The Latinx Cultural Center opened an art gallery at the Red Gym Tuesday in honor of Latinx Heritage Month.
The gallery showcases works of art, including paintings, drawings and sculptures. All of the artists showcased at the gallery are Latinx students at the University of Wisconsin or members of the Latinx community in Madison.
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Following opening remarks from LCC Program Coordinator Cristian Noriega, there were opportunities for guests to walk around the gallery, get food or paint their own ceramic vases.
UW student Barbara Vaquero-Peña said showing her art in a public setting was new to her.
“I have never shown my art to this many people before, but it is very cool,” Vaquero-Peña said.
Vaquero-Peña, who grew up in Honduras, had three paintings displayed in the gallery that she said were inspired by her mom and Latin cuisine.
Madison resident Rodrigo Carapia, contrastingly, said he was used to showing his art off to crowds. Carapia, a full-time artist from Mexico City, paints murals around Madison.
“My art is inspired by my experiences with Mexican culture and tradition,” Carapia said.
Another young artist who showcased multiple pieces of her work was UW student Danitza Rodriguez-Jimenez.
Rodriguez-Jimenez showed off drawings of a smiling woman and a backyard of a home. She said her main goal in showing her pieces was to improve her technical ability.
“I mainly just wanted to work on my techniques and showing emotion in my work,” Rodriguez-Jimenez said.
Latinx Heritage Month is celebrated from Sept. 15 through Oct. 15, according to the National Hispanic American Heritage Month website. It has been celebrated since 1968, when it officially began as a week under President Lyndon B. Johnson and was expanded to a month by President Ronald Reagan. It was signed into law in 1988.
Sept. 15 was chosen as the start date because that is the independence day of Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua and is close to Mexico’s independence day, Sept. 16, and Chile’s, Sept. 18.
The gallery will be open to the public until Oct. 18, according to LCC’s Instagram page.
