“My grandfather, Narciso “Chicho” García, worked as a tile setter in Monterrey, Mexico and Harlingen, Texas for most of his life. Two generations later, I work as an artist and art professor. I often feel that my life is completely different from my grandfather’s because of our differences in professions, education, socio-economic statuses, languages, religion, and gender. However, I have found a connection with him through making. Everyday, I use a pencil and ruler to draw and measure just as my grandfather did. We have both dedicated our lives to perfecting our techniques and skills, and pride ourselves on a high level of craft and beauty.

In this exhibition, El Albañil, I use the visual language of my profession to celebrate that of my grandfather’s. Hand papermaking and printmaking techniques are utilized to consider the sacrifice of my grandfather's body that he gave to his job through decades of intense manual labor, and allude to the idea that while my grandfather passed away in 2016, his legacy lives on in the dozens of buildings he helped to construct.”

As a biracial Latina, a seventh-generation Texan of European descent on her mother’s side and granddaughter of Mexican immigrants on her father’s side J. Leigh Garcia has followed the roots of her ancestry to shape her artistic practice. Major events in Texas history such as the Mexican-American War, Battle of the Alamo, Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, and Bracero Program have created a complex relationship between Garcia’s two cultures: white Texans and mestizo Mexicans. Products of these historical events—particularly undocumented immigration and the racialization of Mexicans—are both the context and focus of her work. Using printmaking, papermaking, and sculpture, she explores her biracial identity and familial history while highlighting aspects of racial and generational privilege/oppression.

J. Leigh Garcia (she/her) is an artist born and raised in Dallas, TX. Garcia received her MFA and MA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and BFA from the University of North Texas. She has received numerous awards for her work including the Emerging Printmaker Award from Southern Graphics Council International (SGCI), New Faculty Outstanding Research and Scholarship Award from Kent State University, Gamblin Emerging Artist Award, and Arts Institute Sinaiko Frank Graduate Fellowship for a Woman in the Arts. Her work is included in over 15 permanent collections including the Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH; Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Madison, WI; National Museum of Mexican Art, Chicago, IL; Mexic-Arte Museum, Austin, TX; Zuckerman Museum of Art, Kennesaw, GA; and Ulrich Museum of Art, Wichita State University.

Garcia currently works as an Associate Professor of Printmaking at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville.