Rini Templeton papers, 1875-2007, bulk 1970-1999

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Summary

Creators:
Templeton, Rinny (1935-1986) and Brickley, Lynne (1940-2019)
Abstract:
Papers of Rini Templeton, former graphic artist, sculptor, and political activist.
Extent:
29.25 Linear Feet (5 cartons, 32 document boxes, 9 clamshell boxes, 22 oversize boxes, 2 shoeboxes, and 104 graphic art prints in map cases)
Language:
The collection is in English and Spanish.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of Item], Rini Templeton papers, CEMA 69. Department of Special Research Collections, UC Santa Barbara Library, University of California, Santa Barbara.

Background

Scope and content:

The collection contains both manuscript materials and original artworks created by Rini Templeton. The manuscript material includes correspondence, biographical materials, research files, photographs and slides, and original work produced by the artist.

Biographical / historical:

Lucille Corine "Rini" Templeton (July 1, 1935 – June 15, 1986) was born in Buffalo, New York. In 1943 her family moved to Washington, D.C. Early in her life, Rini exhibited her creative talents; at 10 her poem about the end of WWII in Europe was published in the Evening Star, a Washington D.C. daily, and at 13 she built her own darkroom. In 1946 the family moved to Chicago, Illinois, where the next year, after unusually high IQ test results, Rini was given a full scholarship to the University of Chicago's Laboratory School. In 1949 Rini published her own collection of poems entitled Chicagoverse. By 1950 Rini was the editor of the school newspaper and from 1951-1952 she worked on the editorial board of the University's newspaper The Maroon. Rini hitchhiked around the United States from 1952-1954, and then from 1955-1957 she traveled around Europe; it was at the Bath Academy in Corsham, England where Rini began to study sculpture in 1956. Rini then spent the next 6 years living some of the time in Taos, New Mexico working as art editor for the progressive newspaper El Crepúsculo (The Dawn), spending most of the time traveling to Cuba to participate in the revolution and taking some time to study at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Skowhegan, Maine and La Esmeralda, a respected printmaking workshop in Mexico City, Mexico (later integrated into the National Institute of Fine Art). From 1961-1962 Rini published articles and letters defending the revolution in Cuba in The National Guardian. While in Cuba, Rini taught in the Literacy Campaign for four months as well as pottery making as a means of self-sufficiency and helped to found the Taller de Grabado de Catedral de La Habana (Havana Cathedral Printmaking Workshop). Her participation in the Cuban revolution created problems for Rini; when she tried to return in 1964 and discovered her passport had expired, her father helped her to return and she was instructed by the U.S. government not to teach, nor speak about Cuba nor to make any propaganda in favor of the Revolution (Rini later regained her passport, after the Supreme Court decision to uphold the right of travel).

In 1965 Rini lived in Taos, moving only a short distance over the next year to Pilar Hill when she married artist John DePuy. From 1968-1974 Rini worked as a staff artist on both El Grito del Norte and New Mexico Review while doing graphic design work with Rio Arriba People's Clinic and the Agricultural Cooperative of Tierra Amarilla. Rini had her first one-person show in November of 1969 at the Taos Art Association Stables Gallery in Taos, one month after a joint exhibition of her and her husband's work at the Gallery of Modern Art also in Taos. In 1970 Rini taught a 12-week art workshop in northern New Mexico as well as an art workshop at the Austin Riggs Center, a noted psychiatric hospital and research center for young adults in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. In the winter of 1973, after the coup in Chile, Rini and DePuy prepared a set of prints titled Homage to Neruda: A Portfolio from New Mexico to the Chilean Poet and his People to help raise funds for the people of Chile. By 1973 she and DePuy were separated and the next year Rini moved to Mexico City where she lived a short while before settling in a nearby colonial town, Jerónimo. It was in Jerónimo that Rini joined the Taller de la Gráfica Popular (Popular Graphic Workshop) and worked actively in the Taller de Arte e Ideología (Art and Ideology Workshop). While she lived in Mexico Rini made return trips to the US at least twice a year (primarily to renew her passport). From 1975-1976 during an extended stay in Albuquerque, New Mexico Rini did design work on the book 450 Years of Chicano History, published by the Chicano Communications Center.

In January through February of 1977 Rini traveled to Panama. From 1978-1979, she traveled all over Mexico to strikes, meetings, marches and other political activities, joined the graphics group for the Punto Crítico journal, and participated in creating the Frente Mexicano de Trabajadores de la Cultural (Mexican Cultural Workers' Front). At one point during this period Rini had an extended stay in Oakland, California where she designed Beyond the Border: Mexico and the U.S. Today. In 1980 she was invited by the Sandinista government to travel to Nicaragua to train people in producing materials for political education. By the end of that same year she was back in Mexico where she lived and worked with Sindicato Independiente de Trabajadores de la Universidad Autónoma Metroplitana (SITUAM, Autonomous Metropolitan University Workers' Independent Union) while continuing her work with what is today the Punto Crítico Revolutionary Organization. She stayed in Mexico over the next 6 years traveling one time in 1981 to San Francisco, California where she translated articles and prepared graphics for "Revolution and Intervention in Central America," a Special Emergency Issue of Contemporary Marxism, once to Arizona in 1984 to work with the striking copper miners and once to Hawaii in March of 1985 for a family reunion. When the earthquake hit Mexico City in 1985 Rini stayed and organized help for the thousands who were made homeless by the disaster. In September of 1985 Rini held her first one-person show in Mexico at Museo Regional De Guadalajara (Regional Museum of Guadalajara) in which she exhibited 32 silkscreen prints from her graphic series Donde Hay Vida Y Lucha (Where There Is Life And Struggle).

On June 15th, 1986 Rini's body was found in her room in Mexico; she had died alone some days before, presumably of natural causes. Three memorials were held; on June 23 a memorial was held in Mexico City at the Galería Metropolitana (organized by Punto Crítico), on June 27th her ashes were brought to her home in Pilar at a memorial in New Mexico, and on June 28th there was a memorial in Albuquerque. Since her death, the Rini Templeton Workshop has been established and formally inaugurated in the School of Graphic Design of the Autonomous Metropolitan University of Mexico. In 1987, the first apartments were given to Mexico City earthquake victims who had been living on rooftops and makeshift housing. Of the 490 apartments, all of which were named after Mexican heroes and historic events, one is named Rini Templeton in recognition of her work. There is also a website dedicated to Rini's art and her life, Riniart.org, where over 600 of her images are cataloged and made available to the public to be used in leaflets, newsletters, banners, picket signs or other non-commercial purposes.

Acquisition information:
Materials donated by Richard Templeton and Elizabeth Martinez in 1994. "Donde Hay Vida Y Luncha" suites 1 and 2 of graphic prints acquired from Alejandro and Geraldo Mendiola in 1996. Additional materials donated by Lynne Templeton Brickley, July 3, 2012.
Processing information:

Processed by Michelle Wilder, April 14 2004. Additions processed by Rebecca Vasquez, June 2024. Revised by Allison Phelps, July 2025.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged by topic and format into eight series:

  • Series 1: Correspondence
  • Series 2: Original Work
  • Series 3: Sketchbook
  • Series 4: Subject File
  • Series 5: The Rini Templeton Memorial Fund
  • Series 6: Slides
  • Series 7: Sculptures
  • Series 8: Biographical

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

The collection is open for research.

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. The copyright holder has granted a CC BY-NC license for all of Rini Templeton's works, which enables reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator. For more information see:https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

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 library-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.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of Item], Rini Templeton papers, CEMA 69. Department of Special Research Collections, UC Santa Barbara Library, University of California, Santa Barbara.

Location of this collection:
UC Santa Barbara Library
Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9010, US
Contact:
(805) 893-3062
special@library.ucsb.edu
Website