Margaret Garcia | |
---|---|
Born | Los Angeles, California | September 20, 1951
Nationality | American |
Alma mater | California State University Northridge Los Angeles City College University of Southern California |
Known for | Muralist, Painter |
Notable work | "Tree of Califas" |
Style | Contemporary Chicano art |
Movement | Chicano Movement |
Spouse | Rhett Beavers |
Awards | William Comfort Tiffany Foundation Award Feitelson/Lundberg Award California Community Foundation Grant |
Patron(s) | 1984 Olympics |
Website | www.MargaretGarciaStudio.com |
Margaret Garcia (born September 20, 1951) is a Chicana muralist, educator, and arts-advocate based in Los Angeles.
Margaret Garcia was born in 1951 at the County/USC Hospital in East Los Angeles, and is descended from the Tarahumara indigenous people of Mexico.[1] At the age of ten, Garcia started painting portraits of family members, and of the local Latino community.[2] She studied arts in college, and in 1978, she became involved with the Citywide Mural Program.[3]
Garcia studied art at the Los Angeles City College, California State University, Northridge, and the University of Southern California where she received her Master of Fine Arts degree in 1992.[4]
Garcia is a prolific painter (primarily of portraits) and has painted several murals in the greater Los Angeles area.[5] She has taught courses and workshops on painting, and has lectured extensively in the region. In 2000, she was commissioned by the Los Angeles County Metro Art program to create a mural for the subway stop at the University City/Studio City location.[6] Currently, Garcia teaches at Plaza De La Raza in Los Angeles, California, and curates art exhibitions.
2009, 10 x 13 in., oil on canvas, University of Wyoming Art Museum, Laramie, Wyoming
Part of the Cheech Marin Collection, this painting is a reflection of the predominantly Chicano neighborhood that Garcia grew up with in Boyle Heights. It is also featured in the artbook collection of small paintings entitled "Chicanitas from the Cheech Marin Collection."[7]
1992, 17' X 63' ft, Acrylic, Venice Blvd., Los Angeles, CA
Inspired by a news story about Blue Whales being hunted to extinction, Garcia created a mural featuring two Blue Whales playing in the ocean.[8] The sixty-foot mural is painted on a wall between Beethoven St. and Venice Blvd. in Mar Vista.
2000, Mural, Universal City Station, L.A. Metro Rail, Los Angeles, CA
The mural presents tourists and residents with information about an historic event that took place on the land adjacent to the metro station. At this historic site, California was ceded to the United States from Mexico. The state was named after the fictional queen Calafia, and the artwork is designed to evoke the mature pepper trees that used to grow along nearby Lankershim Boulevard.[9]
Margaret Garcia's artworks can be found in the permanent collections of several major museums including, the Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Museum of Ventura County, La Salle University Art Museum, Laguna Art Museum, Blanton Museum of Art, The Roswell Museum and Art Center, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Forest Lawn Museum of Glendale, the Riverside Art Museum, the Musée d'Aquitaine and the University of Wyoming Art Museum.