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Spotlight - Research Institute

Rose Salseda (Art & Art History) Convenes Latinx Art Research Network to Cross-Pollinate Big Ideas

Professor Rose Salseda

Photo by Harrison Truong / Stanford University 

By
Dr. Bridget Algee-Hewitt, Senior Associate Director of the Research Institute

Designed and directed by Dr. Rose Salseda (Assistant Professor of Art & Art History), the Latinx Art Research Network (LARN) convenes university faculty, curators, and staff from across the nation who are building initiatives to support the field beyond individual research and book projects. LARN reflects a value in community and gives group efforts a much-needed platform to cross-pollinate big ideas, provide peer-consultation, and collaborate.  

Despite the little attention paid to the long-standing contributions Latinxs have made to the cultural landscape of the U.S., practitioners have created an enriching body of art, exhibits, and writing. Yet, the historic disregard and ongoing devaluation of Latinx art has slowed the growth of the field, which is exacerbated by the historical exclusion experienced at universities and the prioritization of individual research in the humanities. 

In response, this Network prioritizes large-scale, team-based, and other dynamic research projects that investigate and record U.S. Latina/e/o/x visual artists and their work; the related histories or needs of artworkers; and other aspects critical to the growth of the field. LARN’s focus on large-scale and team projects also aims to strengthen the foundations of the field broadly while keeping an eye on regional, ethnic, racial, and historical differences. LARN has exciting plans to convene stakeholders at least twice for the remaining 2023-24 academic year, develop a publicly-accessible web directory of Network member projects, and actively seek grants to expand the Network into the future. 

Dr. Salseda sees the promise in LARN for making Stanford a hub for big ideas in Latinx art. The success of LARN will put Stanford on the map as the place where scholars worldwide can take the pulse of current activities, connect on opportunities, and share ideas across the field. 

Dr. Salseda will jumpstart LARN by leveraging her current multimedia project, Latinx Art Beyond Museum Walls (LABMW) (a 2023 recipient of Stanford’s Changing Human Experience Humanities Seed Grant) and her experience as a non-profit arts administrator for the U.S. Latinx Art Forum, a national advocacy organization. Partnering with Dr. Salseda is LARN’s graduate student coordinator, Sofía Silva, Ph.D. candidate in Art History, whose shared specialization in Latinx art and previous art world experience is an asset to the project.

 

Image Credit: Photo by Rose Salseda | Gina Hernandez, Director of Community Engaged Learning in the Arts and project consultant for Latinx Art Beyond Museum Walls, with RD&E staff Juan Carlos Valdivias, Saul Cardenas, and Salvador Vargas in front of José Antonio Burciaga's "The Last Supper of Chicano Heroes," (1987-89), part of the triptych mural The Mythology of Maíz, in Stern Hall Dining Hall, South at Stanford University. The LABMW team would like to recognize the recent passing of Mr. Valdivias, whose years of service to the community are immortalized with the inclusion of his portrait in the mural. ¡Presente!