El Albañil: Artwork by J. Leigh Garcia

Valid November 26, 2024 to March 2, 2025

Category: Museum Exhibits

“My grandfather, Narciso “Chicho” García, worked as a tile setter in Monterrey, Mexico and Harlingen, Texas for most of his life. Two generations later, I work as an artist and art professor. I often feel that my life is completely different from my grandfather’s because of our differences in professions, education, socio-economic statuses, languages, religion, and gender. However, I have found a connection with him through making. Everyday, I use a pencil and ruler to draw and measure just as my grandfather did. We have both dedicated our lives to perfecting our techniques and skills, and pride ourselves on a high level of craft and beauty.

In this exhibition, El Albañil, I use the visual language of my profession to celebrate that of my grandfather’s. Hand papermaking and printmaking techniques are utilized to consider the sacrifice of my grandfather's body that he gave to his job through decades of intense manual labor, and allude to the idea that while my grandfather passed away in 2016, his legacy lives on in the dozens of buildings he helped to construct.”

Website Canton Museum of Art

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