Rita Maria Contreras: Recent Work
Exhibit: March 2-April 5, 2005
Opening Reception: Friday, March 4, 2005, 6-8 pm
"I Was Born on March 21st" by Rita Maria Contreras
During March, La Peña will be presenting “Rita Maria Contreras, Recent Work”. The exhibit at Las Manitas Avenue Café will feature recent work by the San Antonio artist. In it, she will be showcasing her continuing self-portrait and Texas landscape series . The exhibit begins on March 2nd with an opening reception on Friday, March 4, 2005.
Rita Maria Contreras’ self-portrait series continues to be a means by which she lives “the examined life”. To be an artist often means to in solidarity, and to do so means not doing what is expected of a married Chicana woman and mother – to put their own needs on the back burner and not explore the possibilities found outside the home. She feels as though there is a necessity to define oneself on one’s own terms in what is mainly a white, male dominated culture.
Rita’s Texas Landscape series is always a pleasure for her to paint. She does so with the awareness that those places are constantly being threatened being bulldozed all over Texas on a daily basis, especially in the beautiful Hill Country. Rita often contributes to environmental organizations, particularly the Texas Nature Conservatory, and coordinates native tree plantings in her neighborhood park.