2025-2026 Full Archive List

Fall 2025

October 27, 2025 
ChSt 128 - Chicano Art as Spirituality 
Tabacco & The Three Sisters: Sage, Cedar, Sweetgrass - Spirituality as Resistance - Charlene O'rourke

Charlene O'Rourke, Taoyewakanwi (Her Ways Are Sacred), is an Oglala Lakota woman born on the Pine Ridge Reservation. For over 40 years, she has served as a ceremonial musician, singer, composer, and performer. Charlene works as a Native Consultant, International Certified Addictions Counselor, and motivational speaker serving rural and urban Native communities. She collaborated with NASA on a project studying the Indigenous Lakota Star Constellation, resulting in the publication of D(L)akota Star Map Constellation Guide: An Introduction to D(L)akota Star Knowledge. 

November 17, 2025 
ChSt 128 - Chicano Art as Spirituality 
Día de Muertos: A Xicanx Ceremony in Diaspora Spirituality as Resistance - Jesus Barraza 

Jesus Barraza is an interdisciplinary artist with an MFA in Social Practice and a Masters in Visual Critical Studies from California College of the Arts, and a BA in Raza Studies from San Francisco State University. He is co-founder of Dignidad Rebelde, a graphic arts collaboration producing screen prints and political posters, and a member of JustSeeds Artists Cooperative. Currently a lecturer in the Ethnic Studies department at UC Berkeley, Barraza works closely with community organizations to create prints that visualize struggles for immigration rights, housing, education, and international solidarity. His work has been exhibited at institutions including the de Young Museum, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Galeria de la Raza, and internationally in Rome, Tokyo, Mexico, and Bolivia. He is a recipient of the "Art is a Hammer" award and the "Exemplary Leadership Award" from SFSU's College of Ethnic Studies. 

October 12, 2025
ChSt 128 - Chicano Art as Spirituality 
Copal and Ofrendas: Creating Sacred Altares - Patricia Juarez

Patricia Juárez, Chicueyi Coatl, is a Scholar and practitioner of Mexica traditions with 30+ years of experience in the IT industry. She is a Senior Systems Analyst at UC Berkeley, where she leads technical teams through complex system integration projects and frequently presents at national IT conferences. As a scholar and practitioner, Patricia is the founder and leader of Calpulli Huey Papalotl (dance) and Calmecac Tlalocan (school), and has been a visiting scholar at UC Berkeley, UC Santa Barbara, and other institutions. She has contributed essays on ceremonial attire making to a 2019 anthology of Chicanx/Latinx traditions and published essays on Nahua cosmovision in online magazines, with another currently in peer review. She is currently a fellow at the NLF program.

October 6, 2025
ChSt 128 - Chicano Art as Spirituality 
Activism, Divination  -  Xochipala Maes Valde

Xochipala Maes Valdez/Fákáyodé Fátúmise is on the faculty of Sophia University in Palo Alto, CA, and has lectured worldwide on the philosophy and theology of the sacred Ifá scriptures. An initiated priest and diviner in the Fátúmise lineage of Ile Ifẹ̀, Nigeria, since 1993, she was the editor of Road to Ifẹ̀ Magazine. Understanding our place and purpose from an indigenous cosmological view is a form of resistance to the patriarchal and capitalist status quo. The Yoruba practice of Ifá divination provides a roadmap for living in right relationship to oneself and the world.

November 5, 2025 
Brown Bag Speakers - Margaret Alarcon
Papel Picado Offering: Contemporary Expressions…
Margaret Alarcón (Quica) is a Xicanx artivist scholar and Associate Director of LMC at UCSB. With degrees in Illustration, a Master's in Education and MFA in Studio Art, she comes from a family of female papel picado artists. Her research traces papel picado's evolution from ancient Otomí spirit figures made with amatl paper to contemporary cultural expressions. Through painting, printmaking, and kinetic papel picado sculptures, her work explores feminine identity, trauma healing, and indigenous cultural reclamation. Her art has been featured in publications and at the Oakland Museum of California and the Manetti Shrem Museum.

December 3, 2025
Brown Bag Series - Profesora “Coco”
Nepantla Times Lab
María del Socorro "Coco" Gutierrez Magallanes is a MexChicana researcher and scholar whose work bridges race, gender, class, and ethnicity across Latin American, Chicanx, Latinx, Black and Indigenous communities. She is known for her collaborative approaches to research, teaching, and activism. Coco holds a B.A. from Occidental College, a Master's in Latin American Studies, and a Ph.D. in Sociology from UNAM. She has been a visiting scholar at UC Santa Cruz and UC Berkeley, and a Postdoctoral Fellow at University of Puebla. She teaches in both the Feminist Studies and the Chicana/o Studies Departments at UCSB and as a Scholar in Residence at Las Maestras Center leads research projects on Chicanx Indigenous Social Thought and Art Praxis. She is a member of Abya Yala´s CLACSO´s TIEMPO Working Group and the SUETIS, Seminario Universitario de Estudios Sobre el Tiempo Social, at UNAM.

Spring  2026 

May 3, 2026 
Artist in Residence: Melanie Cervantes
Public Lecture at Santa Barbara Public Library
SBPL and UCSB present a free lecture by Melanie Cervantes, artist and cultural worker. A co-founder of Dignidad Rebelde, a graphic arts collaboration that produces screen prints, political posters and multimedia projects that are grounded in Third World and Indigenous movements, Melanie will discuss her work as a visual artist, inspired by the people around her and her communities’ desire for radical social transformation

May 4, 2026 
Artist in Residence: Melanie Cervantes
Screen Print Workshop Residency in the Art Department
Melanie Cervantes will produce a four to six color, approximately 18” x 24” print edition in the Department of Art, which students can observe and learn how she approaches the work. She will demonstrate, in particular, a new technique she calls her jazz printing which is highly improvisational. Melanie Cervantes (Xicanx) is a visual artist and co-founder of the graphic arts collaboration Dignidad Rebelde. Her work creates a visual lexicon of resistance, inspired by movements for radical social transformation and indigenous sovereignty.

May 5, 2026 
Artist in Residence: Melanie Cervantes
Poster Design Workshop: Chicana W(R)iting the Earth
Melanie Cervantes will lead an entry level workshop–introduction to poster design using collage of copyright free/copyleft/creative commons art. Each participant creates a poster with their own theme and we conclude with a group share. Melanie Cervantes (Xicanx) is a visual artist and co-founder of the graphic arts collaboration Dignidad Rebelde. Her work creates a visual lexicon of resistance, inspired by movements for radical social transformation and indigenous sovereignty.

May 5, 2026 
Artist in Residence: Melanie Cervantes
CEMA Lecture at UCSB Davidson’s Library - Special Collections
The California Ethnic & Multicultural Archives (CEMA) and Las Maestras Center present a free and public lecture by Melanie Cervantes, artist and cultural worker. A co-founder of Dignidad Rebelde, a graphic arts collaboration that produces screen prints, political posters and multimedia projects that are grounded in Third World and Indigenous movements, Melanie will discuss her work as a visual artist, inspired by the people around her and her communities’ desire for radical social transformation. 

May - June 2, 2025
Save LMC Movement - Town Hall & Protest