Latino Exibit
By:  Michael Valdes

For Doctors Harriett and Ricardo Romo, "Estampas De La Raza" is a show more than four decades in the making.

Way before their careers in education would give them the financial
ability to be serious art collectors,  they bought their first piece of
this collection on layaway.

"We paid twenty dollars a month to pay
it off and we lived in a ninety dollar a month apartment at the time,"
says Dr. Harriet Romo.  She is now a professor at UTSA.

UTSA President, Dr. Ricardo Romo, adds, "It's just been a labor of love for the last forty years for us."

 Now that labor is one of the most comprehensive collections of Latino
artist printmaking.  The collection covers everything from historical
moments to everyday life to the heavy political statements that draws
many artists to printmaking in the first place.

"A lot of the early
Chicano artists in Southern California were interested in getting their
message  out and they wanted to do it as cheaply and effectively as
possible.  So screen printing was sort of the perfect choice," says Lyle
Williams, curator of the show at the McNay Art Museum.

Williams
says the work shows how artists, who may not be classically trained, can
use a different process to turn out pieces that are every bit as
technical and inspiring as a painting.

A fact that was not lost on a
young married couple who are now ready to share forty years worth of
work, in hopes that will inspire some even better work for decades to
come.

"We hope young people will come to see the show and be
inspired to be artists and reflect images and experiences from their
community as well," says Harriett Romo.

Williams adds, "I hope that
people will come away with greater appreciation of this culture.  This
truly American culture that we should all be really proud of."

"Estampas De La Raza", more than sixty prints from forty-four artists, opened today.

It will be on display at the McNay through January 27th of next year.Latino Exibit