JRA Distinguished Artist Series
CONSUELO JIMENEZ UNDERWOOD
Saturday, June 5th, 2010, 10:00 am to 3:00 pm
Location to be announced
Consuelo J. Underwood has exhibited and lectured and given workshops nationally and internationally for more than twenty five years. She was born in Sacramento, California, and received her BA and her MA from the San Diego State University. She developed the Fiber/Textile program in the School of Arts and Design at San Jose State University after receiving her MFA there in 1987. Her contributions to the contemporary Chicano and Fiber Art movements have been referenced in multiple critical publications and her work is in several museums, including our own Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Shifting from brushes and paint to needle and thread early in her career, she has infused her woven and embroidered textiles with historical and political images from her personal and familial past. She has said she has felt empowered by the voices of her maternal ancestors to cross the intellectual borders that separated the hand and the mind from the “fine” art spirit, and that her “work” reflects the quiet rage that has permeated the Americas for more than five hundred years.”
This hands-on workshop will be an interactive journey with Consuelo, revealing how threads have context, meaning and power. Participants, using miniature flags, needles and thread, will learn how to transform basic sewing materials and process into powerful statements that deal with contemporary social and political events. No knowledge of art or sewing is required.
Related Lecture: Consuelo Underwood will lecture on “Political Threads/Hilos Politicos- A Contemporary Perspective on Issues Regarding Spirit, Land and Art,” Sunday at 3:00 pm in the Grand Salon of the Renwick Gallery.