{"id":63710,"date":"2025-07-14T02:05:21","date_gmt":"2025-07-14T02:05:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/63710\/"},"modified":"2025-07-14T02:05:21","modified_gmt":"2025-07-14T02:05:21","slug":"how-the-virgin-of-guadalupe-is-woven-into-the-fabric-of-arts-and-culture-san-diego-union-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/63710\/","title":{"rendered":"How the Virgin of Guadalupe is woven into the fabric of arts and culture \u2013 San Diego Union-Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the Curator\u2019s Words<\/strong> is an occasional series that takes a critical look at current exhibitions through the eyes of curators.<\/p>\n

Our Lady of Guadalupe, also known as Virgin of Guadalupe, has a long history dating back to 1531, tied to four apparitions of the Virgin Mary to a peasant in Mexico.<\/p>\n

Ariana Torres, assistant curator at Mingei International Museum in Balboa Park, talks about an exhibit titled \u201cFashioning an Icon: Virgin of Guadalupe Imagery in Textile Design,\u201d which she curated.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe \u201cFashioning an Icon: Virgin of Guadalupe Imagery in Textile Design\u201d exhibit at the Mingei is on display through Sept. 7. (Mingei International Museum)<\/p>\n

Q: The Our Lady of Guadalupe has long played a significant role in the fabric of San Diego\u2019s arts and culture. Now, literally, there is an exhibit about this iconic cultural symbol as it\u2019s represented on textiles. How did this exhibit come to be?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:<\/strong> Textiles are central to the Virgin of Guadalupe\u2019s story and an intriguing launching point to explore her image. Her most famous depiction is on a tilma (cloak-like garment), attributed to a 16th-century story of a Nahua man named Juan Diego. The story describes a series of apparitions, including one where she directs Juan Diego to collect roses in his garment along a Tepeyac hillside and bring them to church leaders as evidence of her existence. As the story goes, he unfurls his tilma and in addition to the roses, an impression of la Virgen appears on the fabric.<\/p>\n

\u201cFashioning an Icon: Virgin of Guadalupe Imagery in Textile Design\u201d expands from these fabric origins into how creative expression through wearable objects has made \u2014 or rather, fashioned \u2014 the Virgin of Guadalupe into the icon she is today. Her complicated and layered history has contributed to her multifaceted reception, and her image has grown beyond religion alone.<\/p>\n

Being a folk art, craft and design museum, Mingei\u2019s exhibition additionally focuses on the powerful intersection of craft, popular imagery and clothing in representing and retaining cultural heritage across generations and borders. I think this becomes especially important in our current political climate, where people of different cultural backgrounds face discrimination from institutions in power. These acts of creation and expression become moments of resistance when cultural existence and celebration are perceived as threats.<\/p>\n

Q: What were your criteria when assembling such a vast collection of work by artists from the region?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:<\/strong> The garments and accessories from Mexico are drawn from a private collection named \u201cRosas y Revelaciones\u201d (compiled by a Oaxaca-based arts patron, Linda Hanna), which we were grateful to have access to as the base of our exhibition. Additionally, we knew that in order to tell a meaningful story of la Virgen\u2019s image that reflects our San Diego-Tijuana community, it was crucial to include the work and stories of local artists.<\/p>\n

\""Guadalajara"\u201cGuadalajara\u201d by San Diego artist Claudia Rodr\u00edguez-Biezunski (various upcycled fabrics, including suede, leather and cotton flannel, 2023) (Ron Kerner)<\/p>\n

Q: With such an iconic symbol as the focal point of a big exhibition, how difficult was it to whittle down the collection to what\u2019s currently on display?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A:<\/strong> Incredibly difficult! We wanted to show the range of styles of these amazing artists coming from different communities across Mexico \u2014 an area with long and varied traditions of textile crafts. Erasto (\u201cTito\u201d) Mendoza Ruiz, Monica D\u00edaz Mart\u00ednez and Gabriela S\u00e1nchez are just three examples that we highlight in the exhibition who are masters of their respective crafts of loom weaving, palm weaving and jewelry design.<\/p>\n

The local section, \u201cAn Icon Among Us,\u201d also proved difficult to curate given the volume and variety of images of la Virgen seen in San Diego daily life. In the end, we featured three artists exploring the icon in different ways.<\/p>\n

Local fashion designer Claudia Rodriguez-Biezunski runs her shop and brand, Sew Loka, out of her Barrio Logan studio. Her upcycled flannels and denim jackets adorned with the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe are well-known across the city. Claudia created the jacket, titled \u201cGuadalajara,\u201d as a tribute to her grandmother \u2014 part of a series of jackets reflecting facets of Claudia\u2019s identity and upbringing.<\/p>\n

I saw Diana Benav\u00eddez\u2019s piece, \u201cEven Guadalupe Needs a Break,\u201d featured in Project BLANK\u2019s 2024 \u201cWORKING TITLE\u201d exhibition, and it immediately moved me. Made of paper and plastic, the work is a continuation of Diana\u2019s use of the pi\u00f1ata artistic technique and continues her commentary on women\u2019s labor. It is also the only piece in our show representing the Virgin of Guadalupe\u2019s own recognizable garment \u2014 a cloak that is both a product of labor and depicts, in the Virgin\u2019s bodily absence, a rest from a period of labor.<\/p>\n

Arianna Ytselle\u2019s photography series project, \u201cEn Cada Rinc\u00f3n (\u201cIn Every Corner\u201d),\u201d is a window into the world outside our gallery, uplifting the artists and the community within which we exist, where la Virgen\u2019s image is both an artistic inspiration and a touchpoint of cultural connection.<\/p>\n

\"RuanaRuana by Erasto (Tito) Mendoza Ruiz from the collection of Linda Hanna (treadle loom woven with cotton thread, wool thread and metallic thread, macram\u00e9 fringe, 21st century). (Judith Romero)
\n\u2018Fashioning an Icon: Virgin of Guadalupe Imagery in Textile Design\u2019<\/p>\n

When:<\/strong> 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays-Sundays, through Sept. 7 (museum stays open until 8 p.m. on Fridays)<\/p>\n

Where:<\/strong> Mingei International Museum, 1439 El Prado, Balboa Park<\/p>\n

Tickets:<\/strong> $5 admission on \u201cSummer Fridays\u201d from 5 to 8 p.m. Regular admission: Adults $15; seniors 65 and over $10; educators, students and military with I.D. $10; members and youth 17 and under free.<\/p>\n

Online:<\/strong> mingei.org<\/a><\/p>\n

\"HuipilHuipil by Rosa Elvia Leyva Antonio from the collection of Linda Hanna (woven cotton thread, embroidered with cotton thread, satin, 21st century) (Judith Romero)<\/p>\n

Originally Published: July 13, 2025 at 5:00 AM PDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the Curator\u2019s Words is an occasional series that takes a critical look at current exhibitions through the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":63711,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,8159,1582,276,171,1370,3549,3550,7264,1072,7289,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,5548],"class_list":{"0":"post-63710","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-balboa-park","10":"tag-ca","11":"tag-california","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-latest-headlines","14":"tag-san-diego","15":"tag-san-diego-county","16":"tag-sandiego","17":"tag-things-to-do","18":"tag-top-stories-sdut","19":"tag-united-states","20":"tag-united-states-of-america","21":"tag-unitedstates","22":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","23":"tag-us","24":"tag-usa","25":"tag-visual-arts"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114849141586051440","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63710","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63710"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63710\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63711"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63710"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63710"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63710"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}