Chicano Art Digital Image Collection

||Assemblage||Atelier||Center Activities and Programs||Drawings||Graphic Arts||
|| Indigenous Chicano Mediums and Art Forms||Installation Art||Murals||Paintings||
|| Performance and Conceptual Art|| Photography|| Sculptures || Taxonomy||

Taxonomy

CHICANO VISUAL ART DIGITAL COLLECTION
GLOSSARY-GUIDELINES

INDEX-CLASSIFICATIONS

1. ASSEMBLAGE-COLLAGE

2. ATELIER

3. CENTER ACTIVITIES AND PROGRAMS

4. DRAWINGS

5. GRAPHIC ARTS

6. INDIGENOUS CHICANO MEDIUMS AND ART FORMS

7. INSTALLATION ART

8. MURALS

9. PAINTINGS

10 PERFORMANCE AND CONCEPTUAL ART

11. PHOTOGRAPHY

12. SCULPTURES

13. NON-CENTER ACTIVITIES AND PROGRAMS

GENERAL NOTES: The original objective of this glossary was to unify terms for the description of art objects or images in the slides sent by four Chicano art collectives and centers in California. Since then additional archives of collections/ centers have been added. These procedures have been revised to apply to an expanded scope. The identification process is strictly object-oriented. The "work" will always refer to the work of art in the slide, or in the case of photography, if the slide film is the medium of the photographer, the "work" will also refer to the slide itself. The various types of photography are defined below. In the event that the slide is not focused on an individual work, but rather on a wider view which includes the work and several other works (as in a gallery installation photograph, or the artist photographed next to the work) unless the slide is a "work of art" itself, i.e., the product of a professional photographer or artist who wants it catalogued as such, the category of the slide should be "Center Activities and Programs."

The "Signature and Inscription:" section on the forms is for recording-(Copying) any autograph (in the hand of the artist) signature or inscription (such as a dedication) on either the front or back of a work of art, after it was completed. For example, a poster may include the signature of the artist and lettering as an integral part of the multiple print, but may also have a penciled signature and dedication in the artist's hand in the area below the printed image or on the back of the paper. This latter example would be the "signature or inscription." Or, in the case of a painting, the "Signature and Inscription," by the artist will be his/her signature and date and whatever else the artist might inscribe on the surface or back of the finished painting. The same applies to a mural if it is known to be signed, dated or inscribed somewhere on the wall in addition to any lettering that might be visible in the slide. It is not necessary to record lettering on murals if it is visible in the slide, but if the signature and date or inscription on a mural is known, please record on the form.

"Collection," means the ownership of the work at present. The name of the person or institution that owns the work, such as "Artist's Collection," if the work is still owned by the artist. If the work is temporarily housed, stored, or exhibited in a different location from that of owner, please specify where it is presently located as well.

TERMS

SUITABLE FOR CVADIC? - If the slide or group of slides represented by one workform should be included in the Chicano Visual Arts Digital Image Collection, sometimes referred to simply as the CEMA digital image archives, check this field. Select no more than a total of 150 slides from your center's or an individual's entire slide collection.

FIELD - Blank space for data processor.

? - Use a question mark if it is not understood what the field is asking.

U - Use "U" to indicate that the information needed in that field is unknown and not retrievable now or at a later date.

F/C - Use "F/C" to indicate that the information is forthcoming at a later date.

INDEX TERMS FIELD - Use this field to cross-reference slides that fit under more than one medium. For example, a slide of an "altar" is in most cases, according to the glossary, an assemblage. Describe the slide(s) using the Assemblage workform. At the bottom of the Assemblage workform, in the index term field, write in "Indigenous Chicano Mediums and Art Forms" or ICMAF to indicate that more than one medium applies.

Please leave any terms and line items blank if they do not apply to the particular slide being identified. For example, Mural form asks for Assistants - if there were none - leave blank. If it is known that there were assistants but their names are unknown, use "U" or "F/C" as appropriate.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If any type of documentary information about the image or slide can be attached to the form, for example a copy of a newspaper clipping about the artwork or Center activity in the slide, or an announcement about an exhibition that is documented in the slide, please attach to the form. Dates are especially important.

MEDIUMS AND TECHNIQUES

1. ASSEMBLAGE-COLLAGE - The use of and assembly of three-dimensional found materials to create an individual and unique art object. It is the three-dimensional counterpart of COLLAGE (from the French verb coller (to glue), by which found objects and materials are glued to a two-dimensional surface creating a COLLAGE). Since the 1950s, this technique has been a radically new way of making sculpture by transforming non-art objects and elements, even junk, into sculpture through combining or constructing techniques such as gluing or welding. If known, and not too numerous, please list the larger identifiable objects in the assemblage. (R. Atkins, Artspeak, 1990:52)

In addition to more conventional forms of contemporary assemblage, the following examples should be cross-referenced with Indigenous Chicano Mediums and Art Forms.

Altar (Spanish form of altar) - All "altares" are assemblages if they are created by artists as works of Contemporary Art, and are not private and devotional religious home or church altars, within the tradition of Mexican Catholicism. If the photo or slide documents an exclusively private or public religious altar (not meant for a gallery or museum, or secular presentation) please identify as documentary photography.

Ofrenda - An elaborate assemblage altar made from mixed mediums in an interior or outdoor setting, but made with a distinct ceremony or ritual "offering" in mind. The Ofrenda may be in the form of an indoor or outdoor altar, three-dimensional sculpture, or an installation filling up a wall or an entire space of a gallery or room. (In latter case, work will be cross-referenced with installation category)

Caja ("Box") - An assemblage contained in a box or box-like form. This is also an Indigenous Chicano Art Form, and its cataloguing as an Assemblage will depend on the work's context, and its identification by the artist as such.

Nicho ("Niche") - A variation on the Caja, above, where the emphasis is placed on the niche-like format of the assemblage sculpture. Its origins lie in the devotional niches for religious sculptures in Mexican Catholicism, which in turn have their origins in pre-Hispanic forms of worship.

2. SELF-HELP GRAPHICS EXPERIMENTAL SILK SCREEN PRINT ATELIER - This special classification pertains exclusively to the on-going annual Print Atelier at SHG.

3. CENTER ACTIVITIES AND PROGRAMS - Please include in this section all slides of the centers' various outreach activities, museum education, and cultural programs, including Dance Performances, Poetry Readings, Ballet Folklorico and Conchero performances, Teatro, Workshop and Talleres activities, Musical concerts, and any public events such as protest marches or political gatherings, meetings, and gallery exhibition installations (i.e., hanging of paintings or installing of sculptures and other works) of shows and openings.

4. DRAWING - The unique and direct application of an image, in which line dominates mass, to a support ground (such as, paper). Some drawings are independent and finished works of art. Others are preparatory or preliminary designs or sketches for other works of art such as paintings, murals, sculpture, architecture, etc.

5. GRAPHIC ARTS - The various multiple-edition, or multiple-reproductive print processes by which original prints are created. The printing processes utilize a master (matrix) plate, block, lithographic stone, or silkscreen, by which multiple images are transferred to paper. The principal graphic arts processes used by Chicano artists are: Silkscreen, or Serigraphy (creative silkscreen printmaking in which the artist designs, makes, and prints his/her own stencils), Etching, Aquatint, Woodcut (black and white, or Color Woodcut), Linoleum Cut (or Linocut), Lithography, and in some cases Xerox (black and white or color), or other commercial reproductive print process, such as Offset Lithography. If Mediums or Media are Mixed, please specify Mediums used. Please do not use "Mixed Media," unless mediums are unknown.

MONOTYPE - A unique (one of a kind) print made by making a design in oil paint or printer's ink on a metal, glass, or other material plate, then printed either on a press or by rubbing the paper with the hand directly onto a sheet of paper or other support.

EDITION NUMBER - In the printing process, the number of copies of the print made from a single printing authorized by the artist. The Edition Number is usually written in pencil by the artist after his/her signature below the image as, e.g., 5/20, meaning the fifth print from a limited edition of 20. The artist may use the initials A.P. ("artist's proof") after his/her signature to inscribe the first impression (proof) of the print, which is unnumbered and usually kept by the artist.

OFFSET (LITHOGRAPHY) - The commercial reproductive print process by which an original print (from any of the above processes) can be mass-reproduced photo-mechanically in editions numbering in the hundreds or thousands. This is the medium used frequently for Poster art, derived from a photograph of the original silkscreen print or any other type of image or reproduction. Offset lithographic posters are usually not signed nor numbered, unless the artists' group logo or artist's signature is part of the poster image which is mass-reproduced.

6. INDIGENOUS CHICANO MEDIUMS AND ART FORMS - In the form entitled "Indigenous Chicano Mediums and Art Forms," the word "Indigenous" is not meant in the anthropological sense, but rather in its positive social and historical sense, meaning art forms and mediums "Unique to, or Native to" the Chicano art movement. These are mediums and art forms that originated in the Chicano art movement as a result of the creativity and originality of Chicano and Chicana artists who drew their inspiration from the pre-Hispanic and Hispanic Mexican traditions and mediums as well as from those in contemporary American and International art. Examples of such works and mediums are: Lowriders created as moving painted sculptures, such as Magu's Our Family Car, the tortilla art of Jos‚ Montoya and others, Ricardo Favela's Coronas produced for the Day of Dead, as well as the altares, ofrendas, cajas and nichos, also produced for D¡a de los Muertos and other occasions, or the Galer¡a de la Raza's Calendarios, to name a few. If these art forms have a counterpart in traditional contemporary art forms, such as assemblage, they should be cross-referenced in the "Index Terms" section at the bottom of the form..

7. INSTALLATION - A site-specific artwork, usually temporary or ephemeral. The arrangement of objects and use of different mediums in a creation made especially for a particular gallery space or outdoor site, to be viewed as an entire ensemble or environment. Installations created by one or various artists are usually exhibited for a brief period and then dismantled, leaving only the photographic, visual, sometimes audiovisual, documentation as the Work of Art. Installations in Chicano art may include portable murals painted exclusively for the installation in combination with works in other mediums, such as sculpture, videotape monitors, paintings, assemblages. altares or ofrendas that are so large as to encompass the entire gallery space will be cross-referenced with Assemblage and Indigenous Chicano Art Forms.

8. MURAL - A painting executed directly on a wall or ceiling or done on a portable panel that is destined for a wall or architectural setting.

MEDIUM - The specific material used by the artist, e.g., Acrylic Paint, Oil Paint, Novacolor, Latex House paint, Commercial Spray Can paint, Glazed Tile, Mixed Mediums (specify if known), etc.

TECHNIQUE - The process or specific method of painting used to execute the work, e.g. Brush, Airbrush, Commercial Spray Can, Mosaic, Fresco, etc.

9. PAINTING - A creative work done by the skilled application of paint, or in the case of Pastel, colored masses, to a surface or ground support. Easel Paintings, usually of moderate size, are executed on a traditional painter's easel or similar device, and are destined for hanging on a wall for public or private viewing in either a collection, museum, or gallery.

MEDIUMS - The material of the paint and painting, e.g. Oil, Tempera, Acrylic, Watercolor, Pastel, Oil Pastel, Goauche, Commercial Spray can, Enamel, Commercial House paint, Mixed (if known, specify).

TECHNIQUES - The specific methods of painting employed, e.g., those in which the paint is applied manually with a brush or other similar device, such as a rag or sticks or combination of implements: Oil, Acrylic, Tempera, Fresco, Airbrush, Commercial Spray Can, or a combination of techniques (if known, specify).

SUPPORT - The structure on which the ground (primary layer), or paint layers of a painting or drawing are applied, e.g., canvas, canvas board, wood panel, masonite, fiberboard, metal, or paper.

DIMENSIONS - Usually given in inches. Height precedes width.

10. PERFORMANCE AND CONCEPTUAL ART - Not to be confused with traditional Dance, Poetry, Theater and Video and Film, but possibly incorporating all the preceding in a Performance "Artwork," this category includes artworks produced by individual artists or artists' groups, who create "idea" or Conceptual Art by working in multi-media, semi-theatrical performance. The term is also retroactively applied to earlier live-art forms, such as Body Art, Happenings, Guerrilla Art Actions, and Dada and Neo-Dada, and anti-traditional art events in general. Please identify all slides of traditional Dance Performances, Ballet Folklorico, Concheros, Poetry Readings, Musical Concerts, or a combination of these under Center Activities and Programs, unless the slide documents a particular Conceptual Performance intended as such by the Artist/s.

11. PHOTOGRAPHY - In general terms, a medium-technique like oil paint or pastel. Photography is the art of using and manipulating the camera and film to produce unique images of reality or formal abstractions. The subject and the stylistic or aesthetic intentions of the photographer will determine the "type" of photography.

Creative photography is a photographic print or a slide, in which the photographer intentionally manipulates the camera and the development process, to produce an original and unique work of art.

Journalistic Photography or Photo journalism is the making of photographs or slides for the printed news page. If the slide is a photograph meant to be reproduced in books, magazines, or newspapers, or a slide of such a photograph, it is a Journalistic photograph or slide.

Documentary Photography is photography that responds to social activities or social problems that are particularly pressing to the photographer. Unless, the slide depicts a particular social activity meant to be documented as such by the photographer, the slide should be identified as a Center Activity or Program.

12. SCULPTURES - Sculpture will be classified under traditional mediums and carving or modeling techniques, e.g., Wood, Clay, Bronze cast (specify Number Edition if cast in multiples), Wood, Papier mache, Masks, Ceramic (glazed), Plaster, Welded metal, Stone, etc.

13. NON-CENTER ACTIVITIES AND PROGRAMS - Slide documentation of exhibits, art works, parades, festivals and other programs and events. The slide photographer may not necessarily be representing a particular cultural center and that center may not be represented or be participating in the activity being documented. In general, the event is not considered a major center activity of only the centers but the photographer saw the importance of documenting the event.

The expanded definition of non-center activities and programs includes organized programs sponsored by institutions other than the Chicano cultural centers. These activities might include but are not limited to school and college activities, cultural programming in the community, youth or k12 programs such as San Diego Unified School District's "Youth at Art" program or any other activity documented in the slide or photograph that can be considered historically and culturally relevant to the Chicano movement or its people.

Written by Ramon Favela, 1990
Revised, by Salvador Güereña and Alexander Hauschild, 2002.