Since the very beginning of Esperanza, art of all kinds has been integral to our work. Over the years we have been proud to host numerous visual art exhibitions— providing encouragement to local artists, while exposing San Antonio to important and otherwise-invisible national and international artists.
The gallery in our first building may have been modest, but it was an exciting place for San Antonio in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and quickly became known as a place where emerging artists could get their first chance. Especially for women, people-of-color, and queer artists, Esperanza became the home, the refuge where people felt free to express themselves honestly about issues close to their hearts, without being attacked, without being asked to "tone things down" or to self-censor their work.
In 1988, for example, Esperanza presented "The AIDS Series", the first visual art show in San Antonio about a subject no one else wanted to talk about or address. At the opening reception, activists circulated petitions, while speakers, straight and gay, talked about the effect AIDS has had on their lives and on the lives of the people they love. While public sentiment with HIV and AIDS has changed, in 1988 "The AIDS series" was considered a very radical and controversial subject. As independent visual art has been increasingly demonized in the U.S. especially, Esperanza has repeatedly come under attack for our visual arts programming. In June of 1993, the Esperanza was evicted the day after the opening of our annual lesbian and gay art show.
To eliminate the possibility of eviction, the Esperanza purchased a building in 1994. Our gallery space tripled in size. Over 800 people came to "Who We Art", the sixth annual lesbian gay art exhibition that marked the one year anniversary of the eviction. Since then Esperanza's shows have expressed the visions of over 1500 local, national and international artists including: Phillip Avila, Santa Barraza, David Zamora Casas, Veronica Castillo, Magda Chellet, Fle, Carolina Flores, Marsha Gomez, Harmony Hammond, Michael Marínez, Cesar Martinez, Lisa Mellinger, Laura Paris, Alan Pogue, Cruz Ortiz, Carlos Gutierrez Solana, Kathy Vargas, Bernica Williams, Liliana Wilson and Terry Ybañez.
”Mujeres y Artistas (Women and Artists) seems to spring from more basic concerns, such as justice and equality. As such, it offers access to women and minorities who might not ordinarily have such opportunities for presentations of their work.” — Marcia Goren Weser, critic for the San Antonio Light, Nov 20, 1988
“As an artist who has participated in hundreds of shows nationally and internationally, and as a promoter of art visibility in both the public and private sectors, I want to extend to you my most heartfelt congratulations for your recent exhibition at the Esperanza Center Gallery. The dedicated work that was done to bring each piece into sharp focus, the extraordinary creativity that went into visualizing the interrelationship of all the works involved was impressive — as was the respectful and joyful spirit in which the myriad tasks were accomplished. Additionally, I was so relieved to have such skilled assistance in assembling my own installations… I was so pleased to have had the opportunity to meet and talk with all of the people who are associated with the Esperanza Gallery. I hope that I will be working with you again in the future.” — Wendy Cadden, Director of Art Fusion, January 28, 1995
Esperanza
Peace & Justice Center
922 San Pedro
San Antonio Texas 78212
210-228-0201, Fax 210-228-0000
esperanza@esperanzacenter.org
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