Ephemeral Exhibition Lasting Tribute

After Many A Week Debuts the Arte

Michael Sedano

June 11, 2023 marks the closing date of a landmark exhibition for Los Angeles' La Plaza de Cultura y Artes. Arte para la gente, The Collected Works of Margaret Garcia (link). The exhibition, featuring nearly 100 works, inspires artists, collectors, and any visitor, for Garcia's use of color and abstraction to capture light, fire, reflection, a glance, a personality.

Garcia calls the exhibition "para la gente" as a way of accounting for the artist's eye on localism, painting pictures of things and people imbued with the artist's sense of community and using arte to build and reinforce community, i.e., para la gente.

The exhibition is dedicated to Gloria Molina, whose historic political career exhibited a para la gente spirit. Molina led the efforts to fund the cultural institution sited at la placita, Olvera Street, where los pobladores founded Los Angeles before the locals knew what hit them. Nowadays, public ceremonies begin with a Land Acknowledgement. We are on stolen land.

A belief in art and community goes well beyond theory and philosophy. There's work to be done. Garcia, together with Bonnie Lambert (click link!), invited artists to a series of weekend workshops where Lambert and Garcia mentored some highly accomplished artists as well as newer hands. Artists attended from as far away as Phoenix.

Learning with a group of talented spirits would have proven the value of the experience. Adding to that is the Pop-Up exhibition.

Pop-Up means you had to be there at the right time or you missed it. Numerous people seeing fotos on the Face, proclaimed their intention to go see the show. I hope they did make it down to LAPCA for the Garcia retrospective. The Atelier show was that one day, four hours, only.

Atelier artists gather. The portrait at right honors Gloria Molina, whose leadership 

became the driving force to found the raza museo at Olvera Street

Hedy Treviño describes the "ghost" process. Hedy sold one, too!

Sold! Salvador Correa, his work, and curator Jimmy O'Balles, purchaser.

Martha Sanchez Camacho alongside her folkloric dancer.

Susie Chavez describes creating her work

Shortly before the Atelier exhibition, Gloria Molina announced she has cancer and has dedicated herself to health and happiness. Molina, shown with Garcia making rabbit ears, studied portraiture with Garcia. One sitting, Molina painted Michael Sedano in living colorism. 

Be strong, Gloria. Thank you for the career, thank you for the museum. Órale.

foto: margaret garcia