Woman Rising: Women Painting in Community

To contact us Click HERE


Guest Post by Sonia Gutierrez
The work isenormous. Woman Rising,originally a 20' X 20' mural, visited the Centro Cultural de la Raza in SanDiego, California, from November 13, 2012, to January 5, 2013, coinciding withthe Centro’s exhibit Misticismo y Espiritualidad (Mysticism and Spirituality), curated by artists, Marisol de lasCasas and Rogelio Casas.

Stephanie Cecilia Cervantes

Woman Rising, a collaborative mural, by four localSan Diego artists—Patricia Aguayo, Berenice Badillo, Stephanie CeciliaCervantes, and Zerina Zermeño aka Poezia Mia—left onlookers visiting the Centrobreathless and with a deeper understanding of our connectedness to this sacredEarth. The piece depicts a female nude rising looking upward to the skies,ascending from the elements—water, fire, wind, and earth.
Once Aguayo,Badillo, Cervantes, and Zermeño, shared the same vision, these mujeres dividedthe work into five sections and worked diligently to complete the mural.Cervantes and Badillo sketched the woman and from then on—all the artistsworked on her body. On the bottom left-hand side, Zermeño painted hues ofluscious blues that formed water. Juxtaposed to the water, next to the woman’sfeet, three dimensional fire, painted by Aguayo and Badillo, reached out fromthe mural. (At the Centro, when the artists discovered Woman Rising did not fit on the Centro’s 18' wall,they made adjustments to the bottom half of the mural, by creatingthree-dimensional flames.) At the top right, Aguayo focused on therepresentation of the Earth, narrowing her symbols to corn, a brown round massof clay, and prickly pencas de nopales and a tuna.
“I had neverpainted nopales,” confessed Aguayo on a January 5, 2013, when she unmounted WomanRising. Aguayo paintedthe very prickly cacti—the type that when cut require brave and patient hands.On the top left hand side, Cervantes adds the element of wind, where the windscloak the Earth with cumulonimbus clouds and rich red-violet clouds. Cervantesalso depicts a pyramid and tree being pulled back withstanding the force oftempestuous winds.
Woman Rising’s medium was inspired by the teachingsof Professor Michael Schnorr, a Chicano muralist, who passed away on June 29,2012. Schnorr taught Berenice Badillo when she was attending SouthwesternCollege. “When I met my mentor, Michael Schnorr, he told me that if I was willing towork hard anything could be done, and sure enough he would create enormousinstallations using Oops house paint, duct tape and rosin roofing paper,”recalls Badillo who assisted Schnorr on installations funded by various wellknown entities, such as the Rockefeller Foundation. In gratitude, these women artists honoredthe teachings of Michael Schnorr, an innovative and highly heraldedprofessor.

Berenice Badillo

All four womenartists were visionaries for this project. Their goal was to complete WomanRising for Chicana: UnaDecisión Consciente/Chicana:A Concious Choice event, foundedby Patricia Aguayo and Zerina Zermeño, for The Spot Art Gallery, located inBarrio Logan, California, on September 15, 2012. At the event, Woman Rising received the admiration of a communityof Chican@s eager to come together, drawing hundreds of visitors. ThatSaturday, even with an encroaching summer heat, the Calpulli Mexihca danzantestook their place in front of Woman Rising and openedthe much awaited event, followed by a mariachi band and a poetry reading. Amongthe women artists and social activists of the Chicano Movement includedConsuelo Manríquez, Bertha Gutiérrez, Irene Mena, María Nieto Senour, LeticiaGómez Franco, among twenty six more women artists, activists, educators,and healers.
After WomanRising’s debutpresentation at TheSpot, a conversation about thepiece, amongst Aguayo, Zermeño, Marisol de las Casas, and Bertha Gutiérrez,became the catalyst that brought the mural to the Centro.
Woman Rising visiting the Centro Cultural de la Razaalso overlapped with El Sexto Sol and Idle No More unfurling revolutionaryforesight by bringing awareness to the vulnerable state of our home dwelling.Rooted in indigenismo, Aguayo, Badillo, Cervantes and Zermeño’s Woman Risingallows viewers toreevaluate and reclaim what rightfully belongs to the Earth. Woman Rising serves as, literally, a moving symbolthat art is a spirit eager to be heard—if we listen to women and art.
Any art curatorinterested in bringing Woman Risingto their gallery or venue, please contact Patricia Aguayo at arteaguayo@aol.com.
What follow arefive questions for the artists:
GUTIÉRREZ: Why was it important for you to be apart of Woman Rising?
AGUAYO: There were many commitments that neededto get done during this project. I knew that no matter how tired I was—with allthat was going on—I could not miss out on the birth of Woman Rising. There was strong, passionate femaleenergy present, and there was no way I was going to miss out on such an awesomecollaboration.
CERVANTES: It was of great importance for me topartake in the gestation of Woman Rising because it is now, after many years of meddling with my owncreative power, that I feel powerful enough to foster and actively participatein the rise of the feminine spirit through my artwork. 
ZERMEÑO: Woman Rising was a calling to me. It was something Ihad inadvertently prepared myself for. When Patricia Aguayo shared her visionand asked for my support, I agreed to embark on this manifestation of thisbeautiful Muxer that all four of us gave Birth to. Woman Rising was an experience I will never forgetand hold close to my heart because I, as well as the other muxeres, put ourblood sweat and tears until we created her and brought her here—in the name ofthe powerful women we know in our community.

Stephanie Cecilia Cervantes

GUTIÉRREZ: Why was Woman Rising important for you to create?
AGUAYO: She represents all that we are asChicana women. The balance of the four directions: spirituality, rebirth,strength, and beauty. She overflows with energy and consumes viewers.
BADILLO: After Schnorr’s suicide last June, I wanted to honor thegift he gave me to continue the belief that anything is possible. It was myhonor to teach Schnorr’s techniques to these three talented and amazing women.
CERVANTES: It has always been important for me tocreate vital pathways through my subjects; for this reason, I was compelled tocreate her. Woman Risingis one of these vital pathways. Her birthing is a requiem for the shift that istaking place right now in the Awakening of the Feminine. She is the nurturingone; the one who is going to save the world with her love. The suppression of heressence has resulted in the raping of the Earth’s precious elements, as well asthe toxicity of a half-forgotten culture. As she melts the matrix, her reinback into power means the end of corporate greed and the beginning of yetanother Golden Era. As of this day and age, the transferring of the power fromthe masculine to the feminine soul has begun.
ZERMEÑO: Woman Rising was important for me so that otherscould visually see and acknowledge a Muxer rising raw, naked, and powerful withall the elements surrounding her to remind us of her connectedness to MotherEarth, in essence reminding us where we come from and to acknowledge that acommunity is nothing without her strength.
GUTIÉRREZ: Where did the artists work?
AGUAYO: The artist worked at The Spot as wellas at home. Once the pieces were divided, the mural was a lot more manageable.
GUTIÉRREZ: Where would you like to see Woman Rising?
AGUAYO: I would love to see Woman Rising in a permanent home, such as auniversity or college, where Women’s Studies/Chican@ Studies are present.
CERVANTES: I would like to push the boundaries andinstall Woman Risingsomewhere where she is not completely welcomed. Somewhere like the off ramp toa freeway!
GUTIÉRREZ: After completing Woman Rising, what did you learn?
AGUAYO: Endless lessons: a new mediumintroduced by Berenice Badillo, which she learned from her mentor MichaelSchnorr, new friends, camaraderie and collaboration among beautiful strongChicana women, who are amazing artists. After the completion of Woman Rising, I now look back and realize that I canmanifest absolutely anything I want. That is a priceless lesson for anyartist—a confirmation that I am on the right path. Freedom really is a state ofmind.

The artists:  Berenice Badillo, Stephanie Cecilia Cervantes, Zerina Zermeno. and Patricia Aguayo

 CERVANTES: I learned how to make my first nomadicmural—one that can be economically installed, removed and then relocated todifferent cities and different worlds. Props to Berenice Badillo and herbeloved mentor for the birth of this mural’s upcoming expedition. Best of all,I found Chicana-Companionship. Thanks to Patricia Aguayo for putting all thistogether. Patricia Aguayo has the heart and will of a bull. And a specialthanks to Poezia who fully supported her comadre’s dream. Give Rise!
ZERMEÑO: One of many lessons was working withall of the beautiful women of strong nature collaboratively, still being astudent and a listener so that I could embrace this journey. It was my honor towork with these muxeres who became my comrades. I felt embraced all along thiscolorful journey and learned from so much, especially Berenice Badillo who wasan amazing mentor as I can imagine her professor Michael Schnorr was before hispassing. Woman Risingtaught me not to be shifted or lose sight of a beautiful purpose and to alwaysbe open. We must remove all boundaries and know that something with so muchlove can be manifested. 
GUTIÉRREZ: Mujeres, thank you forallowing me to write and share your vision. PatriciaAguayo, Berenice Badillo, Stephanie Cecilia Cervantes, and Zerina Zermeño, congratulations to all of you for your mural collaboration—Woman Rising.


Thank you so much for your wonderful guest post, Sonia!  NEXT WEEK:  Olga Garcia will be returning to La Bloga to share writing duties with me every other Sunday.  Stay tuned for Olga's post next Sunday.  Bienvenida Olga!  And again, gracias to Sonia.  ---Amelia M.L. Montes