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Thursday, August 31, 1978
The Daily Cougar

Blaffer hosts 'half' of art for Hispanic culture month
by john atkinson

Hundreds of years before the de Koonings and Pollacks began turning the world of art on its ears, there were other Americans with equally advanced cultures and art forms.
The traditions that were forged by North and SOuth American Indians did not end in the jungles of the Yucatan or in the glass cases of so many tourist museums such as the Alabama-Coushatta tribe's at Livingston.
The heritage is alive and thriving in the works of many Hispanic artists who are surging forward and and making their bids for a place in the mainstream of the art world.
September is the time of the Fiestas Patrias (Sept. 16), the celebration of Mexico's independence from Spain in 1820. This particular September, though, there is more than just the usual annual parade - it is the proclaimed month of the Hispanic Arts Festival, and it is a mammoth undertaking which the Central Campus's Blaffer Gallery has played an extremely important role in accomplishing.
The festival's art is of such volume and diversity that the Blaffer is not the sole exhibitor - the AAMA Sanchez Art Gallery (at 204 Clifton) is presenting an exhibit entitled "Barrio Art and Photography" along with Blaffer's "Ancient Roots and New Visions." It is the first compendium of Hispanic art to tour this country ever, and it represents not only the vanguard of current art, but the pre-Columbian forms which continue to influence the diverse other forms, such as folk forms, political and barrio art, and the contemporary styles which may be avant-garde or less experimental.
"Ancient Roots and New Visions" opens in the Blaffer Gallery on Sept. 2 and will run through Oct. 8. It is a dazzling mixture of style and form, for, while there is the common denominator of Hispanic background, there is certainly no common approach among the styles of the artists.
Mediums range from acrylic on canvas to pencil on paper to the most varied-mixed media. "The Toys," by Juan Richardo Navarrete of Taos, New Mexico, employs wood, gesso, photoprints, toys and acrylic paint in its make-up. Max Roybal's "Altar of Our Lady of Guadalupe," which appears on this page, is composed of cottonwood, pine, hand-ground pigment and an assembled unit (nicho, virgin, Juan Diego, cactus).
There is art of voodoo represented, (Hispanic covers quite a lot of territory, remember) and the artist, Jonas Dos Santos is available to perform a ritual along with the mixed-media sculpture, but Blaffer's assistant to the director, Toni Beauchamp, characterizes Santos' fees as a bit exhorbitant.
The reception for the Blaffer opening does not fall on the first day of its exhibition. The reception will be held from 7 until 10 p.m. on Sept. 15, the eve of Fiestas Patrias. The opening is open to the public, and sangria wine will be served along with the singing of Lydia Mendoza at 8:15 p.m. Other entertainments are also scheduled, including Rogelio Ruiz Valdovin who will circulate among the crowd in Indian dress.
The Central Campus also has the opportunity to view "Chulas Fronteras," a film about musical roots in the Rio Grande Valley, and a documentary on the works of Frieda Kahlo, whose works will be exhibited in Blaffer Gallery in an exhibition which will immediately follow in "Ancient Roots." The films will be screened at noon and 7:30 p.m. in the UC on Sept. 13.
The same films will be screened a week prior to their UH showing at 8 p.m. in the Brown Auditorium of the Museum of Fine Arts, 1001 Bissonet.
A concert of of classical guitar by Javier Calderon will be held at 8 p.m., Sept. 29, in Dudley Recital Hall near the end of the Blaffer exhibit's run. Other cultural events and festivities will be held in Houston during the month, and for a detailed list of the month's plans, contact AAMA (Association for the Advancement of Mexican Americans) at 226-8313. If on campus, though, the best place to go is the Blaffer Gallery, anytime after Sept. 2.

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Judges Feast,' B. Serrano (above), multi-media by Roybal
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