Collection context
Summary
- Title:
- Maya Gonzalez papers
- Dates:
- 1985-2005
- Abstract:
- Professional materials of Maya Gonzalez, a Chicanx artist, author, activist, and educator.
- Extent:
- 0.2 Linear Feet (1 half-document box)
- Language:
- English
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of Item], Maya Gonzalez papers, CEMA 103. Department of Special Research Collections, UC Santa Barbara Library, University of California, Santa Barbara.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
The collection contains examples of and promotional materials for Maya Gonzalez's artwork.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Maya Gonzalez (January 24, 1964- ) was born in Lancaster, California and raised, after the age of 13, in rural Oregon. Growing up Catholic, some of her first experiences with art was through the family bible:
"It must have weighed five pounds. Bound with cracking red leather, each page was lined with a brilliant gold. The pages with words were thin like silk. The pages with weight, thick and heavy, dispersed throughout the large text, held brilliant art. I sat for hours with that book on my lap, staring at the work of Botticelli and Giotto, Michelangelo and Correggio. Light emanated from within their figures; spirit informed gesture and expression. Supernatural beings were visible to the seeker and the sky was bright with those ascending. This triggered the deep truth within me that the divine is within all things. And what's more, art can expose this truth."
She studied creative writing at the University of Oregon briefly, before deciding that the visual arts was a better vehicle with which to express herself, eventually moving to San Francisco to pursue an artistic career and seek refuge from the homophobia she experienced in Oregon. After settling in San Francisco, she was recruited by Harriet Rohmer, founder of Children's Book Press, to illustrate children's books. From there, her career as an artist, educator, and activist began.
Known for brightly colored paintings that honor Chicanx themes and often feature Latino children as their subject, Gonzalez's work addresses systemic inequity in relation to race/ethnicity, sexism and cissexism.
Throughout her career she has been a great advocate for children's education. As an illustrator for Children's Book Press and as a teacher, she has explored what came to be known as "Fearless Art," teaching through the University of Oregon, the Maude Kernes Art Center, and through the Children's Book Press Outreach Program in schools throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles. Her work has been exhibited in Eugene, Oregon, San Francisco, Fresno, Hayward, Oakland, Los Angeles and Chicago.
In 1994, Maya Gonzalez was awarded the Americas Honor Award for Prietita y La Llorona which was also named a Smithsonian Notable Book. In 1996, Laughing Tomatoes and Other Spring Poems won the Pura Belopre Honor Award, the National Parenting Publications Gold Medal Award. In 1997 Bellybutton of the Moon won the Skipping Stones Honor Award and the Choices Award from the Children's Book Center.
In 2009, Gonzalez co-founded Reflection Press, a POC, queer, and trans owned independent publisher with her husband, Matthew S.G. In 2010, Gonzalez wrote and published through Reflection Press The Gender Now Coloring Book: a learning adventure for children and adults. This book served as the basis for a series of expanded books, activities, and trainings that fall under what Gonzalez has termed The Gender Wheel - a nature-based, decolonized, and holistic approach to body, gender, and relationship diversity.
- Acquisition information:
- Gift of Maya Gonzalez, April 2005.
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
About this collection guide
- Date Encoded:
- This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2026-04-08 10:54:44 -0700 .
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. All applicable literary rights, including copyright to the collection and physical objects, are protected under Chapter 17 of the U.S. Copyright Code and may be 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@library.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 assignees for permission to publish where the UC Regents do not hold the copyright.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of Item], Maya Gonzalez papers, CEMA 103. 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