Guest artist Margarita Cabrera of El Paso, Texas, is leading a collaborative, outdoor weaving project, “Cotton Circles,” using traditional Oaxacan looms on the Fresno State campus the next two weekends leading up to a monthlong exhibit in  November.

Work on the weavings, structured around campus trees, began in mid-October and was scheduled to continue until Nov. 2. On Nov. 5, the completed commissioned work will go on display at the Leon S. Peters Ellipse Gallery on the second floor of the Henry Madden Library. The exhibition will continue through Nov. 30.

“Cotton Circles” is a project of the Center for Creativity and the Arts at Fresno State: part of the center’s year-long series of events on the themes of immigration, migration and labor. Funding to commission Cabrera’s art work is provided by the John and Madeline Perenchio Arts Exhibition Endowment.

Cabrera’s commission of five to seven tapestries will be created through a series of performance-art workshops where as many as 70 students, faculty, staff and community volunteers,including members of the local Oaxacan community, will participate.

The workshops are 9-11:30 a.m., 12:30-3 p.m. and 3:30 to 6 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 22, and Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Oct. 27-29. The groups will work in circular formation around the trees to produce five tapestries (telares in Spanish).

Workshop sites will vary each day. Information about the daily events can be found in the Free Speech Area of campus where Cabrera will present an art piece titled “México Abre La Boca.” The piece functions as a temporary vehicle – a “taco stand” – that closes the gap between two distant markets: corporate and street vendors.

The project will introduce original Mexican craft traditions from the coastal area of Jamiltepec, Oaxaca, that use cotton as their main material.

An artesana from Jamiltepec, Monica Nambo Torres, will participate in the educational aspect of the tapestry workshops. She will share her expertise in craft and teach the participants ways in which craft productions can facilitate dialogue about social issues within an immigrant community.

In addition to providing information about the workshops, the “taco stand” in the Free Speech Area also will offer traditional artistic cultural productions created in Jamiltepec.

In the same way that a street vendor would sell tacos, the “Mexico Abre La Boca” merchant will promote and sell artwork. Visitors also will be able to obtain information about Florezca Inc., a for-profit multinational corporation created by Cabrera that produces, exhibits and sells original works of art that address issues affecting immigrant and migrant communities.

For more information, contact Dr. José A. Díaz, Center for Creativity and the Arts interim director at josed@csufresno.edu.

(Photos by Julia Bradshaw)

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