3 Neptanla Gallery: Chicano Art Activism, Mexican-Chicano Culture, Immigration Reform. Featuring Jake Prendez

Chapter 6

Neptanla Gallery: Chicano Art Activism, Mexican-Chicano Culture, Immigration Reform. Featuring Jake Prendez

Introduction

It’s time for the Ofrenda podcast, a series of special episodes dedicated to learning more about the roots and futures of Ofrenda practice at the heart of Dia de Muertos practices and that continue throughout the year. Celebrations are planned for Seattle Center, Beacon Hill, Burian, White Center, Tacoma, and places all throughout the United States and Mexico.

In our episode Nepantla, we explore the theme of Chicano art activism. My name is Nora, And I’m Valeria and we are your host for the next hour. We are a team of University of Washington Students enrolled in a Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies course called “Latina Cultural Production” and we produced this episode in partnership with KVRU 105.7 Community Radio and the Women Who Rock: Making Scenes, Building Communities Collective. For today’s Ofrendas Podcast episode, Nepantla, we will be interviewing Jake Prendez.

Guest Bio

Chicano artist Jake Prendez, who was raised in Seattle, is an advocate for youth empowerment and an art activist. He attended the University of Washington where he earned his Bachelor’s in American Ethnic Studies then he earned his Master’s in Chicana/o Studies from California State University Northridge. His history of involvement within the art scene includes being a founding member, editor, and chief of Puro Pedo Magazine, as well as the founder and owner of Nepantla Cultural Arts Gallery located in Seattle and more.

Production Team

Lluvia Chavez, Story Theme Producer

Rosa Natividad Arango-Lopez, Sound Producer/Audio Management

Nora Medina, On-Air Host

Valeria Guadalupe Davila-Hernandez, On-Air Host

Emily Khounmany, Director/Quality Producer

Description & Theme

As the fall season approaches, Mexicans and Chicanos all around the world are united by the rich tradition of El dia de Muertos. The Ofrenda Podcast allows us listeners to learn and become a part of this rich culture, thanks to the partnership with KVRU 105.7 Community Radio and the Women Who Rock: Making Scenes, Building Communities Collective. Our episode will focus on local Chicano artists, activists and owner of Nepantla and his influential contributions to the Chicano Art Movement, as well as his personal experiences. In our class “Latina Cultural Production”, we learn of this concept created by Lisa Cacho of “Social Death”, which is where a group of people are ignored and not accepted as a mainstream part of society, nor are their issues seen as important. This unfortunately can be applied to many ways in Latinx culture. Chicano’s are fighting against social death is through creating community and restorative resilience against social death. In “Cultural Latina Production”, we have read and listened to many podcasts that have proved that all art forms can be creative outlets to express the injustices the Latinx community faces. The podcast we have created focuses on the ways in which art can express a message of resilience. Our guest, Jake Prendez, talks about his art gallery Nepantla and its significance. We will discuss the main objective of Nepantla and why it is so important for Latino residents of Seattle. We will also discuss why the term cultura cura or culture cures is so important with art, Nepantla, and being Latinx in Seattle. Nepantla really aims to uplift the Latino community by working directly with them with hands-on projects such as workshops, hosting different events in consumable mediums, such as art, creating a form of media justice.

This was made possible by the hosts and crew of producers on the Ofrenda podcast team, Emily Khounmany, Lluvia Chavez, and Rosa Arango. For questions, email ofrendapodcast@gmail.com

Theme: Most of the course material allowed us to further understand Lisa Cacho’s concept of social death which can be applied to many areas in Latino culture. But perhaps a greater objective was learning about the way in which activists and the community have created restorative resilience against social death. We have read and listened to many podcasts that have proved that all art forms such as music can be a creative outlet to express the injustices the Latinx community faces. The podcast we have created focuses on the ways in which painting and art can express a message of resilience. Our guest, Jake Prendez, talks about his art gallery Nepantla and its significance. More specifically Jake highlights that the main objective of Nepantla is to help bring attention to the work of the Latinx artists and to be a safe space for the community as well. He has also worked extensively to provide free art workshops and youth art programs. These services and so much more of what Nepantla’s involvement in the restorative resilience movement. Overall, Nepantla really aims to uplift the Latino community by working directly with them with hands-on projects and consumable mediums such as art, creating a form of media justice.

Interview

Nora Medina: So, how did Nepantla come to be and when did you decide to team up with Judia Abitia Gonzalez?

Jake Prendez: So the idea for Nepantla had been marinating for a long time. You know, when I was still in LA, wanted to create a cultural space, and when I moved to Seattle in 2015, you know, that was still on my mind. And one thing that I noticed right off the bat was that we had the talent here in Seattle. There were amazing Latinx artists, but like no one knew each other. They were very fragmented, there might be someone in Olympia or someone in Everett, someone in Renton, someone in White Center, and they were doing their own kind of art shows. And they, yeah, they weren’t working together. One of the first things that I did when I moved up here was create the Pop Up Mercados with Ray Morales from “Rebels and Scholars”, and you know, that was just this kind of marketplace with a bunch of, you know, Latinx artists and vendors. And it went amazingly well, like they were always packed, we had lots of people, and I think it just kind of showed that there was that need here, that, you know, hint, they wanted a space they wanted, you know, to embrace their culture and, you know, looking for a place where they could, you know, experience art and artists in stuff. And then I, you know, at the time, I was still working, you know, a nine to five job, I was working in higher education for about for over 10 years. And I was kind of getting tired of it. And you know, all my friends are like, oh, man, you got to just do the art thing full time and the arts taken off, you’re doing so well, and I was like, Yeah, and it’s kind of hard because when you have this, like, nine to five job that’s paying you every month, right? You don’t have to, you have benefits and all this stuff. It’s scary to take that leap into self employment. And so what I did is I kind of took the summer and had a little bit of savings and said, okay, you know, I’m going to give it till the end of summer, if I’ve eaten through all my savings, and I’ll start applying for more jobs in higher education and kind of go back. And at the end of the summer, I hadn’t even touched my savings, I was doing really well. So I was like, okay, let me give it till the end of the year now. And again, at the end of the year, I still hadn’t touched the savings and was adding to the savings I was. And so I think the next stage was an okay, hey, like, we need a brick and mortar space. And I want to create this Nepantla cultural arts gallery that I’ve been dreaming of for a long time. And yeah, it was scary. Like, no one, my family is like, owned a business before, right? I don’t. And so, we were worker bees, we worked in, you know, migrant farmworkers and, you know, things like that. So my parents were that first generation didn’t have to work in the fields. But so anyways, you know, we’ve fundraised a little bit, we, I got a couple of grants, open up the space. And so Judy Avitia Gonzalez is my now fiance, at the time, she was my girlfriend, and, you know, she was kind of helping me, you know, try and find a space and things like that, you know, at the time that Nepantla was me, it was just me, but she was like, supporting. And we were getting offers in kind of like, Beacon Hill, Columbia City, things like that. And I was like, oh you know what, these are pretty good offer, you know, for spaces and things like that. And she’s like, yeah, but you know, that’s what keeps happening. People keep going out to those areas, and White Center just continues to get screwed over, you know, because we were looking for a space in South King County, White Center, Burien, South Park. And I was like, you know what, you’re absolutely right, let’s hold out until we find a space in this community, our gallery. There’s two parts of the Nepantla, there’s the gallery wall that highlights that, you know, focus on marginalized communities. There’s the gift shop, and then a cultural space where we would have like free art workshops, we ran a youth arts program, we would bring in guest speakers and do all that stuff. And it was always free for community. So we give a little siphon to the artists that were giving the workshops, and then we buy all the supplies, everything like that. So it was 100%, free for community to be involved in it.

Sadly, that’s the part we can’t do right now because of COVID. I mean, we’re doing some zoom stuff, but you know, everyone’s getting zoom fatigued, and it’s not as cool as in person. You know, we’d have big opening receptions here for all our exhibitions now, it’s just kind of, we’re having the exhibitions, which is great, but we’re, you know, kind of four people at a time. And so there’s no big opening receptions right now. So, yes, and then, you know, Judy, kind of has always been helping out but I think she got more of a formal role after the first year, and was like, kind of like, hey, I really need you like, and let’s make this kind of little more formal, that you know, so she runs the gift shop and scheduling like special events and kind of running my calendar because I’m doing a lot of lectures and things like that. So yes, she has a more formal role like I’m run all the exhibitions I’m in here day to day, but she does all the kind of ordering and kind of organizing special events and things like that and we’re coming up on three years next February and like I said, communities completely embrace what we’re doing and it’s been great people you know, even during the pandemic, when we reopen people they’re in here, checking out the exhibitions. They are supporting the artists and buying art in the exhibitions. But they’re also you know, shopping in the gift shop and, and things like that. So it’s great that, you know, we have the support of our community.

Valeria Davila: So just moving on to the next question, tell us about Nepantla mission statement and how it’s more than just an art gallery.

Jake Prendez: You know, really what the mission is for Nepantla is making, you know, creating an accessible art space for community that highlights the Latinx arts. Because there’s no public Latinx art space in Washington State, other than us, that we amplify those voices in that, you know, we’re really the only game in town. And so, it becomes more important that, you know, we stand up for our community, and I don’t know how y’all feel, but I feel like we’re completely ignored in Seattle, like, we’re this invisible people here and coming from LA where we’re not, right, like a community where like, I feel like we’re the default people, like, you know, our culture, you know, the culture of the city really revolves around rasa, right, and you can get your cafe do oya  at AMPM, you can get your pan dulce, you know, Safeway type stores. And, you know, coming back here, I’m othered again, you know, it. So it becomes crucial in when you’re in an environment like that, especially in a city that’s middle of just kind of complete gentrification and pushing out everyone out of the city, that doesn’t make a certain amount of money. So our gente, they’re being pushed out of Seattle. And, you know, we’re kind of living on the outskirts of Seattle now where, you know, we can afford to live. So it becomes more important to kind of fight against that gentrification and really push that we exist here, you know, you can’t sweep us under the rug. You can’t ignore us any longer. You know, we, there’s over a million, you know, Latinx folks in Washington State, like, I think we’re 12 to 14% of the population. And yet, we’re still being ignored. Like, no, like, you can’t do that. And I think we need to raise this level of visibility and and let folks know, you know, Charlie, right, like,

Nora Medina: No exactly, yeah, with that in mind how you think like, that works with like, the saying la cultura cura ?

Jake Prendez: Yeah, I mean, one of the things I get a lot that when folks come into the gallery is like, oh my god, I just feel like I’m at home when I’m in this space. Especially for people that are transplants that are coming from Texas, Cali, you know, Southwest where they grew up in these communities, where, you know, they might have been the majority, and then coming to Seattle, maybe they got hired by Google or Microsoft or something. And so they’re up here and they just like, dude, like, where’s the rest of my people? And then they come in to Nepantla, and they’re like, Oh, my God, like, so it? It, you know, you can, they say it, but you can just tell when people like, just like, feel at home when they come in here. And that’s that healing that you’re talking about that culture is so important, right? Just to know, like, I’m not crazy, more or less, like, because we do a lot of things that, you know, other folks probably just think are weird and crazy, you know, and and when you’re with, you know, other gente that have that same background, you know, and you realize, oh, I’m not crazy, that’s just my culture. Like, there’s There’s comfort in that right? You know, the papel picado, the sarapes, the things you see the colorfulness, the art scene art that represents you that you can see yourself in right your is healing. One thing I really wanted when I was creating the space was I wanted Nepantla to be a very welcoming place. I didn’t want people to feel they had to come in, look at the art or buy something and leave right? I wanted this to be kind of almost like a hangout. Like yeah, no come in. You know, you don’t have to buy anything or you know, like, just wanna just hang out like cool, like, hopefully people feel that, you know, the sense of you know, famelia.

Nora Medina: You are listening to KVRU 105.7 FM, a low power FM station directed by members of the community. Rooted in South East Seattle KVRU 105.7 FM provides a platform to share stories, discuss issues and empower listeners to create a more equitable and just society.

Valeria Davila: For your next question I was going to ask, how do you think your experiences as a Chicano influence your work?

Jake Prendez: You know, I’ve been asked to describe my art a bunch of times. I kind of get offended when people I hear a lot of like, artists they like, they get offended when they’re called a Chicano artist. Right? They’re like, “I’m just an artist, who happens to be of Mexican descent.” And I’m like, why are you not white? And why are you not proud of your culture? Like, like, dude, I have a beautiful culture like, and I’m proud of it. I’m proud to call myself a Chicano artist, right? My art is, is me, it’s, it’s a representation of me. And so when I describe my art, I would tell people, it’s like, you take all your life experiences, your love and heartbreak. And, you know, for me, it’s like, kind of where, you know, I grew up, and it’s it’s part Cali, it’s part Seattle, it’s part, you know, just the musical things I’m into. It’s the, you know, the things I grew up with the kind of pop culture stuff, right, which is, you know, it’s Americana. It’s Star Wars, and, you know, 80s and 90s, references and things like that. But it’s also part Mexican, right? It’s like, it’s El Chavo de Ocho (a television show) It’s Cantiflas and Tin Tan (comedians), and, you know, all those old Mexican films that would be on late at night, you know, and so you’re taking just your whole life experiences, you’re putting in a blender and you’re just mixing it all and then you just pour it out on canvas. I can’t separate my Chicano-ness from my art because I can’t separate myself from being Chicano. And it’s a beautiful culture, and it comes out in my artwork, yeah, it can’t be separated.

Nora Medina: So like, what other exhibits or lectures or workshops does Nepantla host? And is there like a specific one that you’ve found that was just really impactful?

Jake Prendez: Every month, we have a new art exhibition. And again, it focuses on marginalized communities. So we’ve, you know, we’ve had two queer art shows we’ve had to Chingona art shows, which was all mujeres, you know, an indigenous art show, we had an API art show. So you know, we have all these art shows, and, you know, so you have the kind of the cultural based ones, where, like next month, it’s called Northwest black. So it’s focused on African and African American and Afro Latino artists. But then you have just art shows that are loteria or Frida Kahlo, or, you know, we’ve had our shows that like The Magnificent Seven part one and part two, that was just, we chose seven artists, you know, that kind of were our favorites, and they just could put in anything, and actually, December, we’re doing all art under 100. So it’s just gonna have a bunch of artists and just kind of pushing like Christmas gifts, you know, so all the art is going to be $100 and less, you know, oh, we did like a Lowrider Art Show was really big. And then, you know, we’ve done, I think, yeah, this our third Dia de los Muertos , this one right now. I’ve lost track. It’s either a second or third. Probably our second, but um, yeah. And, like, this one has just been really, really well attended. You know, I think on average, we might have about 25-30 people in the gallery. You know, in a day, the opening weekend, we had about 60 people each day. So it was kind of doubler normal numbers. So there was a lot of people for this one. In last month, we did our Latinx in the Northwest Art Show where we really highlighted nine of just the top Latinx artists in the state of Washington. And what was great about that show is we got really big name artists. I mean, we had Alfredo Aregin, who this guy’s in the Smithsonian. He was the first Chicano at UDUB. He’s well collected, like he makes bank like his the painting he had in this show was $20,000, right? So yeah, he, but I don’t think he gets the credit he’s due from kind of the art world, right. And so like museums and things like that, so and then like, Fluencio Lagos was kind of in that same boat. We had paintings from Cecilia Alvarez, who, I mean, I read about her in my Chicano history books before. You know, I was like when I moved here that way, she’s in Seattle, I thought she was like an LA artist. And initially, so that, show was gonna happen in April 2020, during the NACCS, National Association of Chicano study conference, that was supposed to happen at that time in Seattle. So, the whole idea was, let’s highlight the best of our artists, show all these professors and you know, Chicano Studies, and students from around the country, you know that, “Hey don’t forget about us up in Seattle” like we have this vibrant Latinx, Chicanx, art scene up here right? And then like, COVID and the conference got cancelled like no [laughs], that was our chance to really show them what we got right? So, that exhibition got postponed for a year. We just, we did it, you know, last month, and it was well-attended but it wasn’t like you know, what it would’ve been if you know, we were like the official, you know, after party for a whole conference.

Nora Medina: So what are like, some key elements or concepts in Chicano arts? Are they like all the same thing? Or do each artist have their own take on?

Jake Prendez: We’re such a diverse people. I mean, let’s not even get into Latinx Latinos. I mean, right? Just Mexican Americans are so diverse, right? Like, you know, a Chicano from the Northwest is different from a Chicano in LA, it’s kind of an LA, so much different than a Chicano in Texas, at tehano, you know, like, and we have our own histories, and we have our own culture. And that comes out in the art, you’ll, in a lot of times, you can just tell where an artist is from, with the exception of kind of the Virgin Guadalupe, like, LA is not very religious, in its art, where Texas and like New Mexico are going to be very religious in the art, at least the iconic iconography, right? Because that plays such an important role in their lives. So even if they’re not really practicing Catholics, like it has been such an important role in their life, that they’re going to examine it at least, right. And like, what does that mean, and what effects has that had on my life and the way I view myself and, and we’ll kind of use a lot of just historical references and styles in the art things that you would see just kind of in your local church, that it might not be necessarily that saint, but you like that looks a lot, the same style, you know, in the, you know, someone like LA is going to probably have a very urban aesthetic to it. You know, and dealing with topics and things like that, that you’re going to see played out in your everyday life, right? You know, Seattle’s the same way, like, you’ll just like, what I’ll notice is, you know, Judy’s all she’s, she’s originally from East LA. And so we’re very kind of like, culturally, California, it will buy things for the gift shop right here at Nepantla that we think like, oh, man, everyone’s going crazy over these in LA. Yeah, let’s get them up here. And like, they don’t sell it all. And we keep like going, “It’s a different culture, babe. It’s a different culture.” Like, they don’t get that here. They don’t, it doesn’t have that same resonance, that someone else it does for someone in LA, right. But then again, someone from LA comes in here. And they see that and they’re like, “Oh, oh my God”, like, you know, so yeah, there’s just, it’s very different. It’s similar and different at the same time it’s hard to explain. But there’s undercurrents that we all go through, you know, it might be like, you get an artist from the Northwest, and artists from Cali and an artist from Texas, and you tell them to paint something about the Aztecs or something indigenous, right. And you’ll get three very different art pieces. But they will all speak to ancestry, they’ll all speak to our indigenous roots. But they’re going to be very different in the way they do that.

Valeria Davila: So I wanted to ask you, why do you think that it is important for Latinx voices to be heard, especially in right now, like during these COVID times?

Jake Prendez: Well, you know, I think if you don’t hear us, it’s gonna be easy to push us out. If we don’t speak up, if we’re not heard, then we’re not, we’re just gonna be ignored and we’re going to get pushed out of the city and alienated and we have to be that squeaky wheel. And literally, you know, like, be a little headache for them, you know, until they start recognizing, you know, our community. You know, and we have a very a unique community here. One of the things I noticed, especially in you know, kind of South King County is it’s a very recent arrival community. The Mexicanos are like they’re here. They’re here to work. Their ideology is like, I’m going to make money and go back to Mexico and buy a, you know, little rancho or something. But the thing is, their kids are high school, middle, like, college aged, right. And they, they have ownership of community, like I was born in Burien. Like, I’m from White Center, like, you know, so I think when those kids, you know, get a little bit older, they’re going to be more civically engaged in this community, right? And because they’re going to have more of a sense of ownership of it. You’re gonna see more Chicanos and you know, Latinx folks that are city council members. And, you know, I mean, we have the first Chicana running for mayor, I think ever, right – in Seattle. You’re gonna see more and more of this, because we’re getting to that age where we’re telling our stories now. And we feel like, you know, we’re not moving to the rancho like, Nah, like, “We’re here, like, What are you talking about? Right?”. There’s going to be this huge shift that is about to happen in this community. And people ask, like, oh, what’s the Latino community, like in Seattle, I always get that quick as like, well, if you want to know what the future the Latino community is, in Seattle, talk to their kids, you know, because they’re the ones that are going to make this really big shift, the sense of ownership within our community, and the civic engagement of our community. That’s kind of the Mexican part of Seattle. But then you have a kind of South American, you know, that those people are coming here, like they’re through, you know, Microsoft and things like that. So they’re coming here, I think, with a little more money in a different social class. And then yeah, so you’re mixing all a very diverse community one, we got to make sure that all these voices are heard. But we can’t, you know, just have one of those verse voices heard, right.

Nora Medina: So what’s the next exhibition being featured at the Nepantla?

Jake Prendez: So the [In-audible] exhibition will be up until October 31. And then, that following Saturday, I think that’s November six, we open up our Northwest Black Show, which I mentioned, is highlighting African, African-American, and Afro-Latino artists in the Pacific Northwest. And that’s curated by Jasmine Mahmood, Vivian Phillips, and Stephanie Morales. And then December is our… I don’t have the official title for it, but it’s all art under 100 show, which doesn’t really have a theme, it’s just all the art is under 100. We just want to make it art accessible for holiday gifts and things like that, and give an opportunity for artists to kind of make some sales. So for the holidays and for community to buy art that’s, you know, pretty cheap and make someone happy in their life.

Nora Medina: Yeah, that’s amazing. Is there any way listeners can find more information about Nepantla?

Jake Prendez: Yeah, just to follow us. You know, our website is Nepantlaculturalarts.com. You can sign up for our email list. From that website, just click on “About us” And then follow us on Instagram and Facebook, which is, you know, both or just the Nepantla cultural arts and find us that way. I will say the best way to stay informed with what we’re doing is like Instagram and Facebook, we’re pretty much posting every day. You know, different things about the exhibition or what’s new in the gift shop and stuff like that. The email listserv, not as frequently [laughs] not as frequent posts.

Nora Medina: Okay. Well, thank you so much, Jake, for coming and telling us about Nepantla and your experience as a Chicano activist.

Review New Insights on Theme:

Jake begins to talk about living in California and Seattle, and how his experiences and community have inspired this arts and creativity throughout his life. Through the podcast, he touches on topics of community involvement on gentrification in relation to his work and personal experiences, implying an element of Earth. This shows how our environment is truly influential to who we are, and how we express ourselves. Additionally, Jake talks about his decision to locate the art gallery in White Center. He says they got a good offer in places like Capitol Hill but he had seen how White Center continued to get screwed over and he knew they had to stay in White Center. Showing that we develop a connection with the land we grow in, we can see that in a way it shapes us. Not to mention that the word “Nepantla” represents a concept of inbetween us, and it is a [inaudible] word which means in the middle of it or middle. Many Chicanos in the US feel his unsettling form of inbetweeness. You know, we feel like we aren’t American or Mexican that we somehow, you know, can neither be here nor there, that we don’t belong, but places like Nepantla, help the resistance and provide a place where the upcoming Chicano generation can belong and feel at home, around a community that understands what it means to be a Chicano.

Outro:

Thank you for listening. The Ofrenda Postcast is a collaboration between KVRU 105.7 FM Radio, students of the UW Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies class “Latina Cultural Production,” taught by Michelle Habell-Pallan, Highline Heritage Museum’s ‘Our Voices: Social Justice in times of COVID-19’, and the Women Who Rock: Making Scenes, Building Communities Collective. We’d also like to thank our guests Jake Prendez and our podcast Team Lluvia, Emily Valaria, Nora and Rosa. Friends and family may hear this by visiting the KVRU 105.7 FM website, and a special thanks to a band Quetzal for our theme music titled “Barrio Healer”. Look out for the other Dia de Muertos events in the fall in Seattle and online and check out our Highland Heritage Museum’s ‘Our Voices: Social Justice in times of COVID-19’ series. For questions, email ofrendapodcast@gmail.com.

Interview Date: October 2021