Celia Álvarez Muñoz (born 1937) is a

Chicana Chicano or Chicana is a chosen identity for many Mexican Americans in the United States. The label ''Chicano'' is sometimes used interchangeably with ''Mexican American'', although the terms have different meanings. While Mexican-American ident ...

mixed-media conceptual artist and photographer based in

Arlington, Texas Arlington is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, located in Tarrant County. It forms part of the Mid-Cities region of the Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan statistical area, and is a principal city of the metropolis and region. ...

Early life and education

Álvarez Muñoz was born in

El Paso El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the seat of El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the 23rd-largest city in the U.S., the ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

to Enriqueta Limón Alvarez and Francisco Pompa Alvarez. She grew up in the

Chihuahuita Chihuahuita (or Little Chihuahua) is a neighborhood in El Paso, Texas. It has also been known as the "First Ward." It is considered the oldest neighborhood in the city. It has also suffered through extreme poverty in its history. It is currently ...

historical neighborhood of El Paso. Prior to becoming an artist, Álvarez Muñoz worked as a fashion illustrator and an elementary school art educator. She decided to commit to creating art in the 1970s, by 1977 she enrolled in graduate school to study art. She earned her

Masters of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts adm ...

at North Texas State University, Denton. Drawing on her experiences living near the US-Mexico border, Álvarez Muñoz's work addresses the tension between linguistic, cultural, and political worlds. She often incorporates themes of family and "communal memories" in her work. She uses text and images in her work to explore the ambiguous signs and signifiers where cultures meet, and to communicate stories of American history, culture, and society. She has exhibited her work in museums and galleries in the U.S. and abroad, and is included in the collection of the

Museum of New Mexico The Museum of New Mexico is a collection of museums, historic sites, and archaeological services governed by the State of New Mexico. It currently consists of six divisions : the Palace of the Governors state history museum, the New Mexico Museum ...

. Her work has been written about by art historians,

Lucy Lippard Lucy Rowland Lippard (born April 14, 1937) is an American writer, art critic, activist, and curator. Lippard was among the first writers to argue for the " dematerialization" at work in conceptual art and was an early champion of feminist art. Sh ...

, Benito Huerta, and others. In Roberto Tejada's monograph on Muñoz, he includes a teaching guide (Vol. 3) using principles from her work in the teaching of multicultural art, and border issues.

Selected solo exhibitions

* 1988 – The Lannan Museum,

Lake Worth, Florida Lake Worth Beach, previously named Lake Worth, is a city in east-central Palm Beach County, Florida, United States, located about north of Miami. The city's name is derived from the body of water along its eastern border known as the Lake Worth ...

* 1989 – New Langton Arts,

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

* 1989 – Bridge Center for Contemporary Art, El Paso, Texas * 1994 – "A Brand New Ball Game", Capp Street Project, San Francisco * 1991– "Concentrations 26: Celia Alvarez Munoz, Abriendo Tierra/Breaking Ground",

Dallas Museum of Art The Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) is an art museum located in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas, along Woodall Rodgers Freeway between St. Paul and Harwood. In the 1970s, the museum moved from its previous location in Fair Park to the Art ...

Selected group exhibitions

Álvarez Muñoz has exhibited at; * 1991 –

Whitney Biennial The Whitney Biennial is a biennial exhibition of contemporary American art, typically by young and lesser known artists, on display at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, United States. The event began as an annual exhibition ...

of American Art,

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

* 1992 –

Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (or MCASD), in San Diego, California, US, is an art museum focused on the collection, preservation, exhibition, and interpretation of works of art from 1950 to the present. Mission The stated mission of ...

* 2002 – "Stories Your Mother Never Told You" (traveling retrospective), Blue Star ArtSpace,

El Paso Museum of Art Founded in 1959, The El Paso Museum of Art (EPMA) is located in downtown El Paso, Texas. First accredited in 1972, it is the only accredited art museum within a 250-mile radius and serves approximately 100,000 visitors per year. A new building ...

, and Mexic-Arte Museum * 2006–2007 – "Frontera 450+", Station Museum of Contemporary Art, Houston, Texas * 2009 – "Chicana Badgirls: Las Hociconas''",'' 516 ARTS, Albuquerque, New Mexico * 2009 – "Rastros y Crónicas: Mujerez de Juarez", National Museum of Mexican Art, Chicago, Illinois * 2012 – "Artifactual Realities",

Station Museum of Contemporary Art The Station Museum of Contemporary Art is a private museum owned and run by James and Ann Harithas devoted to contemporary art located in the Third Ward, Houston, Third Ward of Houston, Texas, Houston, Texas, United States. Started in 2001, the mu ...

, Houston, Texas * 2014 – "Unbound: Contemporary Art After Frida Kahlo", Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (MCA)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Alvarez Munoz, Celia 1937 births Living people Artists from El Paso, Texas People from Arlington, Texas American artists of Mexican descent American conceptual artists Women conceptual artists University of North Texas alumni 20th-century American artists 21st-century American artists Hispanic and Latino American artists 20th-century American women photographers 20th-century American photographers 21st-century American women photographers 21st-century American photographers

Early life and education

Selected solo exhibitions

Selected group exhibitions

References

Further reading

External links