UCLA @ SPARC Digital Mural Lab: Who We Are
Over thirty years ago, Judy Baca developed a new approach to public art making in Los Angeles. Reacting to the growing conflict and economic disparity between communities, as well as to the shocking lack of public acknowledgement of the history of and contributions made by communities of color, she began working with these communities to create murals that memorialized events, issues, and people that were important to them. The Great Wall Of Los Angeles, begun in 1974, was the first major public art work in which these aims were most effectively applied to community interaction and youth engagement.
In 1976, Judy Baca, along with artists Christina Schlesinger and Donna Deitch, established the Social and Public Art Resource Center, a non-profit organization that has facilitated the creation of public works as well as youth and community development workshops and programs for the past thirty-three years.
Since then, advances of sophisticated digital imaging and printing technologies have enabled Baca to innovate their application to the creation of large-scale wall paintings. In 1994, Baca was invited to become a founding faculty member at the California State University, Monterey Bay, a military fort that was converted into an institution with emphases on interdisciplinary teaching and information technology.
However, during this time, a group of UCLA students enacted a hunger strike, demanding that the University establish a dedicated Chicana/o studies department with a faculty that would include Judy Baca. They requested that Baca be enabled to continue the innovations she had been making for the past 20 years within the University setting and join community activism with scholarship. They desired to learn to apply academic knowledge to their communities without the relationship of subject/object studies. Visual literacy and ways to combat the digital divide became the focus of the lab’s work where students and community participants could receive community training, and revive the very soul of the Chicano movement: the arts.
And so, in 1996 Judy Baca established the UCLA SPARC César Chávez Digital/Mural Lab. By setting the UCLA lab at SPARC, the non-profit that is home and history of the murals of Los Angeles, Judy not only pioneered digital techniques for creating murals, but also became innovative in a teaching methodology that trained University students and artists about community issues and art within an actual community setting thus combining theory and practice as one. The D/M L also provides an interactive environment where computers sit on mobile drafting tables and University students engage with SPARC employees, artists, community members and youth.
[citem title=”Awards and Recognitions” id=”citem_72″ parent=”collapse_72″]Awards and Recognition to Professor Baca Director of the UCLA/SPARC DIGITAL MURAL LAB CENTER
Rudolfo (Corky) Gonzales’ school, Escuela Tlatelolco Centro de Estudios
Champion of Change Award 2009
UCLA Latino Alumni Association “Madrina Award,” October 2007
Los Angeles, CA
The Brian P. Copenhaver Award, Innovation in Teaching with Technology, May 2007
College of Letters and Science, UCLA
KCET “Women’s History Month,” March 23, 2006
Los Angeles, CAAwarded the 2006 Local Hero of the Year.
Commission for Arts and Culture, Winter 2004
San Diego, CA
Martin Luther King Monument Awarded
Hispanic Business Magazine, October 2005 Issue
Featured as one of the “100 Most Influential Hispanics”
City of Baldwin Park, May-July 2005
Victory for the retention of the 13 year old Baldwin Park Monument,
attacked by Save Our State. City council proclamation for retention of the monument.
Antioch University, 2004
Los Angeles, CA
Scholarship established with Antioch University in honor of Judith F. Baca.
Featured in May 24th issue of People Magazine, 2004
“Back to the Wall, Artist Judith F. Baca“
San Jose State University, 2003
San Jose, California
Winner of the Cesar E. Chavez Memorial Art Project
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, 2003
New York, New York
Fellowship Term, September 1, 2003 – June 30, 2004
Medal of Honor given by Veteran Feminists of America, 2003
New York, New York
Honored for work to advance feminist ideals as a pioneering women artist between 1966-1980. Additionally included in invitational exhibit of honorary artists at The National Arts Club.
Latino Museum of Art, 2003
Los Angeles, California
Major artwork acquisition for the museum’s permanent collection of Latino art.
Recognition for “Hijas de Juarez” Exhibition, 2002
Certificate of Recognition presented by Nick Pacheco, Councilmember 14th Dist., L.A., CA.
Certificate of Commendation, 2002
Presented by Alex Padilla, Councilmember 7th District, Los Angeles, CA., upon being honored as Community Public Art Director at the SPARC dedication ceremony.
Commission on the Status of Women, 2002
Award recipient of the County of Santa Clara’s Commission on the Status of Women’s Award for Outstanding Female Role Model for 2002, given each year to women making a positive difference in the quality of life for many.
Hispanic Heritage Awards, 2001
Education Award at the JFK Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.
Precita Eyes Muralists Assoc., Inc., 2001
Master Muralist Award at 11th Annual SF/Ba y Area Mural Awareness Month Awards
Liberty Hill Foundation, 2001
Creative Vision Award recipient at annual Upton Sinclair Dinner
California Community Foundation, 2001
Selected as one of 85 Unsung Heroes of nonprofit community and featured in the Foundation’s annual report
Women’s Museum, 2000
Honored in “Unforgettable Women” exhibition in museum in association with the Smithsonian Institute
National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institute, 1998
Washington D.C.,
Major artwork acquisition by museum.
Harvard University, Boston MA, 1998
Master Artist and Senior Scholar for the
“Institute on the Role of the Arts & Civic Dialogue”[/citem]
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