Over the past six years, Tavera has made regular trips to the U.S.-Mexico Border, photographing on both sides. In Frontera Liminal, he presents images of folk intercessors and shrines made to their saints. This new work explores spiritual practices that combine Indigenous religions of the region with Catholicism. Through images left behind at sites of veneration and in portraits of dancers who petition higher powers or ancestors on behalf of another, Tavera’s photographs speak to the history and overlapping cultures present along this geographic border and how they manifest in beliefs, practices, and lives.

Dougie Padilla’s monoprints and poetry explore his lifelong shamanistic and visionary experiences. He points to a quote from Modernist painter Piet Mondrian: “The role of the artist is humble. He is essentially a channel.” Many cultures believe that spiritual gifts are hereditary. The new work presented in Frontera Liminal includes Padilla’s search to find and converse with his great-grandmother Margarita Padilla Torres on the other side. Padilla writes:

“and just then something came to me,
something that i cannot talk about,
something that i cannot touch,
something came to me.

and that something walked past me,
walked right past me late at night.”

Tavera says, “Santos, curanderos and chamanes are a common fixture in Latin American and Latinx history, spirituality and health. The spiritual touches almost every aspect of Latina, Latino, Latinx existence: family, ancestors, nature, culture, we go to places and spaces where we can find spirituality, we consult with spiritual guides we perform rituals and ceremonies as part of our daily activities.”

“So often, contemporary art explores every aspect of human existence except for the religious and spiritual. Whether you ask for intercession from a higher power or not, Padilla and Tavera’s work sparks interesting conversations about the ways in which culture and spirituality intersect and cross each other. These works have layers of meaning. They ask viewers to look – and then look again” says Stephanie Rogers, Executive and Artistic Director of the Anderson Center.

Gallery Hours: 11am – 4pm, Wednesday - Saturday

Reception: September 8, 6-8pm featuring live music by Eric Julio Carranza

Exhibition Kick-Off | Mestizaje: Intermix-Remix

March 31, 2022, 6:00 – 7:00pm

350 Robert Street North
St. Paul, MN 55101 United States

Without seeking definitive conclusions or definitions, artists Marcela Rodríguez Aguilar, María José Castillo, Luis Fitch, Bobby Marines, Dougie Padilla, Maria Cristina Tavera, Xavier Tavera, and Vlocke Negro explore questions of ancestry and identity.

This exhibition, on view in the M’s public-facing windows and skyway entrance, is the first iteration of a long-term collaboration between the M and the art collective Grupo Soap del Corazón (art that cleanses the heart). Grupo Soap has been centering artistic expression of Latinidad in the Midwest for more than twenty years. The collective advances the work of local, national, and international Latino/a/x artists with the intention of inspiring political, economic, and racial justice through the doorways of art. Curated by Dougie Padilla and Xavier Tavera, founders of the artist collective Grupo Soap del Corazón.

https://plainsart.org/exhibitions/la-linea/

With a roster of over 95 established visual artists, poets, writers, musicians, activists and visionaries, Grupo Soap del Corazón, led by Dougie Padilla and Xavier Tavera, is one of the longest-running Latinx artist groups in the country. As a dynamic collaboration, they have infused culture, passion, and spirit into the northern plains and the USA’s art scene for more than 20 years. With work that sometimes confronts sociopolitical issues, or celebrates the joy of Día de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead), or provides much-needed human connection, Grupo Soap del Corazόn has generated both publicity and critical acclaim by electrifying the Latinx artistic voice. In 2009, the group created spectacle, wonder and celebration through the creation of steamroller prints at Plains Art Museum – an event that resulted in works in the Museum’s permanent collection.

La Línea: 22 Years of Grupo Soap del Corazón will be on display from February 24th – August 13th, 2022, to commemorate the diversity of expression and longevity of a group that has already brought forth exhibitions such as El Otro Americano, Frontera Lake Street, El Milagro, Gráfica Politica, Ni Una Mas (spotlight on the 370 plus disappeared and murdered women of Juarez, Mexico), and Espiritus. Exhibited works in the La Línea (The Line) includes new work by Camilo Eduardo Aguirre, Ricardo Bennett-Guzmán, Jim Denomie, Luis Fitch, Eric Garcia, Ruthann Godollei, Martin Esteban Gonzalez, Bobby Marines, Lela Pierce, Dougie Padilla, Marcela Rodriguez Aguilar (“Amaru”), Susana Andrea Villalobos Sakr, María Cristina Tavera, and Xavier Tavera. Plains Art Museum in Fargo, North Dakota is the first event scheduled for La Línea: 22 Years of Grupo Soap del Corazón, followed by exhibitions at the MMAA in St. Paul, MN, and the Anderson Center for the Arts in Red Wing, MN.

Homewood Studios Gallery exhibition

Opening reception – Friday, September 10 from 6pm to 9pm

“During the Covid year, local and well-known artist, dougie padilla, immersed himself in his studio, writing and drawing at a faster and more productive clip than his usual pace.”

About his work, padilla writes:

1) during the covid year I went dynamite creative nuts more than ever and painted and drew and wrote poems intensely and incessantly and obsessively about this quite insane and oft delightful world we live in, and 

2) this show of drawings and poems are just the tip of that iceberg.

ArtReach St. Croix, in partnership with guest curator William G. Franklin, is presenting Rituals, this summer’s Mobile Art Gallery exhibit.

“This atypical exhibit will be centered on the thought-provoking stories on the oddities of Minnesota- and Wisconsin-based artists and what their daily routines have been like during this past year. Accompanying the stories, artists will showcase objects of ritualistic significance in their lives.”

• OPENING PARTY on July 1st, 6-8pm at ArtReach St. Croix 

• Lake Elmo Park Reserve / July 2-4 / Friday 6-8pm / Saturday & Sunday 9am-4pm

• Afton State Park / July 9-11 / Friday 6-8pm / Saturday & Sunday 9am-4pm

• William O’Brien State Park / July 30-August 1 / Friday 6-8pm / Saturday & Sunday 9am-4pm

• Interstate Park-MN / August 6-8 / Friday 6-8pm / Saturday & Sunday 9am-4pm

• Walker Art Center / August 21-22

This display will be up throughout the month of November and preludes the Spirit of Duluth Dinner and Film series event celebrating Mexican culture and cuisine on November 12th.

Day of the Dead Exposition Opening Reception Nov. 5, 5-7pm

Zeitgeist Center for Arts & Community

222 E Superior St # 326, Duluth, MN 55802

To celebrate its 16th year Grupo Soap del Corazon is teaming with Franconia Sculpture Park in the City (at the Casket Arts complex) to do an exhibition opening September 8th. The show will be called "16/16 (Casa Magica)”.  “16/16” because its our sixteenth year and it’s 2016. “Casa Magica” because we are considering the notions that: 1) a gallery is a “house of magic”, of magical goings on; 2) we make art as a way to explore magic with ourselves - within our own psyches; 3) we make art as a way to create a magical experience for others.

Exhibition artists include Amaru (Marcela Rodriguez Aguilar), Jim Denomi, Michael Masaru Flora, Dougie Padilla, Lela Pierce, Wayne Potratz, Erica Spitzer Rasmussen, Xavier Tavera, Savita Bettaglio.

The location is 1781 Jefferson St. NE, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 55413 

Dougie participating in four day mega dada event lead by the unstoppable Mr. Tom Cassidy at multiple locations, Eat My Words bookstore, The Black Forest Inn, and the MCBA (Minnesota Center for Book Arts). More details soon...