Poet Lorna Dee Cervantes needs a home to live and work!

In her own words...

In the Fall of 2007 I resigned from my 19 year tenured position at CU Boulder as Associate Professor of English in order to return to San Francisco following the death of my father, the artist Luis Cervantes, in on order to help out with the family community arts business, Precita Eyes Muralists Center in The Mission District and found the Mission Poetry Center near where I was born and my father lived. I had divorced and we planned to sell our house. Go this website to help

Then the economy tanked, hitting California higher education hard. Jobs for me at UC Berkeley and Santa Cruz were affected by the hiring freeze and I was soon laid off from my adjunct teaching job at SFSU in Ethnic Studies.

I resigned from my position in order to cash in what I could of my retirement to buy a prefab house on a mobile home lot in Pacifica. It seemed like the ideal retirement/housing solution and the only affordable option for myself and my adolescent son in the Bay Area. In a case yet to be litigated, I lost the house to the lot owners and their lawyer who were pressuring me to sell to them and forcibly evicted during the school year.

I am now essentially homeless, but staying with a good friend in a tiny 1 bedroom in Berkeley while storing my stuff in 3 locations not including Boulder where my son, now 18 lives and attends high school without me. I need just enough cash to tide me over until next Fall when I'm sure I'll be teaching again at my level. (I don't use or have credit cards.) I need first and last month's rent plus deposit and moving expenses as I don't drive which makes it much harder and more expense for me without a place and spread out across the Bay. Any donation you can spare at this time will be noted and repaid in some way or another when I am able.

I really need a place to work and most importantly to organize my files: a home. It has been difficult to work and apply for teaching jobs or even keep up my reading schedule and I have lost jobs reading my poetry as I've been without internet access or phone service in order to return contracts and forms; even my calendar and agenda book is locked up in a storage unit I haven't had access to yet.

So any help you can give will be much appreciated in this dire time. I feel place-poor but poetry-rich, and as soon as I can set up my printers and scanners and computers I can share some of my many writing and other projects with you. For over a dozen years I was a publisher/editor/printer of an independent press, MANGO Publications and published the first work of many of the Chicana/o, Latina/o and other writers of color and "experience" such as Sandra Cisneros, Alberto Rios, Jimmy Santiago Baca, James Brown, Ray Gonzalez, Ana Castillo, Luis Urrea, Sherman Alexie and others: all with the clause "All rights revert back to author upon publication."

Please help pass this page around and email this url to friends of yours and mine who may be able to help. I know many people teach and have taught my work. The sooner I have a place to work again, the sooner I'll have work to sell. I have a new book of poetry due from Wings Press next Spring, SUEÑO: 30-Something Of The Cruelest and I've been finishing a young adult book set in The Mission as well as my novel and two screenplays. I also have several other poetry manuscripts and non-fiction projects.

If you know me, you know I'm private and proud, and I don't ask for favors or money. Now I am asking. Maybe you or someone you know has a sublet or housesit situation in San Francisco, Berkeley, San Jose, preferably for a year or more; that would help a lot! I'm counting every nickle to pay my phone and storage.

Sincerely,

Lorna Dee Cervantes
Poet, Professor, Philosopher, Publisher, Editor, Printer

http://www.pleasefund.com/pages/5743

Off target

A new show at the Colorado Springs, Colorado Sangre de Cristo Arts Center unveils the importance of fact-checking ... or not

by Edie Adelstein

Maria Lopez's upcoming exhibit at the Sangre de Cristo Arts & Conference Center features colorful, abstract works depicting Christian scenes. But the most eye-catching aspect of the Pueblo artist's self-titled show came within a press release.

"Her works," the Sangre wrote of Lopez, "are currently in the art collections of celebrities such as: Barack Obama, Dane Cook, Cheech Marin, George Lopez, Carlos Mencia, Chris Rock, David Letterman, Martha Stewart, Conan O'Brein [sic], Wanda Sykes, Tracy Morgan, John Leguizamo and others."

Sure enough, Lopez's Web site, lopezme.com, listed more than 20 celebrities who have one of her works in their "estate collections," and recently, the Pueblo Chieftain published an article that mentioned some of those names.

Asked her secret, Lopez happily shares: She goes to concerts, stand-up shows and other public appearances — and gives the works to famous people's handlers and representatives. She admits she doesn't know whether any of her works actually make it into celebrities' homes at all.

The Indy contacted several celebrity representatives about Lopez's paintings. While most inquiries were not returned, Melissa Richardson Banks, a representative of Cheech Marin, says she has no record of Lopez's work, despite Marin being an avid collector of Chicano art.

"I manage the collection, and I don't know who she is," says Banks, who adds that she'll ask Lopez to remove Marin's mention from her site.

A representative from Martha Stewart's publicity firm didn't know where to begin to look, but shares Banks' view that Lopez's paintings were probably classified as simple fan gifts, which generally reside well outside of estate collections.

When asked about the discrepancies, Lopez says she didn't know that her self-promotion — which she sees as both business plan and fan hobby — might have been seen as misleading.

Slim standard

At best, Lopez may be faulted for aggressive idealism or reckless naïveté. Either way, her claims didn't set off alarms at the Sangre.

Its curator of visual arts, Karin Larkin, approved Lopez's works hanging in the museum. She says she did not fact-check Lopez's credentials, and in fact is unapologetic about it. (Disclosure: Larkin is an ex-professor of mine.)

"Basically, we print the information that she gives us," says Larkin, adding, "To be quite honest, whose collections she's in doesn't really factor into my decision as to whether or not I display her. And the information that goes out into the press releases, I don't necessarily put together."

Plus, Larkin adds, "She's a foyer show. It's not like one of the big galleries that we're putting together."

Sangre's marketing specialist Nicki Hart, who assembled the press release, says taking information straight from the artist is good enough: "I take it in good faith that that information coming from the source is correct."

If that sounds strange, what's stranger is that few people in the arts sector seem bothered by it.

Dewey Blanton, an American Association of Museums media representative, says that in public relations, doing background research is a given, even if there's no standard for fact-checking exhibit information. And yet minutes later, Blanton calls back to confess that if he himself were an overextended, underpaid employee in a "small museum," he may be apt to overlook such things.

Kimberley Sherwood, a board member for the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center and a local nonprofit consultant, puts it this way: "I think there's a lot of room for innocent mistakes ... when we have fairly slim resources and people wearing many hats doing lots of different kinds of tasks ... there's a lot of room for understanding.

"I don't know that there's anything really there," says Sherwood of the situation, "other than perhaps a slim staff working hard to get their programming schedule out there so that they can encourage people to come and look at cool art."

In nearly a half-dozen calls, no one was willing to comment on the record about any dangers inherent to the Sangre's sloppiness.

Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center curator Tariana Navas-Nieves is careful to say that all institutions are different, but that FAC releases and gallery text are fact-checked.

"I would say that every museum has their own processes on selecting artists to exhibit, or art into their collection," she says. "And obviously all museums generally fact-check the information, the biographical and support information for each artist."

Official approval
The irony here? Lopez probably doesn't need to embellish her biography. Recently, Lopez submitted a group of works to Navas-Nieves for consideration to become part of the FAC's permanent collection as a gift. And Lopez's art was accepted, receiving Navas-Nieves' formal recommendation as well as museum committee approval.

"My presentation of the works has to do with the works," says Navas-Nieves. "In her case, I found interesting how she takes religious subject matter and gives it kind of a modern take. ... So my selection of those works was based on that."

Meanwhile, at the Sangre, Hart says the staff is working on a plan for future situations like this one, but is not yet giving specifics. As of press time, Sangre had not released any clarification or statement. However, Lopez has changed her Web site, writing now that celebrities' paintings "were gifted."

— edie@csindy.com

Chicana Artist Explores Heritage through Retablo Paintings

[Click image to enlarge. Photo from http://www.cristinaacosta.com]

Article courtesy of artdaily.org

Chicana artist Cristina Acosta has turned to sacred art as a means of exploring her religious and cultural heritage, incorporating aspects of her life, beliefs and family history into Madonna retablos.

"The tradition of the retablo (devotional image) reflects both the past and the present," said the artist, whose works are now on display as part of an exhibit of contemporary retablos at this southwestern U.S. city's El Museo Cultural.

The word "retablo" in Spanish dates back to the Renaissance and Baroque era and was used to refer to large screens that were placed behind altars in churches and were decorated with paintings, carvings, and sculptures.

These large altar screens then became prevalent in colonial Latin America as well, and by the 19th century oil-on-tin retablo paintings of Christ, the Virgin, and saints were commonly produced by amateur artists for devotional use in the home.

However, in parts of the southwestern United States, such as New Mexico and Colorado, retablos passed beyond the realm of sacred art into that of folklore.

Acosta said there are two types of retablos, one belonging to the tradition of Catholic saints and the other to that of "ex-votos," or offerings of gratitude.

She says the first group is similar to the concept of icon painting in Byzantine art, in which the figures of saints or the Holy Family are painted in accordance with strict liturgical rules that define how the main figure should be portrayed.

"The counterpoint to that tradition is the ex-voto retablo, for which there are no rules but rather (the artist) creates a personal vision to give thanks for a blessing (received) or when a petition was heard," she said.

It is within this folk tradition that her art is rooted.

Acosta said her retablos have served as a medium for meditating on her family heritage, her Latino identity and her role as a woman and an artist.

"My retablos are strictly related to my life, my Latina-Chicana cultural heritage in the southwestern U.S. and my personal opinions and life experiences," she said.

Acosta, who now lives in Oregon, grew up in a Catholic family - the daughter of an Anglo-American mother and a Mexican-American father - in southern California and attributes that upbringing to the prevalence of religious images in her art, but she says her art is not dogmatic and merely depicts her cultural heritage.

"This (ex-voto) form of retablo gives me the opportunity to connect with the religion of my childhood without having to struggle with dogmatic questions that do not always correspond with who I am now," she said.

Her Madonna retablos focus not so much on the Catholic figure of the mother but rather on the creative energy the Virgin evokes.

"When I work, I don't think about challenging religious thought or stereotypes, but I think the result of certain images does tend to run contrary to those traditions," Acosta said.

The artist pointed to her "La Conquistadora" (Our Lady of the Conquest) painting, which blends indigenous, ancient female images and concepts with the Catholic image of Mary.

Acosta also incorporates material in her work that alludes to her family history.

"My ancestors were well-known goldsmiths and silversmiths," said Acosta, whose paternal great-grandparents were descendants of the original Spanish settlers who founded cities and villages throughout New Mexico.

"That's why in my work I mix in gold, silver and copper metals into my oil paintings, (to) evoke the presence of those ancestors."

Acosta said the idea for the series of Madonna retablos displayed in the Santa Fe exhibit first came to her 20 years ago as dream images.

"The dreams began during my pregnancy," she said. "During that period I dreamed that I was a woman who was traveling north, crossing dusty plains and streams behind a ox-cart."

Acosta calls them her "Maria dreams," as that is how she remembers being called when those mental images and emotions came to her while asleep.

"The search for the meaning of those dreams eventually led me back to New Mexico, the land of my ancestors," Acosta said.

For more on the artist go to: http://www.cristinaacosta.com/

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A Horse of a Different Color Divides Denver

[Photo of Luis Jimenez's Horse Sculpture at the Denver Airport - Click on photo to view larger. Click on headline to go to the WSJ and see more photos and original article]

Blue Mustang Sculpture Shocks Visitors, Perturbs Poets; 'Because of This Thing, People Think They Are in Hell'

By STEPHANIE SIMON

Wall Street Journal

The mustang rears on splayed hind legs -- his nostrils flaring, his eyes glowing red, his taut body a slick, sweaty sheen of blue. Anatomically correct -- eye-poppingly so -- the 32-foot-tall fiberglass sculpture makes quite a statement at the gateway to Denver International Airport.

But that begs the question: What kind of statement, exactly?

"It looks like it's possessed," says Denver resident Samantha Horoschak. "I have a huge fear of flying anyway, and to be greeted at the airport by a demon horse -- it's not a soothing experience."

Many people here agree, calling the muscular steed a terrifying welcome to the Mile High City.

Now a local developer, Rachel Hultin, has launched a campaign to get the wild horse moved so it isn't the first thing visitors to Denver see. In the past month, Ms. Hultin has signed up about 7,600 supporters on her Facebook page, Bye Bye Blue Mustang. This week she dropped off 200 protest haiku at the mayor's office. (Sample verse: Because of this thing / People think they are in hell / Instead of Denver.)

But uprooting public art turns out to be quite tricky. Especially a piece as emotionally freighted -- and as critically acclaimed -- as Mustang.

The Denver airport commissioned the sculpture in 1992 from Luis Jimenez, a widely honored artist known for melding Chicano themes and Western history in exuberant sculpture. The airport is full of public art, most of it much tamer -- silver pinwheels in a tram tunnel, a fleet of sky-colored paper airplanes. The mustang was to be a symbol of Denver and the West.

Mr. Jimenez was killed working on the sculpture. In 2006, while he was hoisting pieces of the mustang for final assembly in his New Mexico studio, the horse's massive torso swung out of control and crushed the 65-year-old artist. Mr. Jimenez's widow and children helped finish the sculpture, and it was installed last February at the airport, at a cost to the city of $650,000.

'Built With Love'

"You look at the piece and you just know it was built with love," says the artist's widow, Susan Jimenez.

The jabs flung at the mustang by amateur critics -- who have described it as "mean," "scary," and "like the Ringwraith horse from 'Lord of the Rings' " -- perplex Ms. Jimenez. She says she's disappointed that people don't seem to grasp her husband's intent.

The eyes are light-emitting diodes, which burn red like taillights. They are an homage to Mr. Jimenez's father, who ran a neon-sign studio in El Paso, Texas, she says. The well-articulated body, laced with bulging black veins, pays tribute to a mighty breed that Mr. Jimenez saw as a symbol of freedom, strength and the American West.

When she looks at the mustang, framed against the wide prairie sky, Ms. Jimenez thinks of her husband petting his beloved appaloosa, Blackjack. "I know he didn't mean anything demonic by it," she said. "I'm sorry if people are afraid of ribs on a horse."

Mr. Jimenez's sculptures grace museums and public squares all over the country: rugged Mexican cowboys, or vaqueros; dancing señoritas in ruffled skirts; a huge purple ox; weary migrants. His "Southwest Pieta" -- which depicts a Native American bent over the body of a woman with flowing hair -- was designated a national treasure during the Clinton administration.

Awash in carnival colors, the sculptures may look like they've popped out of a comic book, but they're imbued with deep emotion and stamped with the history of a people and a culture, says Betsy Broun, director of the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington.

"His is not a quiet, meditative, reflective art," Ms. Broun says. "It's an art that says, 'This is important!' and reaches out to grab your attention."

Firm Support

Most cities have had controversies over public art, but Ms. Broun says she's shocked to hear that anyone opposes the Denver Mustang. "It's fabulous," she says firmly.

Many Denver citizens beg to differ.

"When they unwrapped it, I was just horrified," says Dena McClung, who watched from the airport tower, where she worked as an air-traffic controller until her recent retirement. "It makes me feel like I'm looking at something out of a science-fiction movie."

A list of nicknames suggested last year by readers of the Rocky Mountain News ran from Beelzebub's Blue Bay to Satan's Stallion. The protest haiku drew on similar themes, as in this one:

Ugly devil horse
horrifies the traveler
shames our fair city

"It's disturbing," says Nancy Harris, a Denver painter. "As an artist myself, I totally respect the artist's vision. But I don't think it's representative of the Denver community."

Mr. Jimenez's stallions have sparked uproars before. A much smaller (and more muted) version of the blue mustang "caused quite a stir" when installed at the University of Oklahoma's art museum in 1997, says Susan Baley, a curator. "It just didn't fit peoples' definition of public sculpture," she says.

Mr. Jimenez appeared on the campus to respond to the complaints in person, drawing an audience of 700, a record crowd for the art museum. The sculptor's charisma, passion and humor won over many of his detractors, Ms. Baley says. (It didn't hurt, either, that the museum moved the sculpture to a less-prominent location.)

"It's become a local landmark," Ms. Baley says. "People have adjusted."

Denver officials are hoping for a similar response. City rules require any public-art installation to remain in place for at least five years, to honor the artist's intent and give the work a chance to grow on the public.

Resigned to looking at it for at least the next few years, Ms. Hultin, the leader of the anti-Mustang campaign, now plans to launch a public-education effort to demystify the sculpture.

Art Workshops

She envisions brochures in the Denver airport, articles in in-flight magazines, and plaques describing the artist's style and intent mounted along concourse walls. She'd even like to hold workshops for taxi and shuttle-bus drivers so they can respond to startled comments from visitors coming across the mustang for the first time.

Her goal: Instead of being scared, "when people see it, they'll be like, 'Oh, that's interesting,' " she says.

Erin Trapp, director of the Denver Office of Cultural Affairs, hopes for more enthusiasm than that. She says the city has logged plenty of nasty calls about the statue, but also many glowing comments from fans who find it clever and powerful. The passion on both sides thrills her, and she hopes it doesn't fade.

"The point of art is not just to make beautiful public spaces but also to engage people," Ms. Trapp says. "That's when we know we've had a success -- when people care."

-30-

Write to Stephanie Simon at stephanie.simon@wsj.com