Santa Barraza

Santa Barraza (born April 7, 1951) is an American mixed-media artist and painter who is well known for her colorful, retablo style painting. A Chicana, Barraza pulls inspiration from her own mestiza ancestry and from pre-Columbian art. The first scholarly treatment of a Chicana artist is about her and is called Santa Barraza, Artist of the Borderlands, which describes her life and body of work. Barraza's work is collected by the Mexic-Arte Museum, and other museums around the United States and internationally. Barraza's father, Joaquin Barraza, worked hard to provide opportunities for his children and her mother, Frances Contreras, was a feminist. Growing up, Barraza was exposed to many indigenous, South Texan, Chicano cultural traditions. These visits to Mexico, watching the rituals her aunt performed, became part of her later work. At UT, Barraza studied with Jacinto Quirarte, who was the only Latino or Chicano faculty member at the time. Quirarte was considered an important historiographer of Chicano art and her association with him was a big influence on her later work.

Barraza met her husband at UT where the two of them had several classes together.

Differences of opinion caused Barraza to form her own group in 1977, called Mujeres Artistas de Suroeste (MAS). MAS curated and promoted art exhibits throughout Texas and in Arizona. MAS was active until the mid 1980s. though she never joined the group.

Barraza's early work, when she was working as a graphic designer and raising her daughter was marked by a "powerful use" of black and white tonality.

Barraza feels that her creativity comes from emotion and in turn, that this emotion comes from her family and physical ties to Texas. She has traced her personal heritage back to the 1700s and discovered that she has Native American (Karankawan) roots. Blending Christian and pre-Columbian symbolism is part of the way that Barraza reshapes the traditional narrative of history. Barraza has also used traditional media, such as sand paintings, to connect with her cultural past. She describes the process of reusing traditional imagery as a way to appropriate the ancient past and then to update it in a contemporary art expression. Barraza also enjoys creating small-scale work on paper. Reader’s Digest-Lila Wallace Grant