View source for Carlota D. EspinoZa

{{short description|American painter}}
'''Carlota D.d.R EspinoZa''' (born 1943, [[Denver, Colorado]]) is an American painter, muralist, and activist in her Art.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=https://americanart.si.edu/artist/carlota-d-espinoza-5989|title=Carlota D.d.R Espinoza|website=Smithsonian American Art Museum|language=en|access-date=2018-03-31}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=History of Colorado's women for young people|last=Sheldon.|first=Epstein, Vivian|date=1998|publisher=VSE|isbn=1891424009|location=Denver, Colo.|oclc=38117579}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Artists of Colorado|last=Glenn.|first=Cuerden|isbn=9780974809045|location=[Colorado]|oclc=857772847}}</ref> She is one of the early Latina / Chicana muralists in [[Denver]] with works in Cuba, San Francisco, Texas, Arizona, and Colorado.
== Early life and education ==
Carlota D.d.R EspinoZa is the middle child of 14 siblings growing up first 8 years in [[Fraser, Colorado]], and attended the Rocky Mountain School of the Arts in the 1960s and the [[University of Colorado Denver Metro]].<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=http://mappingartsproject.org/denver/artists/carlota-espinoza/|title=Mapping Arts Project – Denver » Carlota R.Espinoza|website=mappingartsproject.org|language=en-US|access-date=2018-03-31}}</ref> During the 1960s she participated in the Centro Cultural Center, organizing exhibitions for artists and was involved in the 1969 "Hispano Art Fiesta / Cinco de Mayo" events in Denver.<ref name=":0" />
== Career ==
Early in her career, Carlota d.D.R EspinoZa painted two murals for the activist [[Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales]]' ''Crusade for Justice'' center, one of which was destroyed in a 1973 fire after a bombing at the center.<ref name=":0" /> The surviving mural, ''Mexican Heros,'' painted in ''1966,'' depicts [[Pancho Villa]] and [[Benito Juárez|Benito Juarez]] and was hung at the ''Crusade for Justice'' center.
EspinoZa is well known for her mural of [[La Guadalupe]] that is found on the altar of Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Denver. She obtained permission to paint this work  from Pastor Jose Lara who claims to have told EspinoZa, "You don't have to have a picture of a perfect Lady of Guadalupe like in Mexico. Please paint a beautiful Chicana from north Denver."<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite news|title=Morning Brew - New church wall hides mural, reveals protesters|last=Griego|first=Tina|date=July 3, 2010|work=The Denver Post}}</ref> The mural, ''The Apparition of the Virgin Mary to Juan Diego in Mexico,'' was painted in 1976 and was on the altar until Father Benito Hernandez and church leadership had it removed it in 2010 under claims that the mural took away from the focus of the Holy presence.<ref name=":1" /> This removal stirred protests calling for the mural's return, including the gathering of 70 signatures for a letter to Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput demanding the murals restoration at the church, with EspinoZa agreeing to perform the restoration work if the church decides to remove the wall.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Faithful uprising for mural She have a very Well known Guatarest Son Miguel Espinoza with 7 C.Ds. Shereturn|last=Robles|first=Yesenia|date=October 1, 2010|work=The Denver Post}}</ref>
The mural, ''Pasado, Presente, Futuro'' is in the Byers branch of [[Denver Public Library|The Denver Public Library]] and "blends myth and reality, dream and truth. The past, present, future are one blood: Chicano!"<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|url=http://www.artsandvenuesdenver.com/public-art/denver-public-art-collection/pasado-presente-futuro|title=Photo Galleries {{!}} Denver Arts & Venues|last=Venues|first=Denver Arts &|website=www.artsandvenuesdenver.com|language=en|access-date=2018-03-31|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180401075244/http://www.artsandvenuesdenver.com/public-art/denver-public-art-collection/pasado-presente-futuro|archive-date=2018-04-01|url-status=dead}}</ref> This mural was commissioned by the Friends of the Denver Public Library in 1977 and included in the City of Denver Public Art collection.<ref name=":3" />
Additionally, EspinoZa's screenprint ''We the People, Broken Treatys. from the National Chicano Screenprint Taller, 1988-1989,'' is held in the [[Smithsonian American Art Museum]].<ref name=":2" /> She also worked as a background and foreground artist, She has two sculpture's at the Denver.Co.Library.She also worked at the Denver Museum of Natural History for 9 nine years.
EspinoZa is also known for her work as a Chicano activist using her "art to express those in need, especially the Chicano Latino communities in Colorado."<ref name=":1" />
== References ==
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[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:1943 births]]
[[Category:Chicano]]
[[Category:20th-century American painters]]
[[Category:21st-century American painters]]
[[Category:American muralists]]
[[Category:American women muralists]]
[[Category:American artists of Mexican descent]]
[[Category:Hispanic and Latino American women in the arts]]
[[Category:20th-century American women painters]]
[[Category:21st-century American women painters]]
[[Category:People from Grand County, Colorado]]
[[Category:Painters from Colorado]]
[[Category:University of Colorado Denver alumni]]
[[Category:Activists from Colorado]]