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"I
was very surprised and very proud when I did finish the piece. It was very
nice, it was a feeling of, not only a mixture of being surprised, but a mixture
of accomplishment. It was a mixture of affirming that there was some kind
of art within me, or that I could do something." — Imelda Arisméndez
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MujerARTES invites you to come into our Casita.
What is MujerARTES? Started in 1995 and operating out of a house in San Antonio's westside, MujerARTES is one of the groundbreaking programs of the Esperanza. It is a pottery cooperative where we work in clay, explore our creative skills and develop our oral histories. It is through sculpting, drawing, painting and telling our stories that we have created artwork that reflects our lives, as women.
It is in this sharing and learning, that we find ourselves talking about community issues that really impact us. In one afternoon, we talk about child care, family, unfair labor practices, welfare and even discrimination. We recognize that for many years nuestra cultura has been criticized, ignored and even erased. We find that our culture is now being neatly-packaged for tourists and television commercials. We strive to recapture our cherished voices and struggle to maintain our wonderful traditions found in our Mexicana / Chicana / Indígena/ Mestiza communities of San Antonio, South Texas and México. We recognize that as women, we are the keepers of our cultures and that it is through us that our traditions move to the next generations.
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I
don't know anything about my history. Being a mujer is important. I hunger
for my history and where I'm from. I would like to know what my ancestors
were like and what their traditions were." — Rosa Maria Peña
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MujerArtes
is made possible
by generous grants from the
Texas Commission on the Arts
and the San Antonio Area Foundation.
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Esperanza
Peace & Justice Center
922 San Pedro
San
Antonio Texas 78212
210-228-0201, Fax 210-228-0000
esperanza@esperanzacenter.org
© 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 all rights reserved
