Consuelo Jimenez Underwood's artwork is marked by her compassionate and urgent engagement with a range of pressing contemporary issues, from immigration and environmental precarity to the resilience of Indigenous ancestral values and the necessity of decolonial aesthetics in art making. Drawing on the fiber arts movement of the 1960s and 1970s, Chicana feminist art, and Indigenous fiber- and loom-based traditions, Jimenez Underwood's art encompasses needlework, weaving, painted and silkscreened pieces, installations, sculptures, and performance. This volume's contributors write about her place in feminist textile art history, situate her work among that of other Indigenous-identified feminist artists, and explore her signature works, series, techniques, images, and materials. Redefining the practice of weaving, Jimenez Underwood works with repurposed barbed wire, yellow caution tape, safety pins, and plastic bags and crosses Indigenous, Chicana, European, and Euro-American art practices, pushing the arts of the Americas beyond Eurocentric aesthetics toward culturally hybrid and Indigenous understandings of art making. Jimenez Underwood's redefinition of weaving and painting alongside the socially and environmentally engaged dimensions of her work position her as one of the most vital artists of our time.

Contributors. Constance Cortez, Karen Mary Davalos, Carmen Febles, M. Esther Fernandez, Christine Laffer, Ann Marie Leimer, Amalia Mesa-Bains, Robert Milnes, Jenell Navarro, Laura E. Perez, Marcos Pizarro, Veronica Reyes, Clara Roman-Odio, Carol Sauvion, Cristina Serna, Emily Zaiden

About the Author
Laura E. Perez is Professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, and author of Eros Ideologies: Writings on Art, Spirituality, and the Decolonial and Chicana Art: The Politics of Spiritual and Aesthetic Altarities, both also published by Duke University Press.

Ann Marie Leimer is Professor of Art at Midwestern State University and a scholar and curator of Chicanx art.

Reviews
"With the publication of the important book . . . art lovers are treated to a full account of the life, creative processes, vision, and accomplishments of a great Latina artist. . . . The editors . . . have greatly enhanced our knowledge of an important American artist of craft and fine arts." -- Ricardo Romo * Latinos in America *
"It is a joy to see Jimenez Underwood's work as a teacher addressed and to read about her influence on students. Essays are supported by excellent images and a strong introduction. A significant notes section points to additional research. This excellent resource will be good for courses that expand on the understandings of textile art and art history. Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty; professionals." -- L. L. Kriner * Choice *



Book Information
ISBN 9781478018322
Author Laura E. Perez
Format Paperback
Page Count 416
Imprint Duke University Press
Publisher Duke University Press
Weight(grams) 771g