Graphicanos: Contemporary Latino Prints from the Serie Project
On November 8 at 6:30pm, Serie Project Founder Sam Coronado will give a lecture at FWMoA, explaining the fascinating story of his vision for Chicano artists and the role of printmaking in Latino art and culture. $5 – Members/ $10 – Guests. Silver Members and above are invited for cocktails and conversation with Charles Shepard at 5:30pm.
This spring the Fort Wayne Museum of Art made a major purchase of over 200 works created over the last two decades from The Serie Project, a non-profit organization founded by Sam Coronado in 1993 in Austin, Texas, that promotes the fine art of serigraphy. In the last two decades the organization has fostered over 250 artists from different professional levels and ethnic backgrounds, who together have produced a rare and special collection of serigraphs. The exhibition Graphicanos: Contemporary Latino Prints from the Serie Project, on display from October 19 – January 5,will be Fort Wayne’s first glimpse at this special FWMoA collection.
When Sam Coronado founded the Serie Project, he envisioned a workshop where underrepresented artists could benefit from collaboration and learn the serigraphy technique, a print technique also known as screen-printing or silkscreen. Coronado’s vision for the Serie Project came after he encountered Self Help Graphics in 1991, a non-profit studio serving the Latino community of Lon Angeles. Coronado’s participation in this program advocated to him that prints, a vital aspect of the Chicano art movement, can continue to reflect the Mexican American and Latino experience in the United States.
Hoping to grant better access to this historically significant medium, Coronado made it his mission to provide affordable printmaking services in his hometown of Austin, Texas. In 1992 he established Coronado Studio, a commercial printmaking facility, and in the following year founded the “Serie Print Project” as a separate, nonprofit entity. The Serie Print Project enabled Coronado to direct an Artist in Residence program through which artists could utilize Coronado Studio at no cost to them. The organization was renamed and incorporated as “The Serie Project” in 1999. With much dedication, Coronado has served the Serie Project as executive director since its inception.
As part of its vision for art and culture in Fort Wayne, the Museum of Art recognized the efforts of Coronado and the work of the Serie Project to support Chicano artists as important elements to include not just in its annual exhibitions, but also in its permanent collection. Now, more than 200 prints from the groundbreaking efforts of the Serie Project are part of the Fort Wayne community, accessible through the upcoming Graphicanos exhibit and after that, through the FWMoA Print and Drawing Study Center, a research center open to the public dedicated to the study and enjoyment of FWMoA’s extensive collection of works on paper, including Serie Project prints.