Week 1:
Mexican Museum

July 16, 2013

This small-town girl has finally arrived in one of the country’s well known cities: San Francisco. It took me a day or two to come back to reality that this was happening! I am lucky that my Cornellian friend, Brenda Mejia ’15 gave me a informative tour! I completely fell in love with the diversity as I walked the streets during the day. The next day I spent my day experimenting with the public transportation system, just so I can get the “feel” and know what bus route to take to the museum. Yup it was an adventure getting into the whole “rush” feeling as people got in and then got out in a hurry! I am proud of myself for not getting lost and doing it by myself and keep in mind that I am no city girl. I found it very interesting that the museum was located at Fort Mason Center, which is a non-profit partner of the National Park Service, “connects and engages people with arts and culture on a historic waterfront campus, inspiring and fostering creativity by providing a vibrant gathering place and a home for thought-provoking programs, events, and organizations.”  There are restaurants, museums, bookstore, theaters, and more located at the Fort Mason Center! Even the fort has a historical component since it was a fortified military base established by the Spanish in 1776 then claimed by the U.S. Army when California entered in 1850. Woah! Here is the website to learn for about the site: http://fortmason.org/

Normally I would expect to find the museum in one building, but I found it part of a building. The day next that I reported for my first day of my internship, I was given a tour of the museum. The Mexican Museum holds about 14,000 objects representing hundred of years of Mexican art and culture within the Americas. The permanent collection has five particular collecting areas, which are Pre-Columbian art, Colonial art, Popular “Folk” art, Modern and Contemporary Mexican art, Chicano/a, and Latino/a art. I saw variety of mediums which included textiles, ceramics, paintings, prints, etc. I can see how the Mexican Museum is in the planning for their new museum facilities and preparing the collection for relocation. The large size of the collections means the Mexican Museum is in need of bigger space since there is so much for so little space! One of the staff told me that some of the collection has not had the chance to be exhibited to the public.

The first week, I was given the task to research on a particular Mexican artist, Jose Guadalupe Posada. In the Mexican Museum I will be working on the upcoming Latino Printmaking exhibition opening early September entitled: Diálogos Gráficos/Graphic Dialogues: Posada to the Present. Thinking back, I made a wise decision taking Professor Hobbler’s class Muralists in Mexico 1920-1950 where we not only discussed Mexican murals but also printmaking, paintings, and photography. I know the class prepared me well to know the background of Mexican printmaking that played a profound role to society. I will continue with researching other artists related to printmaking and how they influence contemporary Latino/a artist’s works. The majority of the prints will contain socio-political content. In the next few weeks I will provide insight (images) to the museum’s collection. Next week I will talk further more about an interview I conducted with Latina artist Isis Rodriguez.