.Dream Maker: Juana Alicia’s works at SVMA

What does creating something that exists in the liminal space between reality and dreams mean? 

For contemporary muralist and multidisciplinary artist Juana Alicia, this question isn’t just an idea; it’s the energy behind every work she makes. Rooted in the traditions of magical realism and social realism—two genres that have come to define much of contemporary Latin American art—her style explores themes of social justice, gender equality, environmental crises, and the influence of resistance and revolution.

A new exhibition at the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art (SVMA), “Cenote de Sueños: The Art of Juana Alicia,” invites viewers into that liminal space. On view from Sept. 21 through Jan. 5, 2025, the exhibition offers an intimate look at the career of the celebrated artist known by her first name, Juana Alicia. The collection, which was created over 30 years in both the United States and Mexico, includes paintings, drawings, prints and an original artist-created book.

“Visitors will discover a body of work that is deeply informed by poetry, folklore traditions and a response to socio-ecological crises, all created through a feminist lens,” says Annee Booker Knight, exhibit manager at SVMA.

SVMA invites the public to celebrate the opening of “Cenote de Sueños” on Saturday, Sept. 21, from 5-7pm. Admission is free for museum members and $10 for non-members, but pre-registration is required. The registration deadline is Sept. 20 at 5pm, and space is limited. 

This event offers attendees the opportunity to meet the artist, curator and other artists while also having the first look at the exhibition. “The opening reception is a festive event that will be attended by many of Juana Alicia’s supporters and artist colleagues,” says Booker Knight. 

Those colleagues include poet Leticia Hernández-Linares, who will open the exhibit with a spoken word performance, and “digestible satire” from The Great Tortilla Conspiracy, a tortilla art collective that will provide edible tortillas featuring a unique print of Juana Alicia’s art for guests to enjoy.

Juana Alicia’s art is visually captivating and invites deeper contemplation of themes of social justice, gender equity, environmental crisis and revolution. 

“My work as an artist has frequently been inspired by literature, especially poetry,” she says. “The voices of the women have often moved me to make images. I work for the future, for my children and grandchildren and theirs.”

A professor at numerous institutions, including the University of California at Davis and Santa Cruz, San Francisco State University and Stanford University, Juana Alicia is now retired from academia and divides her time between her studios in Berkeley and Mérida, Yucatán. She’s been the recipient of a Fulbright fellowship, a Windcall residency, Master Muralist Award (Precita Eyes), Woman of Fire Award and San Francisco Art Commission Golden Capricorn Award, among other recognitions. 

While Juana Alicia is renowned for her large-scale murals that breathe life into public spaces, the “Cenote de Sueños” exhibition highlights her artistic talents beyond murals, presenting her as a true interdisciplinary artist. One of the standout pieces in the exhibit is her most recent project, La X’tabay: The Book of Books (2024), a collaborative work with author Tirso González Araiza. The graphic novel is an illustrated retelling of the ancient Mayan legend of X’tabay, a mythic figure often depicted as both seductive and dangerous.

“My partner, Tirso G. Araiza, has reinterpreted the story as a contemporary, eco-feminist tale of the struggle between modern ‘civilization’ and nature, between men and women, between religion and Indigenous tradition, between reason and dream,” she explains.

With scratchboard illustrations, she brings the legend of X’tabay to life. The story’s connection to nature and the feminine serves as an ideal subject for an artist who often explores the relationship between humans and the natural world and the ways in which women’s bodies and lives are politicized.

While this exhibition focuses on her fine art, Juana Alicia’s legacy as a muralist is inescapable. Over the past four decades, she has completed a number of high-profile public art commissions.

“I use murals and printmaking to make the images accessible to a wide public: to the folks in the streets, at demonstrations or just going about their lives, struggling, loving, suffering, rejoicing,” she says. “You’ll be walking down the street and pow! A building becomes a song, a film on walls, an alternative vision to the commercialism bombarding us from billboards to our telephones.” 

Among her most recognized works is Maestrapeace, the iconic mural at the San Francisco Women’s Building and a collaboration with six other women, which has become a cultural landmark in the city. Another significant public work is Sanctuary at San Francisco International Airport, which reflects Juana Alicia’s engagement with issues of immigration, human rights and environmental justice. In this work, she explores the concept of sanctuary—both as a physical space and as a metaphor for safety, belonging and resistance. 

“Cenote de Sueños” is guest curated by Marco Antonio Flores, an accomplished curator and scholar whose work focuses on contemporary Latin American art. Flores is a doctoral candidate in the department of art and art history at Stanford University and brings a deep understanding of Juana Alicia’s work and its cultural significance. He is interested in art’s connection to literature and poetry, and his vision for the exhibition highlights the ways in which Juana Alicia’s work inhabits the spaces between the personal and the political, the local and the global, and the traditional and the contemporary.

Juana Alicia’s work is visionary on multiple levels, literally with its imagery and also in its engagement with complex issues, including climate change and Indigenous rights. Her art challenges viewers to confront systems of power and oppression while offering a vision of hope.

“Our intersectional movements must come together, creatively, politically, spiritually, for the very survival of the planet,” she says. “As artists, we can remove structures of oppression from our collective imagination and replace them with visions that celebrate our autonomy and power.”

Sonoma Valley Museum of Art (SVMA) 

551 Broadway, half a block from Sonoma’s historic Plaza

Open Wednesday through Sunday from 11am to 5pm 

Admission is $10 for general visitors, with free entry for members and individuals 18 and under. Wednesday admission is always free. 

For more information, visit svma.org or call 707.939.SVMA.