SANTA ANA COLLEGE el Don/eldonnews.org • MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2016
LIFESTYLE
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Awareness
LAS MANSIONES DE XIBALBA / One of 17 watercolors from the Popol Vuh: Watercolors of Diego Rivera exhibit in Santa Ana. / DIEGO RIVERA
CULTURE / BY MEGHAN KLIEWER
MEXICAN MURALIST MOVEMENT
B
owers Museum’s current lecture series offers students an
opportunity to learn about Los Tres Grandes of the Mexican muralist movement.
“The series aims to build a critical understanding of the specific visual language invented by Los Tres Grandes,” said guest
lecturer Valerie Taylor. “Their artistic legacy remains a benchmark for public art of the 20th century.”
The six-part lecture series focuses on
three Mexican muralists, Diego Rivera,
David Alfaro Siquieros, and José Clemente Orozco, as well as others who were
part of the movement.
The series explores important icons
and motifs of the artists, highlighting
how they voiced their opinions and
taught Mexico’s history through art.
It offers an opportunity for many Santa Ana residents to gain a new understanding of their culture.
Many muralists, including Rivera,
were inspired by Pre-Columbian Colima ceramic dogs created in the image
of the Mexican hairless dog, Xoloitzcuintli, some of which are part of the
permanent collection at the museum.
The dogs hold symbolic meanings in
murals like the role of spiritual guides,
also express a sense of cultural identity
or a playful personality.
“The images, ideas and style of the
Mexican mural movement inspired and
continue to provoke the thinking and
practice of current-day artists,”
Taylor said.
The Mexican muralists aimed to create work everyone could relate to, even
if they were illiterate, she added.
Murals from Los Tres Grandes can be
viewed on walls of buildings in Pomona, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and
San Francisco.
A current exhibit at the ]\