ARTIST’S BIO
Kuetzpal Vasquez is a home girl from San Anto, a multimedia XicanX feminist artivist. Observing the Chicano Movement through the lens of a child has shaped her life, work, and the creation of her cartoon character, Citlali, La XicanX Superhero. She comes from a long line of curanderas (native healers), but her method of healing is through her art. She has practiced art as healing for over 15 years.
Kuetzpal obtained a BA from Texas Woman’s University in Denton, and an MFA from the University of Wisconsin in Madison. She studied painting at the School of the Chicago Art Institute and received a certificate in traditional culture from Universidad Nahuatl in Ocotepec, Mexico.
Kuetzpal’s artistic concentration and research remains in exploring the perception of cultural hybridity. Her research converges on three main foci:
(1) Postmodern and global approaches to contemporary art,
(2) Indigenous (i.e., Native American, Chicana and African Spirituality) process concerning ecological balance through traditional medium and,
(3) Xicanx feminist perspective in creating characters that contribute to academic tenacity through multi-generational relationships.
· She re-imagines patriarchal cultural myths that position womxn as unscrupulous characters through a Xicanx feminist lens and the lack of Xicanx and womxn of color representation in the arts and education.
· In 2019, she exhibited and presented her work Citlali: Cortando Nopales y Hechando Tortillas en Outer Space at the Queens Museum in Queens, New York and presented Arroz Con Pollo: The Influence of Basquiat on My Work at the Brandt Museum in New York City.
· In 2022, Kuetzpal presented her work at the exhibition XicanX Speaks at the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. During her time Vancouver, she also presented in Diálogo: Conversation About Latin American Art in North America at VLACC Vancouver Latin American Cultural Centre.
· The XicanX Exhibition will be on exhibit in San Antonio in June of this year 2024 at the Blue Star Art Complex and will move on to Guadalajara the following year.
· Kuetzpal has exhibited in over 100 exhibitions nationally and internationally. Even though she is in the process of retiring from the university setting, she will continue to be an educator while bringing her secondary career as a professional artist to the forefront.
Kuetzpal is a mujerista interested in a feminist economy. She believes a feminist economy is important to give students and community a more objective perspective to the inequity of the world, especially the art world, as well as penetrating the patriarchal system in place. She operates several businesses connected to the arts. In art school, rarely do they teach students how to make money from their art. She offers students and the community a XicanX feminist perspective and way to economic sustainability in the arts.
Teaching Experience
2024 Professor Emeritus, Our Lady of the Lake University OLLU, San Antonio, TX SAT
2006 - 2024 Associate Professor & Visual Arts Program Head, Our Lady of the Lake University OLLU, SAT
2011-2013 Education Director, Healing Arts Program, Bihl Haus Arts, SAT
2006-2007 Visiting Artist, Healing Arts Program, Jump Start Performance Company, SAT
Professional Experience
2024 Our Town: Stories of Mexican American Contributions and Tribulations. through a series of nine paintings. Made possible by an NEA National Endowment for the Arts granted to El Teatro de Arte de Juan Seguin and the City of Seguin.
2021 Domestic Violence Art Project, Illustrator. Metropolitan Health District, SAT
2016 -present Business Owner, Corazones On Fire: Painting With a Cultural Edge, SAT
2010 – 2011 Café Owner, Cafe Citlali @ Gallista Gallery, SAT
2007 – 2009 Visual Arts Program Coordinator, Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, SAT
2002 – 2003 Visual Arts Art Director, Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, SAT
Selected Exhibitions and Projects
2024 XicanX: Dreamers & Changemakers. The Contemporary at the Blue Star, SAT
2022 XicanX: Dreamers & Changemakers. Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
2022 Scent of Magnolias on a Hot Summer Night, Public Work: Poet’s Plaza, SAT
2021. Domestic Violence Art Project, Metropolitan Health District, SAT
2020 We Want As Much: Politits Juried Art Exhibit. At the Yard Art Collective, Rochester, NY.
2019 Mundos Alternos: Art & Science Fiction in the Americas. Queens Museum, Queens, NY.
2018 Café Negro Mestizaje: La Tercer Raiz. XXII Scientific Conference on African American Social and Cultural Anthropology. Museo Casa de África, Centro Histórico de La Habana Vieja, Habana, Cuba.
2018 Voz: Selections from the UTSA Art Collection Exhibition. Centro de Artes Gallery, SAT
2018 Pride Exhibition. Plaza de Armas Gallery, SAT
2017-2018 Mundos Alternos; Art and Science Fiction in the Americas. University of California Riverside. Part of the Getty’s Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA
2017 Mujeres de Maiz: 20 Years of ARTivism Retrospect L.A., La Plaza de Culturas y Artes, Los Angeles, CA
Selected Presentations and Publications
2022 Presentation: XicanX Speaks. Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
2022 Panelist: Diálogo: Conversation About Latin American Art in North America. VLACC Vancouver Latin American Cultural Centre, Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada
2020 Presentation: Decolonization Not the Same as Diversification, OLLU,, SAT
2019 Presentation: The Influence of Basquiat on My Work. Queens Museum, Queens, NY
2019 Presentation: Arroz Con Pollo y Nopalitos: Basquiat and I. Brandt Museum, NYC, NY
2018 Presenter/ Exhibitor: XXII Taller Científico de Antropología Social y Cultural Afroamericana, Museo Casa de África, Centro Histórico de La Habana Vieja. Habana, Cuba.
2018 Presenter: Southwest Fulbright Symposium, University of Texas UTSA. SAT
2017 Panelist/Presenter: Mundos Alternos, San Antonio Book Festival, Central Library. Greg Barrios, John Philip Santos, Cathryn Merla Watson, and Ben Olguin.
