Press Release

Contact: Betsy Andersen 831 239-9411

Museo Eduardo Carrillo was granted $50,000 toward the completion of the documentary Eduardo Carrillo: A Life of Engagement. Awarding the grant, Peter Mithoefer of the Robert T. Keeler Foundation said, “We look forward to the realization of this tribute to Ed’s inspiring life and work.”

Eduardo Carrillo: A Life of Engagement will underscore Carrillo’s connection to his roots in San Ignacio, Baja California.  As the cultural environment of the 1960s affected global perspectives, it also deepened Eduardo’s understanding of his place in the world.

Pedro Pablo Celedon, the renowned Chilean filmmaker of Barefoot Productions in Hollywood, CA, has been part of the project since inception.  He shares “I’m very, very happy and proud to be part of this project.”  Please view our promotional short: (http://vimeo.com/30870298).

Professor Dr. Gilberto Cardenas, the Julian Samora Chair of Latino Studies and the Director of the Institute of Latino Studies at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana comments, “Eduardo was a true pioneer.  He exhibited his art and was recognized in the early 1960s. That was so early for a Mexican-American to gain recognition.” Ralph D’Oliveira, co-founder of the Tortuga Patrol mural project in Watsonville, CA, states, “He was always just ahead of his time in terms of his art view. He didn’t believe you built fences to get ahead—you opened up fences, you opened up doors.”

While Eduardo was earning his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts at the University of California, Los Angeles, the arts of Mexico were missing from the curriculum.  As he began his teaching career at UC Santa Cruz in 1972, he addressed the need by developing culturally relevant classes for an increasingly diverse student population.   He taught at UCSC for 25 years until his death in 1997.

Our film will trace Eduardo’s discovery of his Mexican heritage in Baja California, Mexico.  The simplicity of life, the beauty of the land, and the authenticity of the people drew him back again and again.

In 1966, Eduardo and his young family relocated to La Paz, his ancestral homes, and founded El Centro de Arte Regional, a school for the revival of regional crafts.  During the 1970’s he took a group of students to a remote tribe of Tarahumara Indians in the mountains of Chihuahua.  The travelers were introduced to the tribal ways: drinking potent brews, running for miles, and stylized fighting in ritualistic games.  The blend of Christianity and the magic of indigenous rituals fueled Carrillo’s imagination and was expressed in his paintings and murals.   In 1981, he started building a studio on a hillside above San Ignacio, his maternal homeland in central Baja.  From then on he returned several times a year to paint, to explore ancient cave paintings, and to renew family bonds.

Eduardo’s evolving relationship to his ancestral homeland exerted its influence on his art.  It was a geographical connection, a familial bond and, beyond that, it was a spiritual relationship that evolved over many decades.  This story will be told in our film.

For more information please contact:

Betsy Andersen    Director
Museo Eduardo Carrillo
831 239-9411           spark@cruzio.com      Visit www.museoeduardocarrillo.org