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The following is a summary of Santa Ana's Arts History developed by Santa Ana native Manuel <br />"Manny" Escamilla, local historian and Archivist for the Santa Ana History Room at the Santa <br />Ana Public Library. <br />The history of the arts can help us to understand how regional forces shaping the Santa <br />Ana Valley were understood by the people living through different eras of our City's past. <br />Through these processes various waves of cultures met, clashed, and merged to form a <br />distinctly Californian experience at the Southwestern edge of the United States. The art and <br />artifacts that our forbearers left behind continue to offer clues into understanding how our <br />Golden City came to be. <br />According to the written accounts left by early Missionaries the region's indigenous <br />papulation believed that the art of dancing was a sacred pact between the realm of the creator <br />and the earthly world. These European settlers noted that the people of the region would dance <br />day and night for entire weeks as part of their religious ceremonies.' The Maze Stone and Bell <br />Stones found in the Santa Ana Mountains are now located courtyard of the Bower's Museum <br />and serve as potent reminders that we live on sacred land. The 1776 founding of Mission San <br />Juan Capistrano marked the displacement, merging, and subsequent creation of a distinctly <br />regional experience. <br />This rancho culture that emerged after the ending of the mission system gave rise to a <br />distinct class of Californios that prized music above other forms of art. Music accompanied <br />nearly every occasion including baptisms, weddings, funerals, and 'lovemaking'.' Anglo travel <br />journals noted the popularity of vihuelas, clarinets, harps, and tarimas utilized in increasingly <br />complicated rhythmic patterns with full audience participation .3 This Spanish -Mexican period <br />marked the beginning phases of the Santa Ana Valley's integration with the wider world. It was <br />during this time that first oil paintings began to document the prominent Californio families <br />overseeing the feudal economy of the region. The sound of their tarimas can still be heard in the <br />modern fandangos organized by EI Centro Cultural de Mexico musicians that now call Santa <br />Ana their home. <br />The City of Santa Ana was founded in 1869 shortly after the end of the American Civil <br />War by veterans of both the Union and Confederate armies. They utterly transformed the <br />previous era's ranch economy into an agriculturally based society in which prominent farmers <br />supported the infrastructure needed to export products to the markets back east. Given the <br />chronic shortage of labor these merchant -farmers began to utilize sketches and lithographs to <br />'convey the image of a prosperous and established town .,4 The crate label art also promoted the <br />nascent Orange County region as a land of abundance free from harsh Eastern Winters. <br />' Boscana, Ger6nimo, Alfred Robinson, Phil Townsend Hanna, John Peabody Harrington, and Calif.) Fine <br />Arts Press (Santa Ana. Chinigchinich (Chi-19idh-19ich). Santa Ana, Calif.: Fine Arts Press, 1933. 57 <br />' Ballard, Ray, W.P.A. Research Project #3105 Sponsored by Board of Education, Santa Ana. Vol. Sports <br />and Recreation, 1936. 8 <br />3 Ballard, Ray. W.P.A. Research Project #3105 Sponsored by Board of Education, Santa Ana. Vol. Sports <br />and Recreation, 1936. 10 <br />' Bricker, Gordon. The Civil WarLegacy in Santa Ana. Santa Ana, Calif.: Wilson/Barnett Publishing, <br />2002. 10 <br />M�IM • • <br />