En mi familia/In My Family
All ages
An interactive family exhibit inspired by the works of nationally acclaimed artist Carmen Lomas Garza.
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Don't miss Sueños realizados Storytime in En Mi Familia this January & February 2010!
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How does your family celebrate special occasions? What are your family's daily routines? Every child inherits his or her own cultural identity through the everyday routines and special traditions of family life. Family traditions differ across cultures and regions, and yet they have many things in common. In celebration of all families, Austin Children's Museum developed In My Family/En mi familia in cooperation with Carmen Lomas Garza and a team of community advisors and educators. Originally featured at ACM in 2003-04, In My Family/En mi familia is back after having completed a tour of seven other children's museum across the nation.
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Local presentation of In My Family/En mi familia is sponsored by the Home Depot Foundation. Additional support provided by the City of Austin through the Cultural Arts Division, by a grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts and various foundations, businesses and individuals.
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Exhibit Components:
Photo by Jim Lincoln ©2003 |
Photo by Jim Lincoln ©2003 |
Photo by Jim Lincoln ©2003
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To see pictures of En Mi Familia, visit our Flickr Photostream.
Climb into Carmen's World
Enter Carmen’s world!
- Climb on her bed and flip through her book of family pictures.
- Make a wish for your own dream for the future in the fanciful dream chair.
- Listen to Carmen introduce you to the exhibit and her dreams to become an artist.
La Tamalada/Making Tamales
A kitchen scene where the family is gathered making tamales together for the holidays.
- Practice making tamales using fabric.
- Watch a video of people making real tamales!
- Explore the history of traditional Mexican American foods.
Birthday Barbecue
Join in the party!
- Try your hand at the piñata. Fill it with treats and watch them spill out.
- Put together a papel picado puzzle design (Mexican paper cut outs).
- Sit down on Grandma’s lap and read more stories from Carmen’s childhood.
Dance at el Jardín/Baile en el jardín
Dance to the rhythm of the accordion at this dance under the South Texas stars.
- Make music with the band and dance along.
- Pick an instrument to play - the drums, guitar or stand-up bass.
- Dance! Follow the lead of the dancers in the video and see if you can learn some steps!
About the Artist
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Carmen Lomas Garza is a Chicana narrative artist who creates images about the everyday events in the lives of Mexican Americans based on her memories and experiences in South Texas. Few artists in the United States can match Carmen Lomas Garza’s commitment to the themes of family and diversity or her record of achievement in the worlds of art and children’s publishing. Her paintings, papel picado (cut-paper works) and sculpture are exhibited in major galleries and museums throughout the U.S. and abroad, regularly setting opening day attendance records. The painting, Camas para sueños (Beds for Dreams), featured in her book, Family Pictures/Cuadros de familia, is part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s permanent collection.
Garza’s first book Family Pictures/Cuadros de familia (1990) sold over 200,000 copies. Her second book In My Family/En mi familia (1996) received critical praise and honors, including a Tomás Rivera Mexican American Children’s Book Award. Her books are in public and school libraries and excerpted in textbooks.
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Photo by Karen Messerman © 2003 |
Biography
Carmen Lomas Garza was born in Kingsville, Texas, in 1948. Inspired by her family, Garza decided to become an artist at the age of 13, and ever since has dedicated herself to creating beautiful and engaging images of special and everyday events in the lives of Mexican Americans based on her memories of her childhood in South Texas. Her narrative works of art depict childhood memories of family and friends in a wide range of activities from making tamales to dancing in a patio to conjunto music. She dedicates her work to creating images that instill recognition and pride in the cultural and historical contributions of Mexican Americans to American society, as well as to educate others.
Carmen Lomas Garza has a Bachelor of Science from Texas A & I University (currently Texas A&M University, Kingsville) where she studied art education and studio art. She also has a Master of Education from Antioch Graduate School - Juarez/Lincoln Center and a Master of Art from San Francisco State University where she concentrated on lithography and painting in oil and gouache. She currently lives and works in San Francisco, CA.
Messages in the work of Carmen Lomas Garza
The visual images and written narratives of artist Carmen Lomas Garza share joyful childhood memories of her Mexican American family and South Texas community. Garza's paintings render key scenes from her youth in settings that are familiar to families of all backgrounds: kitchens, front porches, birthday parties and community dances. In pictures and in words, Garza speaks to all families about the passing on of cultural values and traditions through everyday routines and special occasions.
By so vividly relating the details of life in her family, she fosters appreciation of her own cultural heritage and implicitly invites others to see new meaning in everyday events and special celebrations in their families. In her children’s books, she adds a first-person written narrative to speak to children about her family and how they inspired and nurtured her. She tells her family stories to instill pride in those who share her rich cultural heritage and to invite understanding and respect from all others.
More information can be found on her web site, www.carmenlomasgarza.com
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