Xochitl Nevel Guerrero (born 1954) is a Chicana artist who specializes in making murals, paintings, gourd decorations, masks, and mosaic/tile art.[1] She is inspired by her dreams as well as her indigenous and Mexican cultures and communicates political messages and social justice themes through some of her art.[2] Her paintings are mainly of women and include natural elements like water, plants, the sun, and the moon.[2] She established Taller Xochichura in 2013, where she continues to share her artistic knowledge.[2]

Early Life and Education

Xochitl Nevel Guerrero was born in 1954 in Berkeley, California, but was raised in Oakland.[2] She was the youngest child in her family of six children.[2] Her father, Raymundo “Zala” Nevel, came to the United States from Mexico City as part of the Bracero Program and settled in West Oakland, where he met Nevel-Guerrero's mother.[2][3] He was also a muralist, and it is because of him that Nevel-Guerrero became fascinated by art.[2]

Nevel-Guerrero had a traumatic experience at the age of eleven that made her contemplate suicide at the age of thirteen.[2] To cope with this, she started making art full of bright colors, changed her name, and began working in the community.[2]

She got a summer job around the ages of fourteen and fifteen that allowed her to work with children, where she learned she wanted to create a safe space for others to express themselves in artistic forms.[2]

Nevel-Guerrero joined baile folklórico and also learned to play the flute because of her parents' love for music and dancing.[2] Since her father was active in the social movements of the time, she became involved as well.[2] She joined a theater group called El Teatro Triste, where she performed skits that had political or social critiques.[2]

At Laney College, she joined a theater group called El Teatro Calcetin, where she continued to represent and be involved in the community while making statements about current events.[2][4] Nevel-Guerrero became part of the “Mujeres Muralistas,” where she connected culture, environment, and gender into her art.[2]

After Laney College, she transferred to the University of California, Berkeley and dropped out after a year.[4] She took a gap year and enrolled at Cal State East Bay (formerly known as CSU Hayward), where she received her degree from.[2][4]

Works

Latino America

Latino America was a mural project coordinated by the Mujeres Muralistas in 1974.[2] Together with artists like Ester Hernández, Nevel-Guerrero created this piece on the Mission Model Cities building in San Francisco, California.[2] She painted much of the maize, and her dreams of a corn goddess inspire her to include corn in many of her works.[2]

La Clínica de la Raza Mural

In 1977, Nevel-Guerrero and her father painted this mural at the Clínica de la Raza in East Oakland, California.[3][5] It depicts indigenous peoples and symbols as well as Mexican cultural elements, such as the Virgin of Guadalupe and a curandera healing a man laying face down.

Youth of the World, Let's Create a Better World

This mural was painted by Xochitl Nevel-Guerrero and Crystal Nevel, along with the PLACA group, in 1984.[2] There is a young man holding the world in his arms with others around him. Those surrounding him are expressing themselves creatively through painting, breakdancing, and more.

References

  1. ↑ Pickman, Heidi (2015-03-26). "Xochitl Guerrero, Taller Xochicura". CAMEO. Retrieved 2023-11-26.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 "Xochitl Nevel-Guerrero Oral History". SFMOMA. Retrieved 2023-11-25.
  3. 1 2 Payton, Brenda (2009-10-04). "Murals: A colorful journey through Oakland". SFGATE. Retrieved 2023-11-26.
  4. 1 2 3 OPL, Friends of the (2023-05-22). "Interview with Xochitl Guerrero". Friends of the OPL. Retrieved 2023-11-26.
  5. ↑ greenkozi (2020-02-14). "La Clinica de la Raza - Oakland Murals". Retrieved 2023-11-26.

Further reading

  • HOMBRES Y MUJERES MURALISTAS ON A MISSION: PAINTING LATINO IDENTITIES IN 1970S SAN FRANCISCO by Cary Cordova
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