Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Jesse Treviño, 2020 July 20. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Recuerdos Orales: Interviews of the Latino Art Community in Texas Search this
Type:
Sound recordings
Interviews
Citation:
Quotes and excerpts must be cited as follows: Oral history interview with Jesse Treviño, 2004 July 15-16. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Topic:
Painters -- Texas -- San Antonio -- Interviews Search this
Muralists -- Texas -- San Antonio -- Interviews Search this
An interview of Jesse Treviño conducted 2004 July 15-16, by Cary Cordova, for the Archives of American Art, in San Antonio, Texas.
Treviño discusses his birth in Monterrey, Mexico; moving to San Antonio; being one of 12 children; attending the Art Students League of New York; being drafted into Vietnam; the Mekong Delta; falling into a booby trap and being badly wounded; the long recovery and the subsequent amputation of his right hand; learning to paint with his left hand; his first shows; his "Mi Vida" self-portrait; the numerous poster contests he won as a youth; his art training; the difficulty in organizing Chicano art shows; the relationships with his siblings, particularly his oldest sister, Eva; his Santa Rosa Hospital mural ("Spirit of Healing"); and the importance of public art, particularly murals. Treviño also discusses his Veladora; his early left-handed paintings; the classification of himself as a "Realist"; how he chooses the sites he paints; helping form the Alameda/Smithsonian art center; being invited to talk at veteran's groups and high schools; his early paintings on black canvas; his new public art project on San Antonio's notorious Guadalupe Street; his Wells Fargo Bank mural and its formation; his interest, or lack thereof, in photography; his portraits of Henry B. Gonzales and his mother; his painting, "Mis Hermanos;" his successful one man show at the San Antonio Museum of Art; his relationships with galleries; the rejuvenating qualities of art in poor neighborhoods; his trip to Chile with Hillary Clinton, as part of her First Lady's Convention; being honored at the White House; and how he wants his art to unite people. Treviño also recalls William Draper, Felipe Reyes, Katherine Alsup, Earl Mayan, George Cortex, Gilbert Denman, Kevin Consey, Lionel Sosa, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Jesse Treviño (1946- ) is a painter from San Antonio, Texas. Cary Cordova (1970- ) is an art historian from Austin, Texas.
General:
Originally recorded on 5 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 6 digital wav files. Duration is 5 hr., 11 min.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
Restrictions:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
Topic:
Painters -- Texas -- San Antonio -- Interviews Search this
Muralists -- Texas -- San Antonio -- Interviews Search this
This interview is part of the series "Recuerdos Orales: Interviews of the Latino Art Community in Texas," supported by Federal funds for Latino programming, administered by the Smithsonian Center for Latino Initiatives.
Funding for the digital preservation of this interview was provided by a grant from the Save America's Treasures Program of the National Park Service.
An interview of Liliana Wilson conducted 2004 July 13-27, by Cary Cordova, for the Archives of American Art, in Austin, Texas.
Wilson displays a slideshow of her works and discusses Disparecidos en el Cielo; The Gatekeepers; The Immigrants; Man Running from Himself; Girl and Red Fish; Self-Portrait; Organic Barbed Wire; The Fish Tree; The Wedding; Desperate Housewife; The Lovers; The Meaning of Life; Lies; Proposition 187; Luciano; Time; Shift; El dia en que le hicieron pedazos la corona; Casi Gomez; Man and Leaf, and others. Wilson also discusses her relationship with Gloria Anzaldua; her sister's kidnapping by the Pinochet regime; experiences winning art contests at primary school; her uncommon last name; her use of Catholic imagery; her bad experience teaching; her childhood in Valparaiso, Chile; the patriarchal qualities of Chilean culture; attending architecture school and then transferring to law; her father's death and the family's resulting financial struggles; her disdain for traditional political paradigms; Santiago during the 1973 coup by Augusto Pinochet; her apartment being raided by the Army; moving to America and working as an au pair; enrolling in Austin Community College; her color choices in her paintings; moving to San Francisco; her various jobs doing commercial art; her early grant from MACLA; her anti-social nature, and how Anzaldua's nature is similar; her various residences in San Francisco; her conversion to Buddhism; moving back to Austin and her love for its community; learning to promote her own work; painting nude forms; her disdain for certain Catholic ideologies; the painters which she considers influences, such as Bosch, Kahlo, and Klee; her inability to be recognized by museums; the masculine nature of art academia; her involvement in the San Antonio arts scene; and the positive qualities of the United States. Wilson also discusses Cynthia Perez, Mia Gonzales, Jesse Treviño, Rene Yañez, Pema Chödrön, Neil Wilson, Arturo Almeida, Mary Margaret Navarro, Marjorie Agosin, and others.
Biographical / Historical:
Liliana Wilson (1953-) is a Chilean born artist in Austin, Texas. Cary Cordova (1970-) is an art historian from Austin, Texas.
General:
Originally recorded on 6 sound discs. Reformatted in 2010 as 8 digital wav files. Duration is 4 hr., 55 min.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
Restrictions:
Transcript available on the Archives of American Art website.
This interview is part of the series "Recuerdos Orales: Interviews of the Latino Art Community in Texas," supported by Federal funds for Latino programming, administered by the Smithsonian Center for Latino Initiatives.
The digital preservation of this interview received Federal support from the Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center.
(lists of artists; clippings; letter to TYF from Charles Richard Carlisle, Southwest Texas State University, 08/01/1980; catalogs; press release; generic letter to members of Xochil Art Institute from Xavier Gorena, 03/1982; letter to TYF from Ida Rodríguez Prampolini, 08/05/1982; letter to TYF from Ricardo Rodríguez Burgess, 08/25/1982; letter to TYF from Jaime Labastida, 08/13/1982; event and exhibition announcements; catalog, New Works By Austin Artists with inscription to TYF from Santa Barraza; catalogs: Houston Hispanic Artists: New Views, The Glassell School of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, 1987; and Arte Entre Nosotros: Mexican American Folk Art of San Antonio, San Antonio Museum of Art and Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, San Antonio, Texas, 1986; catalog, Tejanos: artistas Mexicano-norteamericanos, 1990, with text by Jacinto Quirarte; letter to TYF from Harwood Hinton, Editor, Texas State Historical Association Handbook of Texas; essays)
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Use requires an appointment and is limited to the Washington, D.C. research facility.
Collection Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Tomás Ybarra-Frausto research material, 1965-2004. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
(clippings; blank notecard with Treviño's art; invitation; transcript of interview of Treviño by Sarah Massey, University of Texas Institute of Texan Cultures)
Collection Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Use requires an appointment and is limited to the Washington, D.C. research facility.
Collection Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
Collection Citation:
Tomás Ybarra-Frausto research material, 1965-2004. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Correspondence relating to cultural programs and exhibits; agendas and minutes of the Galveston County Cultural Arts Council, Inc. Executive Committee and the Staff-Artists-Chairman (SAC), Galveston Arts Center Committee; subject files on artists, including César Martínez, Santos Martinez, Roberto Rios, Jesse Treviño, works of art, membership, the 30 Americans Exhibition, 1981, and other special events and programs; loan agreements; insurance forms; budget reports; consignment payment sheets; purchase orders; cancelled checks; exhibition catalogs and announcements; pamphlets and brochures describing classes, workshops and special events sponsored by the center; newspaper clippings; photographs of artists, works of art and exhibits; and miscellany.
Biographical / Historical:
Art gallery; Galveston, Tex.
Provenance:
Lent for microfilming 1983 by the Galveston Arts Center Gallery.
Microfilmed as part of the Archives of American Art's Texas project.
Restrictions:
The Archives of American art does not own the original papers. Use is limited to the microfilm copy.
An interview with Jesse Treviño conducted 2020 July 20, by Benjamin Gillespie, for the Archives of American Art's Pandemic Oral History Project at Treviño's home in San Antonio, Texas.
Biographical / Historical:
Jesse Treviño (1946- ) is a muralist, painter, and sculptor in San Antonio, Texas.
Related Materials:
The Archives of American Art also holds an interview with Jesse Treviño conducted 2004 July 15-16, by Cary Cordova.
Provenance:
This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators.
Restrictions:
This interview is open for research.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its Oral History Program interviews available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. Quotation, reproduction and publication of the audio is governed by restrictions. If an interview has been transcribed, researchers must quote from the transcript. If an interview has not been transcribed, researchers must quote from the audio recording. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
