Arlette Lucero is an American visual artist, educator, and illustrator. In 2012, she was inducted as a Corn Mother for her community involvement and support.

Background

Rooting from the mid-twentieth century and based in

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

, Colorado, Arlette Lucero is co-founder and previous education director of the

Chicano Chicano (masculine form) or Chicana (feminine form) is an ethnic identity for Mexican Americans that emerged from the Chicano Movement. In the 1960s, ''Chicano'' was widely reclaimed among Hispanics in the building of a movement toward politic ...

Humanities and Arts Council (CHAC), an art organization in Denver that displays Chicanx art as temporary exhibitions. She has been self-employed since 1976. Lucero expresses her Chicana heritage through her artwork, including photography, illustration, and computer art. She also participated in Journey Through Our Heritage (JTOH), Arts Street, Voz y Corazón, KidzArt, and the

Museo de las Americas Museo de las Americas is a fine arts museum in Denver, Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also b ...

. For more than 15 years, Lucero has fulfilled the role of an art educator in her home state of

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

, and she spent 7 of those years teaching at the Escuela de Guadalupe in

. Lucero taught about art murals, traditional art, and painting. Lucero earned her bachelor's degree in fine arts from

Colorado State University Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado, United States. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University Syst ...

and pursued graphic arts at the

Community College of Denver Community College of Denver (CCD) is a public community college in Denver, Colorado. The main campus is at Auraria Campus and it has two other locations in the Denver metropolitan area. CCD focuses on underserved, first-generation, and minor ...

. Lucero possesses more than 30 years of experience as a professional artist. Her experience includes children’s book illustrations, fine art,

crafting A craft or trade is a pastime or an occupation that requires particular skills and knowledge of skilled work. In a historical sense, particularly the Middle Ages and earlier, the term is usually applied to people occupied in small scale pro ...

, and

graphic art A category of fine art, graphic art covers a broad range of visual artistic expression, typically two-dimensional graphics, i.e. produced on a flat surface, In 2024, Lucero was a curator for the Dia de Muertos Art Show in

which displayed the art of 30 local Chicanx artists to nearby communities. The Day of the Dead event was open to the public free of charge with the goal of honoring cultural traditions of the Chicanx community in Denver.

Works

''Chicana''

The art piece ''Chicana'' portrays a woman and a tree. Many patterns and designs are a combination of Spanish-style patterns and American symbols. This includes the colors of the

American flag The national flag of the United States, often referred to as the American flag or the U.S. flag, consists of thirteen horizontal Bar (heraldry), stripes, Variation of the field, alternating red and white, with a blue rectangle in the Canton ( ...

and the

Mexican flag The national flag, national flag of Mexico () is a vertical Tricolour (flag), tricolor of green, white, and red with Coat of arms of Mexico, the national coat of arms charge (heraldry), charged in the center of the white stripe. While the meani ...

, as well as words such as "Freedom" and "Chicano". The woman in the art piece is shown to be carrying a flaming heart that is surrounded by barbed wire and a cross. The mix of hummingbirds and bald eagles in the art supposedly demonstrates Chicano, an American first with cultures of Mexican descent.

''Juanita Dominguez''

In 2019, Lucero began a trio of expansive murals during her tenure as the

Artist in Residence Artist-in-residence (also Writer-in-residence), or artist residencies, encompass a wide spectrum of artistic programs that involve a collaboration between artists and hosting organisations, institutions, or communities. They are programs that pr ...

. Among these is ''Juanita Dominguez'', a tribute created with guidance from the El Movimiento Advisory Committee. In the center of the piece is the phrase "Yo Soy Chicano. Tengo Color..." surrounds the featured Chicana, translating to "I am Chicano. I have Color...".

''Dia de Los Muertos''

The artwork ''Dia de Los Muertos'', with Chicanx cultural traditions, features a woman dressed up as a living "

calavera A calavera (Spanish – for "skull"), in the context of the Day of the Dead, is a representation of a human skull or skeleton. The term is often applied to edible or decorative skulls made (usually with molds) from either sugar (called Alfeñi ...

", or sugar skull, which is often placed on the "Ofrenda," the heart of the celebration. The

Ofrenda An ''ofrenda'' (Spanish: "Sacrifice, offering") is the offering placed in a home altar during the annual and traditionally Mexican ''Día de los Muertos'' celebration. An ''ofrenda'', which may be quite large and elaborate, is usually created ...

is intended to be interpreted as a symbolic bridge between the living and the dead.

''Unapologetic Chicana''

In 2024, Lucero exhibited her piece, Unapologetic Chicana, at the Alto Gallery in

, Colorado. Lucero describes how this painting reflects her experience growing up in Denver as one of the only

Chicana Chicano (masculine form) or Chicana (feminine form) is an ethnic identity for Mexican Americans that emerged from the Chicano Movement. In the 1960s, ''Chicano'' was widely reclaimed among Hispanics in the building of a movement toward politic ...

girls in her community. Lucero's early life experiences were immersed in White culture. However, later on in her life as a teenager, she was exposed to elements of her

Mexican culture Mexico's culture emerged from the culture of the Spanish culture, Spanish Empire and the preexisting Pre-Columbian Mexico, indigenous cultures of Mexico. Mexican culture is described as the 'child' of both Western civilization, western and Indi ...

through a summer school program she attended. This was the start of Lucero self identifying as a Chicana. ''Unapologetic Chicana'' represents who Lucero is culturally as a Chicana through her artwork. It shows the pride Lucero has in her culture, regardless of whether or not her work fits into the demands of mainstream art.

''Other Tummy Tales Series Book Illustrations''

In 2004, Lucero created illustrations for a

children's book Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. In addition to conventional literary genres, modern children's literature is classified by the intended age of the reade ...

for the very first time. Her illustrations in ''Chili Today, Hot Tamale and Other Tummy Tales'' provided Lucero with a breakthrough to work on future book illustrations. She was later recruited to create illustrations for an additional children's book, ''Ole! Pozole! & Other Tummy Tales''.

References

External links

Official Website

Tenet Podcast, Ep. 055: Arlette Lucero

Voces en Arte , Arlette Lucero and Karma Leigh
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lucero, Arlette American artists American women artists American illustrators American women illustrators American educators American women educators Living people Year of birth missing (living people)