Amador County Arts Council introduces a new ONLINE Gallery. Now you can enjoy the art from the comfort of your home. Click the ‘II’ button to pause on a particular piece from an artist.
CURRENT SHOW: Latinx Art Show (April 17th – May 15th, 2020)
The Latinx Art show will be temporarily housed on our AmadorArts Gallery page until we are able to have the art show in-person. Due to this move to an online format, we can now display more pieces from the artists that have participated in the show!
Alicia van de Bor
Artist Bio: Alicia van de Bor is a Mexican-American artist who was born and raised in Stockton California and recently moved to Oakdale California where she resides with her husband and two dogs; a pug named Guido and an Australian Shepherd Border Collie mix named Bella. She first became interested in art through her grandmother who introduced her to ceramics and textiles. Alicia attends California State University Stanislaus where she plans to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art. Alicia’s work has been exhibited at the Goodwin Gallery, LH Horton Jr Gallery, the Mexican Heritage Center & Gallery, and Dean DeCarli Waterfront Plaza. In the summer of 2020, she hopes to visit Santa Fe New Mexico where she plans to visit the La Cieneguilla Petroglyphs, and the Museum of International Folk Art which is home to the world’s largest collection of folk art.
Artist Statement: My artwork seeks opportunities to blend history and culture where the viewer is invited to compare and contrast the similarities between the two. In this piece I use form, narrative, and color to examine Greek and Mexican women makers by comparing traditions of weaving. The vessel I created is based on a lekythos from the Archaic Greek period that depicts Greek women weaving on an upright loom which was one of the most important tasks for women; preparing wool for the weaving of cloth. My vessel depicts a solitary Mexican female sitting and weaving with a back-strap loom. The image is inspired by the women weavers of the community of Pinotepa de Don Luis in Oaxaca Mexico who have formed a multigenerational cooperative called Tixinda which passes down the 3,000+ year old tradition of spinning and weaving. Lastly, my piece combines the ancient black-figure painting technique while alluding to the bright colors that Mexico is so well-known for.
Website: https://aliciavandebor.com/
Jacqueline Valenzuela
Artist Bio: Jacqueline Valenzuela is an East L.A born artist currently living in Whittier. She obtained her Drawing and Painting BFA from CSULB. Upon becoming a lowrider owner, she became more aware of the lack of representation for women lowriders. Her work flourished as it began to magnify the important role women lowriders play. Using bold colors, portraiture and the urban landscape she creates compositions that emphasize femininity in a male-dominated world. She has shown her work in various non-profits, artist-run spaces and galleries within the L.A. county. Most recently she has had her first solo show in Baldwin Park.
Artist Statement: My work stems from my exposure to the lowriding world as a female lowrider owner. I am able to bring other women’s stories to a wider audience that would otherwise be unaware about women who cruise. Using bold colors, portraiture and the urban landscape I create compositions that emphasize femininity in a male-dominated world. The color palettes, architectural references and signage are all from the environments that these lowrider cars cruise through. The artwork demands that the audience not overlook the real-life experiences of these women, their candied cars and a concrete jungle.
Website: https://jacquelinevalenzuela.com/
Kari Uhlman
Artist Bio: Kari Uhlman lives in California. She is a married, retired civil servant and Mending the Soul Facilitator. She volunteers teaching art for domestic violence, sexual assault, and sex trafficking survivors. She studied General Design. She was first introduced to art as a child, through her neighbor. Her acrylic paintings bring joyful art to your doorstep. It’s about surrendering everything to Jesus. She wants to convey courage to deal with feelings we prefer to ignore. Upon viewing her pieces, you will immediately be transported to a sense of calm peacefulness. Her acrylic paintings include, but are not limited to stunning, vibrant, welcoming scenes. Her artistic influence is the hand of God, displaying His majesty in all creation.
Artist Statement: As an artist, I burst forth in courage to bring joyful art to your doorstep.
Website: https://www.uhltrawomanart.com/
Alyssa Vargas
Artist Bio: Alyssa is a fine/digital artist from Pioneer, CA. She felt compelled to enter this show due to her Puerto Rican descent. She currently works as an Art Center Assistant at AmadorArts. She received her Associate’s Degree from Folsom Lake College in May of 2019, and runs two online art business on the website Etsy in her spare time. She was honored to receive the Kingsley Merit Scholarship Award in 2019 and had her work displayed in a temporary show at the Crocker Art Museum. Much of her art is based upon her love of nature and animals.
Artist Statement: My art is heavily inspired by nature. Growing up in the foothills of Northern California, I have developed a passion for both the native and the non-native creatures that I see around me. I am particularly drawn to insects and reptiles, and my art tends to reflect these interests. I enjoy painting portraits the most, whether they be pet, wildlife, or human portraits. I simply paint what I am inspired by, not what I feel people want to see or buy. I have always been a shy person, and I feel that my art is my outlet to express myself in ways that words cannot.
Website: http://www.alyssavargas.net
James Binder III
Artist Bio: James Binder III is the creator of “UGAWD” a lifestyle brand, meant to teach one that you are the ultimate handler of your future. Based on a concept of hustle until you are seen not heard. As a self taught artist, that loves to mix colorful and emotional art with nostalgic imaging, he has developed a style of his own. Influenced heavily from the great pop-artist of the 60’s and 70’s like, Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol with most of his canvas images. James attempts to convey emotion with every layer of color. The contemporary part of his work is mostly viewed in the background of his works and sometimes subliminally; however, its visually apparent in the foreground or the pop icons that he may use.
Artist Statement: I’m James Binder III, I specialize in Neo Pop Art portraits; with a blend of Contemporary implementation. I love to express myself via bright colors, sprinkled with strong subliminal content which is always nostalgic in ilk. Blend that with some well known imagery (Gucci, Disney, Simpsons, Graffiti etc.) and you get my Neo POP-Art style!
Website: https://www.ugawd.com/
Robert Falco
Artist Bio: Robert Falco (b. 1992 lives and works in Oakland, CA) received his BFA in Painting from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2015. Falco’s work ranges from oil on canvas to mixed media on stretched vinyl. Creating a body of work that through its conversation between reality and fiction, ghoulish and sincere, pristine and dirty, questions the mechanics of painting by visual lamination. His paintings are a median of impressionism, surrealism and abstraction that transforms acts of defacement into a painterly sublime.
Website: https://robertfalco.net/
Molas from Panamá
About: The Mola is a hand-made textile that forms part of the traditional women’s clothing of the Kuna people from Panamá and parts of Colombia. The full costume includes a patterned wrapped skirt (saburet), a red and yellow headscarf (musue), arm and leg beads (wini), a gold nose ring (olasu) and earrings in addition to the mola blouse (dulemor).
In Dulegaya, the Guna’s native language, “mola” means “shirt” or “clothing”. The mola originated with the tradition of kuna women painting their bodies with geometric designs, using available natural colors; in later years these same designs were woven in cotton, and later still, sewn using cloth bought from the Spanish settlers of Panamá.
Molas have their origin in body painting. Only after colonization by the Spanish and contact with missionaries did the Guna start to transfer their traditional geometric designs on fabric, first by painting directly on the fabric and later by using the technique of reverse appliqué. It is not known for certain when this technique was first used. It seems to have originated in the second half of the nineteenth century.
As an inspiration for their designs, the Guna first used the geometrical patterns which have been used for body painting before. In the past 50 years, they have also depicted realistic and abstract designs of flowers, sea animals and birds, and popular culture.
Molas are hand-made using a reverse applique technique. Several layers (usually two to seven) of different-colored cloth (usually cotton) are sewn together; the design is then formed by cutting away parts of each layer. The edges of the layers are then turned under and sewn down. Often, the stitches are nearly invisible. This is achieved by using a thread the same color as the layer being sewn, sewing blind stitches, and sewing tiny stitches. The finest molas have extremely fine stitching, made using tiny needles.
The largest pattern is typically cut from the top layer, and progressively smaller patterns from each subsequent layer, thus revealing the colors beneath in successive layers. This basic scheme can be varied by cutting through multiple layers at once, hence varying the sequence of colours; some molas also incorporate patches of contrasting colors, included in the design at certain points to introduce additional variations of color.
Molas will often be found for sale with signs of use, such as stitch marks around the edges (such as the green/lime one here on display. Such imperfections indicate that the mola was made for use, and not simply for sale to tourists. A mola can take from two weeks to six months to make, depending on the complexity of the design.- Wikipedia
The people of Central America are proud of the Kuna and celebrate their visibility, culture, and art form.
You can also view the LatinX Art Show on our YouTube page: