Luis Jiménez: The Texas Folklife Resources Tribute
By Robert Faires, Fri., March 30, 2007
One of the last creative projects that Luis Jiménez completed was a drawn-on-stone lithograph that he created for Texas Folklife Resources. Titled La Voz de la Frontera, the 21.5-inch by 26.5-inch, black-on-white print was the artist's gift to the organization to help it raise funds for its Border Radio series, live performances that celebrate the megawatt "border blaster" stations that broadcast often strange but always fascinating material from just across the Mexican border for much of the 20th century. When he was working on the stone at Flatbed Press in March of last year, he told TFR's Lynne Margolis how border radio figured into his own life: "I worked on my artwork very late at night, and of course, that's when you can get the best reception. I did hear music that I could not hear any other way. … I did hear Wolfman Jack and primarily black musicians or somebody I never would have heard, given where I was growing up." Sixty prints were finished before Jiménez's death, and TFR has already sold several.
This week, Texas Folklife Resources will pay tribute to Jiménez with a panel discussion featuring three experts on his career: Houston gallery owner Betty Moody, who handles Jiménez's work; Art in America writer Charles Dee Mitchell; and UT-Arlington professor and gallery director Benito Huerta. The talk takes place Wednesday, April 4, 7:30pm, at Flatbed Press, 2830 E. MLK. It is free and open to the public.
For information about the event or ordering a print, call 441-9255 or visit www.texasfolklife.org.
