In the 1960s, the United States was a period of thought, analysis, and action for Mexican-descended people. Issues of deep resonance within Mexican American communities were brought forward by multiple socio-political mobilizations throughout the country. Battles for self-determination and cultural reclamation combined into a national consciousness known as the "Chicano Movement." Most Chicanos belonged to the working class, they upheld alternatives of a generalized Mexican culture, and all had the experience of living in the United States. They also were a mainly youth population working and living throughout the Northwest, Midwest, and Southwest. United by political activism and cultural pride, a significant element to the Chicano Movement was the development of Chicano Art 1. The Chicano Art Movement, also termed as "Chicano Renaissance," used art as part of the struggle to achieve new and more credible human values 2. Chicanos proclaimed their self invention within an inventive project that connected visual artists, poets, musicians, and dancers to the various political fronts of el movimiento. By the mid-1970s, Chicano artists had become producers of visual education. Posters and murals were also ubiquitous purveyors of visual culture in Chicano communities 3. Artists pursued the vital tasks of creating art forms that strengthened the will, fortified the cultural identity, and clarified the consciousness of the community 4. Chicano artists sought to demonstrate pride while empowering the community. The foremost aesthetic aim continued to be the search for an organic unity between actual social living and art 5. While the content and style of the murals and art forms were extremely varied, certain recurring themes did develop. One such theme was the reclamation of a lost indigenous past. It is in the return to the ceremonies, practices and ways of their ancestors and the revival of these practices in complex and oppositional contexts that give the Chicano people strength, healing, direction and empowerment. This can be seen as a key element in the evolution of Chicano political struggle and artistic development over the past thirty years 6. Through the many art forms, Chicanos have been able to capture their people's history and visually represent their people's struggles for better futures.



Supplemental Resources about the Chicano Art/Movement and It's History:

http://www.chicanoart.org/dia05.html

http://www.sparcmurals.org/present/cmt/cmhistory.html

http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/5views/5views5e.htm

http://www.chicano-art-life.com/movement.html

http://www.fantasyarts.net/gronk.htm

http://www.brownpride.com/murals/default.asp

http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/view/CC/kjc3.html

Resources specifically about Detroit Art:

http://www.insidesouthwest.com/

http://www.metrotimes.com/19/36/Features/StPainted.htm

http://www.dptv.org/ourfamilies/vargasmural.shtml