This project would not have been possible without the guidance of Valerie Balint and Kat LoPalo who supervised my internship with Historic Artists’ Homes and Studios and the National Trust. My deepest gratitude to Valerie for giving me the opportunity to decide my own project topic as it relates to my own research interests and the aims of HAHS, her support and suggestions allowed me to look at Chicano murals through a different lens that will undoubtedly benefit my work in the future. I am sincerely grateful to Kat, who gave me the tools to manifest the project on the HAHS website that visitors will interact with for years to come. I would be remiss not to mention the role of Lucha Martinez de Luna and Chicano Murals of Colorado Project for supporting my work and allowing me to be part of preserving Denver’s Chicano heritage through my previous and current work. Lucha has given me the opportunity to work on previous projects dedicated to preserving murals in Colorado as well as given me insights into what the future of preservation can look like.
Resources
As part of making this project accessible to all and inspiring others to learn more about the history of Chicano murals in Denver, I have provided a resource list below that includes relevant organizations, archives, and databases for beginning to research this topic.
Chicano Murals of Colorado Project (CMCP)
Chicano Humanities and Arts Council (CHAC)
Denver Artist and Organization Archives
Bibliography
Aguilar, Jill A. Chicano Street Signs: Graffiti as Public Literacy Practice. Place of publication not identified: Distributed by ERIC Clearinghouse, 2000.
Centennial High School. Adobe Magazine Issues 1-4. 1974-1977.
“Chicano/a/x Mural Preservation: Action Fund Project.” Historic Denver. 2022. https://historicdenver.org/chicano-mural-preservation.
“Colorado sites on 11 Most Endangered Historic Places list over the years.” 9 News. 2022.
Cockcroft, Eva Sperling., and Holly. Barnet-Sánchez. Signs from the Heart: California Chicano Murals. Venice, California: Social and Public Art Resource Center, 1993.
Denver Post (Denver, Colorado), November 10, 1970: 16. NewsBank: Access World News – Historical and Current.
Goldman, Shifra M. “Resistance and Identity: Street Murals of Occupied Aztlán.” Latin American Literary Review 5, no. 10 (1977): 124–28.
Gonzales, Rodolfo and Alberto Urista [Alaurista, pseud.] “El Plan Espiritual de Aztlan.” El grito del Norte vol. II, no. 9 (1969): 5.
“Home.” Chicano Murals of Colorado Project. 2023. https://www.chicanomuralsofcolorado.com/.
Indych-López, Anna. “Mural Gambits: Mexican Muralism in the United States and the ‘Portable’ Fresco.” The Art Bulletin (New York, N.Y.) 89, no. 2 (2007): 287–305.
Latorre, Guisela. Walls of Empowerment: Chicana/o Indigenist Murals of California. 1st ed. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2008.
Lorey, David E., and Hector. Lucero. Mexico and the United States. Tarrytown: Marshall Cavendish, 2000.
Lucero, John. “A chance to honor Denver’s Chicano history and culture.” Denver Post, July 30, 2021.
Martinez de Luna, Lucha Aztzin. “Heritage and Place Chicano Murals of Colorado.” In Murals of the Americas. (Mayer Center Publications, Denver; 2017): 139-165.
Martinez de Luna, Lucha. These Storied Walls. Documentary. Directed by Lucha Martinez de Luna, Byron Swezy, and Cat Alletto. Aired on Colorado PBS, Denver CO. 2022.
Reed, T.V. “Revolutionary Walls: Chicano/a/x Murals,” In the Art of
Protest: Culture and Activism From the Civil Rights Movement to the Present, 115-42. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2019.
Stavans, Ilan, and Jorge J. E Gracia. “The Street as Art: Chicano Graffiti.” In Thirteen Ways of Looking at Latino Art, 107–122. New York, USA: Duke University Press, 2020.
“West High School March 1969: Blow Out” (History Colorado, 1969) Accessed on 06/05/2022. https://www.historycolorado.org/student-activism-west-high-school-march-1969-blow-out