• Home
  • About
  • Artwork
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Educational Resources
  • New Page
Angel Luna Art Works
  • Home
  • About
  • Artwork
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Educational Resources
  • New Page

Artist Statement & Selected Exhibition Record​

​I have worked in figurative art methods for the last twenty-four years. I grew up working in farm fields, so I find clay to be like keeping my hands in the earth as I did as a child.  My figure work is based on current political issues in the United States, especially immigration.  My mask work is based on Dia de los Muertos traditions I grew up with.
 
In the Spotlight is a series about the night crossings and spotlights being lit on people by the border patrol. This gives a human face to the experiences of crossing the border.  Desaparacidos is a series about the immigrants who die on the border and disappear and the spirit is the only remnant.
 
Gente Not Numbers is a series I started in 2004 after an invitation to make work for a show dealing with sense of place.  The series is of farm workers with false social security numbers on their chests or in hidden locations on the body.  Workers are not just numbers you can replace, but also the experiences of being and interacting with the worker.  The clothing is based on actual examples from my time as a field laborer and being part of a family of laborers.
 
Disappearing Stories is a new series based on the Gente Not Numbers series.  It is about stories disappearing as oral tradition ends, similar to finding an old photograph, but not knowing who it is.  The person’s voice is lost in history.    
 
The Calaveras are like sketches. I make skull masks and test different surfaces and firing treatments.  Each one is unique with different textures, eye socket shapes and individually made.  Some are fired multiple times, others only once.  
 Selected Exhibition Record
            Solo Exhibitions:
            2020    Calaveras and Gente, Brazosport College, Lake Jackson, Texas
 
            2012    Milagros y Muerte, Western Nevada College, Carson City, Nevada
 
           2010    Miracles, People, and Monsters, Northwest Gallery, Northwest College, Powell, Wyoming
 
           2009    Myths, Miracles, and Miscellaneous Debris: 5 years in Yuma, Yuma Fine Arts Center, Yuma, Arizona
 
Invitational Exhibitions:
​2021    Diversity in Clay, Brackers Good Earth Clays, Lawrence, Kansas

2019    10x10 Exhibition, Tohono Chul gallery, Tucson, Arizona
 
2018    12th Annual South Texas Ceramic Showdown, South Texas College, McAllen, Texas
 
2016    Estamos Aquí: Voces Contemporáneas, We Are Here: Contemporary Voices, Nashville Public Library Gallery, Nashville, Tennessee,               Curators: Jairo and Susan Prado. (catalog)
 
2015    Fruto Latino VI, Casa HoLa and Knoxville Museum of Art, Knoxville, Tennessee
 
            Bittersweet Harvest, Rose Center, Morristown, Tennessee
 
2014    Dia de Los Muertos, Casa HoLa, Knoxville, Tennessee
 
            Fruto Latino V, Casa HoLa and Knoxville Museum of Art, Knoxville, Tennessee
 
            Bittersweet Harvest, Casa HoLa, Knoxville, Tennessee
 
2013    Dia de Los Muertos meets Halloween, Casa HoLa, Knoxville, Tennessee
 
2009    For Artists, By Artists; 30th anniversary Yuma Symposium exhibition, Yuma Art Center, Yuma, Arizona
 
2008    In Retrospect, Yuma Art Center, Yuma, Arizona
 
2007    Sister Cities: Testing Boundaries: Art and Artisans Along the U.S. - Mexico Border Contemporary Crossroads, El Paso Museum of Art, El Paso, Texas
 
Juried Exhibitions:
2021    All Art Arizona, Art Intersection Gallery, Gilbert, Arizona 
              
            2021 KC Clay Guild Teabowl National, Kansas City Clay Guild, Kansas City, Missouri.  Juror: Erica Iman

            Clay National XV: The Narrative Figure, Carbondale Clay Center, Carbondale, Colorado. Jurors: Kyle & Kelly Phelps 

           From the Ground Up XXX, Las Cruces Museum of Art, Las Cruces, New Mexico. Juror: Joshua Clark
 
           Silent Stories, We Are Not Nvsble, https://www.wearentinvisible.org/
 
2020    All Art Arizona, Art Intersection Gallery, Gilbert, Arizona
 
2019    All Art Arizona, Art Intersection Gallery, Gilbert, Arizona
 
            Undocumented Stories: Unfiltered, Chicano Art Gallery, San Diego, California
 
2018    Sonoran Stories, Tohono Chul gallery, Tucson, Arizona
 
            All Art Arizona, Art Intersection Gallery, Gilbert, Arizona
 
            Figurative Art Exhibit, Light Space & Time Online Art Gallery, www.lightspacetime.art
 
2017    Demographically Speaking, A Figurative Exhibition, Lexington Art League, Lexington, Kentucky.  Juror: Daniel Pfalzgraf.
 
2014    Biennial Cup Show, Morean Center for Clay, St. Petersburg, Florida
            Juror: Matt Schiemann
 
2012    25th National Juried Art Exhibit, South Cobb Arts Alliance, Mableton, Georgia
                        Juror: Kristen Miller Zohn, (catalog)
 
            Juried Art Tile Show, Silver City, New Mexico
                       Juror: Alfredo Rantinoff
 
2011    Social Justice, National Juried Show, Baltimore Clayworks, Baltimore Maryland
                       Jurors: Kyle and Kelly Phelps
 
2009    From the Ground Up XXIV, Las Cruces Museum of Art, Las Cruces, New Mexico
 
             Analogous: National Juried Show, Eastern New Mexico University Runnels Gallery, Portales, New Mexico
                        Juror: Lucy Lippard, (catalog)
 
2008    Reforming U.S.: Immigration Through Art, Loyola University Crown Center Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
 
2007    Clay Applied Art vs. Fine Art?, Gloria Kennedy Gallery, Brooklyn, New York
 
2006    Crossing Borders: 14th Annual International Juried Exhibition, Laredo Center for the Arts, Laredo, Texas, (catalog),
 
            19th National Juried Art Exhibit, South Cobb Arts Alliance, Mableton, Georgia
                        Juror: Marcia Goldenstein, (catalog)
       
            By the Hand: A National Juried Exhibition of Traditional and Innovative Craft
, Bedford Gallery, Walnut Creek, California
                        Jurors:  Suzanne Balzerman & Jo Lauria
 
2005    Crossing Borders: 13th Annual International Juried Exhibition, Laredo Center for the Arts, Laredo, Texas (catalog)
 
2004    17th National Juried Art Exhibition, South Cobb Arts Alliance/ Mable House Cultural Center, Mableton, Georgia, Juror:  Gregor Turk, (catalog)
 
             Gigantic: Ceramic Figurines, Kirkland Arts Center, Kirkland, Washington, Juror: Patti Warashina
 
2003    Figureheads, Artempresa Gallery, Cordoba, Argentina
 
             16th National Juried Art Exhibition, South Cobb Arts Alliance/ Mable House Cultural Center, Mableton, Georgia
​                           Juror:  Larry Walker, (catalog)
 
             Ana 32:  A National Juried Exhibition, Holter Museum of Art, Helena, Montana, Juror:  Richard Notkin



Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • About
  • Artwork
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Educational Resources
  • New Page