Margarita Cabrera Explained

Margarita Cabrera
Birth Date:[1]
Birth Place:Monterrey, Mexico
Known For:soft sculptures, border art

Margarita Cabrera (born 1973) is a Mexican-American artist and activist. As an artist, the objects and activities she produces address issues related to border relations, labor practices and immigration. Her practice spans smaller textile-based soft sculptures to large community-involved public artworks. In 2012 she was a recipient of the Knight Artist in Residence at the McColl Center for Visual Art in Charlotte, North Carolina. Cabrera was also a recipient of the Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant.

Early life and education

Cabrera was born in the city of Monterrey in the state of Nuevo Leon, México. She moved to Salt Lake City, Utah in the United States at around the age of 10, when her family was in search of better opportunities. She describes this period of life as very isolated and would do art in her free time. Her inspiration to become an artist began in her childhood, when she was exposed to the Montessori system of education.[2] [3] In high school her family moved to El Paso where she developed an awareness about immigration and border-related issues. She is now an assistant professor at School of Art at Arizona State University.[4]

Cabrera received a BFA degree in 1997 and an MFA degree in 2001 from Hunter College in New York, New York.[5] [6]

Work

Cabrera's artistic output includes both contemporary sculpture and public artworks.

Cabrera's soft sculptures are modelled on the shape of common appliances and machines, created from fabric and thread.[7] She has made soft sculptures of coffee makers,[8] bicycles,[9] sewing machines,[10] backpacks,[9] as well as the Hummer[11] and Volkswagen beetle[12] [13] automobiles.Cabrera has stated that these works are intended as an insight into the lives of laborers working in the Mexican appliance factories, or maquiladoras, that produce the real articles just south of the US-Mexico border.[14] [15] [16] In the process of creating her soft sculptures, Cabrera often works with displaced immigrants living on the American side of the border.[17] [18]

Cabrera's use of community involvement in the production of her soft sculptures has led her to create more engaged public artworks. Since 2010 she has run workshops on the production of art projects in Arizona and Texas, inviting the participation of new immigrants.[19] [20]

Cabrera other work includes a permanent public work named Árbol de la Vida: Memorias y Voces de la Tierra which was unveiled in 2019. It is a tree sculpture with a diameter of 80 feet. The branches support 700 hand made clay sculptures made by members of the San Antonio community.[21]

Cabrera is an assistant professor in the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts at Arizona State University.[22]

Public Art

Collections

Selected Solo and Group Exhibitions

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Margarita Cabrera Smithsonian American Art Museum . americanart.si.edu.
  2. News: Agresta . Michael . Margarita Cabrera's Monumental 'Arbol de la Vida' Grows in San Antonio . Texas Monthly . 22 March 2019 . en.
  3. Web site: Garcia . Yazmin M. . Artist Margarita Cabrera works through challenges to engage communities on social, political issues . Borderzine.
  4. Web site: Margarita Cabrera . 2024-05-07 . search.asu.edu . en.
  5. Book: Held . Peter . Lineberry . Heather Sealy . Crafting a Continuum: Rethinking Contemporary Craft . 22 November 2013 . UNC Press Books . 978-1-4696-1281-2 . en.
  6. Book: Bonansinga . Kate . Curating at the Edge: Artists Respond to the U.S./Mexico Border . 6 January 2014 . University of Texas Press . 978-0-292-75443-0 . en.
  7. Book: Museum . Smithsonian American Art . Ramos . E. Carmen . Our America: The Latino Presence in American Art . 2014 . Smithsonian American Art Museum . 978-1-907804-44-1 . en.
  8. Web site: Zanetell . Myrna . Margarita Cabrera . El Paso Inc. . en.
  9. Web site: Writer . Betty Ligon El Paso Inc . It's Margarita's turn for applause – for her sagging Hummer . El Paso Inc. . en.
  10. Web site: Szymanek . Angelique . Haptic Encounters: Margarita Cabrera's Space in Between . Art Journal Open . 15 October 2020.
  11. Web site: Ryzin . Jeanne Claire van . Van Ryzin: The threads of art, politics in intriguing exhibit at the MACC . Austin American-Statesman . en.
  12. Web site: Johnson . Ken . They're Chicanos and Artists. But Is Their Art Chicano? (Published 2010) . The New York Times . 9 April 2010.
  13. Web site: Bicultural and Multilevel: Margarita Cabrera . Glasstire . 2 January 2005.
  14. Book: Hung . Shu . Magliaro . Joseph . By Hand: The Use of Craft in Contemporary Art . 2007 . Princeton Architectural Press . 978-1-56898-610-4 . en.
  15. Book: Bunch . Robert Craig . The Art of Found Objects: Interviews with Texas Artists . 23 September 2016 . Texas A&M University Press . 978-1-62349-407-0 . en.
  16. Book: Blanco-Cano . R. . Urquijo-Ruiz . R. . Global Mexican Cultural Productions . 30 November 2011 . Springer . 978-0-230-37039-5 . en.
  17. Web site: Trimble . Lynn . How 10 Artists Tackle Immigration . Phoenix New Times . 22 June 2018.
  18. Web site: THE WELLIN MUSEUM OF ART PRESENTS MARGARITA CABRERA: SPACE IN BETWEEN . hamilton.edu/.
  19. Web site: Durón . Maximilíano . Searching for the In-Between: Margarita Cabrera's Collaborative Art Thinks Beyond Borders . ARTnews.com . 8 June 2018.
  20. Web site: Arbol De La Vida - Sculptures Take Form . Texas Public Radio . en . 30 June 2017.
  21. Web site: Frank . Nicholas . 2019-05-17 . 'Árbol de la Vida' at Mission Reach Reflects Generations of Community Stories . 2024-05-07 . San Antonio Report . en-US.
  22. Web site: Margarita Cabrera . herbergerinstitute.asu.edu . en . 22 December 2020.
  23. Web site: Boucher . Brian . Artist Threatens Suit over Public Sculpture . artnet News . 28 April 2015.
  24. Web site: City-Commissioned Sculpture Raises Questions Of Censorship . KJZZ . en . 22 June 2015.
  25. Web site: Árbol de la Vida: Memorias y Voces de la Tierra – San Antonio River Foundation . sariverfound.org/.
  26. News: Martinez . Norma . San Antonio Stories Blossom With Árbol De La Vida . Texas Public Radio . 27 March 2019 . en.
  27. News: Martin . Deborah . River Foundation unveils massive new public artwork near Mission Espada . San Antonio Express–News . 17 May 2019.
  28. Web site: Bicicleta azul platino (Platinum Blue Bicycle) . allenartcollection.oberlin.edu.
  29. Web site: Margarita Cabrera Bicicleta: Amarilla . emuseum.mfah.org/.
  30. Web site: QUEENIE: Selected artworks by female artists from El Museo del Barrio's Collection El Museo del Barrio . elmuseo.org.
  31. Web site: Cabrera: Space in Between Talley Dunn Gallery . 2024-05-07 . en-US.
  32. Web site: Blurring Borders – Margarita Cabrera . 2024-05-07 . en-US.
  33. Web site: agriCULTURE: Art Inspired by the Land – Margarita Cabrera . 2024-05-07 . en-US.
  34. Web site: Desert Rider – Dreaming in Motion – Margarita Cabrera . 2024-05-07 . en-US.

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