Terry Acebo Davis (born 1953) is a

Filipino American Filipino Americans () are Americans of Filipino ancestry. Filipinos in North America were first documented in the 16th century and other small settlements beginning in the 18th century. Mass migration did not begin until after the end of the Sp ...

artist and nurse based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her art is thematically linked to her family and her origins as a Filipino American.

Early life and education

Born in

Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

, the oldest of six children, Acebo Davis gained a Bachelor of Science in nursing from

California State University, Hayward California State University, East Bay (Cal State East Bay, CSU East Bay, or CSUEB) is a public university in Hayward, California. The university is part of the California State University system and offers 136 undergraduate and 60 post-baccala ...

in 1976, followed by graduate coursework in Pediatric Oncology at the

University of California, San Francisco The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It is part of the University of California system and is dedic ...

. In 1991 she was awarded a

Bachelor of Fine Arts A Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is a standard undergraduate degree for students pursuing a professional education in the visual arts, Fine art, or performing arts. In some instances, it is also called a Bachelor of Visual Arts (BVA). Background ...

San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the List of oldest schools in California, oldest public university on the West Coast of ...

, followed by an MFA in 1993. Rather than become a full-time artist, Acebo Davis chose to balance making art with work as a professional nurse, serving as a Pediatric Critical Care Transport Specialist at Stanford Medical Center. Jan Rindfleisch writes, "Acebo Davis has bridged worlds in multiple ways. As a Filipino American growing up in Fremont, she had come with her family often to Japantown to buy rice. As an artist and graduate of SJSU, she chose to live in Palo Alto, a midpoint between the arts centers of San Jose, San Francisco, and Oakland."

Career

Artistic themes and works

Acebo Davis's art is heavily rooted in her origins as a Filipino American, her family, and racial strife and collision. ''Dahil Sa Yo'', her "seminal work", features repetitive images of her mother set behind multiple boxes of shoes, drawing on the public persona of

Imelda Marcos Imelda Romualdez Marcos (; born Imelda Remedios Visitación Trinidad Romuáldez; July 2, 1929) is a Filipino politician who was First Lady of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986, wielding significant political power after her husband Ferdinand ...

. The repetition of the image serves to emphasize the importance of her mother and other women of her generation, who "held together their families and looked after their home" as immigrants. About her artwork Phoebe Farris writes, "Acebo Davis’ ability to not only manage but lucidly express her complex identity of Filipino American printmaker/mixed-media artist/lecturer/nurse that fuels her highly meditative work. . . Acebo Davis presents to her viewers visual mantras, simultaneously pleasing in their careful compositions yet hauntingly thought-provoking in their subject matter.” Benjamin Pimentel of the San Francisco Chronicle states “The marks she makes chronicle her many journeys an Asian American woman, a caregiver and an artist.”

Community engagement

Acebo Davis has served as Chairwoman of the Palo Alto Public Art Commission; as a Trustee for Arts Council Silicon Valley; board president and Advisor for WORKS/San Jose. She is a member of the DIWA Filipino artists' collective, and regularly lectures on the Filipino identity, including lectures at the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

, the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

and

Mills College Mills College at Northeastern University in Oakland, California is part of Northeastern University's global university system. Mills College was founded as the Young Ladies Seminary in 1852 in Benicia, California; it was relocated to Oakland in ...

Awards and distinctions

In 1997 she was awarded the ''James D. Phelan Award'' by Kala Art Institute, along with the Radius Award of the

Palo Alto Art Center The Palo Alto Art Center is a multi-purpose center open to the public for art activities for all ages, located at 1313 Newell Road in Palo Alto, California, Palo Alto, California. It is managed by the City of Palo Alto, California, Palo Alto, ...

. The same year, she participated in the exhibition ''Families: Rebuilding, Recreating, Reinventing'' curated by Flo Oy Wong at the Euphrat Museum of Art. Acebo Davis received an artist residency at the Frans Masereel Centre in

Kasterlee Kasterlee () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Antwerp. The municipality comprises the towns of Kasterlee proper, Lichtaart and Tielen. In 2021, Kasterlee had a total population of 19,052. The total area is 71.56 km2. T ...

, Belgium in 1998. In 2003, Acebo Davis was awarded one of the three annual Arts Council Silicon Valley Fellowships. In 2004 she became the first Filipino American to exhibit art at the

Asian Art Museum of San Francisco The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco – Chong-Moon Lee Center for Asian Art and Culture"About"
Asian Art Museum website. ...

's Samsung Hall, where her piece ''Tabing Rising'', visually describing her family's immigration to the United States in 1945, was displayed in 2004.

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

* 2009 ''Tri-age'', Triton Museum, Santa Clara, CA * 2007 ''Gawa sa Belgium'', Ayala Foundation, Redwood City, CA * 2005 ''Tracing Ritual'', Cabrillo College Gallery, Aptos, CA * ''2004 Tabing Rising,'' Asian Art Museum Samsung Hall, San Francisco, CA * ''2004 Anatomy of Spirit,'' Stanford University - Institute on Women & Gender, Stanford, CA * ''2003 Diwata,'' Babilonia 1808, Berkeley, CA * ''2001 Nepal and Black,'' Washington Square Gallery, San Francisco, CA *''1998'' ''New Work'', Washington Square Gallery, San Francisco, CA *''1996'' ''Of the Body'', Boom Gallery, Honolulu, HI *''1995'' ''Cantho into Haarlem: New Works'', Richard Sumner Gallery, Palo Alto, CA *''1993'' ''Redefining Self: The Flip Side'', San Jose State University, San Jose, CA

Group exhibitions

*2023 ''Resilience,'' Contra Costa County Hospital in Martinez, CA *2023 ''Palo Alto Studios Celebrates 20 years'', Palo Alto Studios Gallery, Palo Alto Art Studio Artists Group, Palo Alto, CA *2023 ''Art in the Garden'', Gamble Gardens, Palo Alto, CA *2022 ''Begin Again,'' Palo Alto Studios Gallery /Palo Alto Art Studio Artists Group, Palo Alto, CA *2021 ''An Art Affair,'' Palo Alto Studios Gallery /Palo Alto Art Studio Artists Group, Palo Alto, CA *2020 ''COVID Times,'' Palo Alto Studios Gallery /Palo Alto Art Studio Artists Group, Palo Alto, CA *2015 ''Constructs,'' Wing Luke Museum, Seattle WA *2015 ''Books,'' Smith Anderson Editions Palo Alto, CA *2014 ''Anniversary of South Bay Area Artists,'' Artik San Jose, CA *2012 ''Gender Specific,'' Smith Anderson Editions, Palo Alto, CA *2009 ''Print Retrospective with Artists'', Bill Gould Design and Architecture, San Jose, CA *2009 ''A Space of Her Own with Asian American Women in Art,'' De Young Museum's Kimball Gallery San Francisco, CA *2008 ''Tortilla Curtain Project,'' Krause Center for Innovation Gallery at Foothill College, Los Altos, CA *2007 ''From Hedonopolis to Melancolony,'' University of San Francisco Thatcher Gallery, San Francisco, CA *2007 ''Overmapped,'' SOMA San Francisco, CA *2007 ''Dealer's Choice,'' Smith Anderson Editions, Palo Alto, CA *2006 ''Contemporary Filipino American Artists,'' Contemporary Museum of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI *2006 ''181st Invitational of Contemporary Art,'' National Academy Museum, New York, NY *2006 ''Out of the Box,'' Palo Alto Art Center, Palo Alto, CA *2006 ''Pacific Prints,'' Pacific Art League, Palo Alto, CA *2003 ''Triton Museum,'' Arts Council Silicon Valley Fellowship Awardee Exhibition, Santa Clara, CA *2002 ''Global Dialogue,'' Antwerp Center, Antwerp, Belgium *2001 ''Pinoy / Pinay,'' San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery, San Francisco, CA *2000 ''Bae,'' Luggage Store, San Francisco, CA *1999 ''To Be... ,'' WORKS Art and Performance, San Jose, CA *1998 ''Destiny Manifesting with DIWA Arts Collective,'' Galeria de La Raza, San Francisco, CA *1998 ''Sister City Sisters: San Francisco Babaylan, Contemporary Art Installations: Art by eight San Francisco Women Artists,'' Museo ng Maynila, Manila Philippines and San Francisco State University Fine Arts Gallery, San Francisco, CA *1998 ''Re-Orientation,'' Washington Square Gallery, San Francisco, CA *1998 ''Prints,'' Stanford Art Spaces, Stanford University, CA *''1998 1898- Critical Points'' and ''Balikbayan Box: Tracing a Strain with DIWA Arts'', Bronx Museum, NY *''1998 Seino Ka? ano Ka?'' Fine Art Gallery, San Francisco State University, CA *''1997'' ''Respect Diversity'', Mountain View City Hall, Mountain View, CA *''1997 Families: Rebuilding, Reinventing, Recreating'', Euphrat Museum, Cupertino, CA *''1997 Multicultural Perspectives'', Koret Gallery, Palo Alto, CA *''1997 Bay Area's Diversity in Art'', Synopsis, Inc. Office, Mountain View, CA *''1997 Message to the Next Generation,'' Oakland Asian Cultural Center, Oakland, CA *''1996 Art in the Urban Landscape - Bayanihan Transition'' with DIWA Arts, Capp Street Project, San Francisco, CA *''1996 Memories of Overdevelopment: Philippine Diaspora in Contemporary Visual Art'' with DIWA Arts, University of California at Irvine *''1996 Kayumanggi Presence '96'', East-West Gallery, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI *''1995 Biennial Print Competition and Exhibition'', Triton Art Museum, Santa Clara, CA *''1995 Canto into Haarlem'', Richard Sumner, Gallery, Palo Alto, CA *''1995 13th Annual National Juried Exhibition'', Los Angeles Printmaking Society, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA *''1995 Filipinas in Hawaii'', The Philippine Consulate General, Honolulu, HI *''1995 Artists Respond to Proposition 187'', San Jose Center for Latino Arts, San Jose, CA *''1995 Black and White'', Lucy Berman Gallery, Palo Alto, CA *''1995 The Dresden Exchange,'' Institute of Contemporary Art, San Jose, CA; Bay Area Artists, Dresden, Germany *''1994 Yellow Forest,'' SOMAR Gallery, San Francisco, CA *''1994 Making Women Artists Visible'', Galería Tonantzin, San Juan Bautista, CA *''1994 Bay Area Artists'', Galerie Adlergasse, Dresden, Germany *''1994 Día de Los Muertos'', Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA *''1994 Summer Artists Residency Exhibition'', Reese Bullen Gallery at Humboldt State University Arcata, CA *''1993 Works on Paper,'' Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley. CA *''1993 Object as Identity'', 1078 Gallery, Chico, CA *''1993 Printmakers'', Walter Bischoff Gallery-Amerikahaus, Stuttgart, Germany *''1993 American Exhibition'', Stuttgart International Airport, Stuttgart, Germany *''1993 Kayumanggi Presence'', Academy Art Center at Linekona, Honolulu, HI *''1993 Time Echoes'', C. N. Norman Gallery, University of California, Davis, CA *''1992 San Jose State University Art Faculty,'' Simon and Schuster Publishers, Santa Clara, CA *''1992 The Fourth Floor,'' Market Street Alternative Space, San Jose, CA *''1992'' ''Harmony of Cultures'', Bingham Gallery, San Jose, CA *''1991 New Printmakers Invitational'', California State University, Long Beach, CA

Bibliography

* * * * * * Rindfleisch, Jan; with Ann Sherman, Nancy Hom, and essay by Karen Tseng (2024). ''Building Together''. Santa Clara, CA: Ginger Press, 2024. ISBN 979-8-218-98755-8

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Terry Acebo 1953 births American artists of Filipino descent American nurses American women nurses Artists from Oakland, California California State University, East Bay alumni Living people San Jose State University alumni 21st-century American women