Cultural connections / Las conexions cultural
The murals along south 24th Street, Hispanic holidays, mariachi and McDonald’s burgers with chipotle—everywhere in Omaha one finds the influences of Mexico, Central and South America coloring our already vibrant landscape. Some of these shades are very old, contributing to a rich foundation. Other hues are added in wide bands or dotted lightly on the surface. In this imaginative and ever-changing landscape, color defines shape, brightens, darkens, creates tension, assumes symbolic meanings. Color adds life! A certain style and color palette may be associated with a particular place or people, but art speaks a universal language that is available to anyone willing to listen. This capacity for cultural connection is inspiring a wave of exciting exhibitions, each inviting conversations and revelations.
The opening of “Diego Rivera: Masterworks from the Museo de Arte del Estado de Veracruz” created una atmósfera festiva at Joslyn Art Museum. Guests included dignitaries from the state of Veracruz; a lecture by Guadalupe Rivera Marín, Diego Rivera’s daughter; and performance by son jarocho musicians. Joslyn is the sole venue for this collection, part of an ongoing exchange between the two museums. In addition to Rivera-themed public tours and art classes for all ages, a series of four ticketed lectures, “Revealing Rivera,” begins Nov. 9.
Also on view at Joslyn is “The Many Faces of David Diaz.” Diaz is best known as an award-winning illustrator, but he is also a painter, graphic artist and ceramicist. Here are 47 original artworks from his children’s and young adult books. On Nov. 22, Diaz joins storyteller Rita Paskowitz in the gallery for “Picture This!,” a fun and free activity for kids and their families. This very special event concludes Diaz’s weeklong residency working with Omaha Public Schools students, thanks to Joslyn and the Omaha Family Literacy Partnership.
El Museo Latino has two special exhibitions, “Frida Kahlo: Letters, Documents and Photographs” and “November 2 - Noviembre 2” featuring the photographs of Cristina Kahlo. A partnership between El Museo Latino and Joslyn invites artists of every experience level to join a monthly Omaha Sketch Crawl—on Nov. 1, get into the spirit of Day of the Dead at El Museo Latino. Another collaboration is Family Fun Day on Nov. 8. Mariachi Luna y Sol, CHOMARI Ballet Folklórico Mexicano, demonstrations, and art-making promise a day con gusto.
These are just some of the opportunities to see Hispanic art in Omaha. Jesus Moroles, a major contemporary sculptor, has been commissioned to create a focal installation in granite and water for Joslyn’s Peter Kiewit Foundation Sculpture Garden. His “Omaha Riverfront Plaza” will include fountains and a reflecting pool that brings to life the Missouri River in its cycle of seasons. Next summer, Joslyn will mount three exciting exhibitions: the spectacular “River of Gold,” a showcase of Precolumbian gold artifacts from Panama; “Masterpieces of Mexican Folk Art from the Pat and Judd Wagner Collection”; and “A Century of Retablos: The Dennis and Janis Lyon Collection of New Mexican Santos, 1780-1880.” Joslyn’s efforts reflect “a recognition of the remarkable contributions of Latino culture to our society from ancient to contemporary times,” says Anne El-Omami, deputy director for Museum Collections and Programs. “It demonstrates our commitment to integrating Latino programs and exhibitions into the museum’s strategic long-range plan.”
Although slowing somewhat, Hispanic Nebraskans remain the fastest-growing population group in the state, surpassing the surge of the 1990s. The state’s first and only diplomatic office, the Mexican Consulate, was established in 2000; Jorge Ernesto Espejel Montes, the second consul here, took office in February. Other institutions include the Nebraska Hispanic Chamber of Commerce/Cámara de Comercio Hispana de Nebraska (CCHN) and the Latino Center of the Midlands. El Museo Latino (established 1993) has been joined by Las Artes Cultural Center and the Spanish Colonial art collection at Saint Cecilia Cathedral. Spanish-language newspapers, radio and television stations, religious services and other offerings are commonplace. Grocery stores routinely stock Spanish label items; Dora the Explorer is a familiar figure to every preschooler; and UNO’s Office of Latino/Latin American Studies of the Great Plains (OLLAS) recently cosponsored the “Cinemateca” series with Film Streams. Lourdes Gouveia, OLLAS director, says that Omaha has undergone “enormous transformation, and is becoming a more cosmopolitan city.” Describing “Cinemateca” as an overwhelming success, Gouveia says “Film/art is a vehicle for knowledge about the world. Viewers recognize themselves, and universal themes—love, suffering, tensions, family—that cut across cultures.”
In 2005, Omaha established Sister City ties with the city of Xalapa (also spelled Jalapa), capital of the state of Veracruz, in eastern Mexico. The Diego Rivera exhibition is one of several reciprocal cultural exchanges between our cities and one of the benefits to the Sister City program, which bills itself as “a global citizen diplomacy network.” Elvira Garcia chairs the Omaha-Xalapa Sister Cities project. She is enthusiastic about collaboration with Joslyn and endorses the concept of personal diplomacy. “Governments and policies change, but people are always there. And people can understand each other through the arts.” Omaha’s Latino population is becoming increasingly “multifaceted,” says Garcia, a native of Paraguay. Each immigration adds something to the culture of Nebraska.
Aura Whitney-Jackson brings the inflections and sociability of her native Panama. She extends the arts table to include food and parties, and loves visiting museums. “The more we look at art, the more we find in common,” she says. “The love of color, of animals and birds, bring us back to nature. We are all part of this Earth.” She will be celebrating Panamanian Independence Day, Nov. 3, with friends, dancing and delicious foods. Their time-honored recipes have been modified for Nebraska ingredients, just one example of exchange and adaptation.
The feast of Nuestra Señora de la Divina Providencia, Nov. 19, will be a day honored by Puerto Ricans, and Mexicans commemorate Dia de la Revolucion on Nov. 20. Learning about these holidays, joining a conversation and looking at art are ways of finding connections, discovering our commonalities and respecting our differences. They’re a way of adding people to our painted landscape, each one unique and a vital part of the picture.
For more information, visit El Museo Latino, www.elmuseolatino.org; Joslyn Art Museum, www.joslyn.org; Omaha Sister Cities Association, www.omahasistercities.com.
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