Celia Álvarez Muñoz Explained

Celia Álvarez Muñoz
Birth Name:	Celia Limón Álvarez
Birth Place:	El Paso, Texas
Nationality:	American
Alma Mater:	North Texas State University
Style:	photography conceptual art

Celia Álvarez Muñoz (born 1937) is a Chicana mixed-media conceptual artist and photographer based in Arlington, Texas.^[1]

Early life and education

Álvarez Muñoz was born in El Paso, Texas to Enriqueta Limón Alvarez and Francisco Pompa Alvarez.^[2] She grew up in the Chihuahuita historical neighborhood of El Paso.^[3] Prior to becoming an artist, Álvarez Muñoz worked as a fashion illustrator and an elementary school art educator.^[4] She decided to commit to creating art in the 1970s, by 1977 she enrolled in graduate school to study art.^[5] She earned her Masters of Fine Arts at North Texas State University, Denton.^[6]

Drawing on her experiences living near the US-Mexico border, Álvarez Muñoz's work addresses the tension between linguistic, cultural, and political worlds. She often incorporates themes of family and "communal memories" in her work.^[7] She uses text and images in her work to explore the ambiguous signs and signifiers where cultures meet, and to communicate stories of American history, culture, and society.^[8] She has exhibited her work in museums and galleries in the U.S. and abroad, and is included in the collection of the Museum of New Mexico.^[9] Her work has been written about by art historians, Lucy Lippard, Benito Huerta, and others.^{[10] [11] [12]} In Roberto Tejada's monograph on Muñoz, he includes a teaching guide (Vol. 3) using principles from her work in the teaching of multicultural art, and border issues.

Selected solo exhibitions

• 1988 – The Lannan Museum, Lake Worth, Florida
  • 1989 – New Langton Arts, San Francisco 1989 – Bridge Center for Contemporary Art, El Paso, Texas
• 1994 – "A Brand New Ball Game", Capp Street Project, San Francisco^[13]
• 1991– "Concentrations 26: Celia Alvarez Munoz, Abriendo Tierra/Breaking Ground", Dallas Museum of Art^[14]

Selected group exhibitions

Álvarez Muñoz has exhibited at;

• 1991 – Whitney Biennial of American Art, New York City
• 1992 – Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego
• 2002 – "Stories Your Mother Never Told You" (traveling retrospective), Blue Star ArtSpace, El Paso Museum of Art, and Mexic-Arte Museum^[15]
• 2006–2007 – "Frontera 450+", Station Museum of Contemporary Art, Houston, Texas^[16]
• 2009 – "Chicana Badgirls: Las Hociconas", 516 ARTS, Albuquerque, New Mexico^[17]
• 2009 – "Rastros y Crónicas: Mujerez de Juarez", National Museum of Mexican Art, Chicago, Illinois^[18]
• 2012 – "Artifactual Realities", Station Museum of Contemporary Art, Houston, Texas^[19]
• 2014 – "Unbound: Contemporary Art After Frida Kahlo", Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (MCA)^[20]

Further reading

• Roberto Tejada, Celia Alvarez Muñoz, University of Minnesota Press, 2009.

External links

• Web site: Oral history interview with Celia Alvarez Muñoz, 2004 Feb. 7-28. aaa.si.edu. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. 13 March 2016.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Oral history interview with Celia Alvarez Muñoz, 2004 Feb. 7-28. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. 2016-03-15.
2. Web site: Celia Álvarez Muñoz Hammer Museum. hammer.ucla.edu. en. 2020-03-17.
3. Fall 2021. TWC Alumna, 'Artivist' Earns Lifetime Achievement Award. UTEP. 13. 2. 51.
4. News: FREUDENHEIM. SUSAN. ART : Cultural Concepts : Celia Munoz draws on her childhood and heritage to tell stories in challenging, conceptual multimedia works. 5 March 2016. Los Angeles Times. March 3, 1991.
5. Book: A Ver teacher's guide: Celia Alvarez Muñoz. UCLA Chicano Studies Research Press & Regents of the University of California. 2010-01-01.
6. Web site: Celia Alvarez Muñoz (American, 1937-). Museum of New Mexico-Museum of Fine Arts. 5 March 2016.
7. Book: Desert Modern and Beyond: El Paso Art 1960-2012. El Paso Museum of Art. 2012. 9780978538354. El Paso, Texas. 32.
8. Book: Tejada. Roberto. Celia Alvarez Muñoz. 2009. University of Minnesota Press. 978-0-89551-112-6. 27 December 2016.
9. Web site: Celia Alvarez Muñoz . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20220608014146/https://www.newmexicoculture.org/mfa/ideaphotographic/artists_munoz.html . 8 June 2022 . 27 December 2016 . Idea Photographic: After Modernism . Museum of New Mexico.
10. Huerta. Benito. Celia Alvarez Muñoz. Art Lies. Fall 1999. 59–62. 27 December 2016.
11. Book: Lippard. Lucy. Mixed Blessings: New Art in a Multicultural Forum. 1990. Pantheon Books. New York. 978-1-56584-573-2. 27 December 2016.
12. Book: Lippard. Lucy. Listening to Roswell's Heartbeat: Celia Muñoz's Herencia. 1996. Roswell Museum and Art Center. New Mexico.
13. Web site: Celia Alvarez Munoz - Capp Street Project Archive. libraries.cca.edu. 2016-03-15. https://web.archive.org/web/20170921095002/http://libraries-archive.cca.edu/capp/celia_alvarez_munoz.html. 2017-09-21. dead.
14. Web site: Concentrations 26: Celia Alvarez Munoz, Abriendo Tierra/Breaking Ground. Texas History. 2016-03-14.
15. Web site: Celia Alvarez Muñoz: Stories Your Mother Never Told You - Lannan Foundation. Clark. Judi. www.lannan.org. 2016-03-15.
16. Web site: Frontera 450+. Station Museum. 2016-03-15. https://web.archive.org/web/20160315151059/http://stationmuseum.com/index.php/exhibitions/19-exhibitions/219-frontera-450. 2016-03-15. dead.
17. Web site: Chicana Badgirls: Las Hociconas. 516 ARTS. 2016-03-15.
18. Web site: Rastros Y Crónicas: Mujeres De Juárez. 2009-10-17. Hispago.com. es. 2016-03-15.
19. Web site: Photographs merge truth and illusion in Station Museum's Artifactual Realities. Campana. Joseph. 2012-04-06. CultureMap Houston. CultureMap LLC. 2016-03-14.
20. Web site: Unbound: Contemporary Art After Frida Kahlo. 2014. Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (MCA). 2016-03-15.