Oral history interview with Willie Herrón
name: label: Interviewee
content: Herrón, Willie, 1951-
label: Interviewer
content: Rangel, Jeffrey J.
label: Names
content: Asco (Group of artists)
label: Names
content: Gronk, 1954-
topic: label: Occupation
content: Muralists -- California -- Los Angeles -- Interviews
label: Topic
content: Art and music
label: Topic
content: Graffiti art
label: Topic
content: Street art
label: Topic
content: Mural painting and decoration -- 20th century -- California -- Los Angeles
label: Topic
content: Chicano artists
label: Topic
content: Chicano art movement
label: Topic
content: Latino and Latin American artists
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: This interview is part of the Archives of American Art Oral History Program, started in 1958 to document the history of the visual arts in the United States, primarily through interviews with artists, historians, dealers, critics and administrators. Funding for this interview and transcription provided by the SI Latino Fund of 1997.
creator: label: Interviewee
content: Herrón, Willie, 1951-
label: Interviewer
content: Rangel, Jeffrey J.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: Willie Herrón (1951-) is a painter, graphic artist, muralist, and musician from Los Angeles, Calif. Herrón is known as one of the premiere artists and musicians to emerge out of the Chicano arts movement during the 1970s.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 7 Sound cassettes (Sound recording (6 hrs.), analog)
label: Extent
content: 109 Pages (Transcript)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 2000 Feb. 5-Mar. 17
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives of American Art
identifier: label: Identifier
content: AAA.herron00
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Sound cassettes
label: Type
content: Pages
label: Type
content: Sound recordings
label: Type
content: Interviews
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Sound recordings
label: Genre/Form
content: Interviews
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: An interview of Willie Herrón conducted 2000 Feb. 5-Mar. 17, by Jeffrey J. Rangel, for the Archives of American Art.
label: Scope and Contents
content: The interviews took place in a restaurant, City Terrace, East Los Angeles, Calif. Herrón describes his childhood growing up in East Los Angeles, culminating with an extensive discussion of the circumstances surrounding the painting of his most acclaimed mural, "The Wall that Cracked Open" in City Terrace; founding the avant-garde Chicano art group Asco along with Harry Gamboa, Jr., Patssi Valdez, and Gronk; his experience as leader of the band Los Illegals and as a cofounder of the alternative music space Club Vex with Self Help Graphics' Sister Karen Boccalero; the Chicano mural movement, particularly his undertakings in City Terrace, Boyle Heights, and at the Estrada Courts and Ramona Gardens housing projects in East Los Angeles; his commitment to working with at-risk youth and his strong desire to expand the stylistic and iconographic parameters of the medium through the incorporation of graffiti; and an assessment of Asco's role in expanding the continuum of Chicano art and identity.