H.R. No. 995



R E S O L U T I O N
	WHEREAS, The nationally acclaimed artist and writer Carmen 
Lomas Garza of San Francisco is visiting Austin to speak at the 
Texas Library Association Conference, and she is being honored on 
April 6, 2005, by Mexic-Arte Museum in celebration of the 15th 
anniversary of the publication of her first book, Family 
Pictures/Cuadros de Familia; and
	WHEREAS, A native of Kingsville, Ms. Garza decided to become 
an artist at the age of 13; inspired by the Chicano movement of the 
late 1960s, she is compelled to depict the everyday lives of Mexican 
Americans based on her own memories and experiences of South Texas; 
her work elicits recognition and appreciation from Mexican 
Americans and educates those who are unfamiliar with her cultural 
heritage; although her medium changes from paintings to prints and 
from installations to cutouts, her resolute pride in the Mexican 
American experience never alters; and
	WHEREAS, As an artist, Ms. Garza has enjoyed numerous solo 
exhibitions at prestigious institutions across the country, 
including the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden of the 
Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., the Whitney Museum of 
American Art in New York, the Smith College Museum of Art in 
Northampton, Massachusetts, and the Mexican Museum in San 
Francisco; in 1991, she had a major solo exhibition, titled "A Piece 
of My Heart/Pedacito de mi Corazon" that originated at Laguna 
Gloria Art Museum in Austin and eventually traveled to six other 
museums in the United States; and
	WHEREAS, This much-respected artist has also seen her work 
included in significant group exhibitions at the Museum of Fine 
Arts, Houston and the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.; 
she was one of many contributors to the groundbreaking 1990 
exhibition, "C.A.R.A., Chicano Art: Resistance and Affirmation, 
1965-1985"; and
	WHEREAS, Ms. Garza has received several fellowships, 
including two grants from the National Endowment for the Arts in 
painting and printmaking; she has won countless awards and honors 
for her children's books, the first of which, Family 
Pictures/Cuadros de Familia, is a bilingual text of her paintings 
and short stories that was published in 1990; and
	WHEREAS, Carmen Lomas Garza is truly an inspiration, both as 
an artist and as an innovator, and her work is a national treasure 
that preserves the rich and varied history of Mexican American 
culture; it is a pleasure to honor her on this occasion and to 
celebrate the 15th anniversary of the publication of her first 
book; now, therefore, be it
	RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 79th Texas 
Legislature hereby welcome Carmen Lomas Garza on the occasion of 
her visit to Austin, commend her for her extraordinary 
accomplishments as an artist and writer, and extend to her sincere 
best wishes for continued success and happiness; and, be it further

	RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be 
prepared for Ms. Garza as an expression of high regard by the Texas 
House of Representatives.

                                                                       Rodriguez

                                                  ______________________________
                                                       Speaker of the House     

	I certify that H.R. No. 995 was adopted by the House on April 
5, 2005, by a non-record vote.

                                                  ______________________________
                                                     Chief Clerk of the House