Helvetica - How a Letterform Became Part of All of our Lives

The movie Helvetica is a documentary about a type-face. Before you yawn-off (or click-out), wait a minute. Helvetica is a good movie. Really. At least for anybody interested in any of the arts, design, architecture and fashion fields.

Back in the mists of time when signs were actually hand-painted, I used to paint Helvetica as a letterform (type-form) on advertising billboards. (I was a billboard painter.) Helvetica was always a bit awkward to paint as it's roots were not from the brush and chisel roots of all of western languages letterforms, but from the machine age.

For more of an explanation about the roots of letterforms you must see the movie. Besides setting up the history of typography well, Helvetica the film has interviews with a variety of graphic designers who have completely opposite or divergent opinions about design from each other along with examples of their work so the viewer can make their own judgments.

Listening to contradictory opinions and design theories warms my heart. Strange -- but it does. I love that artists and critics do have strong opinions. And that they change those opinions. Been there, done that, over it is a credo that sits side-by-side with the purity of obsession over one thing for the rest of one's life.

About a week after seeing the movie Helvetica I was working with a designer on a logo I recently did for our family business, www.StandUpPaddleFlatwater.com. She was going through her list of fonts when I saw a name that intrigued me. "Let me see the font Switzerland," I asked her, wondering if what I thought I might see would be something funny.

I did see something funny. Switzerland looked almost exactly liked Helvetica. I don't know the history behind the Switzerland font, but I get the joke. Helvetica is a German made (and owned) type font that was originally supposed to be named after Switzerland. They changed the spelling slightly for the times. It was a marketing ploy of some type (see the movie). In response, somebody made a competing type form they titled Switzerland. A subtle joke tucked into a list of fonts. That's the kind of meaning in an everyday object that keeps the art world inspiring.

www.CristinaAcosta.com

University of Oregon Board of Visitors for the School of Architecture and Allied Arts

Attending the University of Oregon and graduating with a BFA degree in Painting was a wonderful time of my life. I put myself through school working as a window and sign painter along with some generous scholarships that enabled me to finish a studio degree in painting. Frank Okada, Ron Graf, Morales and others were professors that made a deep and lasting impact on me and the art I've gone on to create.

I'm proud and honored to have been invited to serve on the Board of Visitors for the University of Oregon's School of Architecture and Allied Arts. I encourage readers with the funds to donate to consider this college as a worthy cause. Here's some of the info about the BOV from the U O:

____________________________________________________________

University of Oregon Board of Visitors

What is the Board of Visitors?

The Board of Visitors was established in 1987 as an advisory group of distinguished University of Oregon alumni and friends representing the departments and programs of the School of Architecture and Allied Arts. Our goal is to support the school in developing the highest quality of its educational programs by establishing strong connections between the school and the professional community.

Who are the Board of Visitors?

Members of the board are accomplished professionals with a shared commitment to make themselves available as professional resources for students and faculty; to increase professional and alumni outreach and communications; and to assist the school in attracting investment in research, instruction, and service.

(I'm the woman second from the top on the right side in the tiger stripe sweater)

www.CristinaAcosta.com

Bragging About My Kid's Artwork

Isabella Acosta Barna's paintings

Please forgive me, but I'm a mom and I am so proud of my daughter, Isabella Acosta Barna, that I just have to brag a bit. Isabella's greeting cards are for sale at the Clinton Presidential Library Gift Shop!!

And, a portion of every sale funds The Alliance for a Healthier Generation.

The Alliance for a Healthier Generation Youth Advisory Board and Empower Me 2 Be (of which Isabella is a board member) is on task to halt the increase in childhood obesity. Last year the Alliance asked Isabella to make some images using their color scheme that convey health. They would then choose one or more to use in their outreach.

The slide show of Isabella's art work has a photo of her at work in her respirator, carefully layering stencils and other collage materials on her piece as she paints. This was a great opportunity for her to work within the client's design and concept parameters as she explored how to creatively fulfill those guidelines.

Isabella is a strong and independent artist -- which means that I had nothing to do with the outcome of these images beyond explaining to her the mental/artistic process of how to approach this type of project. I love her final images -- they are beautiful!

And as a mom and an artist, I'm glad my child likes to make art. Presenting art to a kid and knowing when to slip in a little teaching now and then is a very fluid experience over their lifetime. There is no one right way to encourage creativity. My approach is to have the tools and time available and then to be a good example of working my own creative process.

www.CristinaAcosta.com

Ricardo Montalbon - Artistic Pioneer

I was surprised and saddened to learn that the actor Ricardo Montalbon has recently passed. I subscribe to the LatinoLA newsletter (I was born in Los Angeles). The author, Abelardo de la Pena, mentioned that the actor Ricardo Montalbon died at the age of 88.

Ricardo Montalbon was admired by my family. He was a successful Latino who projected elegance and kindness during personal appearances. I always felt that the racism of the time toward Mexican Americans and Latinos in general, limited the opportunities Montalbon had to share his artistic gifts. Nontheless, I knew after reading Pauline Kael's (the late film critic for The New Yorker magazine) reviews of Montalbon, that his talent was not completely unrecognized.

The news of Ricardo Montalbon's passing reminded me of a photo I'd seen years ago in my father, Joaquin Enrique Acosta, Jr.'s box of memorabilia. My dad passed a few years ago from Alzheimer's. He was a highly educated and accomplished Chicano (rare during that time as the legacy of Mendez vs. the Board of Education resulted in most of his generation in Southern California attending sub-standard segregated schools for Mexican-Americans).

I found these photos of my dad with Ricardo Montalbon and other of the elites of the 1970's Southern California scene, including Timothy Cardinal Manning, actresses Loretta Young and Ann Blythe. My biggest surprise was to see that Oregon Senator Mark Hatfield was also part of the crowd. (I now live in Bend, Oregon). I don't know the occasion for this event. My parents went to many political/social fundraisers so I presume the event was either a fundraiser or an event in honor of something/someone.

It's beautiful how somebody I didn't know could touch my life positively. We all have that gift to be a role model for others even if we're not a famous actor. Thank you Ricardo Montalban for being such a wonderful artistic talent and role model. I lit a candle for you.

Photo credit: Marjorie W. Gilfillan, Culver City, Calfornia.

www.CristinaAcosta.com

My Friend Invented FootGaming

Today's paper had a piece about obesity now being a reality for 25% of the U.S. population. Children are especially prone (they "inherit" their parent's habits) and about one-third of all youth 18 and under are either overweight or obese. My daughter, Isabella Acosta Barna is on the Youth Advisory Board for a Healthier Generation as a member of the Alliance for a Healthier Generation. The Alliance is fighting childhood obesity.

My friend, Judy Shasek, has put her uber creative self to the task of getting America up and on their feet. She's invented a mouse pad that you can stand on to play video games such as Bejeweled and other common games. She called her invention, FootGaming. FootGaming has huge potential in education and recreation markets.

Isabella and I helped her out with a video she produced to introduce FootGaming. It was a lot of fun to be actors. Here's a clip of the FootGaming video.

www.CristinaAcosta.com

Re-Writing History

I've been going through my late paternal grandmother's (Abuelita's) photos and putting together an essay that includes a piece of her story as a classical pianist in Los Angeles, California during the 1920's. Though now my grandmother might call herself a Chicana or a Latina, during her generation, Hispanic Americans that were not directly from Mexico, but had a history (often for hundreds of years) in the Southwest called themselves Spanish or (if they lived in California) a Californio (male) or California (female).

So I grew up referring to her as my "Spanish Grandmother" when I didn't call her Abuelita (the Spanish word for grandmother). Her name was Catalina Maria Ortiz Acosta and she was a renaissance women who was very cultured and talented. I put together an essay on my site describing her contribution to the classical music scene in Southern California circa the 1920's. I also submitted it to LatinoLA and they published it also.

Here's the beginning of the article and a photo of my grandmother: The article is titled, "My Abuelita was One Talented Mujer (Woman)

Multi-Cultural Chicano Musical History in Southern California with Classical Music Indianist Composer and Chicana Pianists in LA

Los Angeles during the early 1900's was not a friendly place for Mexican-Americans and Chicanos. Though originally part of Mexico, California was annexed by Anglos to become part of the United States of America in 1848. With the gold rush of 1842 and other immigration, the existing American Indian and Spanish / Mexican people of California were politically and socially marginalized. By the 1920's lynchings, racially motivated attacks and "anti-greaser" laws were in place to control and dominate the Mexican American (Chicano) population of California. Pressure on Mexican Americans increased and included segregated schools in areas of Southern California where large groups of Chicanos persisted. The famous case, Mendez vs. the Board of Education finally ended Hispanic segregation in the late 1950's.

Intelligent, cultured and talented Hispanic Americans were not lauded. In fact, with the veil of racism over many Anglo peoples perceptions during that era, there was very limited press coverage of the positive cultural contributions of Chicanos in Los Angeles. History is written by the "winners", and as a conquered population, Spanish / Mexican Californians have lost many of their historical cultural contributions to a lack of attention.

As a third generation Californian (I now live in Oregon), I found some Chicana history within my family that pertains to the larger political climate and the cultural life of elite Angelinos during the early part of the twentieth century. In the early 1920's my grandmother Catalina Maria Ortiz Acosta and her family, lived in Los Angeles. The last of eighteen children, my grandmother Catalina was the daughter of J. Nestor Ortiz and Maria Salazar Ortiz. J. Nestor was a wealthy man who had owned several businesses and a sheep ranch in the town of Ortiz, Colorado (near Antonito, on the border with New Mexico). J. Nestor sold his interests in Colorado and re-located in Los Angeles, California in 1903. Catalina was born the next year. Though her ancestors where among the founding families of Santa Fe, New Mexico (and other towns in the region), she would often refer to herself and family members as "Californios" or "Spanish". Either were terms that people (Anglo and Hispanic) in her generation used to refer to the Spanish families that lived in the American Southwest when that region was under the control of Spain/Mexico. Because she was born in California, the term "Californio(a)" is accurate, but not completely reflective of her cultural heritage. The term she used usually depended upon her sense of the listener's knowledge of these finer points of cultural history.

Though the term Californio/a is dated and not used today, it was very meaningful for Spanish citizens of California who became citizens of the United States because of the Mexican War in 1848. My grandmother would often express her indignation towards prejudice that any family member encountered with the comment, "Those peasants don't realize that we are Californios." I smile when I think about that. She disdained the prejudice that she deemed more a result of a lack of a good education than a lack of kindness. (I'm including this information about her cultural ethnic appellation because you will note that the concert program below refers to her as a "Spanish-American Pisaniste".)

The Ortiz family befriended Charles O. Roos and his wife, Jaunita E. Roos. The family connection was certainly enriched by Catalina's friendship and professional relationship with Jaunita. Catalina (1904-1991) was then a twenty year old classical pianist and the featured pianist at concerts the Roos organized. My grandmother spoke with admiration regarding Juanita's musical abilities. Charles, an Easterner, moved to Los Angeles and worked as a newspaper feature writer when not involved with his work as a lyricist. His wife Juanita was a gifted pianist. They collaborated to create a variety of piano compositions. Charles also wrote poems and lyrics for other composers' music. The concert program for the event at the Ramona Convent in Alhambra, California illustrates the typical concert Roos organized. Nordskog Records recorded the concert. Unfortunately, I don't have a copy of that recording or know of it's existence.

Sifting through my Grandmother's photo albums I found several photos of Charles and Juanita. The photos of the people in the Native American outfits are my grandmother Catalina, and Chief Yowlache, dressed in traditional Native American clothing for publicity photos that Roos used in his concert promotions. Chief Yowlache was the "Indian baritone" for the program. Catalina accompanied him and also played solos.

During a time of escalating social injustice. . . READ MORE.

NOTE: All photos copyright Cristina Acosta.

Gottschalks Department Store Murals - Now & Then

The California based department store, Gottschalks opened a new 55,000 square foot store in Bend, Oregon last week. I sold limited rights* to 2 of my paintings, Spanish Sonata and Blue Bird Hacienda from my Spanish Rose Series to Gottschalks so that they could have them turned into murals for the atrium. Not only am I honored to have my art chosen, I am amused by the irony of making a mural 20 plus years later for the same location. Here's what happened.

During the late 1980's I was the lead (and only) outdoor advertising billboard painter for the entire Central Oregon region beginning south at the (then) tiny town of La Pine, Oregon and north into the town of Madras, Oregon, on the edge of the Warm Springs Indian Reservation. I worked for Carlson Sign in Bend, Oregon and hand painted billboards on metal sections or paper. This was right before computer printers took over the market. Now it is rare to see a hand painted billboard.

Jake's Truck Stop and Diner was a landmark on South Highway 97 in Bend, Oregon, from the 1970's through most of the 1990's. Truck drivers could dial a real 5 pound phone from their table, enabling them to eat and relax while checking on business or calling loved ones. Meals were gourmand piles of carbs with sides of extra gravy and cute girls pumped the gas. The showers were clean and the lot was big enough to host a small village of overnight sleepers.

I painted this 24' long by 11' high sign for Jake's Truck Stop & Diner (circa 1989) on metal sections using alkyd bulletin colors. I used rollers and brushes for most of the under painting on the billboard. I painted the cool looking airbrush effects with a quart sized air gun and 24" wide rolls of masking paper. I remember the satisfaction of painting the "sparkles" on the "chrome" Jakes's name as the finishing touch.

Jake's is still around, but it's now just a diner in another location on the east side of Bend, OR. The phones are gone along with the gas and everything else. Times change. Where Jake's used to be is now a new shopping center. And the anchor tenant for that shopping center is Gottschalks.

The Gottshalks building was designed by Linane/Drews Architects (from Burbank, California), on the site of the old Jakes' Truck Stop and Diner, on South Highway 97.

The Bend Bulletin article, A Grand Turnout for Gottschalks, October 24, 2008, page B1 shows a
photo by Pete Erickson of my 2 paintings in the entry atrium of the new Gottschalks store.
_______________________________________________________________
Note: The original paintings are represented through my gallery, High Desert Gallery in Central Oregon. You can drop by the gallery or contact Todd Dow (the Gallery Director)
~ High Desert Gallery, Redmond, Oregon -- 541- 548-1811 (direct) 453 SW 6th Street at Evergreen Street.
~ High Desert Gallery, Sisters, Oregon -- 281 West Cascade Avenue at Oak Street Gallery Mailing Address: PO Box 519, Bend, OR 97709-0519
Toll Free Exchange: 866-549-6250
_________________________________________________________

*Note regarding selling the rights to an image:
When an artist makes a painting, under current U.S. Copyright law they automatically own all rights to that image. What this means is that even if you own an original piece of art, you do not own the rights to sell or use images of that art without written permission (and usually, payment) from the artist. This process is called licensing art. Copyright laws are integral to the success and survival of artists in our country. Because I own the copyrights to my paintings, I was able to assign Gottschalks the right to create the 2 murals in their Bend, Oregon store. Copyright laws for artist's must be protected. I am passionate about vigilantly protecting copyright laws and have lobbied to stop the Orphan Works legislation.

www.CristinaAcosta.com

The Frugal Creative: Dyeing Custom Colors for Your Home

My long tradition of personal frugality has inspired all sorts of creative ways to get high-end interior design style into my life. During the early years of my art career, I worked hard making ceramic tiles or painting for this or that art exhibit or whatever was going on. About 10 years into the process I noticed that I lived in a boring house that didn't reflect me at all. At the time, I was painting tiles then shipping them to ta-ta addresses in Beverly Hills and Vero Beach. I was a go-to girl for high end interior designers and shipping my art work to addresses all over the country, meanwhile none of the creativity I so easily gave to others was part of my life. I needed to revamp my thinking.

I remembered the axiom, "the cobblers children have no shoes," and decided to change my ways. I made a vow to lavish my creativity on my own life, not just on others. It took a while to get into the practice of being generous with myself, but it worked. I started by painting a set of ceramic dishes for myself; tiled the stair risers with my daughter's help; painted the house; and framed and hung paintings and photos. I got my husband and daughter in on the home decor work and we re-did everything. Together we made mosaic lamps, mirrors and flower pots; painted floor mats; built garden art, and whatever I could think of. All of these years later, our house looks great!

Here's an easy way for you to start bringing your creativity into your home. There are three things you can do to immediately change the mood of your house -- Color, color and color! The obvious way to bring in color is with wall paint. Another way is with fabrics. Think about all of the textiles you have in your home. Bed sheets, fabric lampshades, rugs, curtains and most any textile can slip into a dye bath.

Dyeing fabrics is fun and surprisingly easy. If you can follow the recipe on the back of a brownie mix box, you can dye fabrics. My favorite fabric dye and supply catalog company is Dharma Trading Co. Not only does Dharma Trading Co have hundreds of supplies including fabric dyes and fabric paints, they also have a big selection of "blanks" or plain items of clothing or fabric yardage you can dye or paint. On top of that, The Dharma Trading Co. catalog has great directions! The front of the catalog has all sorts of useful info about the fabric dyes and how to use them.

The stack of sheets in this photo shows you the great collection of colors I created for my bedding. I shop at Ross or TJ Max (discount retailers) for bargain cotton sheets with a high thread count and create great looking bed sheets for a fraction of the interior design prices. So . . . take the plunge into color and start dyeing fabrics. Not only will you save money on home decor, you're going to love the results!

Newsletter: Summer 2008 (from my website)

I'm learning to Standup Paddle Surf and I am obsessed! I started learning to surf last summer and because I live inland, I focus on Stand Up Paddling so that I can be on my board whether I'm on the coast or in the middle of the country. I get scared a bit in the ocean or on big lakes when the wind is high, but I keep on learning. So why am I writing you about surfing in an art newsletter? Because I'm excited to share my experience. ( I love it so much my husband, Randall Barna and I have a SUP website and blog selling gear and sharing stories & tips.) Pushing myself to continue to grow maximizes my creativity. And, it's fun to be consumed by something fun and playful. My sense of possibility is enriched with every small triumph.

And nurturing my sense of possibilities gives me the vision and enthusiasm to embrace life and try new things, both in my work and life. Embracing life means embracing change. One of my favorite changes to be part of is a happy wedding. Recently commissioned by a couple to paint an image to celebrate their upcoming wedding, I painted this image in my Paint Happy style. I titled it Wedding Promise. The colors, clothing and setting are personal to the couple. He's supporting the heart they embrace together as they float happily over the sea of life. I enjoy painting commissions that celebrate anniversaries and other happy occasions -- everyone is in such a great mood!

I began writing professionally a few years ago, and I'm really enjoying it. I was invited to write a biographical piece for the magazine Pure Inspiration's Summer 2008 issue. Titled, Art and Spirit, I share my story of how my art has shaped the path of my life and both echoed and lead my spiritual growth. One of the results of my journey has been to realize my dedication to make my life more artful, leading me to developing design work such as Color Consulting for homes and other buildings along with developing recipes.

I've included recipes for you that will help you save some money (a great thing in this economy), whether you're making a Brown Sugar Body Scrub or learning to make your own Artisan Bread so you can leave high-priced bakeries behind and enjoy the quality of artisan baking along with the satisfaction of making your own bread.

If you'd like to know more about my Color Consulting work, contact me, mention color consulting e-booklet in the comments box and I'll send you a free e-booklet about my service.

I hope you enjoy the remainder of the summer.

Happy Creating,

Cristina

Choosing Paint Colors Home Decor Licensing Who is Cristina Press Philanthropy Hand Painted Ceramics Cooking with Cristina Art and Inspiration Articles and Books Contact Cristina Original Oil and Acrylic Paintings Site Map Hispanic Heritage

Journaling and Art

Journaling seems to be as popular as ever -- maybe even more so since it's one of the few reasons left for a person to write something by hand. For several years I journaled almost daily, inspired by Julia Cameron's advice to write "morning pages", a process she details in her book, The Artist's Way. I never read my journal entries. Just stacked college ruled notebooks filled with entries in a pile. I stopped journaling when the pile reached 30".

After that phase, I had a stint making "morning drawings". Eventually, I took up running and gave up journaling altogether. Something shifts -- I become completely saturated in an activity (sometimes for years) and then I suddenly stop doing whatever it is I was dedicated to and move to the next interest.

I'm thinking of revisiting my interest in journaling. I had to quit Nordic and Alpine skiing and running this past winter and spring after I sprained my knee on the way into the lift line after a morning of epic powder on the backside of Mt. Bachelor. Thanks to the highly skilled sports medicine/massage/therapists in our town of Bend, Oregon, I'm back on my exercise track.

During my hiatus from my usual activity I had more time to read. I revisited some of the books I read during college. Daybook - The Journal of an Artist by Anne Truitt was a book I scanned quickly and check off the book list my painting professor gave me in the 1980's. Revisiting the book was a real pleasure. Passages Anne Truitt wrote have new shades of meaning to me now that I have 20 years of art experience behind me.

Here's what Truitt had to say about creating. She wrote this in the early 1970's long before computers dominated our culture. Long before the rise of emailing and texting have almost completely eliminated the hand written letter:

"Like earthworms, whose lives are spent making more earth, we human beings also spend ourselves into the physical. A few of us leave behind objects judged, at least temporarily, worthy of preservation by the culture into which we were born. The process is, however, the same for us all. Ordered into the physical, in time we leave the physical and leave behind us what we have made in the physical."

Whether I'm drawing or writing, watching the marks as my hands guide the pen across the page, I see my thoughts made physical in a way they aren't when I'm at my keyboard. Maybe the general fascination with journaling has a little to do with this creation of a physical mark. Like our ancestors leaving marks with charcoal sticks on the sides of rock caves, we have left something material to mark our passing.

I really should re-read those old journals and see if they are going to be next winter's fire starter.

Doing it All - As Good as it Gets

How do I have a life and continue being an artist? Or is the question -- How do I remain an artist and still have a life? The question I ask myself depends upon which part of my life is getting most of my attention. Like most professional women with a family, I'm always balancing my activities as a mother, wife, daughter, sister and friend along with working and making art ("work" means running a household, paying bills, marketing my art work, etc.)

So, how do I do it all? If I measure my actions or progress by the day, I often feel like I've grasped the tail of life as it whips past me in a strong wind and I'm barely hanging on for the ride. Along with that feeling sometimes comes the sense that I'm not doing anything at my best. At those times I have this fantasy vision where all of the non-creative yet essential stuff in life is done for me and I "just" make art. In the midst of that fantasy I'm serene and focused and everything I do turns out well because I have the time to make it marvelous.

But my life doesn't work that way. And neither does my art, at least not now. Whatever the creative work I'm engaged in, speed and multiplicity are the order of the day. There is little time to mull over every thought. I don't have time to change much. Whatever I'm doing now is my "best." Whatever just happened is as good as it gets. Vision has been outpaced by reality, again.

That concept is an interesting and challenging idea to make peace with. Art like life is what it is. The meaning assigned to art (and life) is what changes. And with that in mind, let's make the best of it!
www.CristinaAcosta.com

Recipe: Traditional New Mexican Red Chili Sauce

Made from Pureed Dried Red Chilis
Cristina Acosta ©2005, 2006, 2007, 2008

My grandmother (abuelita) Catalina Maria Ortiz Acosta's parents were born in New Mexico. She made chili sauce in the New Mexican style, a sauce of mostly puréed, dried chilies with spices. This sauce is the backbone of many Hispanic dishes.

Catalina was an artist who believed that anything worth knowing came at a price, and this sauce was her specialty. She was in her seventies before she would give me this recipe. In exchange for the recipe she insisted I wash every downstairs window of her house. While I scrubbed and polished, she sat in the backyard patio of her home in Playa del Rey, California, by the sea near Los Angeles threading a ristra of chilies from a new box of chili peppers that had arrived from New Mexico. After finishing a few windows I’d stop to visit with her and she’d tell me a little bit more about her recipe. It was certainly worth the effort.

If the sauce is too picante (hot), you can cut the heat by adding a can of stewed tomatoes or a thick tomato sauce to the blender. This suggestion would have been frowned upon by my abuelita who insisted that a proper chili sauce never included tomatoes. Nonetheless, if the mildest chilies are too hot for your taste, this method works.

My abuelita’s original recipe used to take hours when prepared with a food mill. I’ve adjusted the chili sauce recipe for quick and easy preparation. Use a powerful blender such as a Vita-Mix for best results.

Cristina's Traditional Red Chili Sauce

Tools: 1 ½ qt. or larger saucepan with lid. Powerful blender. Stove top.
Yield: Aprox. 3 ½ – 4 cups of sauce

Ingredients:

• 1 t. to 1 T. ground cumin

• 1 T. dark cocoa powder (unsweetened)

• ½ t. sea salt

• 2 cloves garlic, peeled

• ½ large onion (aprox. ½ cup) peeled. (use your favorite flavor of onion)

• 3 oz net wt. package of dried chilies: Use Chili California OR New Mexican OR Pasilla OR experiment with mixing varieties.

• 3 cups water or broth.
  

Directions:

1. With scissors cut off the tops of the dried red chilies and pour out the seeds. (Don’t worry about getting them all out.)
2. Rinse the dried chilies briefly to dust them off.
3. Put them in the sauce pan with the water, garlic and onion.
4. Bring to a boil then cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes.
5. In the blender put the cumin, salt and cocoa powder. Add the hot chili mixture including the water. Put the lid on the blender and slowly “step-up” the speed of the blender from low to high. (Never start a hot mixture on high as it may explode out of the top of the blender.) Process the mixture on high for approx. 3 minutes or until very smooth.

This versatile sauce is ready to serve. It freezes beautifully. Use it over tamale pie, as an enchilada sauce, base for chili soups or over fried eggs and omelets. It's the key ingredient to Carne Adovada, a traditional New Mexican pot roast slow cooked in the red chili sauce.

Experiment with the sauce by adding ingredients such as: wine, dried fruits such as raisins, apricots, plums, ground toasted nuts or seeds (about ½ cup) , sweet chocolate and cinnamon.

Note: for a thicker sauce, add a few more chilies or decrease water a little.

Happy Cooking -- Cristina

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Read My New Article About Art & Inspiration

Ancient and contemporary wisdom intertwine in the magazine Pure Inspiration. Robert Becker, the Editor and Publisher of the magazine weaves reader's stories among a selection of articles that inform and inspire.

I wrote a piece for the current issue of Pure Inspiration. Here's how the website describes the piece:
"Cristina Acosta discusses her experience as a painter, pointing out that "art" is more than just a particular activity: "Time and maturity have revealed to me that all humans are artists, whatever our medium may be. Our canvas is time and our palettes of colors are the choices we make." She emphasizes that for her, art is more a process than an end to be attained: "I keep painting, each stroke of my brush a record of the present moment. When the painting is done, my involvement with that set of moments in time is over. The images are now for the viewers. They will discover their own meanings."

Read this article when you purchase a copy of Pure Inspiration.
Read more about my books and articles on my site. You'll find a list of home decor, personal essays and writing about art.

Honoring Mother's Day - My Grandmother's Life as an Artist

Multi-Cultural Musical History in Southern California

In the early 1920's my grandmother Catalina Maria Ortiz Acosta and her family, living in Los Angeles, befriended Charles O. Roos and his wife, Jaunita E. Roos. The family connection was certainly enriched by Catalina's friendship and professional relationship with Jaunita. Catalina (1904-1991) was then a twenty year old classical pianist and the featured pianist at concerts the Roos organized. My grandmother spoke with admiration regarding Juanita's musical abilities. Charles, an Easterner, moved to Los Angeles and worked as a newspaper feature writer when not involved with his work as a lyricist. His wife Juanita was a gifted pianist. They collaborated to create a variety of piano compositions. Charles also wrote poems and lyrics for other composers' music. The concert program for the event at the Ramona Convent in Alhambra, California illustrates the typical concert Roos organized. Nordskog Records recorded the concert. Unfortunately, I don't have a copy of that recording or know of it's existence.

Sifting through my Grandmother's photo albums I found several photos of Charles and Juanita. The photos of the people in the Native American outfits are my grandmother Catalina, and Chief Yowlache, dressed in traditional Native American Indianclothing for publicity photos that Roos used in his concert promotions. Chief Yowlache was the "Indian baritone" for the program. Catalina accompanied him and also played solos.

During a time of escalating social injustice, Juanita and Charles Roos were creating musical compositions that celebrated different cultures. Though women had only just received the vote, and womens rights were often negated, Charles Roos publicly acknowledged his wife Juanita's contributions, including her name on compositions they collaborated on. The concert program at the Alhambra Convent School illustrates that the Roos were actively promoting the beauties of the Native American Indian and Hispanic culture to the elite of the dominant Anglo society. Understanding the political climate within which my grandmother was making her musical contributions to culture increases my admiration for her artistry and strength. She steadfastly dedicated herself to excellence in her art form and understood the symbolic importance of her image as a intelligent and accomplished Hispanic woman when many minds were closed to the idea of such a person existing.

I searched the internet for more information about the Roos and found an interesting essay. I've included an excerpt with a link back to the original author. You'll recognize the name "Lieurance" in the Composer/Lyricist column of the concert program. I've also included some links to historical documents that record the political culture of the era. The following excerpt sheds light on Roos connection to like minded Anglo intellectuals during this time.

Excerpt of an essay by Linda Marsh Helfman,© 2007 (The Photos are mine) http://polleymusic.lincolnlibraries.org/History.htm

"His (Lieurance's) interest in tribal music began in 1902 with a visit to his brother who was an Indian Agent on the Crow Reservation in Montana. From that time he began a life-long fascination with the music and customs of the Native Americans. He visited over 30 reservations and amassed a collection of several thousand recordings and transcriptions as well as a large number of Indian flutes. He also invited Native Americans to his studio in Lincoln for some of the recording sessions. It was often difficult to coerce the Indians into performing for his recording machine, but his understanding and patience with tribal ways won them over. He had an enormous respect for the people and had learned a great deal from the Native American wives of two of his brothers. Much of his vast collection now resides in the Smithsonian Institution, the New Mexico Museum, and the Archive of Folk Culture at the Library of Congress.

Lieurance drew upon Native American melodies for many of his own compositions which he then clothed in what he called the "harmonizing which our ears demand'. His most famous piece is "By the Waters of Minnetonka". It was first published in 1913, and became the number one sheet music hit of its day, with many subsequent published arrangements. It was performed and recorded by some of the leading musicians of the era and enjoyed world-wide popularity.

In the early 1920s Charles O. Roos, a feature story writer for a Los Angeles newspaper, happened to read about Lieurance and his work with Native American music. In his younger days Roos had been a woodsman and raftsman on the St. Croix River and had written poems based on his experiences with the local tribes there. He realized that Lieurance was the right person to set the poems to music. The two of them met and decided to travel together in the Chippewa forest country of northern Minnesota in order to gather additional material and inspire themselves further. Using thematic material from Chippewa homeland, rain dance, ceremonial, and mourning songs, Lieurance composed music for Roos' poems, and the result was the "Eight Songs From Green Timber" song cycle which appears in this collection." © 2007Linda Marsh Helfman

Photos: copyright 2008, Cristina Acosta. Photo of single woman, Catalina Ortiz Acosta in the 1920's. Photo of Charles O. Roos and his wife Juanita Roos (inscribed to my grandmother, Catalina Maria Ortiz Acosta). Photo of Charles O. Roos with a paddle.

Read More on my Website

Jonas Cohen Interviewed Me for The Source Weekly

Thank you to The Source Weekly in Bend, Oregon and journalist Jonas Cohen, for the feature article about me that they are running this week. I really appreciate the visibility press coverage gives my creative work. Jonas Cohen was easy to talk with and a very nice guy, he made the interview process very pleasant.

Life as Art: Cristina Acosta is making her art at all costs
by Jonas Cohen
Bend artist Cristina Acosta is challenging the old truism that art imitates life. A painter, Acosta has learned to let her art into her everyday world. “At one point I realized that I needed to take my art off of the canvas, and put it into my life,” says Acosta Acosta’s vivid and joyful painting ranges from. . . READ MORE

How To Cook Your Life - Bread and the Creative Life

Reading has always been one of my loves. Surprising to me is that the list of good books I think have been the most important in my life, changes over time. Not only because a new book has usurped an old favorite, but because a book I read many years ago and may not have thought of as life-changing or "good" (in the Great American novel sort of way), gets on the list. With the perspective of time, my understanding of a book changes and I realize the important positive impact of that particular book.

The Tassajara Bread Book (pub. in 1970) is this kind of book. When we were young teenagers my sister, Alisa Acosta, and I taught ourselves how to bake from this book. Alisa focused on popovers and other such things. I delved into bread making. Edward Espe Brown's detailed, concise directions coupled with his intellectual and spiritual generosity resulted in a book that touched so many people that it became a international bestseller.

I long ago lost my copy of that cookbook and had mostly forgotten about it in a everyday way until I saw the Indie film, How To Cook Your Life, with zen chef Edward Espe Brown, author of The Tassajara Bread Book and other books. Ed Brown (that's how he was introduced) made a guest appearance last night (April 1, 2008) at the Tower Theater in Bend, Oregon. The film, How To Cook Your Life, was shown as part of the Bend Film Festival Indie Reels screenings.

Ed Brown introduced the film, then when it was over, he answered questions from the audience and told stories. His sense of humor coupled with his wisdom had us laughing and enlightened within minutes. He was a lot of fun. I had hoped to thank him for his work in person, but the receiving line was more than I was willing to wade through.

The Tassajara Bread Book inspired and opened me to my love of cooking, and by extension life. Creating food with my hands puts me in touch with the land and elements that combine to create that food. A loaf of live dough ready for the oven embodies the cycle of life. Edward Espe Brown's writings planted the seeds of spirituality, environmental sensitivity, and a life-long love of food. His cookbook is not only a artistic inspiration, it is a political inspiration. The Tassajara Bread Book gently put me on a path that made the connection between the spiritual and practical accessible.

I highly recommend watching How to Cook Your Life. It will be available on Netflicks in May 2008.

Edward Espe Brown's writing inspired my artisan bread baking hobby. I now focus on a natural yeast starter that absorbs the life in the air around us. Read my artisan bread recipe on my website.

Thanks Judy Shasek for inviting me to see this movie. Judy is a creative powerhouse. Among her projects is Generation Fit, an innovative learning/wellness outreach program for kids.

Note: Photo of Edward Espe Brown is from the PeacefulSeaSangha.com site. More info is also available on the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center page.

www.CristinaAcosta.com

Former Runci Cover Model Steps Forward

via my website, www.CristinaAcosta.com

Hi, I'm Deanna Marie Wolfe, the little girl in the painting holding the dog is me. My parents were friends with Edward and Maxine Runci. I own a very similar painting my parents received from them. It is hanging in my home. I also own a few of the Walter Foster Art Books with my portrait on the cover (same as on your web site). Your site is very cool thanks. Do you want me to forward a picture of the portrait I own they painted (according to my mother they painted my portrait together with Edward adding his touches with the brush along the way.) I hope you get this and respond and thanks again.
Deanna Marie Wolfe

Dear Deanna,
Thank you so much for contacting me about your participation as a cover model for Maxine Runci's art instruction book, Painting from the Family Album. I love "what ever happened to...." stories, and I think your information is a valuable fact for any future Runci enthusiast. Here is the lovely picture you sent me of another painting they made of you at the same age. What a beautiful portrait. And thanks for sending the current photo of you and your husband. You look beautiful!

Best Wishes,
Cristina

Click here to read more about the Runcis

Exhibit - Levine Museum of the New South, Charlotte, NC

There is the South and there is the New South. I didn't really know this until I toured Levine Museum of the New South in Charlotte, North Carolina. It's a history/cultural museum that begins the exhibits with a time-line hinging on the birth of the New South (1865 when the US Civil War ended with the defeat of the South). I highly recommend visiting this museum as the first thing you do in the city. It's within a 15 minute walk of the Convention Center and between Reid's Fine Grocery and the Mint Museum.

I didn't really know what to expect in this part of the South, though I had some ideas and some of them weren't very flattering. That's why I recommend visiting this museum first. It taught me a lot about the stew of cultural courage, the confederacy and change that are the history of the New South. The remainder of my stay was enriched by the understanding and knowledge I gleaned from the exhibits.

Touring the downstairs dioramas and exhibits, I was toured through Southern history from 1865 to now. It wasn't until I saw the the exhibit upstairs: Comic Stripped, A Revealing Look at Southern Stereotypes in Cartoons (Sept. 7, '07 to April 13, '08) that I realized just how much of my knowledge of the South was shaped by the daily comics.

I LOVE reading the newspaper comics and will read them all, even those I don't really like. I've read the newspaper comics for most everyday day of my entire life. For a few years, I studied comics so that I could draw them as part of my art job painting windows. Touring the Comic Stripped. . . exhibit I realized that cartoons I didn't even care about enough to actively dislike had shaped my perceptions of the South. Lil' Abner, Pogo, Snuffy Smith and others were part of the exhibit. The exhibit puts the viewer head-to-head with Southern Stereotypes. It gave me a wake-up call. Stereotypes I didn't know I had became apparent to me. It was an interesting exhibit to see before I headed to the Discovery Museum later to see the traveling Norman Rockwell Exhibit.
www.CristinaAcosta.com

Norman Rockwell - How "Real" is Realism?

Rockwell's America: Celebrating the Art of Norman Rockwell is a traveling interactive exhibit of Norman Rockwell's images that explores his impact as an artist who in the process of creating images that imagined and conveyed events and moments in his experience of American life, contributed to the American vision. Along with other work he painted 322 Saturday Evening Post magazine covers during the decades from 1920's through the 1960's.

Last week I toured the Rockwell's America exhibit at Discovery Place (a science museum) in Charlotte, North Carolina with my family. After sitting in a darkened room and watching the introductory video for 6 minutes, the attendant parted the curtains on one side of the room and invited all of us in the room to proceed through the exhibit.

As a child I began studying art in the early 1970's. Adult artists I was around were still arguing about the merits of "modern" artists like Picasso. Though poles apart, many realistic/figurative artists and modern artists agreed on one thing: Norman Rockwell was "just an illustrator".

Seeing his images (there aren't any important originals in this exhibit) from the vantage point of 2008, those discussions seem silly. Norman Rockwell did more than paint. With his paintings he reflected and guided American culture. His images have been seen by more humans than ANY other artist in history!!

My first feeling seeing the dioramas of Norman Rockwell's world was one of sweet familiarity and nostalgia. My maternal grandparents loved Norman Rockwell's art and the Saturday Evening Post. Norman Rockwell images pervaded their life. Unconsciously I melded Norman Rockwell's sweet images of small town America into my understanding of my Grandparent's lives. My grandfather, James Ira Wisner, was born in Missouri on a farm outside of Center, Missouri. His sister lived in Hannibal, MO and his other sisters remained in the Midwest their entire lives. For a few years he moved his wife and 5 California-born daughters back to Center, Missouri to be near his family. My grandmother, Alice would often shake her head when recalling the memory of the move, glad to be sitting in her Escondido, California home, savoring a sun-drenched retirement. As Catholics, the family had been the object of anti-Catholic prejudice and weren't a good fit in the tiny country town of less than 500 people. They lasted a few years, then returned to Southern California.

Despite the negative experience the family had, in retirement my grandparents set out on a road trip to Center, Missouri every few years. Like a bitter pain pill coated with a resilient, warm amber layer of gelatin, the images Norman Rockwell painted soothed my grandparents, seeming to have covered any bad memories of small town life with a patina of bucolic charm.

To most non-artists, Norman Rockwell is perceived to be a Realist. He isn't. And he is. Though several late images convey a loving and wise view of race relations, the majority of images are of white people. Looking at decades of magazine covers I began to hunt for brown faces. Rockwell painted during the years when American Indians were still not allowed to vote, their children were being forcibly educated in English-only boarding schools and more. Anti-Greaser laws in the American Southwest were in force against American Hispanics. American Africans were being lynched and denied voting rights in the American South. Jews were undergoing the worst world-wide persecution of a religious group in history. I looked in vain for images of American Indians, Asians, Hispanics and African Americans. Then I realized, brown faces weren't part of the Anglo American mythological mindset.

Norman Rockwell wasn't a naive country rube with a talent for art. He was born in New York and educated at some of the best art schools of the day. A bright talent from the beginning, he was selling his illustrations to national magazines before he was 18 years old. Of course living in New York City, a city of ethnicity would have inescapably brought Rockwell in contact with people that weren't Anglo, along with those Anglos that were very ethnic. You'd never know it looking at the first 3 decades of his work. The realism Norman Rockwell was painting was what I see as a mythological American Anglo concept. Again -- yes, he did paint images with other ethnicities, but this was towards the end of his career and does not include the majority of his work.

Until this exhibit, I hadn't ever really looked at a body of Norman Rockwell's work. I'd seen paintings, prints and illustrations for most of my life, but that isn't the same as paying attention to and understanding the effect those images were having on me.

Walking through the exhibit I was struck with a unexpected mix of feelings. I felt a nostalgia for a life that didn't really exist along with anger that I had "just" noticed that I, with my brown skin and Hispanic heritage from my father was left out of the story. In fact so were all of my paternal relatives & ancestors. I finally consciously recognized that the exclusion of the color brown from the majority of Norman Rockwell's images had contributed to how I saw myself. I could enter Norman Rockwell's vision of provincial life mentally from the portal of my maternal heritage, but the reality of my obvious ethnicity kept me from thinking of myself as a participant in that life.

The reality of imagery is that it both documents and creates. Because Norman Rockwell's images were so commercially successful that he contributed to defining America's perception of itself, he is a powerful and important artist to study. The realism Norman Rockwell painted wasn’t realism at all. It was an American Anglo myth he imagined & shared. I realized that the exclusion of the color brown from the majority of Norman Rockwell's images contributed to how Americans see themselves, a myth that in some form persists. Re-imagining that myth is the work of contemporary society.

I'm grateful for the experience of being able to view Rockwell's America: Celebrating the Art of Norman Rockwell. I learned more than I expected. And that's a good thing.

Photo: The exhibit encouraged viewers to sit at an easel and paint a self-portrait like Rockwell would often do. The mirrors were set at the perfect height for children, so I sketched a portrait of my husband, Randall Barna. All in all -- an inspiring exhibit.

My Life as a Ceramic Tile Artist, The Beginning

The year 1994 was the year that I saw my first work of art (my hand painted ceramic tile mural) on a magazine cover . Albeit, it was only about two or three square inches, nonetheless, it was enough to send me all over town buying every copy of the magazine I could find, sending them to my friends & relatives. I was sure I was going to be famous (and rich)!

I began creating ceramic tiles in 1991. I had just finished a two-year stint as a lettering and mural artist for an outdoor advertising (billboard) company, and was teaching college art classes in the evenings. I was so sickened by the substances I used in the billboard work, that I couldn't comfortably oil paint. Implementing a friend's suggestion, I switched to painting on ceramics. Completing a series of images, I sent them to the Ann Sacks Tile & Stone store in Portland, Oregon. Kohler Plumbing Industries had just purchased the store as the flagship for a national chain and I found myself serendipitously in the tile business!
I quickly joined a business class, bought a kiln and learned about the ceramics business. READ MORE. . . .

www.CristinaAcosta.com