Elizabeth Jimenez Montelongo

Elizabeth Jimenez Montelongo

I am a visual artist known for my vibrant, impasto oil paintings of Indigenous dancers. I also create acrylic paintings with symbols inspired by the Nahuatl glyphs of pre-colonial Mesoamerican codicies. My artwork is informed by my heritage and centers Indigenous traditions and philosophies of central Mexico and my perspectives as a Mexican Chicana. When I moved from my small hometown, Petaluma, California, to San José, California, I was introduced to Mexika (“Aztec”) dance ceremonies. Eventually, I began practicing the dance and participated in ceremonies including in San José and at Alcatraz Island. Over a decade ago, I began painting the oil on canvas series of Mexika dancers, The Euphoric Dance of the Unconquered Mind.

The Euphoric Dance of the Unconquered Mind features textured oil paintings of Mexika dancers that exude movement, energy, and power to celebrate the continued tradition of Indigenous dance ceremony. To create the work, I crop and combine photographs of dancers in movement, and render the composition on canvas, applying paint with a palette knife for a thick impasto. This work is based on Mexika dancers from the San Francisco Bay Area, in recognition of our living culture-keepers who preserve and practice Indigenous traditions in the 21st century, across social and political borders. Indigenous dance traditions were preserved, despite centuries of violent suppression, both physical and psychological. The vibrantly colored paintings celebrate continued existence and strength of Indigenous people, mental liberation, and honor our Indigenous ancestors who live on through these traditions.

During college, I studied abroad in Paris, France where I completed an intensive course in classical Nahuatl, the oldest recorded form of the Mexika (“Aztec”) language. The course included an introduction to understanding the glyph writing found in Indigenous Mesoamerican tonalamatl– handpainted books known as codices. I began creating work incorporating the glyphs into a series of art, Transformación. The series is based on concepts from Indigenous philosophy and my experiences and perspectives through the lens of Indigenous tradition.

At San José State University, I presented my first solo exhibition and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Pictorial Arts (and a Bachelor of Arts in French.) I have continued to paint Mexika dancers, participate in traditional dance ceremonies in California, and learn more about my ancestral culture, as shared through oral tradition.

My artwork has been exhibited in over 60 galleries and museums nationwide, including a solo show at Centro de Artes Gallery in San Antonio, Texas. My work received Honorable Mentions from the Marin Museum of Art and the Triton Museum and Santa Clara Art Commission and is in the permanent collection of the City and County of San Francisco. In 2021, I served as Creative Ambassador of the San José Office of Cultural Affairs. In 2023, I was awarded a Creative Corps Initiative grant from the California Arts Council and YBCA. I currently keep a studio in Santa Clara/San José, California. I also provide painting workshops in various locations around the Bay Area. In addition to being a visual artist, I am also a poet, editor, literacy teacher, and a mother.
Email: info@ejmontelongo.com
Website: www.ejmontelongo.com
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