Tina Fuentes (artist)
{{short description|American artist (born 1949)}}
{{Infobox artist
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| name = Tina Fuentes
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| birth_date = 1949
| birth_place =San Angelo, Texas
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| nationality = American
| education = Tamarind Institute
| alma_mater = North Texas State University
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Tina Fuentes (born 1949) is an American artist known for her aggressive, bold contemporary paintings.{{Cite book |last=Hopper |first=Kippra D. |title=Art of West Texas Women: A Celebration |last2=Churchill |first2=Laurie J. |publisher=Texas Tech University Press |year=2010 |isbn=9780896726697 |location=Lubbock, Texas |pages=[https://archive.org/details/artofwesttexaswo00hopp/page/2 2–11] |language=en |chapter=The Art of Tina Fuentes |oclc=456729362 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/artofwesttexaswo00hopp/page/2 |via=Internet Archive}} She is Latina and lives and works in West Texas. She is currently a professor in the [http://www.depts.ttu.edu/art/ School of Art at Texas Tech University] where she was the creator of the annual undergraduate show.{{Cite web |title=Tina Fuentes (MFA) |url=http://www.depts.ttu.edu/art/soa/nav/faculty/faculty/Fuentes,%20Tina/fuentes.php |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160630083419/http://www.depts.ttu.edu/art/soa/nav/faculty/faculty/Fuentes,%20Tina/fuentes.php |archive-date=30 June 2016 |access-date=10 March 2015 |website=Texas Tech University School of Art}} Her art studio is in Lubbock, Texas. Fuentes was named one of the top 100 most influential people in Lubbock, Texas in 2008.{{Cite news |date=9 March 2008 |title=The City's Most Influential People |work=Lubbock Avalanche-Journal |url=http://lubbockonline.com/stories/030908/loc_255257382.shtml#.VP-B6OFcosI |url-status=dead |access-date=10 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150304203414/http://lubbockonline.com/stories/030908/loc_255257382.shtml#.VP-B6OFcosI |archive-date=4 March 2015}} Fuentes helped organize first annual Dia de los Muertos procession in Lubbock in the late 1990s.{{Cite news |last=Humphries |first=Toshia |date=29 October 2009 |title=Day of the Dead: Annual Dia de los Muertos Procession Returns this Weekend |work=Lubbock Avalanche-Journal |url=http://lubbockonline.com/stories/102909/fea_510437846.shtml#.VP-Cc-FcosI |url-status=dead |access-date=10 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160916191041/http://lubbockonline.com/stories/102909/fea_510437846.shtml#.V9xDs3bP32d |archive-date=16 September 2016}}
Early life and education
Fuentes was born in San Angelo, Texas. She was raised in Odessa, Texas.{{Cite web |last=Fuentes |first=Tina |title=Tina Fuentes Biography and Artist Statement |url=http://www.tinafuentes.com/about.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220516034003/http://www.tinafuentes.com/about.html |archive-date=16 May 2022 |access-date=10 March 2015 |website=Tina Fuentes}} She began her study of art at Odessa College. She received her BFA and MFA at North Texas State University.{{Cite web |title=Biography [of Tina Fuentes] |url=http://www.lewallencontemporary.com/bio.php?artistId=1020 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304061250/http://www.lewallencontemporary.com/bio.php?artistId=1020 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |access-date=10 March 2015 |website=LewAllen Galleries}} During her time in New Mexico, Fuentes attended and trained at the Tamarind Institute.{{Cite web |title=Tina Fuentes - La Fruita de mi Vida, 2009 |url=http://serieproject.org/product/tina-fuentes/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20150311051155/http://serieproject.org/product/tina-fuentes/ |archive-date=11 March 2015 |access-date=10 March 2015 |website=Serie Project}} Fuentes designed her own home, basing it on native adobe architecture.
Career and Art
Fuentes taught art in Albuquerque, New Mexico for about 15 years.{{Cite news |last=Roach |first=Colleen |date=26 November 2006 |title=Adobe, Art and Space Merge When Painter Designs Her Home |work=Lubbock Avalanche-Journal |url=http://lubbockonline.com/stories/112606/ent_112606038.shtml#.VP-BCeFcosI |url-status=dead |access-date=10 March 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160830051108/http://lubbockonline.com/stories/112606/ent_112606038.shtml#.V8UVb3bP32d |archive-date=30 August 2016}} Over the years, she has taught in Texas Public Schools, the Waco Art Center and at the University of Albuquerque and the University of New Mexico.{{Cite news |date=8 August 2013 |title=Casper's NIC hosts Frutas de mi vida |work=Casper Star Tribune |url=http://trib.com/weekender/art/casper-s-nic-hosts-frutas-de-mi-vida/article_c3678f92-d6c9-54e2-8e99-2eccb6fe38d2.html |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |access-date=7 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231208022540/http://trib.com/weekender/art/casper-s-nic-hosts-frutas-de-mi-vida/article_c3678f92-d6c9-54e2-8e99-2eccb6fe38d2.html |archive-date=8 December 2023}} Fuentes now resides in Lubbock, TX and works at Texas Tech University's School of Art as a professor of painting in the studio art department.{{Cite web |title=Tina Fuentes - M.F.A., University of North Texas - Professor Emerita, Painting |url=https://www.depts.ttu.edu/art/About/faculty/Tfuentes.php |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210617172906/https://www.depts.ttu.edu/art/About/faculty/Tfuentes.php |archive-date=17 June 2021 |access-date=24 March 2018 |website=School of Art - Texas Tech University |language=en-us}}
Since 2014, Fuentes has been collaborating with Eric Bruning, an associate professor of atmospheric science at Texas Tech, on a five-year interdisciplinary initiative on severe weather funded by a CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation.{{Cite web |last=Post |first=Sally Logue |date=Spring 2017 |title=Abstract Art Meets Atmospheric Science |url=https://www.depts.ttu.edu/research/discoveries/posts/Spring-2017/art-atmospheric-science.php |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230723150832/https://www.depts.ttu.edu/research/discoveries/posts/Spring-2017/art-atmospheric-science.php |archive-date=23 July 2023 |access-date=24 March 2018 |website=Texas Tech University |language=en-us}} The collaboration resulted in two large exhibitions in late 2017, [https://www.depts.ttu.edu/museumttu/exhibitions/2017/Marcando.php Marcando el relampago] at the Museum of Texas Tech University and Nubes tan negras at the [http://lhuca.org/ Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts].{{Cite web |last=Dean |first=Hannah |date=13 December 2017 |title=Tina Fuentes at LHUCA and Texas Tech |url=http://glasstire.com/2017/12/13/tina-fuentes-at-lhuca-and-texas-tech/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230723150836/http://glasstire.com/2017/12/13/tina-fuentes-at-lhuca-and-texas-tech/ |archive-date=23 July 2023 |access-date=2018-03-24 |website=Glasstire |language=en-US}}
For many years, Fuentes limited her palette to black and white. Her art, over a 30-year period, has explored the boundaries of both abstract and representational art.{{Cite web|url = http://artgroupsdfw.com/nucleus/index.php/index.php?itemid=1951|archive-url = https://archive.today/20150311051156/http://artgroupsdfw.com/nucleus/index.php/index.php?itemid=1951|url-status = usurped|archive-date = 11 March 2015|title = Maetros Tejanos Honors Tina Fuentes|date = 1 September 2009|access-date = 10 March 2015|website = Art News DFW Archive}} Deconstructing everyday objects has also become an important part of her work.{{Cite news |last=Goddard |first=Dan R. |date=25 February 2014 |title=Creative, Experimental and Traditional Talent at 'Texas Draws III' |work=San Antonio Current |url=http://www.sacurrent.com/sanantonio/creative-experimental-and-traditional-talent-at-texas-draws-iii/Content?oid=2250593 |url-status=live |access-date=29 April 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210622150926/http://www.sacurrent.com/sanantonio/creative-experimental-and-traditional-talent-at-texas-draws-iii/Content?oid=2250593 |archive-date=22 June 2021}} Fuentes herself describes her work as "non-objective or abstract," but also as "biographies and self-portraits." She sees her art as revealing who she is and how she has developed and grown as a person.
References
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