Vessels of Heritage: Centro De Artes explores the transformation of everyday objects, places and ideas in a new exhibition in San Antonio’s Historic Market Square

"The therapeutic process of making a piñata from papier-mâché over a balloon and then decorating it with colorful fringed tissue paper, and the tension-releasing experience of hitting the piñata with a stick at a birthday party, as well as the feeling of sheer joy when the piñata bursts open and rains candy, all come to mind when looking at Chuck Ramirez’s Piñata: Gregory. Ramirez (1962-2010) was a San Antonio-based artist with a reverence for material culture. He was a graphic designer and art director for the Texas grocery chain H-E-B. The pigment inkjet print prompts viewers to imagine the frenzy of collecting the fallen candy from the piñata as the culmination of this Mexican-American cultural tradition so frequently included at birthday parties and holiday celebrations. Curator Mia Lopez generates narratives around the aesthetics of Latinidad and the nuances of cultural heritage in the exhibition, Mercado/Material, which is part of a collection of offerings as part of Centro de Artes Exhibitions from the city of San Antonio. - Nicole Pruitt