El Albañil: J. Leigh Garcia at Canton Museum of Art

Art and art making has the power to transform how we interact with the world. It can shed new light on sociopolitical issues. It can help to create better ways to understand biological and physical sciences, and art can even sometimes help to make better sense of math. So, it should be no surprise that an artist would use their ability to make things to connect with their family and the generations that went before them.
El Albañil: Artwork by J. Leigh Garcia–on view at the Canton Museum of Art through March 2, 2025–is an exhibition in which the artist, who is a biracial Latina (seventh-generation Texan of European descent on her mother’s side, and granddaughter of Mexican immigrants on her father’s side) explores her relationship with her paternal grandfather, Narciso “Chicho” García. Garcia’s grandfather worked as a tile setter (an albañil) in Monterrey, Mexico and Harlingen, Texas for most of his life and the work included in the show not only pays homage to him but also describes a conversation between the artist and the voices of her ancestors that still play an important role in how Garcia see herself and the work she makes.
Garcia seeks to “use the visual language of my profession to celebrate that of my grandfather,” she says. “Hand paper making and printmaking techniques are utilized to consider the sacrifice of my grandfather’s body, [made … ] through decades of intense manual labor, and to allude to the idea that while my grandfather passed away in 2016, his legacy lives on in the dozens of buildings he helped to construct.”

The first thing to consider when walking into the gallery space is that you are looking at works made of paper. The work doesn’t at first glance look that way. In fact it takes a second or third investigation to realize every piece is made of paper. Rather, it seems as though you are looking at an expressively displayed assemblage of prints and painted ceramic tiles. Garcia muddies the visual waters further by displaying the paper made tiles on regular, hardware-store-bought tile backer board with mortar marked by a trowel in the space exposed between the faux-ceramic-elements. Further, wooden one-by-fours hold up each of the three tile wall assemblages, along with a fourth tile piece that has been made in the shape of a ladder. The paper “tiles” are so “ceramic” looking that one patron told the curators at the museum that they had been installed incorrectly, and that ceramic tiles would not last installed that way. Clearly, they did not realize they were looking at paper objects meant to pay homage to the real thing, not to be used in a utilitarian way.
Here then is the magic of Garcia’s work in this exhibition. It invites you in by presenting something familiar, then switches things up by letting you discover them as the delicate, fragile and thoughtful art objects they actually are. This action forces you to better understand what the artist has made and also why she has made it. It’s a delicate and subtle conversation with each one of us lucky enough to encounter and interact with the work.
Garcia’s paper tiles also feature wonderful splashes of color, like the Mexican tiles that inspired their creation: shades of bright yellows, blues and greens along with a familiar terracotta color, and white. These colors enhance the lifelike qualities of the work and include expressive lines and what looks like deliberate and controlled marks. The only issue in this exhibition is the muddy, brown color of the gallery walls. That swallows up the edges of the work at times, and in general tempers the brilliant color of the tiles. Garcia’s work mostly overcomes the challenge, but the exhibit would look stronger if the walls were an even lighter shade, burgeoning onto white.
Also included in this exhibit are several untiled, framed works made with intaglio and screen print, and mixed media collage. Each of these tells a unique story. They feature things that look like wood, pencils or hand using a pencil. Something akin to a tile spacer made in yellow is often featured, as well as the marks and patterns of what the trowel leaves while the installer is working. These small, framed pieces point more directly in several ways to Garcia’s relationship and thoughts and feelings about her grandfather. They speak to the tools of the trades they both share on a deeply personal level. A fact made all the more poignant and unique by Garcia’s ability to recreate them out paper in both two and three dimensions.
One of the special places of the artist in society is to highlight collectively held beliefs and values. J. Leigh Garcia’s work helps to create a narrative about family and valuing the memories of friends and loved ones through an expressive, compassionate and moving approach.

El Albañil: J. Leigh Garcia
November 26, 2024 – March 2, 2025
Canton Museum of Art
1001 Market Avenue North
Canton, Ohio 44702
330.453.7666
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