Cecilia Alvarez

Cecilia Alvarez (born April 15, 1950) is an American Chicana artist known for her oil paintings and murals depicting themes of feminism, poverty, and environmental degradation in the United States and Latin America. Alvarez's painting Las Cuatas Diego has been featured in books and exhibitions around the world. Alvarez has also illustrated the bilingual children's book Antonio's Card authored by Rigoberto González. Her work is collected by the Mexican Fine Arts Museum, the Seattle Art Museum and by the Kaiser Foundation.

Biography

Alvarez was born in National City, California, to a Cuban father and a Mexican mother. She was raised by both of her parents in San Diego, California and Tijuana, Mexico. Her art draws inspiration from her diverse upbringing within a variety of cultural and political settings.

Alvarez is a self-taught artist.

In 1975 Alvarez moved to Washington state where she has created the majority of her artwork.

From 1978 to 1981, she attended Eastern Washington University. Alvarez uses personal imagery in her art in order to critique issues that are politically and culturally important to her. The recurring use of female images in her work relates to the artists close relationship wither her mother and her aunt, both of whom bestowed upon her the values of family and human connection.

Through her art, she hopes to spark dialogue on the societal importance placed on notions like beauty and power.

She created the illustrations for the children's book Antonio's Card written by Rigoberto Gonzalez published in 2005.

Notable works Las Cuatas Diego, 1979 La Tierra Santa, 1983 Si Te Puede Pasar a Ti, 1992

Selected group exhibitions 2016 Beyond Aztlán: Mexican and Chicana/o Artists in the Pacific Northwest, Museum of Northwest Art (MONA).