Lisa Luevanos
by Tunde Wey
June 20, 2012
Strong communities are defined by one thing above all else: a sense of unity. For all the scholastic inquiry into how neighborhoods are formed and how formal infrastructure develops around them, we always come back to the shared bonds between people. Communities are an expression of a union shared.
In 1980,
Casa de Unidad (House of Unity) was founded in Southwest Detroit to “identify, develop and preserve Hispanic/Latino cultural heritage.” For 25 years, the organization was a cultural hub -- a community of visual, literary and performing artists telling their own stories and teaching lessons to youth. When it formally folded around 2006, there was a gap in the cultural landscape.
Enter
CLAVE. The acronym stands for Community of Latino Artists, Visionaries and Educators. Formed in 2008, the organization continues
Casa de Unidad’s work of advocating for cultural appreciation and using art to create unity among all groups, especially underrepresented ethnic communities.
Not coincidentally, a clave is also a percussion instrument – a pair of two short cylindrical rods. In Latino and Afro-Cuban music, the beat derived from the clave offers a steady rhythm that unites a musical ensemble.
Artists Mary and Lisa Luevanos are mother and daughter officers of CLAVE. At 71, Mary Luevanos, acting president, is a community rampart. Mary has been recognized for her contributions to art in Detroit and her insistence that Latino artists be celebrated as equal contributors to the cultural canon.
TAP Gallery, the popular outdoor public art project in Southwest, has a studio named after Luevanos, whose work has been featured in numerous libraries, institutes and schools throughout the state.
Mary's daughter, photographer and educator Lisa Luevanos, 47, serves as treasurer. As a teenager she received instruction in photography and art through workshops hosted by
Casa de Unidad. She says her seminal experience there allowed her to pursue photography at the
College for Creative Studies and later work as a staff photographer for
Ford Motor Company.
Lisa sees herself as an example of the strong influence community groups can have on youth. Concerned that we are raising “an artless generation” of kids who don’t understand its value, she laments the lack of investment in organizations like CLAVE. Still, Lisa continues to work hard to resurrect the relevance of art as a tool to unite and strengthen the community.
CLAVE offers a variety of informal and formal community art programs, such as their
mercaditos (mini-markets) where local artists sell their work to the public. They also stage festivals (Clark Park Unity Jam) and organize public exhibitions like
Arte en el Parke (Art in the Park).
Focused on the future, CLAVE is working to impact the next generation by aligning art education with deficiencies in the local educational infrastructure and encouraging its artist members to teach.
Today, you can see evidence of CLAVE’s work around the neighborhood – from evocative building murals to brightly-colored mosaic park benches, elaborate holiday parade costumes and local art exhibits. Together, these expressions unify the community around a shared history and hope.
Portrait by Marvin Shaouni Photography.