“I didn’t see myself as a business person but someone involved in the community,” says Xochitl Guerrero, an Oakland artist whose great talent is matched by her dedication to community. After many years of freely sharing her art and skills with the Fruitvale community, Guerrero created a business of her artwork, which has a healing mission.
For nearly forty years, Guerrero, 61, has been an artist, activist, and art teacher in Oakland. Active in the Fruitvale district, she has exhibited her art locally, nationally and internationally. Her creations include studio fine art, murals, gourd decoration, and mosaic/tile art.“I did murals and other art with my father and at art exhibitions in the 1970’s,” says Guerrero.
“I was influenced by art by my parents. My father was an artist and mom a teacher and they encouraged me to do art.”
Guerrero studied art in college and spent many years teaching art to kids in the community.
“I was working in different community centers and was so busy with other people that I didn’t get my business together until years later when I reinvented myself,” she explains.
When Guerrero decided to expand her artwork business, she went to AnewAmerica, which helps low-income people in the Bay Area start or expand micro-businesses and build personal assets for the sustainability of their families.
Guerrero participated in AnewAmerica’s Savings Match Program, funded by Y&H Soda Foundation. Once Guerrero hit her target of $2,000, AnewAmerica matched her savings so that she could put a total of $4,000 toward purchasing a laptop, camera and printer. These business assets increased her opportunities to sell her work online and showcase her portfolio.
Taller Xochicura is the name of Guerrero’s art business and she displays her work at festivals, cafes and galleries. She has also contracted with local communities and the City of Oakland for mural projects. Besides the Bay Area, Xochitl has patrons and interested buyers in other areas, including Los Angeles, New York, Florida and Hawaii.
Guerrero says that AnewAmerica has given her the confidence she needs to sell at events and keeps her accountable for the goals she sets in coaching sessions. In addition to local events, Guerrero is still working to sell more of her work online.
“I was resisting the technology but I got to learn everything now,” she says. “If I don’t understand something I ask, and AnewAmerica has helped a lot. They sit with us at their computer lab - I am very grateful for their help. In order to survive we need to learn all those technologies.”
On Guerrero’s website for Taller Xochicura, it states that she ‘believes in creating art to inspire, empower, and use art as a tool for healing’.
“The healing part I embraced was from my grandfather, who was a healer,” she explains. “He was a natural healer and I have elements of that in my work.”
Guerrero also has a more personal need for healing. “I have had several accidents with my back and took healing classes and have incorporated the two,” she explains.
Beyond healing, Guerrero says that with her art and business she hopes to inspire other women to find ways to do what they love, follow their dreams, and not give up.