars, t ...
(Aurora Hernandez),
Marilyn Monroe Marilyn Monroe (; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; 1 June 1926 4 August 1962) was an American actress. Famous for playing comedic " blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s and early 1960s, as wel ...
(Marielena), and Oscar statues (supposedly modeled after Mexican Emilio Fernandez), they suddenly became starlets of Mexican descent, which attracted a lot of press in light of the ongoing #OscarsSoWhite campaign. Regarding this body of work, Marlene Donohue observes, "The exaggerated cliches here seem deliberate, designed to remind us that however much myriad identities/realities are marketed both in academia and consumer culture as the new 'post-race' norm, the ideology of racial domination continues." She is included in the encyclopedic ''L.A. Rising: SoCal Artists Before 1980''.


Exhibitions

Vallejo's work has been included in well over 100 group exhibitions and she has had over twenty solo exhibitions in museums, city galleries, and commercial spaces in Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, New Mexico, New York, Texas,Washington, D.C. as well as Mexico and Spain. Her work was featured in three touring exhibitions " Chicano Art: Resistance and Affirmation"(1990-1993), "El Gran Mexico: Shared Border Spaces"(2014-2015), and "My Hero: Contemporary Art & Superhero Action"(2016-2018). Vallejo's work was the subject of both "Fierce Beauty: A Forty-Year Retrospective Exhibition"(2010), organized by the Boat House Gallery at the
Plaza de la Raza The Plaza de la Raza (Place of the People) is a multidisciplinary cultural arts and educational center located in Lincoln Park in East Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1970 by actress Margo Albert and trade union activist Frank S. Lóp ...
Cultural Center for Arts and Education in Los Angeles, California; and "Make 'Em All Mexican," a 2011 solo exhibition curated by Chicano Studies scholar Dr. Karen Mary Davalos for Avenue 50 Studio, which traveled through 2015 to museums, including
Fresno Art Museum The Fresno Art Museum is an art museum in Fresno, California. The museum's collection includes contemporary art, modern art, Mexican and Mexican-American art, and Pre-Columbian sculpture. Mission Statement "The Fresno Art Museum offers a dynami ...
,
Robert and Frances Fullerton Museum of Art The Robert and Frances Fullerton Museum of Art, also known as RAFFMA, is an art museum of the California State University, San Bernardino main campus in San Bernardino, California. RAFFMA's permanent collections includes a world-class collection ...
, and Lancaster Museum of Art and History, and commercial galleries in California and Illinois.


Collections

Vallejo's work is included in the collections of the Carnegie Museum, Oxnard, California;
Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile, Los Angeles, California, Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Pa ...
, Los Angeles, California;
National Museum of Mexican Art The National Museum of Mexican Art (NMMA), formerly known as the Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum, is a museum featuring Mexican, Latino, and Chicano art and culture. It is located in Harrison Park in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois ...
,
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
, Illinois;
California Ethnic and Multicultural Archives California Ethnic and Multicultural Archives (CEMA) is an archival institution that houses collections of primary source documents from the history of minority ethnic groups in California. The documents, which include manuscripts, slide photograph ...
(CEMA),
University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduate ...
, California; and
UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center The UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center (CSRC) was founded in 1969 to foster multidisciplinary research efforts at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). It is one of four ethnic studies centers established at UCLA that year, all of whic ...
, Los Angeles, California.


Quotes

"I don't believe a healthy human culture can be sustained by destroying nature. We need to integrate our relationship with nature as we have done so readily with machines and war. There are responsibilities that accompany life, both in art and in the natural world."-Linda Vallejo (2002) "Today ''Make 'Em All Mexican'' is a satire, but it's also a peek into the future," given that well over half of all California public students are Latino.-Linda Vallejo (2016)http://www.chicano.ucla.edu/files/news/FYCMEAM%20Press%20Release_21916FINAL.pdf


References


External links

*
Linda Vallejo interview
UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center & Karen Mary Davalos from August 2007 * I nterview with Linda Vallejo (a three part series), UC Santa Barbara from August 11, 1983 {{DEFAULTSORT:Vallejo, Linda 1951 births Whittier College alumni California State University, Long Beach alumni American artists of Mexican descent Living people California State University, Long Beach faculty University of California, Irvine faculty Artists from Los Angeles Chicano 20th-century American women artists People from East Los Angeles, California 20th-century American artists 21st-century American women artists 21st-century American artists