Royal Chicano Air Force
Encyclopedia
The Royal Chicano Air Force (RCAF) is a Sacramento
, California
-based art collective. It was one of the main centers of the Chicano art movement in California during the 1970s and 80s and continues to be influential into the 21st Century.
In 1969, poet and artist José Montoya
came to Sacramento as a fellowship recipient in the Mexican American Education Project at CSU Sacramento. He was there to undertake a Master's degree program. Along with first-year art faculty member, and Jose's compadre from art school, Esteban Villa, they joined with some of the talented Mexican American
students to further the aims of the Chicano Movement
. The Rebel Chicano
Art Front (RCAF) was founded to foster support for César Chávez
and the United Farm Workers
in the heavily-agricultural Sacramento-Davis
area. One day when someone asked if the RCAF meant the "Royal Canadian Air Force
", one of the artists responded, "No, it means the Royal Chicano Air Force! From that point on, the artists used the "Air Force" motif in their artworks, programs, and activities.
The RCAF began operating out of the Washington Neighborhood Center and frequently held events at Sacramento's Southside Park. To fund their activities and to support the farmworkers, they held dances, performances, and other fundraisers, for which they created promotional posters that visually incorporated the themes of the Chicano Movement
. They also received funding support from the Washington Neighborhood Center and California State University, Sacramento
.
The RCAF painted murals throughout Sacramento, as well as several in San Diego's
Chicano Park
and one in Burley, Idaho
. Community art
workshops included the Barrio Art Program and the Anciano Art Project, for children and the elderly, respectively. For high school and college students, there were workshops in silkscreening and muralism.
The members of the RCAF did not restrict their activities to the arts. Inspired by the free breakfast programs of the Black Panther Party
, they and other activists implemented the Breakfast for Niños program for impoverished schoolchildren in the Sacramento area. Members of the RCAF also established a book store that would become La Raza Bookstore that would eventually be known as La Raza Galeria Posada still operating in Sacramento. The RCAF, under the directorship of Gilbert Gamino ran an automotive repair cooperative called Aeronaves de Aztlán
.
The RCAF organized cultural activities such as a yearly poetry reading
s called "Flor y Canto", and revived indigenous Mexican practices such as celebrations of harvest ("Fiesta de Maíz") and the rainy season ("Fiesta de Tlaloc
"). Tere Romo, who worked with the RCAF to re-establish the Día de los Muertos celebration in Sacramento in 1975, said that they had "an Indigenous ceremony with dance offerings, along with a Catholic mass, because there were a lot of older, traditional people there, and it's a holy day of obligation for Catholics." They soon established the Centro de Artistas Chicanos, a workshop for the production of posters for community events. There, thousands of posters were created over the years. Out of all this activity came the music of the Royal Chicano Air Force Band established by Freddie Rodriguez and featured the vocals of Gloria Rangel and Irma Rangel. Eventually, Esteban and Jose established the Trio Casindio under the strong mentorship of Rudy Carrillo. Their first recording, All Day Music, was released in 1985.
In 1995, Steve LaRosa and KVIE-TV, a public television station in Sacramento produced a film on the RCAF. Entitled, "Pilots of Aztlán", the film has been shown annually throughout the region. In 2008, KVIE produced a follow up DVD entitled, "The RCAF Flies Again".
Recent exhibitions include group shows at CSU, Sacramento Library Gallery; La Raza Galeria Posada, Sacramento; and Artes America, Fresno. In 2010, the RCAF was honored by the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture (NALAC) for Lifetime Achievements at its national conference in San Jose, Ca.
The collective continues to operate presenting group and individual art exhibits while Villa and Montoya have added recordings to their repertoire. Recently, Esteban Villa released his second CD of original music entitled Habañero Honey. After 40 years, the members continue to live under the principle, "Aquí estamos y no nos vamos" ("Here we are and we're not leaving").
In May, 2011, José Montoya
was honored at a Sacramento concert at César Chávez Plaza as one of the "Fathers" of the Chicano Art Movement. In the late summer, 2011, the RCAF members will restore their murals located in Chicano Park, Barrio Logan, San Diego.
Other members include: Max Garcia, Sam Rios, Hector Gonzalez, Josie Talamantez, Katy Romo, Luzma Espinosa, Elvia Nava, Frank Godina, Eli Nuñez, Mary Garza Gee, Isabel Hernandez (deceased), Gina Montoya, Danny and Irene Frias, Rudy Morones, “Turtle” Rodriguez, Ged Martin, Oralia Polendo, Irma Lerma-Barbosa, Senon Valadez, Gloria Torres, Manuel Diaz, Raulie Suarez, Rosa Hernandez, Tim Quintero, Bennie Trujillo (deceased, Miguel Escobedo, Freddie Gonzalez, Clara Cid, Rudy Carrillo, Angelo Alvarez (deceased), Xavier Tafoya, Bill Gee, David and Melinda Rasul, Rosemary Rasul, Tere Romo, Richard Montoya, Josie Talamantez, Pedro Hernandez, Freddie Rodriguez (deceased), Jennie Baca (deceased), Gloria Rangel (deceased), Irma Rangel, Rico Hernandez, Carlos “Stubbo” Portillo (deceased), Lupe Portillo Carrillo, Richard Rodriguez, Gloria and Gilbert Gamino, Albert Mestas (deceased), Jesse Ortiz-Ocelotl, Juanita Polendo, Ramon Ontiveros, Daniel de Los Reyes, Fast Eddie Salas, Sam Quiñones, Lucy Montoya, Joe Camacho (deceased), Los Angeles
artist Judithe Hernández
was also active with the group in the 1970s.
Sacramento, California
Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
-based art collective. It was one of the main centers of the Chicano art movement in California during the 1970s and 80s and continues to be influential into the 21st Century.
In 1969, poet and artist José Montoya
José Montoya
José Montoya is a poet and an artist from Sacramento, California. He is one of the most influential Chicano bilingual poets. He has published many well-known poems in anthologies and magazines...
came to Sacramento as a fellowship recipient in the Mexican American Education Project at CSU Sacramento. He was there to undertake a Master's degree program. Along with first-year art faculty member, and Jose's compadre from art school, Esteban Villa, they joined with some of the talented Mexican American
Mexican American
Mexican Americans are Americans of Mexican descent. As of July 2009, Mexican Americans make up 10.3% of the United States' population with over 31,689,000 Americans listed as of Mexican ancestry. Mexican Americans comprise 66% of all Hispanics and Latinos in the United States...
students to further the aims of the Chicano Movement
Chicano Movement
The Chicano Movement of the 1960s, also called the Chicano Civil Rights Movement, also known as El Movimiento, is an extension of the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement which began in the 1940s with the stated goal of achieving Mexican American empowerment.-Origins:The Chicano Movement...
. The Rebel Chicano
Chicano
The terms "Chicano" and "Chicana" are used in reference to U.S. citizens of Mexican descent. However, those terms have a wide range of meanings in various parts of the world. The term began to be widely used during the Chicano Movement, mainly among Mexican Americans, especially in the movement's...
Art Front (RCAF) was founded to foster support for César Chávez
César Chávez
César Estrada Chávez was an American farm worker, labor leader, and civil rights activist who, with Dolores Huerta, co-founded the National Farm Workers Association, which later became the United Farm Workers ....
and the United Farm Workers
United Farm Workers
The United Farm Workers of America is a labor union created from the merging of two groups, the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee led by Filipino organizer Larry Itliong, and the National Farm Workers Association led by César Chávez...
in the heavily-agricultural Sacramento-Davis
Davis, California
Davis is a city in Yolo County, California, United States. It is part of the Sacramento–Arden-Arcade–Roseville Metropolitan Statistical Area...
area. One day when someone asked if the RCAF meant the "Royal Canadian Air Force
Royal Canadian Air Force
The history of the Royal Canadian Air Force begins in 1920, when the air force was created as the Canadian Air Force . In 1924 the CAF was renamed the Royal Canadian Air Force and granted royal sanction by King George V. The RCAF existed as an independent service until 1968...
", one of the artists responded, "No, it means the Royal Chicano Air Force! From that point on, the artists used the "Air Force" motif in their artworks, programs, and activities.
The RCAF began operating out of the Washington Neighborhood Center and frequently held events at Sacramento's Southside Park. To fund their activities and to support the farmworkers, they held dances, performances, and other fundraisers, for which they created promotional posters that visually incorporated the themes of the Chicano Movement
Chicano Movement
The Chicano Movement of the 1960s, also called the Chicano Civil Rights Movement, also known as El Movimiento, is an extension of the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement which began in the 1940s with the stated goal of achieving Mexican American empowerment.-Origins:The Chicano Movement...
. They also received funding support from the Washington Neighborhood Center and California State University, Sacramento
California State University, Sacramento
California State University, Sacramento, popularly known as Sacramento State, is a public university located in the city of Sacramento, California. It is part of the California State University system...
.
The RCAF painted murals throughout Sacramento, as well as several in San Diego's
San Diego, California
San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...
Chicano Park
Chicano Park
Chicano Park is a 32,000 square meter park located beneath the San Diego-Coronado Bridge in Barrio Logan, a predominantly Mexican American and Mexican-immigrant community in central San Diego, California...
and one in Burley, Idaho
Burley, Idaho
Burley is a city in Cassia and Minidoka counties in the southern portion of the U.S. state of Idaho. The population was 10,345 at the 2010 census. The city is the county seat of Cassia County....
. Community art
Community art
Community Art could be loosely defined as a way of creating art in which professional artists collaborate more or less intensively with people who don't normally actively engage in the arts. Community arts, also sometimes known as "dialogical art", "community-engaged" or "community-based art,"...
workshops included the Barrio Art Program and the Anciano Art Project, for children and the elderly, respectively. For high school and college students, there were workshops in silkscreening and muralism.
The members of the RCAF did not restrict their activities to the arts. Inspired by the free breakfast programs of the Black Panther Party
Black Panther Party
The Black Panther Party wasan African-American revolutionary leftist organization. It was active in the United States from 1966 until 1982....
, they and other activists implemented the Breakfast for Niños program for impoverished schoolchildren in the Sacramento area. Members of the RCAF also established a book store that would become La Raza Bookstore that would eventually be known as La Raza Galeria Posada still operating in Sacramento. The RCAF, under the directorship of Gilbert Gamino ran an automotive repair cooperative called Aeronaves de Aztlán
Aztlán
Aztlán is the mythical ancestral home of the Nahua peoples, one of the main cultural groups in Mesoamerica. And, by extension, is the mythical homeland of the Uto-Aztecan peoples. Aztec is the Nahuatl word for "people from Aztlan".-Legend:...
.
The RCAF organized cultural activities such as a yearly poetry reading
Poetry reading
A poetry reading is a performance of poetry, normally given on a small stage in a café or bookstore, although poetry readings given by notable poets frequently are booked into larger venues to accommodate crowds...
s called "Flor y Canto", and revived indigenous Mexican practices such as celebrations of harvest ("Fiesta de Maíz") and the rainy season ("Fiesta de Tlaloc
Tlaloc
Tlaloc was an important deity in Aztec religion, a god of rain, fertility, and water. He was a beneficent god who gave life and sustenance, but he was also feared for his ability to send hail, thunder and lightning, and for being the lord of the powerful element of water. In Aztec iconography he...
"). Tere Romo, who worked with the RCAF to re-establish the Día de los Muertos celebration in Sacramento in 1975, said that they had "an Indigenous ceremony with dance offerings, along with a Catholic mass, because there were a lot of older, traditional people there, and it's a holy day of obligation for Catholics." They soon established the Centro de Artistas Chicanos, a workshop for the production of posters for community events. There, thousands of posters were created over the years. Out of all this activity came the music of the Royal Chicano Air Force Band established by Freddie Rodriguez and featured the vocals of Gloria Rangel and Irma Rangel. Eventually, Esteban and Jose established the Trio Casindio under the strong mentorship of Rudy Carrillo. Their first recording, All Day Music, was released in 1985.
In 1995, Steve LaRosa and KVIE-TV, a public television station in Sacramento produced a film on the RCAF. Entitled, "Pilots of Aztlán", the film has been shown annually throughout the region. In 2008, KVIE produced a follow up DVD entitled, "The RCAF Flies Again".
Recent exhibitions include group shows at CSU, Sacramento Library Gallery; La Raza Galeria Posada, Sacramento; and Artes America, Fresno. In 2010, the RCAF was honored by the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture (NALAC) for Lifetime Achievements at its national conference in San Jose, Ca.
The collective continues to operate presenting group and individual art exhibits while Villa and Montoya have added recordings to their repertoire. Recently, Esteban Villa released his second CD of original music entitled Habañero Honey. After 40 years, the members continue to live under the principle, "Aquí estamos y no nos vamos" ("Here we are and we're not leaving").
In May, 2011, José Montoya
José Montoya
José Montoya is a poet and an artist from Sacramento, California. He is one of the most influential Chicano bilingual poets. He has published many well-known poems in anthologies and magazines...
was honored at a Sacramento concert at César Chávez Plaza as one of the "Fathers" of the Chicano Art Movement. In the late summer, 2011, the RCAF members will restore their murals located in Chicano Park, Barrio Logan, San Diego.
Founding members
- José MontoyaJosé MontoyaJosé Montoya is a poet and an artist from Sacramento, California. He is one of the most influential Chicano bilingual poets. He has published many well-known poems in anthologies and magazines...
- Esteban VillaEsteban VillaEsteban Villa is a nationally recognized artist and muralist. A Professor Emeritus at California State University, Sacramento, his teaching career began in 1962 at the high school level and includes assignments at Washington State University, D–Q University, University of California, Davis, and...
- Ricardo Favela (deceased)
- Armando R. Cid (deceased)
- Juanishi V. Orosco
- Rodolfo "Rudy" Cuellar
- Luis "Louie the Foot" Gonzalez
- Juan M. Carrillo
- Joe Serna, Jr. (deceased)
- Eva Garcia (deceased)
- Lorraine García-Nakata
- Juan Cervantes
Other members include: Max Garcia, Sam Rios, Hector Gonzalez, Josie Talamantez, Katy Romo, Luzma Espinosa, Elvia Nava, Frank Godina, Eli Nuñez, Mary Garza Gee, Isabel Hernandez (deceased), Gina Montoya, Danny and Irene Frias, Rudy Morones, “Turtle” Rodriguez, Ged Martin, Oralia Polendo, Irma Lerma-Barbosa, Senon Valadez, Gloria Torres, Manuel Diaz, Raulie Suarez, Rosa Hernandez, Tim Quintero, Bennie Trujillo (deceased, Miguel Escobedo, Freddie Gonzalez, Clara Cid, Rudy Carrillo, Angelo Alvarez (deceased), Xavier Tafoya, Bill Gee, David and Melinda Rasul, Rosemary Rasul, Tere Romo, Richard Montoya, Josie Talamantez, Pedro Hernandez, Freddie Rodriguez (deceased), Jennie Baca (deceased), Gloria Rangel (deceased), Irma Rangel, Rico Hernandez, Carlos “Stubbo” Portillo (deceased), Lupe Portillo Carrillo, Richard Rodriguez, Gloria and Gilbert Gamino, Albert Mestas (deceased), Jesse Ortiz-Ocelotl, Juanita Polendo, Ramon Ontiveros, Daniel de Los Reyes, Fast Eddie Salas, Sam Quiñones, Lucy Montoya, Joe Camacho (deceased), Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
artist Judithe Hernández
Judithe Hernández
Judithe Hernández is a Chicana artist and a founding member of the Chicano Art/Los Angeles Mural movements. She first received acclaim in the 1970s as a muralist...
was also active with the group in the 1970s.