The Inaugural Renderings of Santa Cecilia
La Patrona de la Música

Curator's Statement by Dolores Garcia
At the intersection where art, music, and faith meet, stands Saint Cecilia. Here at this convergence one can find a Rapheal Renaissance masterpiece, a Handel cantata, a Simon and Garfunkel hit single, and a veritable cornucopia of music and art inspired by her story. A story told for centuries in the universal languages of art and music. That of a martyr who skipped out on her forced nuptials to sing songs from her heart to God. An act for which she would be named the patron saint of music and musicians. Indeed it is at this meeting point of art, music, and faith, where her story inspired me. For what other crossroads can take us on such journeys through our own lives and imaginations? This is why I am proud beyond words to be curating an art exhibition in her honor.
​
La Peña Gallery will host this inaugural exhibition titled, “Renderings of Santa Cecilia: La patrona de la música.” A celebration of Santa Cecilia’s Feast day in The Live Music Capital of The World. This free exhibit will open on Saturday, November 13, 2021 from 7-9 pm and will run through December 20, 2021. La Peña Gallery is located at 227 Congress Avenue, Austin TX. A virtual tour of this exhibit will also be provided at the gallery’s website www.lapena-austin.org.
Featuring a menagerie of works from twenty-four artists from throughout the U.S. and Mexico--through their depictions of Santa Cecilia this exhibit is an exploration into the ways art, music, and faith have impacted our lives and culture. Take a journey through a myriad of times, places, and emotive realities as our diverse group of renowned and emerging artists present their unique takes on the patron saint of music. 

In their renditions of Santa Cecilia I find myself transported to another time as they evoke melodic memories--recuerdos de otro tiempo. I am a child bewildered and mesmerized by the frenetic action of my father as he plays his ruby red accordion in the styles of conjunto. I am a teenager watching my brothers jamming in our garage to Buddy Holly and Richie Valens. I am attending mass, singing to the Lord as my brother plays guitar in the church band. I am at home with my husband as songs encompassing our lives pipe through our sound system--Bob Dylan, The Cure, Los Lobos, Gregorian Chant, and La Santa Cecilia among them. I am back in the present, excited beyond expression for having been given the opportunity to present this collection to you in the hopes that you too can be taken on a voyage as we salute Santa Cecilia.

So please join us in celebrating Saint Cecilia’s Feast Day as we showcase the creativity of visual artists and musicians while advancing public engagement in the Austin area. This event is free and open to the public.
I would be remiss if I didn’t thank and acknowledge the Santa Cecilia organizing committee for their help in the realization of this exhibition. Members of this committee are: Cecilia Colomé, Scherezade Garcia-Vasquez, Carlos Lowry, Felicia Morin, Fernando Munoz, and Liliana Wilson. We grateful to Josh Hernandez for his assistance in developing our press release.

La Peña Gallery is a 501(c)3 arts organization funded and supported in part by the City of Austin through the Economic Growth and Redevelopment Services Office / Cultural Arts division, and by grants from the Alice Kieberg Reynolds Foundation, the Texas Commision on the Arts, CoYoTe Phoenix, and an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, believing an investment in the arts is an investment in Austin’s future. I would also like to extend a special thanks to the following donors for their generous support of this project: Jason Garcia & Jennifer Inumerable-Garcia; Jon and Lauren Garcia; Monterrosa Law Group LLC (Rudy & Cecilia Monterrosa) & Southwest Airlines.

Participating Artists:
Rene Arceo
Jose Arenas
Veronica Castillo
Cecilia Colomé
Cecilia Sanchez Duarte
​Cris Escobar
​Sandra Fernandez
Juan Fuentes
Esperanza Gama
Iliana Garcia
Scherezade Garcia
Victor Garcia
Naxieli Gomez
Brian Joseph
Carlos Lowry
Jeffrey Miranda
​Celeste De Luna
Malaquias Montoya
​Pete Ortiz
Antonio Pazaran
Julia Santos Solomon
Jackie Welsh
​Liliana Wilson


Rene Arceo
Santa Cecilia Teponaztli
2021
Linocut and watercolor
 
  
$400
 
 
 

Jose Arenas
B. 1971
Melodies in Mind
2021
Silkscreen print
 
 
$250

Connie Arismendi
Armor of Light
2021
Mixed media assemblage
This work is inspired by the quote attributed to St. Cecilia “Arise soldiers of Christ, throw away the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.”
 
Thank you St. Cecilia for reminding me that music and art are crucial in helping us navigate and emerge from this difficult time of isolation and division. It is the light of joy, inspiration, and wisdom, that will help us make our way out of the never ending shade.
 
Over the course of my career I have worked with light and shadow, fabric and translucent materials. This is part of a new series of works about light and shade.
 
 
 
$2,500
 
 
 

Veronica Castillo
Que Viva La Música
2021
Clay
 
This work is dedicated to the Singing Woman and Poet who, through her music and voice, takes us to the depths of our being. Where it manages to remove dormant feelings and to sensitize the tough.
 
Music is food for the soul and the heart
 
$2,700
 
Verónica Castillo Salas is an internationally acclaimed artist from Izúcar de Matamoros, Puebla, México. At a very young age, under the tutelage of her parents, renowned artists Don Alfonso Castillo Orta and Doña Soledad Martha Hernández Báez, she was exposed to the artistic technique of working in polychromatic ceramics, a tradition passed on from generation to generation. Verónica continues to build upon on these traditions, while focusing on contemporary issues of injustice and inequality. Her exhibits have achieved national and international recognition, from the Smithsonian in Washington DC to the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago to the Museo Amparo in Puebla, Mexico. In 2013, Verónica Castillo received the National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowship Award.

 
 

Cecilia Colomé
B. 1960
Let Her Heart Sing. Let Austin Be Her Chorus
2021
Oil on canvas
 
According to the legend, Santa Cecilia heard heavenly music in her heart at her wedding, resulting in her status as patron saint of musicians. This painting represents a view of the city of Austin turned upside down. In the painting, musicians are standing on clouds to honor Santa Cecilia as they play their musical instruments and sing as her chorus.
 
$500
 
 
 

Cecilia Sánchez Duarte
B. 1958
El Feminicidio de Cecilia, Santa Mujer
2021
PVC etching
 
 
$250
 
 
 

Cris Escobar
Encuentro Cultural
 2021
Acrylic on canvas
 
 
 
$800 

Sandra Fernandez
B. 1964
Santa Cecilia tocando el rondador
2021
Etching on copper, engraving, watercolors, and thread drawings.

 $275

When I was invited to make a work for this show, I immediately thought about how I could relate her to my culture and my roots. I thought of various instruments that are unique to the area where I grew up and settled for the Rondador, which is Ecuador’s national instrument. It is a single-ranked panpipe with eight to thirty pipes, all of which are closed at one end. Pipes are occasionally made of condor feathers, Ecuador’s national bird, just like this one that Santa Cecilia is holding on this image
 
 
 

Juan Fuentes
Paz
2012
Linocut
  
$350

Juan R. Fuentes, born in Artesia, New Mexico 1950, is a graduate of Watsonville High School 1969 and received his B.A. degree in fine arts from San Francisco State University in 1975.
Juan’s studio, Pajaro Editions is part of Consejo Grafico, a national collective of Latino print studios. His works reside in various institutions and museums including, the Mexican Museum, San Francisco, the National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C., the Library of Congress, Washington D.C., the Center for the Study of Political Graphics, Los Angeles, Achenbach at de Young Museum, Legion of Honor San Francisco, and has a personal archive dedicated to his work at, CEMA, the California Ethnic and
Multicultural Archives, University of Santa Barbara, California.
He has taught at City College of San Francisco’s Mission Campus, San Francisco County Jails Art Program, was visiting faculty at California College of the Arts, Oakland, CA and San Francisco Art Institute’s print Department.
 
In 2019 he was the recipient of Artist in Residence at the Blue Mountain Center, New York. During residency he was awarded the Harriet Barlow Artist Award. Juan was awarded a three months’ artist residency at the McColl Center for Art and Innovation in Charlotte, North Carolina 2015 He also received the “Activist Award” from the Southern Graphics Council International in 2014 Juan was awarded, Honorary Membership to the California Society of Printmaker’s in 2005 for his contribution to the world of printmaking. His works have been exhibited throughout the Bay Area, Nationally and Internationally.
 

Esperanza Gama
B. 1961
El canto a Santa Cecilia
2021
Painted on Ámate (bark) paper, pigments, gold leaf, real botanical element and butterfly
 
 
$1,500
 
 

Iliana Garcia
B. 1970
La Orquesta
2018
Linocut
 
$600

Scherezade Garcia
Santa Cecilia’s Wedding
2021
Mixed media on paper
 
$3500
 
 
 

Naxieli Gomez
B. 1977
Guitarra
2021
Oil on wood
A tribute to my father, who is a classical guitarist who loves art and his Mexican culture.
 
$450
 
 
 

Brian Joseph
B. 1953
Women Joy
2021
Acrylic on Canvas

 $1,500

Brian Joseph started painting at the age of 33 in 1986. He created his own style based on the fictitious Bydee People, and thus he is called the Bydeeman.  Bydee is an acronym that means Bringing You Delightful Entertaining Experiences.  His paintings and murals are as colorful as they are happy.  His art focuses on education, diversity, building individual good self-esteem, and community unity.  His positive messages encourage people to live together in harmony.
Brian is a poet and a motivational speaker. His paintings and murals adorn the walls of many schools, homes, and businesses in Austin, and also around the country.  He has a BA in Sociology and Anthropology from Tougaloo College and a MA in Urban Studies from Trinity University.
He can be contacted at 512-507-7877, email: bydeeartgallery@gmail.com. Brian Joseph and Bydee Art Gallery on Facebook, @Brianalexisjoseph on Instagram, Brian Joseph on Twitter, and his website is www.bydee.com.
 
I love to use my art to demonstrate the wonderful and respectful relationships I enjoy with the women in my life.  In this painting, Woman Joy, I use a kaleidoscope of colors to capture spirit of Santa Cecilia.  I believe that as much as she loved music and cared for musicians that today she would wear a mask to protect all musicians, as well as the rest of us.  

Carlos Lowry
B. 1953
The Power of Music
2021
Acrylic on canvas
 
My painting, “The Power of Music,” is a reflection of my love of music and the joy it brings to my life. I have painted a young musician under the watchful eye of her protector Santa Cecilia.
 
$600
 
 
 

Celeste De Luna
B. 1974
Sonido Santa Cecilia
2021
Linocut on paper
 
$375
 
 
 

Jeff Miranda
B. 1981
Santa Cecilia
2021
Colored pencil and gold leaf
 
$325
 
 
 

Malaquias Montoya
Birth year
Singing Our Way to Freedom
2016
Silkscreen Print
 
Hand silkscreened print, signed by the artist; Limited edition of 30 unnumbered prints
 
$700

This print was commissioned by Filmmaker Paul Espinosa for the documentary film, Singing Our Way to Freedom, a portrait of San Diego musician Ramon “Chunky” Sanchez. The print was offered as a premium for contributions to the film’s Kickstarter campaign.
Social Media or Website: www.ChunkyFilm.com; Malaquiasmontoya.com; Facebook.com/ChunkyFilm; instagram.com/espinosaproductions/;
Malaquias Montoya was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1938 and raised in a family of seven in the San Joaquin Valley of California. When Montoya was ten, his parents divorced. His mother continued to work the fields to support the four children that remained at home so that they could continue their education. In 1969, Montoya graduated from the University of California, Berkeley. He has lectured and taught at many colleges and universities since that time, including Stanford and the University of California, Berkeley. He was also a Professor at the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, CA for twelve years, and he was Chair of the Ethnic Studies Department for five of those years.
As Director of the Taller de Artes Graficas, in East Oakland, Montoya produced a variety of prints and conducted many community art workshops. He has held a professorship at the University of California, Davis since 1989, teaching in the department of Art and the department of Chicana/o Studies. He spent a semester in 2000 as Visiting Professor in the Art Department at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana where he currently holds the title of Visiting Fellow in the Institute for Latino Studies at Notre Dame. Montoya teaches silkscreening, poster making, and mural painting with a focus on Chicano history and culture. He is predominantly known for his silkscreen prints, which have been exhibited nationally and internationally. He also produces murals, acrylic paintings, washes and drawings. Historians credit him as one of the founders of the social serigraphy movement in the San Francisco Bay Area in the mid-1960's.

 
 
 

Pete Ortiz
B. 1960
Santa Cecilia
2021
Acrylic on Canvas
 
 
$1100
 
 
 

Antonio Pazeran
Santa Cecilia
2011
Linocut print
 
Santitos portfolio published by Arceo Press.
​$175

​

Julia Santos Solomon
B. 1956
Santa Sheila E.
2021
Silver leaf, acrylic paint on wooden panel
 
I am grateful to the curators for introducing me to Santa Cecilia, the patron saint of Music and Musicians. Painted images of her are so lovely; I was moved by them. The idea of what I wanted to create came right away. When inspiration hits me like that, I simply obey. I decided I would paint Sheila E (Escovado ), a Grammy winning master of the timbales. Sheila E. has performed with Prince, Diana Ross, Marvin Gaye, Lionel Ritchie and many more. Her performances are always electrifying. With her whole body, she plays the timbales. She seems possessed by the music. She is an artist proud of her Mexican heritage. The timbales are a percussion drum developed in Cuba, circa 1900. They carry a Latin beat with clarity and history. The combination of these elements, in addition to a talented female musician who is a master timbalera, drove me into creation.
I chose silver leaf on a wooden panel to reflect the timbales’ metal castings, and construction. This is the first time I have painted a portrait on silver leaf, a highly technical material. Sheila’s expression and vitality challenged me, yet I persevered. The most important element for me was to portray the physical energy she emotes. I want the viewer to feel the electricity and happiness she generates when playing her instrument. May “Santa Sheila E.” bring the viewer joy.
 
$7,500
 
 

Jackie Welsh
B. 1946
Loteria Cecilia
2021
Oil on linen 
 
$200

Jackie Welsh is known in the South Bend, Indiana, arts community for her over Twenty-year career as curator of education, public programs, in both South Bend art museums. Welsh worked first at the South Bend Museum of Art, followed by ten years at the University of Notre Dame’s Snite Museum of Art. Her paintings and prints are included in a number of private art collections. Welsh was responsible for bringing Dia de los Muertos celebrations to the South Bend Community including ten years of installations at the Snite Museum.

 
 

Liliana Wilson
B. 1971
El Espíritu de Santa Cecilia
2021
Hand colored silkscreen
 
This image depicts Santa Cecilia as a colorful hummingbird appearing to a young woman accordion player.  Santa Cecilia hopes to inspire the young woman with her music and to give her strength as she confronts a patriarchal system in society. Moreover, the accordion player wears a farm workers symbol representing the social justice orientation of the young woman and her connection with Santa Cecilia and her life struggles.
 
$1800