Opening on September 17, Studio 11 in Union City hosts MAIZ, an art exhibit dedicated to the role of corn in the Americas. Curating the exhibit is 30-year-old artist, Oscar Barragan.
Barragan teaches art and Spanish at St. Clement Middle School in Hayward. “Art has always been in my blood,” says Barragan. “My teachers always told me to follow my passion,” which he did. While a student at James Logan, Barragan took Advanced Placement classes in art and painting. After graduating, he attended the California College of Fine Arts. He acknowledges the generosity of his community. “It was difficult, but they helped me a lot; if I hadn’t taken part in community events and participated in service organizations, [such as PUENTE, a program for first generation children of immigrants] I wouldn’t have been able to afford a private institution.”
Though the future of many art graduates isn’t guaranteed, Barragan was fortunate. “Within a month of graduating, I was lucky enough to get a job as a teacher; first at Our Lady of the Rosary, until they closed, and then here at St. Clement for the last seven years.”
Initially simply grateful to be earning a living, he soon realized he had more to give than just his art. As a mentor he could provide a platform upon which young artists could build.
“You can see, even at an early age, natural talent,” he says. But, art education for Barragan is more than developing talent through the introduction of skills and processes, “it’s deeper than that, it’s about problem solving and teaching young artists how to communicate with the world.”
Learning to work with our hands is still important. “Technology is a really helpful tool but using it a lot could discourage kids from using their own ingenuity to solve manual problems. What once seemed common sense for an older generation is being lost when we let technology do it for us; the techniques of art are dependent on dexterity and problem-solving.”
Then, there’s art as history. Barragan believes that with the right education, students will be inspired to connect what they are doing and feeling to artists past and present and their roles as translators of communal experience.
From his youth, Barragan related to the surrealists Salvador Dali and Juan De Chirico, known for their realistic depiction of unreal subjects. His own work displays a spectrum of content and technique, from finely detailed pen and ink representational work to wide swashes of muted color in an abstract expressionist mood. For Barragan, technique serves the message. “I started out being very crafted, it had to be very clean and precise, but it got to the point where I got tired of it. When I was at school, we got competitive with each other, and the message got lost many times because we were so into the craft and being perfectionists; since then, I’ve gone my own way. Today, mistakes can become the focal point. Getting dirty and messy has become my thing.”
What does the future hold?
“I see myself as still teaching, and I think it’s important we teach the all the arts. I’ll be an advocate for that because we need it, especially in lower income communities. I think it’s a unique and irreplaceable outlet for young students to express themselves.”
MAIZ Art Exhibit and Community Festival
Saturday, September 17, 2022
11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Exhibit runs through Mid-October
Studio 11
34626 11th Street
Union City
Street and paid parking.
Free entry
For more information: https://www.unioncity.org/589/Arts-Culture-Studio-11
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