Ruby Chacon
Ruby Chacon, is a self proclaimed “Utahana,” artist, using art as a medium to express her dual identity as a Utah native and its intertwine with her identity as a chicana. Chacon was born in 1971 in Salt Lake City Utah, where she continued to reside for the majority of her life, dedicating her artistic career to through community engagement through the arts and artivism. Chacon is an artist, a mother, a daughter and a familiar face in the community, engaging actively in community events but also in her public display of murals. Chacon works with several mediums however is best known for her work with murals. Chacon’s work has been displayed across utah and even abroad internationally.
Early/ Personal Life
Ruby Chacon was born in Salt Lake City, Utah where she continued to live throughout her upbringing. Chacon is amongst the youngest of six children, but the first to have graduated from High School and pursue a higher education. Chacon later attained her Bachelors of Fine Arts from the University of Utah. She has always had a close tie to her family, using them as a basis for her own work as she progressed through her artistic career. Her mother and father divorced three years into their marriage however continued intermittently seeing each other resulting in their six children and some, like Ruby herself out of wedlock. Her mother was a house and hospital cleaner who grew up on the west side of Utah, or as what is known as the “Brown side,” and her Father began his career in mining in Montecillo but later moved to the east side to start his family. Although, Ruby was aware of her heritage, she was not very familiar with her Mexican identity, and when questioning her father about it, he replied only with reminding her she was from Utah. Chacon eventually came to an intertwine of both identities which later influenced her work, naming herself a Utahana.
Chacon lived in a working class family, where she recalls sleeping in the living room, because she her house was not large enough to accommodate for everyone. However, she draws inspiration for her work from her family, who all played an important role in her upbringing and many had artistic ties themselves such as her Uncle Covito who as a painter himself would allow Ruby to be creative by drawing on the walls. Ruby’s ancestry is traced to Pueblo Indians who speak the Tewa language, and on her spanish side lays stake to claim in utah for hundreds of years. After the tragic passing of her nephew Orlando Chacon, who was murdered by her sisters boyfriend, Ruby became more interested in painting her own family as a direct rejection of how the media attempted to portray them. At 20, Ruby had her own son and married Terry Hurst. One day the pair suffered a car accident however that did not affect Ruby’s pursuit of artivism.
Artwork
Ruby Chacon is a painter, though not specific to any particular medium. Her artwork consists of Murals and canvas paintings. Her murals are displayed all throughout Utah, Wyoming, California, and abroad in Thailand and Morocco. Earlier in her career, chacon wanted to pursue a career in teaching drawing classes, however Chacon was interested din depicting lowriders, and the chicano zoot suit, however this was frowned upon. Chacon’s canvas paintings are mostly oil paintings, although she tinkers with acrylics as well. All of her murals however are done in acrylic to maintain lower production costs. She does not like to frame her canvas work because she believes that those who purchase her work will likely reframe the piece, making her extra effort redundant. A commonality through her art works is signing the piece in very significant locations on the work which she attributes to buyers wanting to ensure authenticity. She also signs her name in red after her name, Ruby. Ruby considers her art to be not unlike typical Utah art because although her style veers from the traditionalist landscape artwork associated with Utah, Chacon depicts real people of Utah. Ruby seeks to humanize through her work, painting people of her direct family but giving them a humanness others can easily relate to.
Chacon has been featured in many shows, both local to Utah in addition to tours, and has been presented with many awards for her work. She was featured at the Hispanic Festival as well as Salt Lake City Airport, University of Utah Medical Center, Westminster College, Kimball Art Center in Park City, Art Access Gallery, and her murals have been displayed publicly at Horizonte, 1300 South Main; 500 North and 600 West; Northwest Multipurpose Center; Catholic Community Services, 200 South 745 East as well as in other states. Her work has also appeared on the cover of the University Neighborhood partners and at the TRAX station of North Temple and 900 West in Salt Lake. In 2007 she received the Mayor’s award for her role with visual art and in 2021 she will receive the mayor’s award again but this time for her collective, MICA. Chacon has also been featured on books such as “Transforming Educational Pathways for Chicano/a Students” by authors Dolores Delgado, and granted awards Utah Governors Mansion Award for visual arts, Humanitarian Award as well as Distinguished Alumni at the Salt Lake Community College, and was named one of Utah’s 15 most influential artists.
Notable Art
SLS mural displayed at the School of Leadership Studies at Gonzaga University as part of a participatory arts collective with other educators
Artwork displayed in the Arte Latino exhibition at the Kimball Center in Utah
Her piece Undocumented, was featured Constructing Self: Thirty Self-Portraits exhibit as part of the 30th Anniversary Utah Art Festival
Catholic Community Service Outdoor Mural, 2007, located at 745 E. 300 South
CIHUACOATL AND GOLDEN RULE OUTDOOR MURALS 500 N 600 W Salt Lake City, UT Public Art Commissioned by UAC, Neighborworks and Department of Education
Activism/ Artivism
Ruby’s identity as a “Utahana” serves as a focal point for not only her art work but her work in the community as well. Ruby speaks of the struggles of being first generation student, and representing an identity so commonly misrepresented. Ruby works directly with youth in the community providing a space to heal through art and community. Much of Ruby’s public murals in Utah draw questions of whether they belong in Utah as a representation of the community but it is this same critique that displays Ruby’s reason for painting, to visibilize the long term presence of Latinx people in the United states beyond the history taught in typical discourses. Chacon sought to highlight the Chicano on all fronts, through her art and through elevating their voices in the communities. As a result, she opened a venue called Mestizo which would combine a coffee house along with a place for Chicanos to commune and speak of their trauma. However in 2002 Chacon’s endeavour fell short lacking a business plan. However Chacon along with her husband Terry did not stop there and founded the nonprofit Mestizo Institute for Culture and Arts or MICA for short. The building was separated by walls offering a coffee shop, art gallery and open space for community members to gather. MICA was built on the west side, the place where Ruby’s mother grew up known for its heavy immigrant population. At MICA people can speak freely about their lived experience or merely share the company.
Chacon also works alongside Bad Dog Rediscovers America and other programs that fund, and introduce art to latino youth. Ruby has also visited Juvenile Intervention centers and Female units to provide art as a form of healing and expressing oneself. Ruby wants to help youth understand their trauma and to not feel shame in the life they come from. Ruby relays this message further by working with youth and teaching them her way in mural painting, guiding 4 teens for a project funded by Bad Dog, where together they created a design for a mural and painted it together. Aside from this particular work, Chacon has helped other young artists delve into Mural painting. During her time at the University of Utah, Ruby discovered the power of art as a form of education as well as activism at which point she knew she had to redefine how the Latino experience was being portrayed through art.
Resources
[Bernal, Dolores D, and Enrique Aleman. “Transforming Educational Pathways for Chicana/O Students.” Google Books, Teachers College Press, 2017, https://www.google.com/books/edition/Transforming_Educational_Pathways_for_Ch/BCQdDgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=ruby%2Bchacon&pg=PA18&printsec=frontcover.]
[Buttars, Lori. “Sharing Her Voice.” The Salt Lake City Tribune [Salt Lake City], 13 September 2001, archive.sltrib.com/article.php?itype=storyID&id=100E9163127B3D40. Accessed 05 10 2021.]
[Dicou, Natalie. “The Colors of Community.” The Salt Lake City Tribune [Salt Lake City], 27 November 2008, archive.sltrib.com/article.php?itype=NGPSID&id=11081159. Accessed 05 10 2021.]
[Chacón, Nanibah Nani, et al. “Artists' Statement.” Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies, University of Nebraska Press, 25 July 2019, muse.jhu.edu/article/730160/pdf.]
[Daniels, Garth. “Ruby Chacon.” NowPlayingUtah.com www.nowplayingutah.com/artist/ruby-chacon/.]
[Guidos, Rhina. “Chacon's Ruby-Red World.” The Salt Lake Tribune, 17 Aug. 2003, archive.sltrib.com/article.php?itype=storyID&id=100D37D062164718.]
[Hunter, Rosemarie, and Anne-Marie Fischer. “Creating Sustainable University-Community Partnerships in Research Intensive Universities.” Memorial University Research Repository, 14 June 2013, https://research.library.mun.ca/1825/.]
[Iwasaki, Scott. “Ruby Chacón's Culture and Identity Is Shown through Art.” ParkRecord.com, ParkRecord.com, 31 May 2017, www.parkrecord.com/entertainment/ruby-chacons-culture-and-identity-is-shown-through-art/. ]
[Macias, Jennifer. “Latinx History Outside the American Southwest and Borderlands.” American Quarterly, Johns Hopkins University Press, 26 June 2017, https://muse.jhu.edu/article/663339/pdf.]
[Martin, Sue. “Ruby Chacon: Art of Healing, Art of Humanity.” 15 Bytes, Artists of Utah, 23 Mar. 2018, artistsofutah.org/15Bytes/index.php/tag/ruby-chacon/.]
[“Mayor's Artists Awards.” Utah Arts Festival, uaf.org/mayor. ]
[Staker, Brian. "Mixed use." Salt Lake City Weekly, Jul 24, 2008, pp. 26. ProQuest, https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/mixed-use/docview/363197543/se-2?accountid=14512.]
["UTAH'S ALTERNATIVE PIONEERS." Salt Lake City Weekly, Jul 23, 2009, pp. 20-25. ProQuest, https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/utahs-alternative-pioneers/docview/363200149/se-2?accountid=14512.]
[Welch, Michele A. “The Utah Women's Walk.”]
No comments:
Post a Comment