Videos and Podcasts

Videos

ABC 7 News Bay Area: 'Calli' exhibit opens at Oakland Museum 

"Consuelo Jimenez Underwood is a fiber artist, but she also makes these mural borderline installations, and this one is site-specific to Oakland."
​-Curator Gilda Posada

Watch the video here. 

PBS NewsHour: Flagged for Discussion at Crystal Bridges

"I feel that the threads can join, not just fabric, but people. And that's where I came in. I wanted to do something about the division between our countries, Mexico and U.S. For me, that line is very arbitrary." -Consuelo Jimenez Underwood

Watch the interview

Celebrate the 50th Anniversary of SAAM's Renwick Gallery

How do you mark the 50th anniversary of the nation's premier museum dedicated to American craft? Join Stephanie Stebich, The Margaret and Terry Stent Director of the Smithsonian American Art Museum and its Renwick Gallery curators , and six artists whose work is in the museum's collection, including Consuelo Jiménez Underwood as they reflect on the past, present, and future of the Renwick.​
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You can find Consuelo's comments at: (01:35), (04:14), (06:11)​

Discover SAAM’s Renwick Gallery

Explore the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery, the nation’s premier museum dedicated to craft. Learn how the historic building was saved from demolition and has since become a celebration of the handmade in the contemporary world.
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Join Exhibit coordinators and Consuelo Underwood whose work is in the museum's collection, as they discuss the questions, “What is craft?” and “Why is it important today?”
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You can find Consuelo's comments at: ​(03:03), (06:02)

Consuelo Jimenez Underwood: Artist Profile, 2022

​Learn more about the artist Consuelo Jimenez Underwood in this in-depth video interview!

Consuelo Jimenez Underwood, Pandemic Oral History Project, Archives of American Art, 2020
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​An oral history with Consuelo Jimenez Underwood, conducted 2020 July 10 by Matthew Simms at Underwood's home in Cupertino, California. This interview received Federal support from the Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center.

Consuelo Jiménez Underwood, “Undocumented Travelers. Xewa Time,” Cupertino, California, USA, 2016
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​Installation of Jimenez's work “Undocumented Travelers. Xewa Time,” at the George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum for the exhibition "Stories of Migration: Contemporary Artists Interpret Diaspora." Assistance in realizing this installation was provided by Professor Lynn Sures, program head of Fine Arts, and students from the Corcoran School of the Arts & Design: Alexis Gomez, Claudia Lamy, and Ali Sengul.
Read the article here

Deportee by Woody Guthrie, arr. Maggie Hasspacher, Consuelo Jimenez Underwood featured artist
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After hearing textile artist and former migrant worker Consuelo Jimenez Underwood speak, Maggie Hasspacher was moved to arrange this song. Consuelo’s work addresses the same issues still surrounding the USA-Mexico border decades after Woody Guthrie's "Deportee" and is relevant to struggles faced by immigrants of all nationalities.

Consuelo Jimenez Underwood- Borderline Premonitions: NEW YORK

​This video covers the creation of Consuelo's temporary art installation of her piece "Borderline Premonitions" at ArtRage Gallery in Syracuse, NY.

UCLA Artist's Talk: Consuelo Jimenez Underwood

UCLA's Chicano Student Research Center was pleased to welcome fiber artist Consuelo Jimenez Underwood for an artist's talk. Underwood's work was on view in "Crossing Borders: Stories of Migration in Contemporary Art," an exhibition featuring six California artists whose work explores the visual impact of immigration and migration, at California State University, Dominguez Hills's (CSUDH) University Art Gallery. The exhibition was took place through winter 2014.

Fiber artist Consuelo Jimenez Underwood, THREADS episode

​Fiber artist and weaver Consuelo Jimenez Underwood segment for Craft in America THREADS  series episode PBS premiere: May 11, 2012. 

Meet Consuelo Jimenez Underwood: Smithsonian American Art Museum

​An interview with the artist Consuelo Jimenez Underwood Consuelo Jiménez Underwood grew up in California, the eleventh of twelve children born to a Chicana mother and a Huichol Indian father. She was the first person in her family to finish high school, and went on to enroll in religious studies and art at San Diego State University. She started as a painter, but became interested in fiber art while in college and soon turned all of her attention to weaving and textile design. Underwood imbues her pieces with powerful messages about her Chicana heritage, creating images that call attention to the dangers that Mexicans face trying to cross the border into the United States in search of a better life.

Consuelo J. Underwood Speaks on Her Piece "Undocumented Flower"​ 

Consuelo Jimenez Underwood discusses her installation piece "Undocumented Border Flower" that was on view at the Triton Museum of Art in Santa Clara, CA. (2010)

KQED Spark - Consuelo Jimenez Underwood

Weaver Consuelo Jimenez Underwood constructs histories of indigenous and non-indigenous conflict through her work. Original air date: June 2003. For more information, go to: http://ww2.kqed.org/spark/?essid=4302
Download the corresponding educator guide for activity ideas and further information at: https://a.s.kqed.net/pdf/arts/programs/spark/114.pdf

Podcasts

Backstitch: A podcast on fiber art from the Smithsonian American Art Museum
"'Is This Art?' A conversation with Consuelo Jiménez Underwood"
(Originally recorded in 2011)
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Consuelo Jiménez Underwood belonged to a movement of artists who, starting in the 60s and 70s, made the case for recognizing textiles as an art form, rather than a craft.  She used mediums like weaving to convey powerful, often political messages. Many artists at the time wanted to challenge the notion of weaving as “women’s work.” But Underwood had grown up seeing it differently." 

Listen to the episode and find the transcript here. 

ARTiculated
Border Material: Mending with Consuelo Jimenez Underwood (May 2022)
Consuelo Jiménez Underwood has blazed her own trail in fiber art, weaving with heritage and healing. Across borders, identities, and time, she creates works that celebrate the natural world and human connection. Learn more about her prolific practice and vivacious activism in this episode.

​Find out more here.

Weave
Art and Weaving with Consuelo Jimenez Underwood (May 7, 2018)
Fiber artist and weaver Consuelo Jimenez Underwood is the daughter of migrant agricultural workers, a Chicana mother and a father of Huichol descent. In our conversation, we discuss Consuelo's dreams of becoming an artist as a child working in the fields, why she insisted on making a space for weaving as art in academia, her series of works commemorating the people who lose their lives crossing the highways near the border between Mexico and California, and so much more. Listen to the full episode and read the episode notes.