Celeste De Luna
Artist’s Statement:
My work documents individual and collective experiences in my physical/spiritual/psychic environment. I explore the complexity of relationships and power dynamics between people, animals, domestic spaces, and landscape. That landscape and environment is Texas, Tejas, a border space, known by many names. Sometimes I employ futuristic imagery inspired by nature, cultural experiences and science fiction. I work from embodied experiences related to mental/physical health, caregiving, and generational pain. This landscape, infrastructure, and society has deeply impacted how I move through different environments. Through my work, I aim to preserve and illustrate the traces of this impact, shedding light on themes such migration, collective resilience and joy, and connecting with indigenous roots. Much of my earlier work shows the body and mind subject to the pre-pandemic South Texas borderland that I grew up in for over 40 years. Happily, my vision is continuously expanding of the Texas landscape and the Southwest, the frontera, and people. At the heart of my work is being deeply rooted to place, keeping time, and telling stories.
My choices of materials, printmaking, multiples and fabric installation, are based on my cultural background, economic insecurity, and how these tools and processes make me feel. Printmaking gives me a feeling of abundance and allows me to make mistakes. The security that making multiples supplies of always having a chance to perfect something and problem solve continues to fascinate me. Prints that are imperfect can be transformed through collage and other processes. Printmaking tools and its connection to the trades reminds me of my father and the tool shed he built himself behind our home. Fabric pieces remind me of my mother’s creativity who used to make us clothing and connect my artwork to femininity and craft.
Biography:
Celeste De Luna is a Tejana artist originally from the lower Rio Grande Valley of South Texas. She is a mixed media printmaker whose work includes large-scale woodcut prints and fabric installation. A long time arts educator of over 20 years in public schools and higher education, Celeste now teaches at Northwest Vista College. “A true daughter of the borderlands, her art celebrates the quotidian and the exceptional on the border,” writes indigenous studies professor Ines Hernandez-Avila. Currently, she lives in San Antonio and works out of her home studio, Metztli Press.
Celeste's artwork has been included at the Blanton Museum of Art, Mexic-Arte Museum, Mulvane Art Museum, and the UTSA Print Collections, as well as showing her work in international exhibitions in Vancouver, Michoacan, and Estonia. She has been awarded residencies, fellowships, and grants from institutions like the Vermont Studio Center, Artplace America, and a Blade of Grass. In 2024, she will be included in a group show highlighting San Antonio Artists titled "El Otro Lado del Espejo/The Other Side of the Mirror" in Queretaro.
EDUCATION:
2009 M.F.A. Studio Art University of Texas Pan American, Edinburg, Texas.
1998 B.A. St. Edward’s University, Austin, Texas
CURRENT/UPCOMING PROJECTS:
“Refusing to Forget,” a two person show at Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center Community Gallery. Nov. 28- May 31, 2024. Cristina Balli.
“Xicanx: Dreamers + Changemakers”, The Contemporary, San Antonio, Tx. Greta De Leon and Jill Baird. June 7-Oct 6, 2024
El Otro Lado del Espejo/The Other Side of the Mirror. September 2024. Queretaro/San Antonio Lionel & Kathy Sosa.
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024 “Skies & Serpents,” solo show. La Pena Gallery, Austin, TX.
2017 Tragic/Magic Valley, Narciso Martinez Cultural Arts Center. San Benito Texas.
2016 “Our Lady” One-person art exhibit. Tejano Civil Rights Museum, Corpus Christi, TX.
2016 “One Thousand Cuts” Solo art exhibit, La Pena Gallery, Austin,
2015 Past the Checkpoint, Gallista Gallery, San Antonio, Texas. (Contemporary Art Month )
2013 Nepantla: Art from the Four Corners of the Valley, South Texas College. McAllen, Texas. (curated by Rachael Brown, Texas Biennial 2013)
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023 “The Contemporary Print 2023” form & concept center Santa Fe, New Mexico. Juried by Rashuan Rucker. 4/28/23-6/17/23. The Art Galleries at ACC, Austin, Texas.
2023 “Xicanx: Dreamers + Changemakers”, Museum of Anthropology, Vancouver, B.C., Canada. Greta De Leon and Jill Baird. Jan 4, 2022-Jan 31, 2023
2023 “Fronteras del Futuro: Art in New Mexico and Beyond” National Hispanic Cultural Centre, Albuquerque, New Mexico. Jadira Gurule.
2022 “Texas Women Printmakers,” Oso Bay Biennial XXII. K-Space Contemporary, Corpus Christi, Texas. Ryan O’Malley.
2022 “José Guadalupe Posada: The Iconic Printmaker and his Legacy in Popular Culture,” Fullerton Museum Center, Fullerton, CA. Rigo Maldonando.
2020 “Xicanx: New Visions” The Clemente. New York. Dec. 5- Jan. 19, 2020. Suzy Gonzalez and Michael Menchaca.
2019 “Outer Terrains,” Box 13 Art Space Latino Art Now Conference. Houston, Texas. Tere Garcia and Victora Paige Gonzales.
2018 “Human Rights Exhibit” Holocaust Museum Houston, Houston, Tx. Carol Manley.
2017 “Visions From the Inside” The Mexican Museum, San Francisco, CA. June 16-Aug. 20, 2017. Culturestrike.
2016 “Fencing In Democracy.” apexart.org. New York, NY. Miguel Diaz-Barriga and Margaret Dorsey. (catalogue)
2016 “Nuevo Arte 2016” UTSA. San Antonio, Texas. Juror: Kimberly Arp. (catalogue)
COLLECTIONS
Blanton Museum of Art, University of Texas at Austin, Gilberto Cardenas Collection, Gift of Gilberto Cardenas and Dolores Garcia. 2024
Mexic-Arte Museum, Austin, Texas. 2022, 2024
Mulvane Art Museum, Washburn University, Topeka, Kansas, 2017.
CMAS, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Brownsville, Texas. 2019
Coronado Studios Print Collection, Austin, Texas.
LIonel and Kathy Sosa (private collection)
University of Texas at Austin Benson Latin American Collection,Gift of Dr. Harriet and Ricardo Romo, 2010
University of Texas San Antonio Special Collections, (MS 472). San Antonio, Texas.
PRINT PORTFOLIOS:
“Disability Visibility” Southern Graphics International print portfolio. Verified by Proof Conference. Organized by Brett Taylor and Becci Spruilli, April 2024.
“Essential Workers” Print Portfolio, Self-Help Graphics, Los Angeles, California. Curated by Marianne Sadowski Feb 25-March 30, 2023.
Print Austin 2021 Trade Portfolio. Austin, Tx 2021, 2022, 2023
“Conjuring Crossroads: Time Traveling with This Bridge Called My Back” portfolio exchange. Instituo Grafico de Chicago and Marimacha Monara Press. Chicago. Antonio Pazaran. November 2019.
2019 Ambos Lados International Print Exchange. El Paso, Texas. Horned Toad Prints. February 2019.
2010. Mexican Revolution Centennial Print Portfolio. Chicago, Illinois. Curated by Rene Arceo. August 2010
AWARDS/GRANTS/RESIDENCIES
2024 Changarrito Residency. Mexic-Arte Museum, Austin, TX. Isabel Servantz.
2022 Vermont Studio Center Residency, Johnson, Vermont. November 2022 .
2021 Sustainable Arts Foundation Finalist in Printmaking, Sustainable Arts Foundation. Tony and Caroline Grant.
2019 Spudnik Press Artist in Residence,Chicago, Illinois. Angee Lennard. November 2019.
2019 Aunt Lute/ADR Foundation RGV Poetry Project Maya Sisneros, 2019.
2018 A Blade of Grass Fellow for Hacemos La Ciudad (We Make the City) (Las Imaginista Collective)
Santa Fe Art Institute Equal Justice Resident Artist 2017-2018, Santa Fe, New Mexico. Toni Gentilli. July 2018.
2017 Art Place America Creative Placemaking Grant. (Las Imaginista Collective)
2016 Residency at Activating Vacancy Arts Incubator at buildingcommunityWORKSHOP. Christina Houle. Brownsville, Texas. June-November 2016.
2015 10th Annual Human Rights Art Exhibition. South Texas College. Merit Award. McAllen, TX. Contemporary Art Month Award Alchemic Reactions Award for Collaborating Artists. San Antonio, TX.
2014 Contemporary Art Month Cammie Award with Spare Parts Lady Base Gallery. San Antonio, TX.
2013 Texas Biennial Participating Artist.
2009 Alma de Mujer Artist’s Residency. Indigenous Women’s Network, 13621 FM 2769, Austin, TX 78726. Aug 8-15, 2009. Maribel Garza, program director.
2008 Muralist in Training Boot Camp Residency, San Anto Cultural Arts Center, 1300 Chihuahua St, San Antonio, Texas, 78207. 8/11/08-8/18/08. Executive director Manuel D. Castillo.
SELECTED MEDIA
“Borderland artwork on view at the Guadalupe Center’s Latino Bookstore,” Nicholas Frank, San Antonio Report, May 26, 2024.
Celeste de Luna: Latina Artist, Printmaker, and Educator”,Ricardo Romo, La Prensa San Antonio, May 15, 2024.
Published interview,” Indelible with Rene Arceo”. Graphic Impressions, online publication. Editor, Blake Sanders. March 2024
Documentary film, Truly Texas Mexican. 2021 director Anibel Capoano, written by Adan Medrano.
Hello, Print Friend Podcast, interview with Miranda Metcalf. May 2023
Celeste De Luna, Reflections on Color and Printmaking, https://rb.gy/8cslgp , Interview with Laura Berman.
40 Emerging, Texas Based Artists You Should Know. Online exhibit. Remezcla. Barbara Calderon. December 2020.
Cover image and featured artist in Journal of Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social. San Antonio, Texas. Sonya Aleman. Spring 2020.
Work published, Cover image. FENCING IN DEMOCRACY NECROCITIZENSHIP AND THE US-MEXICO BORDER WALL by Miguel Diaz-Barriga & Margaret E. Dorsey. Duke University Press, Durham & London, 2020.
Work published. Lara Medina and Martha R. Gonzalez. Voices From the Ancestors. Xicanx and Latinx Spiritual Expressions and Healing Practices. University of Arizona Press, Tucson, 2019, Print.
Miguel Diaz-Barriga, Margaret Dorsey & Abou Farman (2017) Rasquache Aesthetics and the Unmonumental Border, Anthropology Now, 9:3, 6-15, DOI: 10.1080/19428200.2017.1390907
Exhibit Review. “Laura LaVelle New Yorkers: Check out Fencing Democracy” Newswhistle. http://newswhistle.com/new-yorkers-check-out-fencing-in-democracy/ 7/06/2016
Work published. Hernández-Avila, Inés, and Norma E. Cantú. Entre Guadalupe Y Malinche: Tejanas in Literature and Art. Austin: UT, 2016. Print.
