Dixie Salazar works in various mediums including oils, watercolors, collage, assemblage and hand colored photography. Her work has been featured in numerous one-person shows and collections throughout the Valley and has also been shown in San Francisco, Merced, Sacramento, New York and Las Vegas. Salazar is also a poet and fiction writer with three books of published poetry, the latest titled Flamenco Hips and Red Mud Feet from University of Arizona Press. Altar for Escaped Voices will be published in 2012 from Tebot Bach and incorporates poems in the voices of the incarcerated and the homeless. Her novel Limbo was published in 1998 by White Pine Press. Salazar’s visual work has been described as poetic, atavistic and intuitive. Her subjects are dominated by figurative elements that blend religious, classical, and archetypal imagery with ordinary, everyday elements and popular culture icons. Some previous one-person shows have centered on the figure under water, issues of social concern to children, and issues related to her multicultural background. Her work is seen regularly at the Silva/Salazar Studio at 654 Van Ness in Fresno. For the studio, call 559-916-7760.
The work in this current exhibit is twofold. The photographs were taken in 2007 from the H Street homeless encampments; the collages have been produced in the last year and incorporate the homeless themed photography from Salazar as well as Mike Rhodes. The second part of this exhibit is from an ongoing series of work exploring Salazar’s dual heritage, Hispanic and Anglo. Her painting “Cactus and Magnolia by the Sea” is an example of a mixture of the cultural elements that reflect her dual heritage. She is also influenced by her travels: a trip to Spain in 2006 and Mexico in 2010. The cultural elements she encountered left vivid, colorful lasting impressions. Influences range from Bonnard, Matisse, Macintosh and Joseph Cornell to Frieda Kalo.
If you want to become involved in helping the homeless, contact Mike Rhodes at [email protected] for names of groups currently working on homeless issues.