By Isa Fernández
Westside San Antonio, Texas native Adriana M Garcia is an award-winning artist, muralist, illustrator and scenic designer who has exhibited locally and nationally. She has worked as an arts administrator and an art/ design instructor for both youth and adult learners and is philosophical about her approach to art, telling the public on her website that “Intimacy abounds in lives encountered. I aim to extract the inherent liminality of a moment before action as a way to articulate our stories.”
These stories are being artfully articulated in expansive murals across the city. Garcia, along with assistance from artists Michelle Love and Robert Sifuentes, recently completed a mural entitled Changing the World depicting the 1968 Edgewood High School student walkouts that helped open the dialogue about inequities in public education. The cover of this week’s La Prensa Texas depicts only a portion of the mural as it has yet to be publicly be installed and unveiled. The mural unveiling will be on Wednesday, September 18, 2019 at 5:30 PM at North West Vista College, 3535 N. Ellison Drive, San Antonio, Texas 78251 at the Cypress Campus Center. Inquiries on the unveiling can be sent to Dr. Sandra D. Garza, Assistant Professor & Coordinator of the Mexican American Studies Program at North West Vista at sgarza58@alamo.edu.
Other murals Garcia has completed include the San Pedro Creek improvements project for the City of San Antonio’s third centennial celebration entitled De To- dos Caminos Somos Todos Uno, which was one of 50 projects selected (out of 361 submitted) for inclusion in the Americans for the Arts 2019 Public Art Network (PAN) Year in Review.
Garcia has also collaborated with multiple local nonprofits such as SOMArts in California, South West Workers Union, Bill Haus Arts, San Anto Cultural Arts Center and Casa de la Cultura in Del Rio, Texas. She says that her murals “honor ancestors, speak to access to education as well as give voice to mental health and immigration issues.”
Recognized widely for her substantial contribution to the arts, Garcia has been invited to present at conferences, schools and museums such as National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies (NACCS) and the McNay Art Museum.
Her debut picture book, All Around Us (written by Xelena González, Cinco Puntos Press), was awarded the prestigious 2018 Pura Belpré Honor for Illustration and the 2018 Tomás Rivera Book Award in the picture book category among other honors.
She is currently working on another children’s book and her work can be seen extensively – murals, paintings, drawings, paper works, set design, various art series and workshop information on her website. https://adrianamjgarcia.com.
