Funding for Colores was provided in part by New Mexico PBS Great Southwestern Arts & Education Endowment Fund and the Nellita E. Walker Fund for KNME-TV at the Albuquerque Community Foundation McCune Charitable Foundation New Mexico Arts a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs and by the National Endowment for the Arts and Viewers Like You Voices Del Pueblo recovers the overlooked story of New Mexico's Chicana and Chicano artists whose work became a powerful voice for community, justice, and cultural memory.

Handcrafted alebrijes fill Pioneer Plaza with color and light, connecting visitors to the traditions of Oaxaca and inspiring pride in Mexican culture.

Honored with a 2025 New Mexico Governor's Award for excellence in the Arts.

Cannupa Hanska Luger, keeps culture in motion, creating work that invites people to reconsider history and their relationship to one another.

It's all ahead on Colores!

VOICES OF THE PEOPLE >> Faith: What inspired you to create Voces del Pueblo?

>> Vasquez: We have been working with an artist, Francisco LeFebre, and he introduced this idea Francisco LeFebre, and he introduced this idea Francisco LeFebre, and he introduced this idea of doing a permanent exhibit that would feature the work of New Mexican, Chicana and Chicano artists.

>> Ray: And after we had our first meeting, I went back to my office and I did research, and I really couldn't find anything written online.

Definitely not at the library.

No articles.

No books on specifically this early generation of the artists, specifically the arts in New Mexico are so well known.

that the Native American art traditions, the traditional Spanish material, the modernists who were here in the early 20th century and after conducting preliminary research and not finding materials, I then reached out to different museums, and it just seemed like they -- Chicano artists had not been given -- the same kinds of platforms.

So that became one of the driving questions is to kind of begin to tease out, you know, why have Chicana and Chicano artists in New Mexico not been given the same spaces, the same attention?

>> Faith: So how did the art translate into the -- Chicano and Chicana movement, and how was that also part of the reason why this art has kind of been forgotten or lost?

>> Vasquez: Well, the Chicana Chicano movement art, of course, begins in the 1960s and then grows into the 70s and the 80s.

And in New Mexico, the artists were producing pretty prolifically in the 70s.

But we don't see that body of work.

A lot of the themes that were present in Chicano and Chicana movement nationally drew on, like Mesoamerican imagery, the struggle of farmworkers, the struggle of our communities to get education and to be represented politically.

And that movement was really strong in New Mexico.

And many of the artists that are in this catalog were involved in a number of activities all throughout the state.

But our focus is on central and northern New Mexico in terms of who we, who we identified as being both activists, artists and also self declaring as being Chicana and Chicano.

>> Faith: Yeah, and I found it interesting too -- that they were all -- the six artists were all students of Pedro Rodriguez, and he was really instrumental in the art that they created.

>> Ray: Yeah.

Pedro Rodriguez was an interesting figure.

He was hired in 1971 to be the Inaugural Director of the Chicano Studies Program, and he was around less than two years because then he was let go.

I think the expectation was that he would be hired and teaches courses, and then that's that.

But he became a catalyst for political activism among the student body, among the Chicano students specifically.

And he -- and everyone associated with him was labeled a troublemaker.

>> Faith: Yeah, what I found interesting about Pedro is that he was really somebody that, like, helped his students tap into the Chicano and Chicana art.

Can you talk a little bit about that?

>> Vasquez: Well, I think the Chicana and Chicano movement is very vibrant, but also evolving movement in the artist's influence, the messaging, the imagery of the movement.

And they're also influenced back by what is happening, right locally and nationally.

But I think it's really important also to look at the backgrounds of the artists and the social historical context of New Mexico.

We're talking about a cohort of artists who knew their grandparents and in their grandparents -- lives.

They looked at the-- they were, witnessing the development of the railroad industry the mining industry, the appropriation of land and water and those memories of dispossession of environmental degradation, of moving away from the self-subsistence that many rural New Mexicans lived and the way it impacted their lives, modernization.

I mean, that was formative in their consciousness about, we have been here for generations, if not centuries.

We have lived in alignment with the land.

And all of these changes are impacting their families and their communities.

So it's really important to acknowledge that formative consciousness of the New Mexican communities.

And so the national Chicana and Chicano movement, with its insistence on justice, equality, civil rights, was truly important.

And Pedro brought that national view and certainly inspired the artists.

But it's really a melding, a sense of who we are as people, what our history and our culture mean to us, and how we're going to -- create a more dignified society in New Mexico.

>> Faith: That makes me want to go into some of the artists actually like Francisco.

Can we talk a little bit about who Francisco was and what inspired his art, and why he's included in this publication?

>> Ray: Francisco comes from Wagon Mound, and he mentions how growing up in Wagon Mound, he wasn't really aware of racism, but he saw how Chicanos were separate from the whites.

They would only come together during what it's called Bean Day which is a celebration.

You know, it's kind of agriculture related.

They would all come together, but the rest of the time they were separated, they lived in different parts of town, they went to different schools.

And it wasn't until he joined the military, you know, he went to Vietnam that he was exposed, first of all, to black people for the first time, but also to racism.

You know, he mentions how he would hear Americans, the American troops using very offensive, racist epithets against different Asian groups.

And that really kind of sensitized him to some of these larger kind of problems that were racial and part, sadly -- about this country's history.

So when he came home, he came with a new kind of consciousness or awareness.

And then he went to NMHU met Pedro Rodriguez, and that's where he learned.

One of the things that Pedro promoted was the idea of art as activism, as a tool in activism.

So going to Mexico and learning about the muralist tradition, they came back and they started painting murals that address some of these issues.

Now, I was just going to add -- the image on the cover of the catalog is a monumental large scale painting by Francisco LeFebre, entitled, Realidades de Nuevo Mexico [translated into English] The Realities of New Mexico.

Everything that Eden is describing is illustrated in that painting where we see primarily laborers.

This is a focus on New Mexicans who are workers.

They're primarily people of color.

They're references to the landscape.

There's some references to the United Farm Workers movement.

And then at the bottom you have like barbed wire and chain link fence or chains, And what that work is about is based on what Francisco told me about it, is it's really kind of addressin the resilience of New Mexicanos specifically, and how they've had to adapt to many changes that have upended their cultural traditions and ways of life, one of them being sort of land dispositions, you know-- >> Vasquez: And I think what you see in the cover is, you know, despite the oppression, despite the barriers, despite the challenges that we face -- that if we come together in community and if we use our voice and our art and our agency, that we can affect change.

>> Faith: There was also Juanita, can you talk a little bit about Juanita, and her work and how she connects the past to the present?

>> Ray: Well, one of the things that Irene touched upon a while ago that's important to understand about the Chicano movimiento here in New Mexico, we're talking about families that are multigenerational, that have very deep roots in the region.

And that's very unique among the Southwest.

And this is one of the first areas that was settled during the so-called Spanish colonial period.

And Juanita comes from a multigenerational family A Taoseña [comes from Taos] where the weaving traditions, as Irene has noted before, traditions passed down by the women in her family.

You know, she's she paints.

But I mean, weaving is one probably her primary art form.

Tejiendo el Rio Grande was one of the key works in the show, because that captures so much of the central ideas behind this entire project, and the image shows a pair of hands at the bottom, weaving the landscape.

And so you see the mountains, you see the sky, there's a river.

The term “querencia” is a term that is widely used here to refer to that bond between people and the land.

These are the things that are referenced in that work.

Look at some of the motifs there, like the zigzag motifs, the chevrons that reference weaving.

And some of these visual languages are indigenous, which speaks to the history of the region, but also that relationship.

that the land provides what you need, but it's also the human responsibility to be steward and caretaker of the environment.

[Spanish guitar] >> Faith: I want to move on to Noel.

Can you talk a little bit about Noel's work?

And I know that his work was a lot about the environment and environmental justice.

>> Ray: I feel very fortunate to have met Noel and spent some time with him, Eden and I took a road trip down to Lake Arthur, where he and his family lived in southeast New Mexico, near Roswell.

Noel died during the planning of the show, but we were very lucky to have had the opportunity to interview him and visit him in his home and see his art.

Growing up in southeastern New Mexico, where there are a lot of refineries, the issue of pollution and environmental contamination was a concern, given health issues that members of local communities have been dealing with, that they attributed to the local environmental pollution.

As a result of this, he dedicated a lot of his life to environmental activism and a substantial part of his artwork.

Not all of it, but a substantial part of his art addresses environmental issues.

So he's aware of the history of nuclear testing, which has been getting a lot of press lately, as it should.

That was one of his concerns growing up in New Mexico.

For anyone who grew up here, that history of nuclear testing, of strip mining, of waste disposal is an ongoing discussion here.

And then in tandem with the oil refineries and those environmental issues he grew up with that have affected they affected his life personally.

So a lot of his work was devoted to addressing issues related to the environment.

And one of the things that he said that was striking to me when I met him is that a lot of galleries and museums in New Mexico would not show his work because they said it was too political.

>> Vasquez: I think, you know, just saying something about Noel Marquez, he was one of the most adamant that art had to be used to create change.

And for that reason, his work wasn't embraced.

But it applies equally to others.

Adelita Medina, Juanita Lavadie and and Franciso LeFebre, that their art wasn't being acquired as part of permanent exhibits.

It was here and there, and there are certainly some museums that do.

But the focus as well nationally became on states like California and Texas and Chicana-Chicano artists from those states, because that was, you know, those were areas that were most visibly represented in news outlets.

But I think that their refusal to give up art for the people had an impact on them in different ways.

And I think for them, they would not have given that up, even if it meant greater acclaim.

>> Faith: Why is it so important that we do learn about this history?

>> Ray: Because it was a very important part of the entire Chicano movement, part of the entire Chicano movement, that there was a very salient, powerful art movement here, and that was missing.

It's part of a larger conversation.

And in order for us to really understand the full span and significance of the movemiento, especially in terms of its visual material culture, New Mexico has to be part of the conversation.

So our goal was to start the conversation.

It's not -- this is not the final word.

We're starting a conversation.

Hopefully others will come in and pick up.

>> Vasquez: Yeah, I would say that most of the artist are thinking about the future, like what do we leave behind to our younger generations of -- of folks in the state?

And our young people are faced with so much imagery and representation in media, and often what they don't get is a sense of the place that they live in, the sense of place.

What has this place been through?

Why are my family living in this place, and what does it mean to us?

And they don't get that in school, unfortunately.

And so, putting together a body of work and the perspectives of these artists, at a time where there was great change in society, where they were seeking to represent themselves and their community, it's a way of encouraging, our younger generations to learn more about New Mexico, learn about the people, the history, learn about the ways communities overcome because our young people are facing a lot.

And so, giving them these stories, this art in these perspectives is incredibly important.

SPIRIT ANIMALS [upbeat music] >> Ripple: Right now, we're on the Pioneer Plaza where we have all of our spirit animals.

They are alebrijes made in Mexico, Oaxaca.

They were originally made with wood carvings, and it's very traditional in their town to have these kind of things with the vibrant colors and the designs.

>> Izquierdo: My name is Miranda Izquierdo.

This is a Saturday.

We are part of the Patibulario Art.

I'm one of the team members and he's one of the artists.

El Primero Pedro Linares en un barrio in Ciudad de Mexico, El M-Pesa a transformer, sus suenos y pasar dilla's on sculptures de papel.

Actually in Ciudad de Mexico, Los hacemos de manera monumental con diferentes materials.

>> Ripple: I think the dog personally, in my opinion, looks awesome at night just because he's more of a black and white color.

So when he has those lights, it's more purples and blues and greens and they're on his ears and his eyes.

I also think the coyote looks amazing at night, too, because he's got his chest that lights up and he's got his ears, and the snake on his back lights up.

One of my favorite ones is the armadillo, because it has that contrast of the dark white and grays on his tummy and his arms, and then he's got beautiful colors on his shell and his little tongue sticking out.

It's just adorable.

The vibrant colors are amazing, and we actually have photos of artists painting these sculptures as they were in the warehouses and just seeing them hand paint those with the tiny little paintbrush.

Doing those details is amazing.

Just imagining them doing it with the mini ones, their original types, which are in the post office.

Those were just the inspiration to these big ones here, and they're spot on.

They really kept to that with the colors and the contrast its beautiful.

[upbeat music] Every time I drive by there is already a crowd taking pictures of every single one of them, so it's just really cool seeing how much people are enjoying it, because we worked really hard to get these down here.

[upbeat music] Romain is awesome trying to find a way to make it happen.

He also brought down artisans that will work with the workshops down at the basement.

Cultura para la comunidad y somos, El colectivo de Ramon Greco y collaborate on Our Town in Reno, Nevada.

Cerca de culturas, miniature y mascaras, todo trabajo hecho amano en México a las personas Q assistant Altair Como decorator su propio Alberto.

>> Ripple: They are all made of recycled paper mache.

They sit down and they have those already pre-made for everybody, and they're primed in white.

And then they have all of these paint and paint brushes at the tables.

And you just go through a class, they talk you through it.

They tell you the background of Alebrijes.

They tell you what the colors mean and how it makes you feel.

Because this is your spirit.

It's your spirit animal.

So you really want to invest your colors and your livelihood into these spirit animals.

The expression cultural mexicana nosotros hacemos monumento a Los animals y cada uno de Los diferentes styles de diferentes zonas de my place.

Gusto Bacardi uno de Los resultados y yo aprender mas de ellos.

[Spanish music] >> Ripple: We've gotten a lot of feedback with emotion and happiness, happy tears.

Just because we are showing a huge part of a cultural side of Mexico that makes Mexicans really, really proud.

[Jazz music] MATERIAL AND MEMORY >> Luger: Art is action.

Art is process.

Art is more of a verb than it is a noun.

And I think when you communicate in action, you generate the opportunity to actually have a dialog, you know, a conversation.

So I'm interested in the conversation.

My earliest memories of creating things are probably like my earliest memories.

I'm “Awa xee” Dripping Earth clan from the Mandan Hidatsa Arikara tribe.

I'm also Lakota, I was born in North Dakota on the Standing Rock Reservation, a small town called Fort Yates, and I'm an artist.

I like to make things.

I enjoy the creation of work.

I feel like maybe that's perfect.

And then everything else after that is subject to entropy.

I'm also -- the descendant of a group of people who█ve been subject to some atrocity in the American history narrative, and as a descendant of that legacy and heritage, I think it's important that what I do is the maintenance of culture.

These days, I guess the stories that need to be maintained are ones generated generations ago, but how do we contextualize them to our present, to generate the opportunity to imagine something that doesn't exist, allow people to share in that imagination and throught that, develop some sort of like, hyper-stition that allows us to make into reality the dreams that we have today.

I'm interested in materiality, like what are the materials that I have available?

What can I get for relatively inexpensive means?

What is a byproduct of the society that we operate in, and how can I take those materials and allow them to communicate their existence?

The materials themselves have their own ambitions, and they speak constantly but softly.

So as an artist, as a person sitting in the seat, I have to say nimble, that does provide a level of flexibility, but it also generates the opportunity for me to grow.

And I -- jump around between materials and I jump around between ideas.

And that allots me the the opportunity to not get blocked, to not get bored or tired, to not feel like I've said everything in the materials that I choose to work with, there is a book that pages keep getting added to as I work through, and I want to see what the end looks like.

And for me, hopefully that end is, you know, decades from now, you can create an idea and you can you can imagine and make believe a narrative.

But as soon as it does leave the studio, it's no longer yours.

And the audience, with all of their history, their experiences, their life lessons, these are all filters in which the object has a different story, may have a story that's absolutely contradictory to what I intended, but -- this allows a static piece to tell a thousand stories, and I can't get in the way of declaring which story is true I can only be as honest as possible.

I don't think what's good for native people is good for native people alone.

For me, I'm really interested in our collective survival.

I think we need to start having real, honest conversations around where we hurt, how we hurt, and who we hurt, and from that point, develop a way to communicate, repair, and be honest in that exchange.

The award winning Arts & Culture series Colores is now available on the PBS app, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and at NMPBS.org From classic episodes to brand new shows Colors is everywhere!

Watch now on your favorite NMPBS platforms.

Funding for Colores was provided in part by New Mexico PBS Great Southwestern Arts & Educatuion Endowment Fund and the Nellita E.Walker Fund for KNME-TV at the Albuquerque Community Foundation McCune Charitable Foundation, New Mexico Arts, a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs, and by the National Endowment for the Arts.

And viewers like you.