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Pilar Agüero-Esparza (b. 1966) is a Mexican-American painter, sculptor, and art educator. She is known for her works, particularly in mixed media, focusing on issues of skin tone, identity, labor, and domesticity^[1] ^[2].

Biography

Pilar Agüero-Esparza was born in Los Angeles and grew up in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of East L.A^[1]. She credits her parents’ shoe shop for exposing her to the “potential and richness of materials” that informs much of her work^[1]. After receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in art from the University of California, Santa Cruz, Agüero-Esparza went on to earn a Master of Fine Arts in spatial art from San Jose State University^[2]. Since the 1990s, she has been an active artist throughout the San Francisco Bay Area in particular, contributing works to exhibitions at the deYoung Museum in San Francisco and Triton Museum of Art at the Yerba Buena Arts Center in Santa Clara^[3]^[4]. Her work explores themes of labor, domesticity, and representations of color in pieces that incorporate materials such as “skin-tone” crayons and woven leather^[4]. An educator and arts administrator, Agüero-Esparza states that she wishes to use her education and experience to help developing artists find their voices and navigate the artistic world^[5].

Selected artwork

Homework House

Agüero-Esparza was inspired by everyday objects like her daughter’s homework^[4]. She says, “I started collecting the papers. I [thought], ‘Is this right, having these little kids do all this rote work? Are we doing them a disservice?’”^[4]. Agüero-Esparza sewed the papers into a quilt in the shape of a house, creating her 2009 installation piece “Homework House.”

Multicultural Crayons

Questioning the issues of “ownership” that arose from the release of a box of “skin-tone” crayons, Agüero-Esparza melted down these crayons and cast the feet of her daughter, then age ten, in different colors^[6]. The resulting series of cast feet became the 2010 installation “Multicultural Crayons.”

Stratum / Merging

Agüero-Esparza made this piece, as part of a 2019 Richmond Art Center exhibition exploring “the interchange of ideas and material, the crisscrossing of bodies and objects, and the weaving of histories and personal narratives”^[7]. A wooden board is painted in acrylic with “skin-tone” colored lines, then merged with a woven square of leather strips in similar hues.

External links

· Interview: "Stories from La Sala: Pilar Agüero." MACLA, 2020. https://vimeo.com/417316683

· Interview: "Artist Spotlight: Pilar Agüero." San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles, 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1ww8BSXuNc

· Interview: "Pilar Agüero-Esparza on Navigating Culture and Identity." MACLA, 2016. https://vimeo.com/182444935

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "Feel like you're seeing the humble huarache everywhere? You're right". Los Angeles Times. 2020-12-11. Retrieved 2021-12-04.
^ ^a ^b "Pilar Agüero-Esparza". Retrieved 2021-12-04.
^ "Community Conversations: Unpaid Labor + Art Exhibitions, Education, Art, Innovation, History, Bay Area, Los Gatos". NUMU. Retrieved 2021-12-04.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Pilar Agüero-Esparza is an artist, teacher, and mother who explores themes of labor and domesticity". Creative Exchange. 2016-07-22. Retrieved 2021-12-04.
^ "Pilar Agüero-Esparza - MACLA". Retrieved 2021-12-04.
^ "San Jose's MACLA engages a multicultural community". Knight Foundation. Retrieved 2021-12-04.
^ "Over and Under". Richmond Art Center. Retrieved 2021-12-04.

1. ^ https://www.latimes.com/lifestyle/story/2020-12-11/huaraches-shoe-design-espiritu

2. ^ https://www.svlaureates.org/artist/pilar-aguero-esparza/

3. ^https://www.numulosgatos.org/events/2021/6/24-community-conversations-unpaid-labor-art

4. ^https://springboardexchange.org/pilaragueroesparza/

5. ^ https://maclaarte.org/pilar-aguero-esparza/

6. ^ https://knightfoundation.org/articles/san-joses-macla-engages-multicultural-community/

7. ^ https://richmondartcenter.org/exhibitions/over-and-under/

[:0-1] "Feel like you're seeing the humble huarache everywhere? You're right". Los Angeles Times. 2020-12-11. Retrieved 2021-12-04.

[:1-2] "Pilar Agüero-Esparza". Retrieved 2021-12-04.

[3] "Community Conversations: Unpaid Labor + Art Exhibitions, Education, Art, Innovation, History, Bay Area, Los Gatos". NUMU. Retrieved 2021-12-04.

[:2-4] "Pilar Agüero-Esparza is an artist, teacher, and mother who explores themes of labor and domesticity". Creative Exchange. 2016-07-22. Retrieved 2021-12-04.

[5] "Pilar Agüero-Esparza - MACLA". Retrieved 2021-12-04.

[6] "San Jose's MACLA engages a multicultural community". Knight Foundation. Retrieved 2021-12-04.

[7] "Over and Under". Richmond Art Center. Retrieved 2021-12-04.

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@@ Line 6: / Line 6: @@
 == Selected artwork ==
-=== ·        Homework House, (2009) ===
+==== ''Homework House'' ====
-Agüero-Esparza was inspired by everyday objects like her daughter’s homework<ref name=":2" />. She says, “I started collecting the papers. I [thought], ‘Is this right, having these little kids do all this rote work? Are we doing them a disservice?’”<ref name=":2" />. Agüero-Esparza sewed the papers into a quilt in the shape of a house, creating her installation piece “Homework House.”
+Agüero-Esparza was inspired by everyday objects like her daughter’s homework<ref name=":2" />. She says, “I started collecting the papers. I [thought], ‘Is this right, having these little kids do all this rote work? Are we doing them a disservice?’”<ref name=":2" />. Agüero-Esparza sewed the papers into a quilt in the shape of a house, creating her 2009 installation piece “Homework House.”
-=== ·        Multicultural Crayons, (2010) ===
+==== ''Multicultural Crayons'' ====
-Questioning the issues of “ownership” that arose from the release of a box of “skin-tone” crayons, Agüero-Esparza melted down these crayons and cast the feet of her daughter, then age ten, in different colors<ref>{{Cite web|title=San Jose’s MACLA engages a multicultural community|url=https://knightfoundation.org/articles/san-joses-macla-engages-multicultural-community/|access-date=2021-12-04|website=Knight Foundation|language=en-US}}</ref>. The resulting series of cast feet became the installation “Multicultural Crayons.”
+Questioning the issues of “ownership” that arose from the release of a box of “skin-tone” crayons, Agüero-Esparza melted down these crayons and cast the feet of her daughter, then age ten, in different colors<ref>{{Cite web|title=San Jose’s MACLA engages a multicultural community|url=https://knightfoundation.org/articles/san-joses-macla-engages-multicultural-community/|access-date=2021-12-04|website=Knight Foundation|language=en-US}}</ref>. The resulting series of cast feet became the 2010 installation “Multicultural Crayons.”
-=== ·        Stratum / Merging, (2019) ===
+==== ''Stratum / Merging'' ====
-Agüero-Esparza made this piece, a board painted in acrylic with “skin-tone” colored lines merged with a woven square of leather strips in similar hues, as part of an installation exploring “the interchange of ideas and material, the crisscrossing of bodies and objects, and the weaving of histories and personal narratives” at Richmond Art Center<ref>{{Cite web|title=Over and Under|url=https://richmondartcenter.org/exhibitions/over-and-under/|access-date=2021-12-04|website=Richmond Art Center|language=en-US}}</ref>.
+Agüero-Esparza made this piece, as part of a 2019 Richmond Art Center exhibition exploring “the interchange of ideas and material, the crisscrossing of bodies and objects, and the weaving of histories and personal narratives”<ref>{{Cite web|title=Over and Under|url=https://richmondartcenter.org/exhibitions/over-and-under/|access-date=2021-12-04|website=Richmond Art Center|language=en-US}}</ref>. A wooden board is painted in acrylic with “skin-tone” colored lines, then merged with a woven square of leather strips in similar hues.
 == Further reading ==