Artist blends passion, Latin culture, jazz

The new era of Latino/a and Chicano/a artists are being taught
by mentors like John Montelongo, someone who came from an era when
the Latino voice was near silent at UCLA.

Montelongo, an art teacher at Self Help Graphics, the Chicano
art and cultural center in East Los Angeles, currently is
displaying his jazz-inspired paintings, wood cuts and etchings in
the exhibit “The Art of Jazz” at Galeria Otra Vez, Self
Help’s main exhibition facility .

“It doesn’t matter what style of art, or what theme
in art you do, the bottom line is we want to produce good art, with
or without cultural reference. Good art will strike
attention,” Montelongo said.

Graduating from UCLA in 1957, when less than one percent of the
student body was Latino, Montelongo recalls that completing his
college education was the hardest obstacle in life. However, he
considers his education valuable and even put his two children
through UCLA.

“The preparation I got at (UCLA), especially in teaching,
made my life so easy. If you want to do something significant with
your talent, it has to be trained and you have to study,”
Montelongo said.

But Montelongo recalls that he did not have Latino or Chicano
mentors. This lack of Latino teachers led to his decision to become
a Latino educator himself.

When he became a teacher, his colleagues would not refer to him
as a Mexican because the term was considered derogatory before the
’60s.

While growing up in East Los Angeles in the ’40s,
Montelongo was a lover of jazz, when jazz was the avant-garde music
choice for many minorities. He learned to play the violin, the
saxophone and the clarinet in East Los Angeles.

“Here in Boyle Heights, when I went to Roosevelt High
School, it was a very mixed community of many nationalities and
races,” Montelongo said. “Being a musician, I made
friends with a lot of people that came from Jewish families. I
played with Lenord Kneehouse.”

When jazz musicians started playing in East Los Angeles in the
’50s, Montelongo remembers, there developed a blend of the
Latino beat, the Cuban beat and the Puerto Rican beat in jazz
music.

“Instead of being a traditional form of music, younger
musicians started to introduce jazz along with that rhythm and
that’s how a lot of Latino musicians got involved in
jazz,” Montelongo said.

For 10 years, Montelongo has shown cultural and political
exhibits with universal themes like “The Art of Jazz”
exhibit.

“The theme in art, a visual, should come from the
authentic source, the music, and it should be good music,”
Montelongo said. “Every artist in the show has a connection
with music one way or another, either they play music or their
families are very musical.”

Montelongo’s favorite piece in the exhibit is the abstract
painting “Summer Salsa” because it infuses the jazz
music of his youth with his Mexican culture.

“I wanted to cross the two cultures: Jazz and Latin. Some
of these figures were influenced by pre-Columbian sculptures, but I
wanted to suggest that they were musicians. Even the energy of it,
the calligraphy of it suggests either notes or rhythm going on in
the painting. Jazz music blends and complements what I’m
painting,” Montelongo said.

Artists like Salomon Huerta and Ignacio Gomez have collaborated
with Self Help Graphics and contributed to their communities
through the arts.

“I feel very privileged to work with people like
them,” Montelongo said. “We get to see new talent with
fresh ideas and we can’t help but be influenced. (Their work)
helps us evaluate our work.”

After over 40 years of educating the future generations,
Montelongo still stays passionate and optimistic about his
contribution to the arts.

“I like to teach here (at Self Help Graphics) because I
see a lot of brilliant artists that have potential. I have a lot to
contribute because of what I went through,” Montelongo
said.

“The Art of Jazz” is on exhibit through Aug. 25 at
Self Help Graphics & Art, Inc. at 3802 Cesar Chavez Ave., Los
Angeles. For more info, call (323) 881-6444.

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