In this Episode of Art is Awesome, Host Emily Wilson spends time with Oakland based Painter Héctor Muñoz-Guzmán.
Welcome to Art is Awesome, the show where we talk with an artist or art worker with a connection to the San Francisco Bay Area.
Today, Emily features a conversation with Oakland based painter Héctor Muñoz-Guzmán. Hector discusses his life and artistic journey, including his upbringing in Berkeley, education at Parsons School of Design and Rhode Island School of Design, and the challenges he faced with his health. He shares insights into his artwork, including his first solo show 'Tocando Tierra' in Los Angeles, which represents men in his life and himself at different stages. Hector also talks about his experiences teaching at Creative Growth in Oakland, working on a mural with artist William Scott at SFMOMA, and his forthcoming studies in the MFA program at UC Berkeley. The episode highlights Hector's deep connection to his culture and community, and how these influences shape his artwork.
About Artist Héctor Muñoz-Guzmán:
Hector spent his foundation year at The Parsons School of Design and a year in The Rhode Island School of Design’s painting department. He was a finalist for the Tournesol Award at The Headlands Art Center and has received the Berkeley Individual Artist Grant. His work has been exhibited at Fall River MoCA, Bureau Gallery, Movimiento De Arte y Cultura Latino Americana (MACLA), Good Mother Studio, and Part 2 Gallery. He published an art book with Sming Sming Books. He works as an artist instructor for William E. Scott. He currently lives in Oakland, CA.
Héctor’s work has been published in Juxtapoz, 48 Hills, Mousse Magazine and Graphite Journal “POCKET” at the Hammer Museum.
To learn more about and purchase his book, Brown Eyes From Russell Street, CLICK HERE.
For more about his exhibit in Los Angeles, Tocando Tierra, CLICK HERE.
Follow on Instagram: @HectorFMunoz
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About Podcast Host Emily Wilson:
Emily a writer in San Francisco, with work in outlets including Hyperallergic, Artforum, 48 Hills, the Daily Beast, California Magazine, Latino USA, and Women’s Media Center. She often writes about the arts. For years, she taught adults getting their high school diplomas at City College of San Francisco.
Follow Emily on Instagram: @PureEWil
Follow Art Is Awesome on Instagram: @ArtIsAwesome_Podcast
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CREDITS:
Art Is Awesome is Hosted, Created & Executive Produced by Emily Wilson.
Theme Music "Loopster" Courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
The Podcast is Co-Produced, Developed & Edited by Charlene Goto of @GoToProductions.
For more info, visit Go-ToProductions.com
2024-0618 - AIA - EP028 - Hector Munoz Guzman
Host Emily Wilson: [00:00:00] Art is Awesome can now be heard on KSFP 102. 5 FM every Friday at 9 a. m. and 7 p. m. Please follow the show and rate us wherever you get your podcast media. If you like what you hear from today's artist, you can find links and information about them in our show notes.
Artist Hector Munoz-Guzman: I wanted to honor his life. And just like his open thinking, you know, the things that he cares about in life. I think I see him as a protector of his culture, predator of his family, of his history. And I wanted to make this like grand painting of him.
Host Emily Wilson: That was painter Hector Munoz Guzman on this week's episode of Art is Awesome.
I'm your host, Emily Wilson. I'm a writer in San Francisco, often covering the arts. [00:01:00] And I've been meeting such great people. That I created this bi weekly podcast to highlight their work.
Painter Hector Munoz Guzman grew up in Berkeley. Now he teaches at Creative Growth in Oakland, working with artist William Scott, who has a mural at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Last year, Sming Sming Books published Hector's book, Brown Eyes on Russell Street, and currently he has his first solo show at Room 3557 in Los Angeles.
Hector went to the Parsons School of Design in New York, and then the Rhode Island School of Design. But he got sick and had to drop out. This fall he will start at the UC Berkeley's department of art practice to get his MFA. We met at Hector's apartment where he [00:02:00] does his painting. He told me about his show in LA, which represents men in his life and himself at different stages, how he and William Scott have similar approaches to their work and about our teachers he's had both in Berkeley Public Schools and in Mexico. The name of his show comes from something a family member would say to him.
Artist Hector Munoz-Guzman: We decided to name it Tocando Tierra and it's a saying that my, one of my uncles would always tell me that it basically means like when, when you are so low on the ground, like so low in your life that it grounds you because you're so low to the earth and like that kind of makes you realize like all the good things that you have in your life.
It really just stuck to me when he said that.
Host Emily Wilson: This is Hector's first solo show, and it's all work he hasn't shown before. It's only been on his Instagram and in his book, Brown Eyes on Russell Street.
Artist Hector Munoz-Guzman: I'm showing collages, small drawings, and large scale paintings. So [00:03:00] it's kind of a mixture of all of them.
And we, the gallery decided on showing works that depict different men in my life and different versions of myself.
Host Emily Wilson: Hector shows me a photo of a painting that's in the show. It's his uncle wearing a white baseball suit with an ace hat, and there's green corn and a red Che Guevara flag, so the painting has the colors of the Mexican flag.
Artist Hector Munoz-Guzman: It's one of the biggest paintings I've done. It's called South Berkeley Guerrero, and I wanted to honor his life. And just like his open thinking, you know, about the Zapatista movement and about, you know, the things that he cares about in life. I think I see him as a protector of his culture, a protector of his family, of his history, and I wanted to make this like grand painting of him.
Host Emily Wilson: As a kid, Hector had teachers who encouraged him. One was Kimberly D'Adamo at Berkeley High School.
Artist Hector Munoz-Guzman: I painted as a kid. I had trouble when in [00:04:00] elementary school reading and writing because Spanish was my first language. So I think I gravitated towards art because it just came natural to me.
And I had a really good elementary school art teachers and also middle school and also high school art teachers that really just pushed me to keep going in high school. I always mentioned in my interviews. I took IB Studio Art. My teacher, Miss O'Donnell, really pushed me to become a painter. That time in my life, I was doing a lot of digital artwork, a lot of illustrations, but she really pushed me and wanted me to be a painter.
And I was hesitant at first because of the cost, but then I ended up going to college and majoring in painting, and that's my main medium now.
Host Emily Wilson: When he graduated from Berkeley High, Hector went to the Parsons School of Design in New York. But he started visiting a friend at the Rhode Island School of Design every month.
I like really fell in love with the environment and how German people are and like their painting program, it really interests me, their painting program. So when I transferred, I only applied to RISD for, and then I, Luckily got in, and then I did a summer [00:05:00] program to fully get me in, and then I was still in illustration for the first semester, and then I finally transferred to the painting department, but then I, you know, I got sick, and then I had to leave.
Host Emily WilsonHector writes about that in his book- he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder
Artist Hector Munoz-Guzman: I basically was on my own ever since I left my house and day by day, just like surviving, like, like I had to get so much stuff for so much, so much material for a class, but I just would not have the money for it. Or like, I was under so much stress. I couldn't go back home for like the, um, for all the breaks.I was just like really under a lot of stress.
Host Emily Wilson: Hector moved back to Berkeley. He was on heavy medication and for the first time in his life couldn't make art. He decided to go live with family in Mexico for a while. A doctor there lowered his medication.
Artist Hector Munoz-Guzman: I started back on my digital work and then my family told me about a free school called La Casa de la Cultura, where there's painting classes, there's dance classes, and it's just like right in the center of this [00:06:00] small town that I lived in.
It was just really eye opening. He was the first, you know, Mexican professor that I had and Painting professor at that, you know, so it was really eye opening and he was really well known in our city and it was also free. So it was just like a really, it was interesting just to kind of, it was so different from like going to RISD or um, going to Parson.
Host Emily Wilson: Hector felt very comfortable in that class.
Artist Hector Munoz-Guzman: I think it was different because one, it was someone that like could really give me a really honest critique about my work and really understand where I was coming from in a sense. And also because it was also community based. Um Living in Mexico made me realize like who I'm making artwork for and like where I come from, you know And it was just really I feel like for a long time as when I was younger I was trying to run away from that because I was ashamed of like, you know just where I come from, you know coming and being in like all white spaces was kind of Kind of made me feel like that, but like being back there made me feel like, Oh, this is like who I am.
This is my people. Like, this is why I want to make art. And it [00:07:00] was after that I had to, had to leave Mexico, but like the time I spent with him was really special.
Host Emily Wilson: When he came back to California, Hector looked for jobs. One was a substitute teacher at Creative Growth in Oakland, an arts program for people with disabilities.
Artist Hector Munoz-Guzman: I was teaching a class at the Richmond Art Center and I was also art handling at Southern Exposure. And also working at a restaurant because everything was just like one day. I just was determined, like, I want to work here. Like when I was there, I really, I love the atmosphere. I love the artists. And I just, I just love being there.
Host Emily Wilson: Hector was asked to work with artist William Scott on his mural, Praise Frisco, Peace and Love in the City, which is in a Creative Growth show now at SFMOMA.
Artist Hector Munoz-Guzman: It felt like an honor for, you know, Tom to go to me and ask me to be part of that project because I have never done a mural before. I mean, the biggest painting I've done is like 20 feet, but it was on canvas.
I don't really have experience with murals, but I think something that I do have [00:08:00] was working with William and knowing how he works and how to best support his practice and, you know, making sure he's able to reach his goals and finish his projects. And it was just an amazing experience. We didn't paint the mural at Creative Growth.
We got a, uh, a separate space around the corner. Um, it was just me and him for most of the time, and we would just play his, uh, his You know, sixties and seventies soul music and just like have a really good time.
Host Emily Wilson: Hector says he and William work well together.
Artist Hector Munoz-Guzman: I feel like there's a lot of similarities in our practices. Like we both pay homage to like where we come from, our neighborhoods, our cultures and our families. And we're also both figurative painters. So there's a lot of overlap. And even before I knew him, the way he paints, like we both layer in our paintings with acrylic. It's like very similar.
Host Emily Wilson: Doing touch ups on the mural at SFMOMA before the show opened was exciting.
Artist Hector Munoz-Guzman: William does great with interviews, with performances, you know, he's really, he's great for the, like, in the public. So he [00:09:00] was having a wonderful time just painting while people were taking photos, asking questions, like, Who is this? Like, what are you doing? And like, I also, that was like a really fun thing to do, you know, like, we're painting a mural and like, For me, like, in the next room over, there's like my favorite Diego Rivera painting, you know, so I think that was like super cool.
Host Emily Wilson: Hector says he got a lot out of his time at RISD, and this coming fall, he's excited to go back to school. Hector got accepted to the MFA program at UC Berkeley, which is free if you get in.
Artist Hector Munoz-Guzman: I think something about Berkeley is, like, that school and that city has always just been special to my family.
You know, my family immigrated to Berkeley in the 90s, and I grew up as with UC Berkeley as being like my playground, you know, and like a lot of my family and they still do like work around UC Berkeley and like work for UC Berkeley as like, you know, as workers there. So it was just, it felt good that like, I've, I moved away from Berkeley, like learned about a lot about myself and now I'm back at Berkeley and UC [00:10:00] Berkeley to just, you know, master, like my craft
Host Emily Wilson: for the first time, Hector will be able to just focus on his art.
Artist Hector Munoz-Guzman: And I've never been a full time artist. I've always had to work to sustain myself in like art has always really been a second. So it's going to be, it's going to be great to have, um, support, financial and also like a new space and just people that I could ask questions for and just, you know, grow as an artist.
Host Emily Wilson: This is Three Questions, the part of the show where I ask the same three questions to get to know the person a little better. The questions are, when did you know you were an artist? What's some work that's made an impact on you? And what's the most creatively inspiring place in the Bay Area?
Artist Hector Munoz-Guzman: I knew I was an artist since I was in elementary school. I always remember my [00:11:00] elementary school art teacher. He dubbed me a studio artist. He would let me use all the fancy materials. He would, and he would also give me critiques on my work as a fifth grader. So ever since then, like I just knew like, okay, I'm an artist.
This is like what I'm going to do.
One of the biggest works that's always made an impact on me. And I've even made like a version of it myself is a Cagado de Flores, flower carrier. And that's a mama, like Of that day or year I made, like I've always gravitated towards that painting ever since I saw it for the first time. And I could show you like my version of it too, um, as it's always been like one of my favorite paintings.
For me, the most creatively inspiring place has to be South Berkeley. Most of my work starts in South Berkeley or has some homage to South Berkeley. So like for me, that's like my Mecca, you know, South Berkeley.
Host Emily Wilson: Thank you for listening to Art is [00:12:00] Awesome. And thanks to our guests. Hector Munoz Guzman. For people in Los Angeles, you can go see his first solo show, Tocanda Tierra, at room 3557 through July 5th. Please follow the show and join us next time when we'll talk to printmaker and sculptor, Alison Saar, whose work focuses on the African diaspora.
Saar did the original artwork for San Francisco Arion Press's new release of Octavio Butler's classic science fiction novel, Kindred.
Art is Awesome is a bi weekly podcast coming out every other Tuesday. It's created and hosted by me, Emily Wilson. It is produced and edited by Charlene Gotu of Gotu Productions. It's carried on KSFP [00:13:00] LP 102. 5 FM, San Francisco on Fridays at 9 a. m. and 7 p. m. Our theme music is provided by Kevin MacLeod with Incompetech Music.
Be sure and follow us on Instagram at artisawesomepodcast or visit our website. Till next [00:14:00]time.