Visiting Artist & Scholar Lecture Series: Consuelo Jimenez Underwood

March 6 | 6 to 8 p.m. | Grant Street Studios

Consuelo Jimenez Underwood will give a 45-minute artist talk on her creative practice that has spanned decades. Following her artist talk, she will participate in a panel discussion with local artist Patricia Sannit on navigating and nurturing multigenerational relationships. 

Fiber artist and weaver Consuelo Jimenez Underwood is the daughter of migrant agricultural workers, a Chicana mother and a father of Huichol Indian descent. She has degrees in religious studies and art, and today is a tenured professor at San Jose State University in California. In her richly textured creations, she weaves common threads of history and cultural resistance and affirmation.

Her artist statement: 
“Crossing borders and negotiating between three perspectives has always been a fundamental aspect of my persona and the basis of my creative process.

Over thirty years ago, when “craft vs. art” was the most divisive issue in the arts, I discovered and established my “authentic artistic voice,” refocused my artistic studies from the paintbrush and pigments to “needle and thread.” Empowered by the voices of my indigenous maternal ancestors, I began to cross the intellectual borders that separated the hand and the mind(craft), from the spirit (fine art).

My work is a reflection of personal border experiences: the interconnectedness of societies, insisting on beauty in struggle, and celebrating the notion of "seeing" this world through my tri-cultural lens. Engaging materials, which reflect a contemporary hyper-modern sensitivity, are interwoven to create large-scale fiber art that is inspired in equal measures by land, politics and Spirit.

The artwork becomes an external validation of ancestral memory and personal quest. Beauty, grace, and flowers soothe the quiet rage that has permeated the Americas for more than five hundred years. Thus, when I weave, sew, or embellish, the anonymous viejitas (hags) seem to express their encouragement and support of my creations.”

Follow this link to visit Consuelo Jimenez’s website.

Patricia Sannit works in interdisciplinary mixed media. She works in her studio, in nature, in collaboration with artists across disciplines, and in/with the community. Sannit received her MFA from California College of Arts; her work is fueled by the urgency of environmental change, and the evidence regarding the multiple flowerings of complex systems on our planet. Our species is part of this complex world, and Sannit works to foster communication and collaboration, potentially resulting in positive change. Awards include the Scult Contemporary Forum Artist Award, Arizona Art Commission Artist Award, and Phoenix Art and Culture Flash Grant. Residencies include Red Lodge Art Center, Belger Crane Yard, Baer Art Center, the Jentel Foundation, the Betty and George Woodman Foundation and the MacDowell Foundation. Exhibits include solo shows at the ASU Art Museum, Phoenix Art Museum, and the Mulvane Museum. Sannit serves on the board of ArtLink, is a co-founder of the artist collective ArtFarm PHX, with a mission of creating alternative exhibition opportunities for artists, and is co-founder of the Phoenix artist studio complex, and artist residency, Rocking S Art Ranch.

Community projects include “Many Hands”, “Rewilding the Huldar”, “We the People”, and “Holding up the Sky.”

Follow this link to visit Patricia Sannit’s website.