Carmen Lomas Garza was born in Kingsville, Texas in 1948. When she was growing up Kingsville was a small, close-knit community near the Mexico-United States border. Most of the families in her community were Mexican-American like her family and were bilingual, speaking English and Spanish.
Carmen Lomas Garza decided she wanted to become an artist when she was 13 years old. She had seen her mother painting tablas (picture cards) for loteria (a Mexican game like bingo) when she was 8 years old and knew she loved art. She also learned how to make papel picado (traditional Mexican cut-paper art) as a child from her grandmother. As soon as she knew she wanted to be an artist, she began practicing her drawing and studying all about art.
When Carmen and her older brother first started going to school, they were often punished for speaking Spanish at school. The Mexican-American children were also made fun of by other students who were different from them and didn't understand their language, food and culture. Even in high school, Carmen and her friends were still not allowed to speak Spanish at school--they were hit with a paddle as punishment if they did. She felt very sad and confused about who she was when she graduated high school.
After she finished high school, Carmen Lomas Garza studied art in college for many years and earned three college art degrees from Texas A&M University, Juarez-Lincoln Graduate School, and San Francisco State University. When she was in college, Carmen Lomas Garza become an activist for the Chicano Movement which, like the Civil Rights Movement for African-Americans, worked for civil rights and better treatment of Mexican-Americans. She used her art to tell the stories of Mexican-Americans. She learned to be very proud of her culture and decided to use her artwork to teach others about it. Carmen Lomas Garza is still making art and lives in San Francisco, California.
Carmen Lomas Garza decided she wanted to become an artist when she was 13 years old. She had seen her mother painting tablas (picture cards) for loteria (a Mexican game like bingo) when she was 8 years old and knew she loved art. She also learned how to make papel picado (traditional Mexican cut-paper art) as a child from her grandmother. As soon as she knew she wanted to be an artist, she began practicing her drawing and studying all about art.
When Carmen and her older brother first started going to school, they were often punished for speaking Spanish at school. The Mexican-American children were also made fun of by other students who were different from them and didn't understand their language, food and culture. Even in high school, Carmen and her friends were still not allowed to speak Spanish at school--they were hit with a paddle as punishment if they did. She felt very sad and confused about who she was when she graduated high school.
After she finished high school, Carmen Lomas Garza studied art in college for many years and earned three college art degrees from Texas A&M University, Juarez-Lincoln Graduate School, and San Francisco State University. When she was in college, Carmen Lomas Garza become an activist for the Chicano Movement which, like the Civil Rights Movement for African-Americans, worked for civil rights and better treatment of Mexican-Americans. She used her art to tell the stories of Mexican-Americans. She learned to be very proud of her culture and decided to use her artwork to teach others about it. Carmen Lomas Garza is still making art and lives in San Francisco, California.