BY KAREN BOSSICK
A free exhibition tour of the Sun Valley Museum of Art’s latest BIG IDEA project and visual arts exhibition will be held at 4:30 and 5:30 p.m. Thursday, May 12.
“The Mexican Graphic Tradition: Printmaking and the Political” explores the ways Mexican artists used printmaking as a tool to disseminate news, share political views and celebrate Mexico’s national culture. They honored the Day of the Dead, documented the events of the Mexican Revolution, promoted leftist politics and during World War II warned Mexico’s citizens of the dangers of fascism.
The exhibition includes prints of works by Jose Guadalupe Posada, as well as works by such 19th and 20th century artists as Alberto Beltran and Arturo Garcia Bustos. The exhibit also includes contemporary works by Yakima printmaker Christie Tirado honoring some of the people in the Wood River Valley who kept the community going through the pandemic.
“Printmaking’s versatility makes it a perfect medium for honoring those who have been essential in our lives, and that’s reflected in Tirado’s prints as well as those made by local community members in a workshop Tirado led,” said Courtney Gilbert, SVMoA’s curator of Visual Arts.
Another exhibition tour will be held at 4:30 and 5:30 p.m. Thursday, June 2. Those who can’t make any of the tours are welcome to tour the Museum free of charge from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays. The exhibition runs through June 8.