In the early Eighties, when Sylvia Orozco and Pio Pulido were
struggling
to
establish a place for Mexic-Arte Museum among Austin’s arts
organizations,
Herlinda Zamora was still finishing high school. Now, the young woman
with the
easy, dark smile and heart-shaped face serves as interim director of
the
Museum. She was chosen by Orozco, who moved to Hawaii last December.
Mexic-Arte, which has produced more than a decade of exhibitions,
multi-disciplinary, and educational programming, now faces the
challenge of a
change in leadership, reduced government and corporate funding for the
arts, as
well as the serious limitations of its current facility. The second
floor of
the museum at Fifth Street and Congress Avenue has been closed to the
public
for safety reasons, and the remaining, usable space is in serious need
of
renovation. After only six months on the job, Zamora has a good grasp
of the
questions facing the organization. The answers remain to be found.
Zamora moved to Austin in 1993 after finishing her B.A. in Art
History at New
Mexico State University in Las Cruces. She volunteered her time with
Women
& Their Work Gallery, as well as with Mexic-Arte, serving as a
docent and
helping with the New Forms Regional Initiative Grant that the museum
has been
helping to administer for the past several years. (Due to cutbacks in
funding,
this is the last year for the program, which has aided a significant
number of
artists.) Although she grew up in Whitewater, Wisconsin, and spent her
first
years of college in that area of the country, Zamora’s roots are in
Texas. She
was born in Eagle Pass on the first day of summer, 29 years ago.
Her predecessor’s sudden departure from Austin at the end of last
year didn’t
surprise anybody, Zamora says, but there was not enough time for a
search
process to find a new director for Mexic-Arte. She explains that
Orozco, who is
a working artist, was eager for time to make art. Belinda Acosta, in a
January
article in theAustin American Statesman, delicately makes
mention of
the director’s decision “to follow her heart.” But a piece of Orozco’s
heart
remains in Austin with the institution she helped found. She continues
to work
as a management consultant with Mexic-Arte, staying in close touch with
Zamora
by fax and phone. Chris Cowden, of Women & Their Work, remembers
how she
felt when she succeeded Rita Starpattern, founding director of that
organization. “There was so much (information) in her head… things
you have
to pass on.” Cowden says that Zamora is lucky that her predecessor
remains so
heavily involved with the institution. Zamora agrees: “It hasn’t been
easy to
be an acting director. The pressure takes its toll.” Most often,
though, she
says she is happy for the opportunity to serve as interim director and
comfortable with Orozco’s ongoing involvement. Exhibitions through the
end of
1995 were scheduled prior to her arrival; other scheduled programs seem
to be a
collaborative effort between the two women and Mexic-Arte’s board.
Asked whether Orozco provided her with a background on the historic
unease
between Mexic-Arte and other arts groups in town, particularly the
Austin
Museum of Art at Laguna Gloria, Zamora says, “She let me judge for
myself, meet
the people on my own.” Zamora praised the current exhibit at the AMA,
Mexico: A Landscape Revisited, and spoke of her admiration for
Director
Daniel Stetson. She says, “I think it’s important that we have a good
working
relationship.” Stetson refers to tension between the organizations that
preceded his arrival in Austin and says, “that is not part of the
history I’m
here to develop.” He and Cowden both appear eager to cooperate with the
new
interim director of Mexic-Arte.
Herlinda Zamora also brings a fresh perspective to the needs of her
own
organization. Her priorities include proper signage, renovation of the
museum’s
entry, and refurbishing the galleries so that exhibitions will have
more
polish. “We hope people will see we’re making an effort to improve our
look.”
She theorizes that by looking more professional, they can more easily
raise
funds to either purchase the building at 419 Congress or move
elsewhere.
Currently, Mexic-Arte has a month-to-month lease. Cowden, whose
organization
has just moved into new quarters on Lavaca, sympathizes with Zamora’s
position.
“It’s something you want to have behind you,” she says about moving or
renovating a facility. The financial drain and strain on staff are
significant.
Mexic-Arte’s staff is small. Zamora and Andy Carroll, gift shop
manager, are
on the premises full time, Jacqueline vonGahlen works 30 hours a week,
two
installers are employed as needed, and Orozco contributes an
unspecified number
of long-distance hours. There are barely enough employees to attend to
familiar
funding sources (which are beginning to dry up), much less prospect for
new
ones. According to Zamora, Mexic-Arte’s annual budget is over $300,000.
The
money has always come from a limited number of governmental and
corporate
grants. This year, two fundraisers are being planned for the fall as
part of an
effort to develop alternative sources of money. Tuesday, September 12,
Mexic-Arte will host a dinner with Dr. Guadalupe Rivera Marin, Diego
Rivera’s
daughter, who has written a book called Fiestas: Recipes and
Reminiscences
of Life with Frida Kahlo. Proceeds from their “Frida Festival” will
help
underwrite the fall exhibition, “Jose Guadalupe Posada and the Antonio
Vanegas
Arroyo Workshop.” Board members Miguel Stoupignan and Gloria Moore
(board vice
president) are chairing the event. Another member of the board, Adam
Gonzales,
owner of Serranos Cafe & Cantina, is organizing an October 14 Latin
American Wine Tasting.
The Mexic-Arte Board of Directors list identifies “Latinos/Latinas,
European
Americans, females and males,” but fails to note when members came on
the board
or when their terms expire. Zamora says there have been significant
changes
recently. The Board’s lack of experience is, she says, balanced by
members’
enthusiasm in planning for the future. There are fewer than 200 museum
members,
but the audience for exhibitions and programs is much larger than that
and
quite diverse. “It depends on the exhibit ,” says the director. The
current
show, Los Anthropolocos was well attended, thanks in part to
coverage in
both The Austin Chronicle and the Statesman. The
audience
is not just comprised of regulars, but also includes walk-in visitors,
some
lured by the newly re-organized gift shop. Arts supporters are
attracted to
various exhibitions and school children from all over Austin come for
docent-led tours of the museum.
Recently, Zamora served as docent for a group of junior high school
students
visiting the Anitra Blayton exhibit at Women & Their Work. With a
background that includes making art and photography, she clearly enjoys
talking
about art – at Mexic-Arte or anywhere else. “One of the best things
about this
job is meeting the artists,” she says.
When asked to describe the particular niche that Mexic-Arte fills
in this
community, Zamora spoke first about the openness of their space, its
inclusive
rather than exclusive nature. Then she addressed the museum’s goals,
according
to the mission statement, which are “to preserve culture and tradition
as well
as to promote new and evolving contemporary art.” Zamora says the
permanent
collection, which includes Mexican masks, photography, and prints,
helps to
educate people of all ages about Mexican history. She feels that
preservation
and expansion of the collection are also among her priorities.
Mexic-Arte promotes work by regional Chicano artists while also
assembling and
importing exhibitions from outside the community which we might not
otherwise
have the opportunity to see. Their upcoming September exhibition
combines
material from the Instituto Cultural Mexicano de San Antonio, from the
Jean
Charlot Collection at the Thomas Hale Library, Manoa Campus, University
of
Hawaii, and the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas.
“We really want to focus on Latin American artists,” says Zamora. The
original
“multicultural” approach has shifted since the museum’s inception, but
continues to include both local and international artists’ work. Their
next
exhibition, which opens July 7, features black-and-white photographs by
Richard
Payne of Houston and color plates by Eugene George of Austin. Both
Payne and
George are architects and their subject is Geurrero Viejo, an old
Spanish
colonial townsite which was abandoned to the reservoir waters of Falcon
Lake in
1953.
“We’re busy,” she says. “All we need is time and money… We’re
staying
afloat.”
When asked whether she would consider the position of director if
were offered
to her, Zamora says it’s too early to say. “I’ll consider it. I never
will
regret being in this position. It has taught me a lot about myself.”
For now,
serving as interim director of Mexic-Arte feels just right to her.
“I sometimes wake up in the middle of the night and want to call
Sylvia and
say thank you,” she says. I suspect there are some nights when she
can’t get to
sleep in the first place, as she searches for answers to the challenges
facing
Mexic-Arte Museum. n
This article appears in July 7 • 1995 and July 7 • 1995 (Cover).