"For a woman, particularly a woman of color, it is a political act to commit a lifetime to the creative process.”—Lorraine García-Nakata
Join MACLA and SJMA as we celebrate the work of the late Yolanda López. MACLA’s Visual Arts Curator, Alyssarhaye Graciano, and artist Lorraine García-Nakata will discuss the power of art as a tool for social change, emphasizing the role of artists in addressing pressing societal issues. The talk will reference the works of both López and García-Nakata, examining their contributions both before and after motherhood and exploring how they utilized their platforms to effect change within their communities and on a broader scale.
Presented in connection with the exhibition Yolanda López: Portrait of the Artist.
Location
MACLA
510 S. First Street, San José, CA 95113.
About the Speakers
Lorraine García-Nakata
García-Nakata is a founding member of the Royal Chicano Air Force (RCAF) artist collective, and one of six muralists, and only woman, invited to paint Sacramento’s historic Southside Park Mural (circa 1977, restored in 2001). Her talk will share the trajectory of her visual art and key concepts that have thread through her work over decades to the present. A San Francisco resident since 1985, Ms. García-Nakata has exhibited on local, regional, national, and international levels and is highly recognized as an artist, cultural specialist, community activist, and cultural bearer. Her creative work navigates between disciplines including visual art, music, and writing. Adept in a range of visual arts mediums, she is noted for her large-scale drawings and paintings as well as her command in mixed media, printmaking, installation work, ceramics, sculpture and photography.
Alyssarhaye Graciano
Alyssarhaye Graciano is a practicing textile artist, published author, and the Visual Arts Curator at MACLA/Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana. Her curatorial practice has focused on emerging and established artists of color, uplifting untold stories, and artistic expressions. An experienced arts administrator, she has held positions at Silicon Valley Creates, New Museum Los Gatos, and ran a small business, BlackSheepMade offering textile workshops and selling her art. Born and raised in San José, Alyssarhaye is trilingual with a BA in Languages and Literature with an emphasis in Spanish and French from the University of California, Riverside.