Pilar Agüero Esparza / Pilar Agüero Esparza

Curator of Exhibitions, Amy DiPlacido and San Jose-based artist, Pilar Agüero-Esparza, sit down to discuss art, influences and current events. One of SJMQT’s 2020 projects is the Artist Spotlight Interview Series where we catch up with artists, see how they are handling the pandemic and how they are able to persevere and be creative during this difficult time.

Originally from Boyle Heights in East Los Angeles, Agüero-Esparza was exposed to the potential and richness of materials and the love of the hand-made working in her parents’ shoe shop. She received a BA in Art from the University of California Santa Cruz, and MFA from San Jose State University. Agüero-Esparza has been an active artist, arts educator and arts administrator in the Bay Area exhibiting her work in numerous institutions including the San Jose Museum of Art, Triton Museum, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, The Santa Cruz Museum, MACLA, Palo Alto Arts Center, Galeria de la Raza, and the De Young Museum.

To investigate issues of culture, race, and domesticity, Pilar employs a range of media including drawing, painting, and sculpture. She works with materials that dictate a certain process of inquiry which she is connected to in specific ways – such as her daughter’s homework assignments from first grade or heaps of leather lace from her father’s shoe shop. The characteristics, physical presence and signifying potential of materials such as these – the materiality of objects – inspire Pilar to analyze how things are made, consider who makes them, and examine the physical or social conditions that are involved in their making. Through this process, she create works that question the inequities of race, gender and class to engage viewers in specific cultural and gendered experiences.

MACLA/Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana is an inclusive contemporary arts space grounded in the Chicano/Latino experience that incubates new visual, literary and performance art in order to engage people in civic dialogue and community transformation.

More than 30,000 children, youth, young adults, families and community residents participate in the 50 programs MACLA produces each year in four core program tracts.

Visual Arts—Each year we offer up to six arts exhibitions—including one that features new work commissioned by MACLA—showcasing talented artists whose work is rooted in a Latino aesthetic and history, but inclusive of a broader multicultural sensibility. Our free exhibitions include artist talks, gallery walks and lectures that expand upon the themes and issues addressed and that place artists firmly within their artistic and cultural contexts.

Our visual arts program is fresh, innovative, and risk-taking. Focused on promoting established and emerging artists whose work is rooted in a Latino experience and history, but inclusive of global and multi-cultural movements, we see contemporary Latino art as part and parcel of the larger American experience.

Performing & Literary Arts—From hip-hop and spoken word to modern dance, our performance and literary arts tract offers new perspectives on contemporary Latino culture and civic society. Our 100-seat Castellano Playhouse is the leading downtown venue, providing space for diverse artists and performing arts groups each year. As part of the National Performance Network (NPN), we offer two artist residencies annually and present national touring professionals. In addition, we commission one new work every other year.

Our Community Access Program (CAP) is an artist development strategy that focuses on artists of color who make up the first truly multicultural generation in Silicon Valley. Youth Arts Education—MACLA’s approach to youth arts education received national attention when we were chosen to develop the San Jose Peapod Adobe Youth Voices Academy (PAYVA), launched in August 2011. Our year-round arts education curriculum serves youth ages 13-18 after-school and during the summer. The Academy features a dedicated gallery, classroom, and music production studio for our youth programs. Our Family Art Day program encourages families with young children to participate in our many arts programs.

Community Arts Program—This is the overall philosophy that informs all of our programs and translates our artistic practices into successful community-building strategies. Through arts-based programs and community events, we bring together multicultural artists, audiences, and a wide spectrum of residents so they may interact and develop mutual understanding.

MarketME Video Production

Artists H. Dio Mendoza and Pilar Agüero-Esparza will complete a summer residency in South Central Los Angeles at the shoe repair shop of Aguero-Esparza’s dad. This summer residency will be a type of apprenticeship in which they will learn the entire process of designing and fabricating the traditional Mexican sandal — el huarache. For Out of the Garage, Mendoza and Agüero-Esparza will set up a shop of their own in South Hall and during their Biennial residency they will create and sell huaraches as well as their own footwear line. They envision setting up a workshop very much like Agüero-Esparza’s dad’s shop in South Central — the machines, the materials, and the smell of leather and metal in the air. El Shop (2010) will provide the public with an opportunity to see into the nature of a specialized labor, participate in a comparison of high/low commerce, and reflect on the social issues involved.

In this Community Conversation, we unpack the stereotypes of the “starving artist”. Inspired by the themes present in our exhibition Sawyer Rose: Carrying Stones; How can we dismantle misconceptions about artist labor?

Join the conversation with NUMU’s Executive Director, Ami Davis, and Communications Manager, Alyssarhaye Graciano, in discussion with Carman Gaines of Local Color SJ and Pilar Agüero-Esparza, Bay Area artist and educator. __ About The Panelists Carman Tyra Gaines (she/they) has worked in the Bay Area’s art nonprofit sector for over four years, supporting communities near home. Currently, Carman works with Local Color, a San José women-powered nonprofit stewarding multifaceted opportunities supporting local creatives. Their work centers on community, racial equity, and advocacy through arts. Pilar Agüero-Esparza received a BA in Art from the University of California Santa Cruz, and MFA from San Jose State University. Agüero-Esparza has been an active artist, arts educator and arts administrator in the Bay Area exhibiting her work in numerous institutions including the San Jose Museum of Art, Triton Museum, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, The Santa Cruz Museum, MACLA, Palo Alto Arts Center, Galeria de la Raza, and the De Young Museum. Alyssarhaye Graciano is our newest NUMU team member, joining as our Communications & Administration Manager. Outside of the museum, Graciano is a published author and fiber artist by the name of BlackSheepMade. Her artistic career has evolved into large public installations, long-term pop-ups, and traveling workshops.

Ami Davis is NUMU’s Executive Director and is committed to making art relevant and accessible to all audiences. Davis brings 22 years of experience working in museums throughout California as an educator, curator, and fundraiser. __ About Community Conversations NUMU is excited to be launching a new program series Community Conversations. This regular discussion series is open to all and will feature the voices of our diverse community of artists, guest collaborators, and museum staff. We will unpack the questions and ideas present in our current exhibitions. “Artists should be valued for their work and there needs to be a paradigm shift from starving artist to thriving artist. We need to stop perpetuatIng arts as an unrealistic career option and create models that are sustainable with fair wages and benefits.” -California Arts Advocates