Summer Art Cruise includes gallery that links Latino artists with community
ABOVE: Paco Velez, who was recently named Arizona Biennial Artist by the Tucson Museum of Art, comments on the Bush administration in a piece on display in the Raices Taller 222 Gallery. RIGHT: Artist John Salgado with "The Histomap of Evolution." Salgado discovered the materials featured in this piece when cleaning out a shed. BELOW: A painting by Carolyn King, one of the newest member artists of the Raices Taller Gallery.
John Salgado’s assemblage art is on display Thursday as part of the “Mi Tierra, Mis Raices (My Land, My Roots)” exhibition at the Raices Taller 222 Gallery.
But Salgado’s roots run much deeper in Arizona’s soil than the pieces you see today.
His family worked for St. Anthony’s Mining Co. until the town of Tiger collapsed and its people were forced to move. Every summer, he and his cousin stayed in Tucson with their grandmother to help care for her chickens and keep the house in order. Salgado remembers vividly the fruit crate his grandmother nailed to the wall of her kitchen that held the Santo de Niños, the Children’s Saint, and the collage of toys and candles inside.
“When the kids were sick in the neighborhood, they would come to my grandmother and ask her to pray for them,” Salgado says. They gave her something that belonged to the ailing child, and she carefully placed it in her shrine on the wall for good luck.
“Everything about contemporary art is related to everything that happened before,” says Mike Dominguez, partner of the Davis Dominguez Gallery and veteran of the downtown art scene since December 1976. “You’re the result of your experience and your background.”
Raices Taller is one of the many contemporary art destinations on the eighth annual Summer Art Cruise held by the Central Tucson Gallery Association. This year’s cruise features 10 galleries that will hold receptions and offer extended hours Saturday to let the public become acquainted with them.
The gallery was founded nine years ago, and its humble roots have a lot to do with how things are run today. Salgado remembers a time when Latino artists like him struggled to make a name for themselves.
“Established galleries in town wouldn’t show our work. They would say that Latino art is too colorful, too bloody. The subject matter is too dark, and it’s not what people want,” Salgado says. “I understand that to a point, because they’re in the business to make a buck. They have to make money. That’s their living.”
“Now we’re the only nonprofit, co-op gallery left in Tucson,” he says. “Our goal is not to be a rich organization. It’s never been that. We’re an educational nonprofit. All the money that comes in goes right back out.”
The gallery runs strictly on donations and the dedication of its eight member artists. Each member artist pays a $50 monthly fee to keep the workshop alive and continue inspiring the community.
“All of our artists are working,” Salgado says. “We do this in our spare time. At the same time we’re trying to raise families, pay the rent, buy groceries and buy art supplies.”
The gallery’s back room is a workshop dedicated to maintaining the conversation among artists of all backgrounds and giving them the tools they cannot afford themselves.
“The biggest difference between us and other organizations is it’s not just about being an artist,” Salgado says. “You have to be community-involved. With the cuts in funding to arts education, there’s a serious lack of art.”
The Summer Art Cruise will be held Saturday and is the last day of the “Mi Tierra, Mis Raices” exhibit. The Raices Taller reception is from 6-9 p.m., allowing viewers a chance to meet the artists and discuss their work both on canvas and in the community.
———
IF YOU GO
What: eighth annual Summer Art Cruise
When: most receptions 6-9 p.m. Saturday
Where: various galleries (see accompanying list)
Price: free
Info: 629-9759 (Davis Dominguez Gallery) and www.ctgatucson.org (Central Tucson Gallery Association’s Web site)
Shuttle: A free shuttle service to transport visitors between locations will be provided starting at 6 p.m. at the parking lot of Sixth Street and Sixth Avenue.
———
PARTICIPATING GALLERIES
University of Arizona Museum of Art and Joseph Gross Gallery, 1031 N. Olive St. “La Tauromaquia,” Francisco de Goya. Photography by Louise Serpa. “Lost in the Woods” group exhibition. Reception 6-9 p.m.; 621-7567, www.artmuseum. arizona.edu
Dinnerware Contemporary, 101 W. Sixth St. “Salon des Refuses.” Reception 7-9 p.m.; 792-4503, www.dinnerwarearts.com
Davis Dominguez Gallery, 154 E. Sixth St. “The Fifteenth Small Works Invitational.” Reception 6-8 p.m.; 629-9759, www.davisdominguez.com
Philabaum Glass Studio, 711 S. Sixth Ave. “Philabaum and Phriends.” No reception. Gallery hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; 884-7404, www.philabaumglass.com
The Gallery at 6th and 6th, 439 N. Sixth Ave. “Sal Sirugo: Intimate Visions” by Sal Sirugo. Reception 6-9 p.m.; 903-0650, www.sixthandsixth.com
Conrad Wilde Gallery, 210 N. Fourth Ave. “She Objects! II: Women Who Make Objects.” Reception 6-9 p.m.; 622-8997, www.conradwildegallery.com
The Drawing Studio, 214 N. Fourth Ave. “Birds of a Feather…?” Reception 6-9 p.m.; 620-0947, www.thedrawingstudio.org
Platform Gallery, 439 N. Sixth Ave. “New Works by Douglass Truth and Jack Balas.” Reception 6-9 p.m.; 882-3886, platformart.com
Gallery Centella, 340 S. Convent Ave. “The Human Presence.” Reception 6-9 p.m.; 798-3400, www.studiocentella.com
Raices Taller 222 Gallery, 222 E. Sixth St. “Mi Tierra, Mis Raices.” Reception 6-9 p.m.; 792-9619, www.raicestaller222.org