Teresa Eckmann
Professor, Art and Art History
Modern and Contemporary Latin American Art History
Contact
- Main Campus, Art 3.01.12
- Office: 210 458-4617
- Teresa.Eckmann@utsa.edu
- Curriculum Vitae
- Main Campus, Art 3.01.12
- Website
- Website
Bio
Teresa Eckmann is a Professor of Contemporary Latin American art in the School of Art at the University of Texas at San Antonio. She completed a Ph.D. in Latin American Studies with a concentration in art history at the University of New Mexico (UNM). Prior to joining the University of Texas at San Antonio as Assistant Professor in 2008, she held a Post-Doctoral Fellowship at UNM’S Center for Southwest Research where she worked with several digital, archival, and curatorial projects for the Special Collections Department of the University Libraries. With a previous position as Assistant Curator at the National Hispanic Cultural Center, she continues to balance and integrate her interests in scholarship, curation, archival work, and teaching. These are further informed by art practice having completed a B.A. in studio art from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, as well as her experience in the performing arts in her prior professional dance career as a member of the Berkshire Ballet and an apprentice with the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre following high school graduation as a dance major from North Carolina School of the Arts (NCSA). Her greatest love is writing; she specializes in modern and contemporary Latin American art, with a focus on contemporary Mexico. Eckmann’s commitment to teaching and writing about Latin American art and history emerged from formative years as a child living in Santiago, Chile with her family. Her interests were shaped as the daughter of a civil engineer U.S. Army Major (her father), and a talented fiber artist (her mother).
Her monograph Julio Galán: The Art of Performative Transgression (UNM Press, 2024), which offers the first in-depth analysis of the neo-Expressionist’s complex production and artistic process, was awarded the 2025 New Mexico Book Award in the LGBTQ+ category. During this long-term research project of more than a decade, she has published several articles including: “Reorienting mexicanidad and the Catholic Narrative: Julio Galán’s Transgressive Art” for Latin American and Latinx Visual Culture 5.3(Summer 2023) (Los Angeles: UCLA); “Julio Galán’s Camp-Cursi-Kitsch and Lo Popular: Gender-Expansion and Cultural Inclusion” in Anales del Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas 44.121(Fall 2022) (Mexico City: UNAM); and “Julio Galán and the Type: Fashioning a ‘Border’ Aesthetic” in Visual Typologies from the Early Modern to the Contemporary: Local Practices and Global Contexts, Ed. Lynda Klich and Tara Zanardi (New York: Routledge, 2019).
In her first book, Neo-Mexicanism: Mexican Figurative Painting and Patronage in the 1980s (2011) she considered a group of 1950s-born artists and their postmodern approach to a renewed figuration. Examining the artistic tendency dubbed “neomexicanidad” by art historian Teresa del Conde, Eckmann argues that, rather than an art of a celebratory nationalism, the artwork of representative artists of the generation Javier de la Garza, Ruben Ortiz Torres, Roció Maldonado, Georgina Quintana, Eloy Tarcisio, and Germán Venegas delivered social criticism in a time of economic and social crisis as they targeted the pantheon of official national imagery through irony, parody, and the collapsing of the sacred/profane, as well as categories of high/low art. Subsequent chapters in book publications have included “(Re)Collecting Neo-Mexicanism: A Capricious Text,” in OMR Contemporary Art in (and out of) Mexico 1983-2015 (Madrid: Turner Publications, 2020) and “Cruzando fronteras: Borderland Artists (Re)Configure Visual Territories,” in Icons and Symbols of the Borderland (Atglen: Schiffer Publishing, 2020). Exhibition catalogue contributions have included the essay “Un conejo partido a la mitad y una boa constrictora digiriendo a un elefante: Julio Galán y viendo más allá del sombrero” in Un conejo partido a la mitad (Mexico City: Museo Tamayo, 2023), “Richard Armendariz and Coyote: The Aesthetics of Code-Switching,” in Ricky Armendariz: The Dream Keeper (San Antonio: DoSeum, 2017), and “¿Centro o periferia? Frida Kahlo, neomexicanismo y género” in ¿Neomexicanismos? Ficciones identitarias en México (Mexico City: Museo de Arte Moderno, 2011). Other journals where she has published reviews include Women’s Art Journal, Art Journal, and Print Quarterly (London). Her essays on public art and exhibitions have reached a broad audience in online publications such as Studio Potter and the arts magazine Glasstire: Texas Visual Art. Eckmann regularly writes catalogue notes for Christie’s auction catalogues for Latin American art.
Research Interests
- Modern and Contemporary Latin American Art
- 19th-21st Century Art of Mexico, Museum Studies
- Public Art
- Graphic Arts of Latin America and the Caribbean
- Latin American Film
Degrees
Ph.D. in Latin American Studies, University of New Mexico (2004)
Honors and Awards
2019-22 Mitacs Globalink Research Award Abroad. Host Supervisor to Shalon Webber-Heffernan, Ph.D. student, Theatre and Performance Studies, York University, Canada.
2021 Faculty Development Leave (FDL), “Conversations on Contemporary Mexican Art and Queering Mexicanidad: Julio Galán,” COLFA/UTSA (awarded for fall 2021)
2019 Clustered & Connect Hiring Program (CCP) Proposal “Social and Environmental Challenges in Latin America: A Multidisciplinary Approach (The Latin American Initiative at UTSA)” with team Sonia Alconini, Cathryn Nolan-Ferrell, Malgorzata Oleszkiewicz-Peralba, Andrew Konove, Hogjie Xie, and Yongli Gao. (awarded)
2018 F & A award, exhibition publication "Alberto Mijangos: 159, A Retrospective of His Art (and Life)," UTSA, COLFA [$2,445]
2017 Mellon Pathways Mentor (to Mellon Fellow Jessica Vargas), UTSA [$500]
2017 F & A award, exhibition publication "$t@tU.S? Prints from Puerto Rico to San Antonio," UTSA, COLFA [$3,200]
2017 Mexico Center Educational Research Fellowship Recipient with Aurora-Berrueto Cordova, UTSA [$1,000]
2017 Alvarez International Study Fund Award, UTSA [$7,500, declined] .
2016 Mellon Pathways Mentor (to Mellon Fellow Nicole Poole), UTSA [$500]
2016 Fellow, New Mexico History Scholars Program, Office of the State Historian, New Mexico [$1,000]
2016 Alvarez International Study Fund Award, Office of International Study, UTSA [$7,500]
2016 Mexico Center Educational Research Fellowship Recipient with Marissa del Toro UTSA [$1,000]
2015 Alvarez International Study Fund Award, Office of International Study, UTSA [$5,000]
2012 Finalist, New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards, New Mexico Book Co-Op
2011 Mexico Center Educational Research Fellowship Recipient with Stephanie Torres UTSA [$1,000]
2010 Richard E. Greenleaf Visiting Library Scholar Award, Latin American Institute and Division of Latin American Resources, UNM [$2,500]
2009 Mexico Center Educational Research Fellowship Recipient with Edward Hayes Jr. UTSA [$1,000]
2021 Faculty Development Leave (FDL), “Conversations on Contemporary Mexican Art and Queering Mexicanidad: Julio Galán,” COLFA/UTSA (awarded for fall 2021)
2019 Clustered & Connect Hiring Program (CCP) Proposal “Social and Environmental Challenges in Latin America: A Multidisciplinary Approach (The Latin American Initiative at UTSA)” with team Sonia Alconini, Cathryn Nolan-Ferrell, Malgorzata Oleszkiewicz-Peralba, Andrew Konove, Hogjie Xie, and Yongli Gao. (awarded)
2018 F & A award, exhibition publication "Alberto Mijangos: 159, A Retrospective of His Art (and Life)," UTSA, COLFA [$2,445]
2017 Mellon Pathways Mentor (to Mellon Fellow Jessica Vargas), UTSA [$500]
2017 F & A award, exhibition publication "$t@tU.S? Prints from Puerto Rico to San Antonio," UTSA, COLFA [$3,200]
2017 Mexico Center Educational Research Fellowship Recipient with Aurora-Berrueto Cordova, UTSA [$1,000]
2017 Alvarez International Study Fund Award, UTSA [$7,500, declined] .
2016 Mellon Pathways Mentor (to Mellon Fellow Nicole Poole), UTSA [$500]
2016 Fellow, New Mexico History Scholars Program, Office of the State Historian, New Mexico [$1,000]
2016 Alvarez International Study Fund Award, Office of International Study, UTSA [$7,500]
2016 Mexico Center Educational Research Fellowship Recipient with Marissa del Toro UTSA [$1,000]
2015 Alvarez International Study Fund Award, Office of International Study, UTSA [$5,000]
2012 Finalist, New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards, New Mexico Book Co-Op
2011 Mexico Center Educational Research Fellowship Recipient with Stephanie Torres UTSA [$1,000]
2010 Richard E. Greenleaf Visiting Library Scholar Award, Latin American Institute and Division of Latin American Resources, UNM [$2,500]
2009 Mexico Center Educational Research Fellowship Recipient with Edward Hayes Jr. UTSA [$1,000]
Grants, Patents and Clinical Trials
2022 COLFA Classroom to Career Faculty Curriculum Grant, UTSA. [$1,000]
2022 Diane and Bruce Halle Foundation, Scottsdale, Arizona. Center for Regional Studies, University of New Mexico. Subvention for Julio Galán monograph (final title forthcoming) [$7,500]
2022 Center for Regional Studies, University of New Mexico. Subvention for Julio Galán monograph (final title forthcoming) [$2,500]
2022 COLFA Book Subvention, UTSA. Image support for Julio Galán monograph (final title forthcoming) [$4,500]
2016 International Faculty Travel Grant, Office of International Study, UTSA [$1,000]
2008 Subvention for the publication of Neo-Mexicanism: Mexican Figurative Painting and Patronage in the 1980s awarded by the Center for Regional Studies and the Center for Southwest Research, UNM [$22,500]
2022 Diane and Bruce Halle Foundation, Scottsdale, Arizona. Center for Regional Studies, University of New Mexico. Subvention for Julio Galán monograph (final title forthcoming) [$7,500]
2022 Center for Regional Studies, University of New Mexico. Subvention for Julio Galán monograph (final title forthcoming) [$2,500]
2022 COLFA Book Subvention, UTSA. Image support for Julio Galán monograph (final title forthcoming) [$4,500]
2016 International Faculty Travel Grant, Office of International Study, UTSA [$1,000]
2008 Subvention for the publication of Neo-Mexicanism: Mexican Figurative Painting and Patronage in the 1980s awarded by the Center for Regional Studies and the Center for Southwest Research, UNM [$22,500]
Publications
Book
2024 Julio Galán: Verso (tentative title) (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press), 300 pages. (advance contract, copyediting and design stage)
2011 Neo-Mexicanism: Mexican Figurative Painting and Patronage in the 1980s (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press), 300 pages.
Articles
2023 “Reorienting mexicanidad and the Catholic Narrative: Julio Galán’s Transgressive Art” in Latin American and Latinx Visual Culture 5.3(Summer) (Los Angeles: UCLA) [13,975 words]. Forthcoming. Peer-reviewed.
2022 “Julio Galán’s Camp-Cursi-Kitsch and Lo Popular: Gender-Expansion and Cultural Inclusion” in Anales del Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas (Mexico City: UNAM) [9,107 words]. 121(Fall 2022). Peer-reviewed. INTERNATIONAL
2020 “Ceramicist Diana Kersey’s Physicality: Public Art and Placemaking, Parts I, II, & III,” Studio Potter, January-February-and March. [3,912/4,333/3,300 words]. Editorially Reviewed.
Book Chapters
2020 “(Re)Collecting Neo-Mexicanism: A Capricious Text,” in OMR Contemporary Art in (and out of) Mexico 1983-2015, with additional texts by Patricia Ortiz Monasterio, Victor Palacios, Jaime Riestra, Osvaldo Sánchez, Guillermo Santamarina, Daniel Garza Usabiaga (Madrid: Turner Publications) [3,325 words]
INTERNATIONAL
2020 “Cruzando fronteras: Borderland Artists (Re)Configure Visual Territories,” Foreword to Icons and Symbols of the Borderland by Diana Molina (Atglen: Schiffer Publishing). [3,831 words]
2019 “Julio Galán and the Type: Fashioning a ‘Border’ Aesthetic,” in Visual Typologies from the Early Modern to the Contemporary: Local Practices and Global Contexts, Ed. Lynda Klich and Tara Zanardi (New York: Routledge) [5,152 words] Peer-Reviewed
2011 “¿Centro o periferia? Frida Kahlo, neomexicanismo y género” in ¿Neomexicanismos? Ficciones identitarias en México (Mexico City: Museo de Arte Moderno), pp. 127-144 [5,018 words]. INTERNATIONAL
Exhibition Catalogue Essays
2023 “Un conejo partido a la mitad y una boa constrictora digiriendo a un elefante: Julio Gaán y viendo más allá del sombrero” in Un conejo partido a la mitad, exh. cat. (Mexico City: Museo Tamayo). [4,850 words]
2022 “In Retrospect: San Antonio’s Mexican Cultural Institute, A History,” in The Transformative Power of Art, exh. cat. (San Antonio: Mexican Cultural Institute) [2,873 words]
2017 “Richard Armendariz and Coyote: The Aesthetics of Code-Switching,” in Ricky Armendariz: The Dream Keeper (San Antonio: DoSeum). [3,651 words]
2017 “Border Crossings: Icons and Symbols of the Borderland” in Icons and Symbols of the Borderlands curated by Diana Molina, Juntos Art Association in conjunction with Centro de Artes (San Antonio: Department of Arts and Culture). [4,434 words] (2017)
2016 “SATX/MX: 21 Artists, Many Journeys, and the Liminal State” in SATX/MX: Un viaje lleno de cultura, Centro de Artes (San Antonio: Department of Arts and Culture). [5,586 words]
2008 “No Bounds: Luis Cruz Azaceta” in the exhibition catalogue No Bounds (Augusta: Gertrude Herbert Institute of Art, Georgia). [3,470 words]
Exhibition Catalogues as Curator
2018 Alberto Mijangos: 159, A Retrospective of His Art (and Life), exhibition essay and interviews with the artist’s students, exh. cat. (San Antonio: Department of Arts and Culture, SA300), 132 pages.
2017 $t@tU.S.? Prints from Puerto Rico to San Antonio, editor, curatorial statement and authored interviews with Antonio Martorell, Manuel García Fonteboa, and Carmelo Sobrino, exh. cat. (San Antonio: Department of Arts and Culture and UTSA), 96 pages.
2012 Posada’s Broadsheets: Of Love and Betrayal, editor, and essay contribution “Posada’s Broadsheets: An Introduction,” exh. cat. (San Antonio: UTSA), 40 pages.
2011 Rocío Maldonado: Resonance with the essay “Resonance, Confluence and Innovation,” exh. cat. (San Antonio: UTSA), 16 pages.
2010 Neo-Mexicanism A New Figuration: Mexican Art of the 1980s, editor, with the essay “From Mexico: New (Con)Figurations in Contemporary Art,” exh. cat. (San Antonio: UTSA), 24 pages.
Book and Exhibition Reviews: print
2021 “Women Made Visible: Feminist Art and Media in Post-1968 Mexico City,” Review of Gabriela Aceves Sepúlveda’s book (Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, 2019) for Women’s Art Journal 42.1 (Spring/Summer 2021).
2020 “Context, Cursilería, and Sorrow: Beatriz González,” Review of Ana María Reyes, The Politics of Taste: Beatriz González and Cold War Aesthetics (Durham: Duke University Press, 2019); Tobias Ostrander and Mari Carmen Ramírez, Beatriz González: A Retrospective, the exhibition and the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, and catalogue (New York: Prestel, 2019) for Art Journal 79.3 (Fall 2020): 90-92.
http://artjournal.collegeart.org/?p=14578
2013 Book review of Lyle W. Williams, Estampas de la Raza: Contemporary Prints from the Romo Collection (San Antonio: The McNay, 2012) for Print Quarterly 30.4(December 2013): 462-465. INTERNATIONAL
2013 Book review of Dawn Ades and Alison McClean, Revolution on Paper: Mexican Prints 1910-1960 (London: The British Museum, 2009) for Print Quarterly 30.2(June 2): 203-206. INTERNATIONAL
2024 Julio Galán: Verso (tentative title) (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press), 300 pages. (advance contract, copyediting and design stage)
2011 Neo-Mexicanism: Mexican Figurative Painting and Patronage in the 1980s (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press), 300 pages.
Articles
2023 “Reorienting mexicanidad and the Catholic Narrative: Julio Galán’s Transgressive Art” in Latin American and Latinx Visual Culture 5.3(Summer) (Los Angeles: UCLA) [13,975 words]. Forthcoming. Peer-reviewed.
2022 “Julio Galán’s Camp-Cursi-Kitsch and Lo Popular: Gender-Expansion and Cultural Inclusion” in Anales del Instituto de Investigaciones Estéticas (Mexico City: UNAM) [9,107 words]. 121(Fall 2022). Peer-reviewed. INTERNATIONAL
2020 “Ceramicist Diana Kersey’s Physicality: Public Art and Placemaking, Parts I, II, & III,” Studio Potter, January-February-and March. [3,912/4,333/3,300 words]. Editorially Reviewed.
Book Chapters
2020 “(Re)Collecting Neo-Mexicanism: A Capricious Text,” in OMR Contemporary Art in (and out of) Mexico 1983-2015, with additional texts by Patricia Ortiz Monasterio, Victor Palacios, Jaime Riestra, Osvaldo Sánchez, Guillermo Santamarina, Daniel Garza Usabiaga (Madrid: Turner Publications) [3,325 words]
INTERNATIONAL
2020 “Cruzando fronteras: Borderland Artists (Re)Configure Visual Territories,” Foreword to Icons and Symbols of the Borderland by Diana Molina (Atglen: Schiffer Publishing). [3,831 words]
2019 “Julio Galán and the Type: Fashioning a ‘Border’ Aesthetic,” in Visual Typologies from the Early Modern to the Contemporary: Local Practices and Global Contexts, Ed. Lynda Klich and Tara Zanardi (New York: Routledge) [5,152 words] Peer-Reviewed
2011 “¿Centro o periferia? Frida Kahlo, neomexicanismo y género” in ¿Neomexicanismos? Ficciones identitarias en México (Mexico City: Museo de Arte Moderno), pp. 127-144 [5,018 words]. INTERNATIONAL
Exhibition Catalogue Essays
2023 “Un conejo partido a la mitad y una boa constrictora digiriendo a un elefante: Julio Gaán y viendo más allá del sombrero” in Un conejo partido a la mitad, exh. cat. (Mexico City: Museo Tamayo). [4,850 words]
2022 “In Retrospect: San Antonio’s Mexican Cultural Institute, A History,” in The Transformative Power of Art, exh. cat. (San Antonio: Mexican Cultural Institute) [2,873 words]
2017 “Richard Armendariz and Coyote: The Aesthetics of Code-Switching,” in Ricky Armendariz: The Dream Keeper (San Antonio: DoSeum). [3,651 words]
2017 “Border Crossings: Icons and Symbols of the Borderland” in Icons and Symbols of the Borderlands curated by Diana Molina, Juntos Art Association in conjunction with Centro de Artes (San Antonio: Department of Arts and Culture). [4,434 words] (2017)
2016 “SATX/MX: 21 Artists, Many Journeys, and the Liminal State” in SATX/MX: Un viaje lleno de cultura, Centro de Artes (San Antonio: Department of Arts and Culture). [5,586 words]
2008 “No Bounds: Luis Cruz Azaceta” in the exhibition catalogue No Bounds (Augusta: Gertrude Herbert Institute of Art, Georgia). [3,470 words]
Exhibition Catalogues as Curator
2018 Alberto Mijangos: 159, A Retrospective of His Art (and Life), exhibition essay and interviews with the artist’s students, exh. cat. (San Antonio: Department of Arts and Culture, SA300), 132 pages.
2017 $t@tU.S.? Prints from Puerto Rico to San Antonio, editor, curatorial statement and authored interviews with Antonio Martorell, Manuel García Fonteboa, and Carmelo Sobrino, exh. cat. (San Antonio: Department of Arts and Culture and UTSA), 96 pages.
2012 Posada’s Broadsheets: Of Love and Betrayal, editor, and essay contribution “Posada’s Broadsheets: An Introduction,” exh. cat. (San Antonio: UTSA), 40 pages.
2011 Rocío Maldonado: Resonance with the essay “Resonance, Confluence and Innovation,” exh. cat. (San Antonio: UTSA), 16 pages.
2010 Neo-Mexicanism A New Figuration: Mexican Art of the 1980s, editor, with the essay “From Mexico: New (Con)Figurations in Contemporary Art,” exh. cat. (San Antonio: UTSA), 24 pages.
Book and Exhibition Reviews: print
2021 “Women Made Visible: Feminist Art and Media in Post-1968 Mexico City,” Review of Gabriela Aceves Sepúlveda’s book (Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, 2019) for Women’s Art Journal 42.1 (Spring/Summer 2021).
2020 “Context, Cursilería, and Sorrow: Beatriz González,” Review of Ana María Reyes, The Politics of Taste: Beatriz González and Cold War Aesthetics (Durham: Duke University Press, 2019); Tobias Ostrander and Mari Carmen Ramírez, Beatriz González: A Retrospective, the exhibition and the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, and catalogue (New York: Prestel, 2019) for Art Journal 79.3 (Fall 2020): 90-92.
http://artjournal.collegeart.org/?p=14578
2013 Book review of Lyle W. Williams, Estampas de la Raza: Contemporary Prints from the Romo Collection (San Antonio: The McNay, 2012) for Print Quarterly 30.4(December 2013): 462-465. INTERNATIONAL
2013 Book review of Dawn Ades and Alison McClean, Revolution on Paper: Mexican Prints 1910-1960 (London: The British Museum, 2009) for Print Quarterly 30.2(June 2): 203-206. INTERNATIONAL
