Artist Archives - Page 23 of 40 - Alliance for California Traditional Arts

Paul Cason is an artist, community leader, and speaker of the Northwestern (Konkow) Maidu language. Paul’s dedication to the art, culture, and community of this language is unwavering. He understands that for Maidu art to be fully cherished, it must be experience through the Maidu mindset, language, and worldview. Paul…

Claudia Lyra has brought Brazilian culture to others since she moved to US in 2003. Claudia trained in Brazil in capoeira (a Brazilian art form that can be practiced as a martial art or a dance, and its accompanying music). Claudia is also an accomplished percussionist, studying traditional Brazilian percussion…

The batá is a sacred drum tradition originating among the Yoruba people of West Africa and brought to the New World during the slave trade era. Female in nature, the three two-headed drums played by three men activate a sacred language that communicates with the spirit world of the Orisha (or…

Congolese Ngoma, Drumming

Kalenda (African stick dance/fight ritual)

The art of kumidaiko—ensemble drumming with the taiko, a traditional Japanese drum—was developed in post-World War II Japan in the 1950’s. Kumidaiko came to America in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, entering through the Japanese American communities of San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Jose. Hiroyuki “Jimi” Nakagawa has…

Deshilado (des-ē-lah’-do), or Mexican openwork embroidery, is traditionally used on household items such as tablecloths, napkins, and linens. Openwork embroidery is the art of removing threads from a fabric to create a design over which embroidery is made. Patricia Zavala de Arias learned deshilado from her mother in her hometown…

The Chicano mural movement began in the 1960s in Mexican-American barrios throughout the Southwest. Artists began using the walls of city buildings, housing projects, schools, and churches to depict Mexican-American culture. Chicano muralism has been linked to pre-Columbian peoples of the Americas, who recorded their rituals and history on the…

Afro-Latin percussion refers to percussive instruments, traditions, rhythms, dances, and musical forms that have given voice, identity, and much inspiration to urban communities across the Americas. In specific countries and regions, local percussive/musical traditions are learned in tandem with the Afro-Cuban, Afro-Caribbean traditions that have come to represent…

Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is a Mexican celebration with indigenous and Catholic roots. Observed on November 1 and 2 each year, the holiday honors deceased friends and family. Traditions connected with the holiday include building private altars (ofrendas) honoring the deceased using sugar skulls, marigolds, and…