Mano-Made: New Expression in Craft by Latino Artists, Jaime Guerrero

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Mano-Made: New Expression in Craft by Latino Artists
Jaime Guerrero
August 26 – October 7, 2017
A trio of solo exhibitions by Mexican-Californian craft pioneers
Curated by Emily Zaiden, Craft in America Center Director
(En español a continuación.)

Craft in America will focus on the work of three individual artist: Jaime Guerrero, Gerardo Monterrubio and Consuelo Jimenez Underwood. These artists who use craft to articulate messages about American culture, personal experiences, Latino identity and the ever-mutating socio-political tensions that exist in Los Angeles and California as a whole.

The first of three exhibitions will present the powerful work of Los Angeles native artist Jaime Guerrero. Jaime is one of the few and first artists in the world to sculpt life size figures in glass. Jaime takes glass into new realms with his remarkable ability to imbue his medium with palpable emotion and spirit. He is known for manipulating glass in an unusual technique of working inside and outside hot glass to sculpt a piece. In addition to Jaime’s singular process of hand shaping the glass, he animates his figures by occasionally applying highlights of color to the surface of these otherwise clear forms. The inherent nature of glass in its duality of strength, yet fragility, mirrors the nature of the human body and gives his work added impact. In addition to his studio practice, Jaime has dedicated himself to teaching his craft to younger artists in Watts, Boyle Heights and other underserved communities. He hopes to extend access and promote diversity in the glass field by creating a studio to serve these students. For the exhibition at the Craft in America Center, Jaime will be filling the gallery with an installation of a group of blown glass life size children that will represent children who are being detained at the border each day. These glass children will be batting at a suspended glass piñata that will be embellished with vivid papier mache streamers. His hope is that the installation will humanize and universalize the experience of these young immigrants, and initiate discussion about the critical challenges they face. Jaime is a graduate of California College of the Arts in Oakland, CA.

As a part of his exhibition at the Center, artist Jaime Guerrero has added handwritten letters from child migrants to Los Angeles. These letters cover the walls at the Craft in America Center–surrounding Guerrero’s glass sculptures of children detained at the border. The letters will also be digitized to craftinamerica.org where they will continue to be shared. This participatory public history collection project is intended to deepen community understanding of child immigrant experiences and how they impact our city.

Jaime will be featured in Craft in America’s 2017 episode, NEIGHBORS. This episode is an introduction to the vast interrelationships in the craft practices of Mexico and the United States.

This exhibition is part of Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA.

This project is being made possible with support from California Humanities, a non-profit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Visit www.calhum.org

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Artist Jaime Guerrero invited visitors to share their own stories of childhood immigration to Los Angeles in the form of handwritten letters. These letters covered an entire wall at the Craft in America Center during Jaime Guerrero’s solo exhibition at the Craft in America Center–surrounding Guerrero’s glass sculptures of children detained at the border–and at the Biscailuz Gallery at El Pueblo Historic Monument in Downtown Los Angeles as a part of the exhibition Borders and Neighbors: Craft Connectivity Between the U.S. and Mexico. The letters have been digitized so that they may continue to be shared. This participatory public history collection project is intended to deepen community understanding of child immigrant experiences and how they impact our city.

This project is being made possible with support from California Humanities, a non-profit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Visit www.calhum.org

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Mano-Hecho: Nueva Expresión en Artesanía de Artistas Latinos
Jaime Guerrero
Agosto 26 – Octubre 7, 2017
Un trío de exposiciones de solistas por artistas Mexicanos-Californianos
Organizado por Emily Zaiden, Directora de Craft in America Center

Craft in America se enfocara en los trabajos de tres artistas individuales que utilizan su oficio para articular mensajes de la cultura Americana, experiencias personales, identidad Latino/a, y las tensiones sociopolíticas que existen en Los Ángeles y California.

La primera de tres exposiciones presentara la obra poderosa de Jaime Guerrero, un artista nativo de Los Ángeles. Jaime es uno de los pocos y primeros artistas en el mundo que pudo esculpir figuras de tamaño real en vidrio. Jaime toma el vidrio a nuevos campos con su notable capacidad de imbuir a su medio con la emoción palpable y espíritu. Guerrero es conocido por la manipulación de vidrio en una técnica inusual de trabajar en el interior y exterior del vidrio caliente para esculpir una pieza. Además del proceso singular de dar forma a el vidrio a mano, Jaime realza sus figuras aplicando colores destacados en la superficie de estas formas claras.
La naturaleza inherente del vidrio en su dualidad de fuerza y fragilidad refleja la naturaleza del cuerpo humano mientras le da a su trabajo un impacto añadido. Además de su práctica de estudio, Jaime se ha dedicado a enseñar su arte a los artistas mas jóvenes en Watts, Boyle Heights y otras comunidades desatendidas. Él espera extender el acceso y promover diversidad en el campo de vidrio creando un taller para servir a estos estudiantes.

Para la exhibición en el Craft in America Center, Jaime estará llenando la galería con una instalación de un grupo de niños de tamaño real en vidrio soplado que representarán a los niños que están detenidos en la frontera a diario. Estos niños de vidrio estarán golpeando una piñata de vidrio embellecida con serpentinas de papel maché y suspendida con un palo de madera . Su expectativa con esta instalación es humanizar y universalizar las experiencias de estos jóvenes inmigrantes, e iniciar debate acerca de los desafíos críticos que enfrentan. Jaime es un graduado de California College of the Arts en Oakland, CA.

Jaime aparecerá en el episodio producido por Craft in America en el 2017 llamado NEIGHBORS (VECINOS). Este episodio será una introducción a las extensas relaciones en las prácticas artesanales de México y los Estados Unidos.

Esta exposición es parte de Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA.

Este proyecto se está haciendo posible con el apoyo de Humanidades de California, un socio sin fines de lucro de la Fundación Nacional para las Humanidades. Visita www.calhum.org.