Nora Chapa Mendoza (born 1932) is a Texas-born artist. She has been named Michigan Artist of the Year and in 1999 she received the Governor's Arts Award. In 1996, she was one of eight artists that participated in the renovation of Detroit's Music Hall.

Biography

Life and education

She was born in Weslaco, Texas to Mexican parents. She studied at the

Center for Creative Studies College for Creative Studies (CCS) is a private art school in Detroit, Michigan. It enrolls more than 1,400 students and focuses on arts education. The college is also active in offering art education to children through its Community Arts Par ...

in Detroit and Madonna University in Livonia, Michigan.

Art work

She has become well known for the forms hidden within her

abstract painting Abstract art uses visual language of shape, form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19th ...

s. Her paintings often draw on themes of immigration and

deterritorialization In critical theory, deterritorialization is the process by which a social relation, called a ''territory'', has its current organization and context altered, mutated or destroyed. The components then constitute a new territory, which is the proces ...

, human rights, labor, rebellion and are informed by her Mexican heritage and her experiences as an artist in Detroit. She has done work including

restoration Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to: * Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage ** Audio restoration ** Film restoration ** Image restoration ** Textile restoration * Restoration ecology ...

, workshops, artist in residence, and murals.

Arts Organizations

Throughout her life, Mendoza worked to create an environment where differences were valued, and where future generations would not experience the discrimination she experienced in her own life. In 1978, Mendoza, along with a group of Latino artists formed Nuestras Artes de Michigan (NAM), with chapters established in

Ann Arbor Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna (name), Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah (given name), Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie (given name), ...

, Detroit and Lansing. She was also a founding member of the Michigan Hispanic Cultural/Art Association (MHCC). In 1999, Mendoza acted as the official liaison to the Michigan Latino Arts and Culture Initiative, a collaboration of Casa de Unidad, the

Michigan Council for the Arts Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

, and the

Michigan Department of Education The Michigan Department of Education (MDE) is a state agency of Michigan, in the United States. The MDE oversees public school districts in the state. The department is governed by the State Board of Education. The State Board of Education was fi ...

Awards and recognition

In 1981, she opened Galeria Mendoza in Detroit, which became the "first legitimate Latin American art gallery ever established in Detroit." She has exhibited nationally and internationally, and her work is represented in collections around the world. Her collectors include Detroit's former Mayor Dennis Archer, singer

Aretha Franklin Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Referred to as the " Queen of Soul", she has twice been placed ninth in ''Rolling Stone''s "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". With ...

, actor Edward James Olmos, and the former president of General Motors Mr. Jack Smith. Corporate collectors include the Ford offices in Rockefeller Plaza (

New York, New York New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Uni ...

), Edison Plaza ( Detroit, Michigan), General Motors offices (Detroit, Michigan), and Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Michigan (Detroit, Michigan). She was named the Visual Artist of 2011 by the Wayne County Council for Arts, History & Humanities.

References

External links

Nora Chapa Mendoza papers, 1968-2016
at the Archives of American Art
Nora Chapa Mendoza Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chapa Mendoza, Nora 1932 births Living people Modern painters American women painters American artists of Mexican descent Painters from Michigan People from Weslaco, Texas 20th-century American painters 20th-century American women artists Madonna University alumni 21st-century American women artists