From Oct. 26 to Nov. 11, Seaver Gallery held an art show titled “Inspiraciones: Del Pasado Hacia el Futuro” to honor Latinx culture for Latinx Heritage Month. The collaboration of art between students in OLÉ and other Latinx identifying artists in Los Angeles was displayed at Marlborough to highlight the history and creativity of Latinx artists.
The idea for this gallery was formulated by the Director of Equity and Inclusion Jenn Wells, who reached out to Department Head of Visual Arts Chelsea Dean. Their objective was to create a partnership between the affinity group OLÉ and the Visual Arts Department for Latinx Heritage Month, which took place from Sept. 15 through Oct. 15.
Dean communicated with Dean of Social Justice and Community Partnerships Pamela Wright, who is the faculty advisor of OLÉ. Wright decided to bring along Elsy ‘26, a member of OLÉ, to learn about how to put together a cohesive art show.
To create the show, Dean reached out to a multitude of Latinx identifying artists and selected a variety of pieces from them that all corresponded with her established theme. After deciding on the artwork, she worked on creating labels, getting artist statementents, laying out the show and lighting the show.
“I was able to guide Elsy in working through the process of how you conceptually lay out a show … and then once the work was selected, Elsy actually helped me with where in the space these pieces would end up being hung,” said Dean. “To me, that was such a special thing that I’ve not gotten to do before with a student, so this has been really cool.”
Both Dean and Rodriguez collaborated to form a gallery that concentrated on themes of cultural belonging and community.
“It was a really amazing opportunity for me because I’ve never assisted in the formation of an art show before, so I think seeing how much work went in to choosing the art, receiving the art, putting it up and understanding all the different minuities that go into the process, overall gave me a new respect for galleries,” Elsy said.
The purpose of the display is to focus on giving a voice to the many Latinx artists in Los Angeles through diverse styles and subject matters in the pieces. Some artists created artwork with figures, while others emphasized the presence of nature through florals or insects to illustrate the ideas of rebirth or life cycles.
“For me, it was really important to recognize the diversity of art that exists in the Latinx community,” Wright said.
