Chicana muralist Patricia Cruz never believed she was the artist in her family growing up.
She thought her sisters were more talented than she was when it came to art.
One day, while with her sister, the 14-year-old Cruz had a spiritual vision that changed her life.
“The vision pretty much triggered why I wanted to paint,” Cruz said. “I wanted to paint that vision that we had seen. And so the vision was an indigenous spirit, feathers and all, warrior-like, very beautiful male brown skin. And that’s like it’s carved in my brain.”
Cruz was the guest speaker presented by the Artivismin Y Cultura Klub to share her love for the art form and inspire the club on Tuesday, Oct. 7, in the MS building.
She was born and raised in San Diego and became an influential artist through the Chicane community in San Diego.
Through her process, she never felt like she drew the vision correctly. It was always too feminine or just never seemed true to what she saw.
She continued to practice, and over time, she felt like she got better at painting, falling in love with it.
President of the Artivism Y Cultura Klub Francisco Galvan said the goal of the club was to inspire the next generation of artists.
“It’s art activism. We’re going to be working on murals for the community, and also helping with any facade work or artwork that needs to be done in our barrios,” Galvan said.
Galvan expressed that it’s important to hear stories from the Chicane communities and take a step to help out as well.
Cruz is the co-founder of Aslan Libre and Aslan Libre Youth Brigade, where she works for the community of Barrio Logan and Chicano Park.
In 2007, she had her first semi-solo show at Chicano Perk, a coffee shop in Sherman Heights.
She decided to quit her full-time job to work part-time for the first restoration of Chicano Park five years later.
During this time, she worked with muralist Victor Ochoa, who directed her to take pictures for publications.
She quickly realized photography was not for her. One day, she left her camera at home and showed up to work with nothing other than her paint brushes. Ochoa finally allowed her to paint to see what she would create.
“It wasn’t a mural that was being restored. It was one of the murals that he uses for practice, because he wanted to see my skill set,” Cruz said.
Now, Cruz is the first Chicana with a mural in the San Diego Airport.
That mural reflects the first danzante, a dancer, of Chicano Park, surrounded by colorful bubbles that represent their ancestors and guidance for the people of Barrio Logan.
The danzante is depicted on the opposite side of a border that separates him from the Coronado bridge to show the different realities of two communities that live close to each other.
The turtle in the mural also brings attention to Turtle Island, which is what many indigenous people would refer to as North America.
“I don’t paint for an institution. I paint for my people. And so this representation, I know my people are going to walk by it,” Cruz stated.
After her introduction to the club, students came together to recreate their own mural inspired by a new project Cruz is working on.
Cruz continued to help students by giving them tips and tricks to elevate their paintings as “artivists.”
Editor’s note: City Times Media has updated its style guide to standardize the use of the word Chicane and/or Latine when referring to people together who identify as a person from, or whose ancestors were from, a Latin American land or culture. The Associated Press Stylebook recommends using the word Chicano/Latino.
