Collection context
Summary
- Creators:
- Lopez, Yolanda M., 1942-2021
- Abstract:
- Personal and professional papers of Yolanda M. Lopez, former American painter, printmaker, educator, and film producer.
- Extent:
- 11.84 Linear Feet; (1 carton, 18 document boxes, 1 flat oversize box)
- Language:
- English .
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of Item], Yolanda M. Lopez papers, CEMA 11. Department of Special Research Collections, UC Santa Barbara Library, University of California, Santa Barbara.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
The collection contains both personal and professional materials generated by Yolanda Lopez during the period between 1961-1998. Materials may include correspondence, newspaper clippings, daily planners, exhibition and lecture material, artworks, audiovisual recordings, and other personal materials.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Yolanda Margarita Lopez (November 1, 1942 – September 3, 2021) was born in San Diego, California in 1942. As the eldest daughter of three, she was raised by her mother and her mother's parents in the Logan Heights neighborhood.
After graduating high school, Lopez moved to San Francisco and in 1968 participated in the San Francisco State University Third World Strike. She also worked as a community artist in the Mission District with a group called Los Siete de la Raza. Since that point she viewed her work as an artist as a tool for political and social change, and saw herself as an artistic provocateur.
In 1975 Lopez received her B.A. in painting and drawing from San Diego State University and in 1979 went on to get her M.F.A. in visual arts from the University of California, San Diego. As a visual artist, she is best known for her groundbreaking Virgin of Guadalupe series, an investigation of the Virgin of Guadalupe as an influential female icon. Her work expanded into installation, video and slide presentations. Her video, Images of Mexicans in the Media, toured internationally and is collected in university libraries nationally. Her media series, Cactus Hearts/Barbed Wire Dreams, has comprised numerous installations, including Things I Never Told My Son About Being a Mexican, an installation that explores identity, assimilation, and cultural change. The series was part of the major traveling exhibition La Frontera/The Border: Art About the Mexico/United States Border Experience.Woman's Work Is Never Done, includes a series of prints, as well as the installation The Nanny, which explores the invisibility of immigrant women as domestic workers. The installation was showcased in the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art's exhibition Mirror, Mirror...Gender Roles and the Historical Significance of Beauty.
As a scholar as well as an artist, Lopez taught studio classes and lectured on contemporary Chicano art at the University of California at Berkeley and San Diego. Lopez produced a video, When You Think of Mexico, on the topic of cultural stereotypes in print and electronic media, and presented the video and accompanying lecture throughout the West. "It is important for us to be visually literate; it is a survival skill," Lopez stated. "The media is what passes for culture in contemporary U.S. society, and it is extremely powerful. It is crucial that we systematically explore the cultural mis-definition of Mexicans and Latin Americans that is presented in the media."
- Acquisition information:
- Donated by Yolanda Lopez, December 12, 1996 and June 15, 2007.
- Arrangement:
-
The collection is arranged by topic and format into eight series:
- Series 1: Correspondence - Incoming
- Series 2: Biographical/Professional Activities
- Series 3: Photography - Slides
- Series 4: Video and Audio
- Series 5: Oversize
- Series 6: Graphic Arts
- Series 7: Supplemental
- Series 8: Research Files
- Physical location:
- Special Research Collections, UC Santa Barbara Library
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
The collection is open for research. Selected correspondence files are closed until 2027.
- Terms of access:
-
Property rights to the collection and physical objects belong to the Regents of the University of California acting through the Department of Special Research Collections at the UCSB Library. All applicable literary rights, including copyright to the collection and physical objects, are protected under Chapter 17 of the U.S. Copyright Code and are retained by the creator and the copyright owner, heir(s), or assigns.
All requests to reproduce, quote from, or otherwise reuse collection materials must be submitted in writing to the Department of Special Research Collections at UCSB at special@ucsb.edu. Consent is given on behalf of the Regents of the University of California acting through the Department of Special Research Collections at UCSB as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission from the copyright owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner, heir(s), or assigns. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or their assigns for permission to publish where the UC Regents do not hold the copyright.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of Item], Yolanda M. Lopez papers, CEMA 11. Department of Special Research Collections, UC Santa Barbara Library, University of California, Santa Barbara.
- Location of this collection:
-
UC Santa Barbara LibrarySanta Barbara, CA 93106-9010, US
- Contact:
- (805) 893-3062