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Revision as of 15:16, 12 November 2009 by Ser Amantio di Nicolao (talk | contribs) (Quick-adding category 1974 births (using HotCat))(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Tim Z. Hernandez (b. February 16, 1974) is an American writer, poet, and performer.
Life
Born in Dinuba, California, he was raised in the San Joaquin Valley of Central California, having lived in the predominantly farm-worker communities, including Cutler, Reedley, Dinuba, Visalia, and Fresno. In the early part of his life he was a student of painting, and exhibited his works in numerous galleries and exhibits across the west coast, before taking up writing and performance as a career.
His performances have been featured at the Getty Center, The Loft Literary Center, Intersection for the Arts, Stanford University, and at the Jack Kerouac School, among other venues. In 2000 he was commissioned by the United Way of Greater Los Angeles and the National Fanny Mae Foundation to write and perform an original play on homelessness and poverty. From 2001 - 2004 he was the regional program consultant with the California Council for the Humanities, where it was his job to travel to rural communities across the stretch of the San Joaquin Valley and listen to stories, of migration, and struggle. Together with these communities he developed projects that addressed each community's needs through the power of storytelling. This experience profoundly impacted his life and his writing, and he credits this period in his life as the moment his eyes were opened to the place he calls home. In 2006 and in 2009 he worked in tandem with Poets & Writers Inc. and the California Center for the Book at UCLA, offering writing workshops to marginalized communities across the state of California.
He studied at the first accredited Buddhist institute in the west, Naropa University. He lives in Boulder, Colorado with his wife and children.
Painting
Hernandez began painting at an early age, eventually exhibiting in his first group show at the age of sixteen. He met the artist Joseph De La Cruz that same year and began what he considers to be his first apprenticeship. De La Cruz taught him the basics of applying paint to canvas, and eventually helped him land his first solo exhibit by the time he turned eighteen. In 1999, while homeless and sleeping on the living room floor of an artist friend's, he encountered a chance meeting with the bay area muralist Juana Alicia. After opening his portfolio and speaking with her for a short while, at her request, he applied for an apprenticeship position with her in San Francisco, and was given the job. In the lineage of Stephen Dimitroff (chief plasterer for the mexican muralist, Diego Rivera), who was Juana Alicia's teacher, Hernandez studied with the master muralist for five months. The result, a 32 x 25 ft traditional fresco mural on permanent display at the San Francisco International Airport. A week after its completion, a car accident ended his time in the bay area, and landed him back in the central valley. Since then, he has been commissioned to paint murals for various organizations, and humanitarian endeavors, including groups such as the James Irvine Foundation, the American Friends Service Committee, Univision Radio, and many others. Though, Hernandez himself sees his paintings as a hobby.
Awards
- 2006 American Book Award for Skin Tax
- 2006 Zora Neal Hurston Award for Diaries of a Macho
- 2003 Best Solo Production Award,
- 2003 James Duval Phelan Award by the San Francisco Foundation
- Nominated for a Pushcart Prize
Works
Poetry
- Skin Tax. Berkeley: Heyday Books. October 2004. ISBN 9781890771935.
Audio CD
- Chile Con Karma: A Brown Lotus Project (Audio CD, recorded at Naropa University studios)
- The Central Chakrah Project: A Spoken Word Cura, (Audio CD, Arte Americas)
Anthologies (partial listing)
- Highway 99: A Literary Journey Through California's Great Central Valley. Great Valley Books/Heyday Books. 2007. ISBN 9781597140676.
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- Wet: A Journal of Proper Bathing (University of Miami)
- Black Renaissance Noire (NYU)
- Many Mountains Moving (MMM Press)
- Undocumented: In the Gardens & the Margins (Baksun Books)
- Symposium (Baobab Tree Press)
- Square One (Colorado University)
- Mosaic Voices Anthology (Poppy Lane Publishing)
- Ram’s Tale Anthology ( Fresno City College)
- Flies, Cockroaches, and Poets Anthology ’02 (Chicano Writers & Artists Association)
References
- http://www.naropa.edu/news/pressreleases/0801hernan.cfm
- http://www.unco.edu/colopoets/poets/hernandez_tim/