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Guide to the Yolanda M. Lopez Papers
CEMA 11
CEMA 11
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Table of contents
Title: Yolanda M. Lopez papers
Identifier/Call Number: CEMA 11
Contributing Institution:
UC Santa Barbara Library, Department of Special Collections
Language of Material:
English
Physical Description:
8.5 linear feet
(19 boxes: 18 document boxes, 1 oversize portfolio box and posters)
Date (bulk): Bulk, 1961-1998
Date (inclusive): 1961-2007
General Physical Description note:
1.5 linear feet (3 hollinger boxes, 1 oversize portfolio box, 1 flat file portfolio box of silkscreen prints)
Shelf location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the library's online catalog.
creator:
Lopez, Yolanda M., 1942-
Yolanda Lopez 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 the San Francisco Bay Area and in 1968 became part of 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 has viewed her work as an artist as a tool for political and social change and sees 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 Masters
of Fine Arts 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. Classically trained
as an artisan, her work has expanded into installation, video and slide presentations. Her video, Images of Mexicans in the
Media, has 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." A recent project, 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 has taught studio classes and has lectured on contemporary Chicano art at the University
of California at Berkeley and San Diego. Lopez has produced a video, "When You Think of Mexico," on the topic of cultural
stereotypes in print and electronic media, and has presented the video and accompanying lecture throughout the West. "It is
important for us to be visually literate; it is a survival skill," Lopez states strongly. "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."
Selected correspondence files which are sensitive in nature will remain confidential until 2027.
Copyright resides with donor
Donated by Yolanda Lopez, December 12, 1996
[Identification of item], Yolanda M. Lopez Papers, CEMA 11, Department of Special Collections, University Libraries, University
of California, Santa Barbara.
The contents of the Yolanda M. Lopez Papers are comprised of both personal and professional materials generated by the artist
during the period 1961-1998. The bulk of the collection consists of incoming personal correspondence from family members and
fellow artists. This includes a large body of correspondence from Analee Lively, Lopez's half-sister, and another large amount
from Rene Yañez, with whom Lopez has maintained a relationship since the late 1970s. The second largest component of the collection,
the Biographical/Professional Activities series, contains a history of Lopez's professional development through clippings
of media mentions, announcement cards and posters for her exhibits and lectures, and various miscellaneous files and clippings
that relate to her work. The collection also includes several original silkscreens and offset posters, a number of slides,
a personal diary with irregular entries spanning from 1976-1979, and two video cassettes featuring Lopez. The greatest strengths
of the collection are the insight it gives into Lopez's personal and family life (especially in the late 1960s and 1970s),
and the record it provides of her professional development and achievements.
Series I: Correspondence - Incoming 1961-1995 This series is arranged alphabetically according to correspondent, then chronologically,
and is divided into personal and professional correspondence. A large portion of the personal correspondence is from Lopez's
half- sister, Analee Lively, who wrote regularly from 1962-1995. A similarly large amount of correspondence (spanning from
1978-1994) is from Rene Yañez, a Chicano artist with whom Lopez has maintained a close relationship. The latter is of a personal
nature and, to ensure the privacy of the persons involved, has been designated confidential for the time being at the request
of the donor. These files will be unrestricted in the year 2027. Other correspondents of note include:
- Nesbit Crutchfield, who wrote to Lopez during his two years of incarceration in 1968-70;
- Countes [sic] Cuchita, who claimed to be Lopez's sister, and Mortimer Lopez, Lopez's father;
- David Avalos, a Chicano artist with whom Lopez had a close relationship for several years;
- and Graciela Carrillo, a fellow artist and personal friend who, along with Lopez, was one of the Mujeres Muralistas.
Series II: Biographical/Professional Activities This series is arranged chronologically and contains primarily literature
related to Lopez's participation in exhibitions and other professional activities. This includes flyers and announcements
for exhibitions and conferences, as well as articles from magazines and newspapers regarding Lopez's work and Chicana art
in general. Lopez's personal biography and an Artist Statement dated 1998 can be found in box 4, folder 1. Note also that
there are very informative newspaper/magazine interviews and clippings relating to Lopez's professional activities in the
Oversize series (series V)
Series III: Photography-Slides The slides contained within this series are a sampling of some of Lopez's better-known works.
Subjects represented include:
- The Virgin of Guadalupe series
- A Woman's Work Is Never Done series
- Cactus Hearts/Barbed Wire Dreams series
Series IV: Video and Audio This series contains three videotapes and audio files from Yolandas. There is a tape contains an
interview with Lopez focused on the making of the Guadalupe series; and a tape, entitled "Women of the Vanguard," contains
original footage of a protest at the Galeria de La Raza in which Lopez took part. When she was a visiting artist at CEMA her
she gave a presentation in 2007 which was recorded. There is also a powerpoint and audio files of the same event. Cristina
Serna interviewed her at the same visit and these audio files are part of the collection.
Series V: Oversize This series contains miscellaneous oversized items arranged chronologically, including a photograph of
Lopez, newspapers, programs and fliers related to her professional activities, and several pieces of oversize correspondence
from David Avalos and Analee Lively. Of particular interest is the Winter/Spring, 1995 issue of Venceremos which features
an excellent interview with Lopez discussing much of her most well-known work (box 5, folder 1). Items are arranged chronologically.
Series VI: Graphic Arts This series contains 15 silkscreen and offset posters by Lopez, as well as four iris prints of Lopez's
work. Included in the posters are several of her well-known works, including Who's the Illegal Alien, Pilgrim?, A Woman's
Work Is Never Done, Things I Never Told My Son About Being a Mexican, and others. The prints are arranged according to record
number.
- The video, "When You Think of Mexico: Commercial Images of Mexicans," written and produced by Yolanda Lopez (1986; running time 28 minutes; color; in stereo), is part of the media collections in the Curriculum
- Laboratory of the Davidson Library. It has the following call number: P94.5 M45 L6, 1986.
- In addition, two video collections within CEMA contain video materials pertaining to Lopez.
- In the Artistas Chicanas Symposium Collection, tape one (call number: 6538.M4 A76 1991a) features Lopez talking about the Virgin of Guadalupe series and other well known works.
- The Califas Collection (call number: E184.M5 C2995 1986) also contains extensive video footage pertaining to Chicano art in California.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
American literature -- Hispanic American authors
Art, American -- California -- 20th century
Art, Modern -- 20th century -- California -- Los Angeles
Mexican American art -- 20th century
Mexican American artists
Mexican American artists -- California
Mexican American neighborhoods -- Fiction
Mexican American women
Mexican American women authors
Mexican Americans -- California -- East Los Angeles
Mexican Americans -- Civil rights
Mexican Americans in literature