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[THURSDAY OCT. 18, 1984]
SAN ANTONIO LIGHT
Hispanic visual arts SAMA seminar topic

[[left column]]
By KATHY VARGAS
Arts writer
During the past decades Hi-
spanic art in the United States has
truly come of age. As evidence, 
Hispanic art exibitions such as 
the MIRA show, which is current-
ly on display at the San Antonio
Museum of Art, have Inc. How-
ever, Hispanic art continues, for
the moment, to be a new and not 
yet clearly defined area in the arts
field. "Images for the '90s - A
Symposium on the Hispanic Visual
Arts," which is scheduled Satur-
day at the San Antonio Museum of
Art, seeks to clarify some of the 
questions surrounding contempo-
rary Hispanic visual arts.

The symposium, sponsored by
Arte-Arts of San Antonio and the
San Antonio Museum of Art, will
take place between 1 and 4 p.m. in
the museum auditorium, and will
take the form of a moderated
panel discussion. The panel, con-
sisting of four artists/curators/
arts administrators, will discuss
four topics posed to them by the 
moderator. The topics are: "State
of Mind, State of Geography,",
"Iconographic Adoption and Adap-
tation," "The Museum Esthetic as
it Relates to Hispanic Art," and
"Trends and Directions." The four
panelists are Ralph Maradiaga of
San Francisco, a filmmaker and
the curator  of the Galeria de la
Raza/Studio 24; Jack Agueros of
New York, involved in theather and
script-writing and executive direc-
tor of El Museo del Barrio as well
as one of the jurors for the MIRA 
exhibition; Louis LeRoy of San
Antonio, a painter whose work is 
included in the MIRA show and
who is also executive director of
the Arts Council of San Antonio;
and Javier Sanchez Garcia of
Monterrey, Mexico, a restoration
architect and photographer who
also owns the Galeria Olinca and 
who will give the Mexican view
of Hispanic art in the United 
States. Mel Casas, a painter and
the chairperson of the Art/Adver-
tising Art Department of San
Antonio College will act as moder-
ator. Since the panelists and
moderator are all active art
makers as well as arts administra-
tors, they will discuss Hispanic art
from the view of both the artist
and the curator.

David Garcia, director of Arte-
Arts, said he saw the need for this
symposium when Sosa & Associ-

[[right column]]
ates, the advertising agency repre-
senting Hiram Walker Inc., first
consulted him about possible ap-
proaches in assembling and
mounting the MIRA show. Ac-
cording to Garcia, "they had no
clear idea of how to put such a 
show together." Garcia said he
realized that this was generally
the case with groups trying to 
assemble exhibitions of contempo-
rary Hispanic art, and that a vehi-
cle was needed through which
information could be shared.

After the initial idea for the
symposium was formed, Garcia
took it to the San Antonio Mu-
seum of Art. Together with Nancy
Kelker, the museum's associate
curator of Latin American art, and
Sarah Hepner, chief of education
at the museum, the panel and
moderator were selected and the
format organized. 

"We hope with this symposi-
um," said Keller, "to give San
Antonio an intelligent forum
through which to discuss the 
MIRA exhibit anf other exhibits
like it throughout the nation."

The focus of the symposium is
twofold: first, to give people in the
corporate community encourage-
ment and information on the
mounting of exhibits of Hispanic
art from people who do them on a
daily basis, and second, to bring
artists and curators together to
look at future trends in Hispanic
art.

After the panel discussion, the
symposium will be open to audi-
ence participation. According to
moderator Casas, it is hoped that
public enthusiasm will be high and
that this will be "something excit-
ing, bringing stimulating com-
ments from those present in the 
audience, and showing to the com-
munity the viability and reality of
the art of minorities." Garcia said
that this event is not just for
Chicanos or Hispanics. It is hoped
that the entire community will at-
tend: artists, curators and adminis-
trators as well as art patrons, gal-
lery owners and corporate
sponsors and anyone interested in
contemporary art.

The symposium will fol-
llowed by a wine and cheese recep-
tion and an opportunity for the
audience to view shows currently
on exhibit at the San Antonio Mu-
seum of Art, including MIRA.
There will be no charge for at-
tending the symposium other than
the normal admission fee to the
museum.