“My art, for me, is my life. It reflects who I am as a woman, mother and Latina,” Kresge’s 2024 Eminent Artist says in a new monograph from Kresge titled Su Arte, Su Vida.
Hers is not art for art’s sake, she makes clear as she continues: “I want to pass on what I have learned to those who are less fortunate or less able to express themselves and my hope of healing pain, and striving for freedom for all people.”
Kresge Foundation CEO and President Rip Rapson formally presented Chapa Mendoza with a copy of the monograph Thursday evening during a reception at the MexicanTown CDC Mercado. The celebrated and groundbreaking painter, cultural activist and gallerist was named as the year’s Kresge Eminent Artist in January.
The lifetime achievement honor for the artistic achievements and community contributions of a metro Detroiter includes a $100,000 no-strings-attached award, the creation of a short film, and a monograph. Chapa Mendoza is the 16th recipient of the annual Eminent Artist award.
Produced by Kresge’s External Affairs and Communications Department and led by freelance creative director-editor-writer Nichole Christian and art director-graphic designer Ed Ryan, the monograph is available for order at no cost while supplies last and in perpetuity as a free download.
Rapson, in his remarks, underscored the value of presenting Chapa Mendoza’s biography alongside her art. Said Rapson: “This is the inspiring story of a largely self-taught artist who went from selling at her work at flea markets and art fairs to being shown in prestigious exhibition spaces in Detroit, across the country and around the world.”
A Southwest Detroiter, long active in community advocacy, human services, and the arts, Ozzie Rivera spoke as a member of the committee that chose Chapa Mendoza as a Kresge Eminent Artist. Looking out at the audience, with a beaming Chapa Mendoza sitting near the stage, Rivera praised her for speaking for and being of her community.
”She tells our story in her work in very beautiful ways. Obviously as an artist she presents her point of view, but we all shine and smile when we look at how she interprets us,” Rivera said. “In celebrating Nora we’re also celebrating ourselves because she’s always made it a mission to do that.”
And finally, Chapa Mendoza took the stage. Rapson presented her with the monograph, after which she answered questions from the audience. From her encouraging advice to other artists to her reasons for becoming an artist (in essence, she was born to be an artist).
Said Chapa Mendoza: “Art is not for yourself but for the people, for those around you … to bring pleasure to learn something from it … maybe to [find] an answer to a problem that you may have. Certainly [there is] a lot of satisfaction to be able to escape into a piece of work for a few moments and get rest and peace.”
The short program also included performances by Mariachi Femenil Detroit and Milagro Compañía de Ballet Folklórico.
Su Arte, Su Vida surveys Chapa Mendoza’s life and work, from her impoverished early years in southern Texas to heights as a decorated artist and sought-after workshop leader exhibiting and engaged across the United States and abroad.
In between, the monograph recounts the childhood experiences that kindled and revealed her talent, her move to Detroit for her husband’s career, her struggle to break from the marriage that curtailed her art, and the evolution of her art and her emergence as a gallerist, cultural leader and more.
The monograph includes a biographical essay by Christian and assessments by art critics Vince Carducci (College for Creative Studies) and Dr. Elaine Carey, PhD (Oakland University, Rochester) and Scarab Club Gallery Director Dalia Reyes.
It also features a large sampling of art covering Chapa Mendoza’s wide range of expressive modes (from the representational to the symbolic and abstract) and wide range of media (from various painterly techniques to collage and assemblages, including works built in the bodies of violins and other instruments).
The monograph also includes material from her archives at the Smithsonian Institution. Of particular note is a list –– apparently from early in her career –– weighing the pros and cons of the life of art. The two cons are “you may never get rich” and “you may never become famous or even recognized.”
Among the 15 pros are adventure, waking up eagerly for each day’s work, stress reduction, being your own boss, freedom and happiness.
