About the Artist
Blanca Herrada is a Queer, Mexican American Artist and Activist living and working in Lawrence, Kansas. Blanca creates oil paintings often fused with mixed media to create contemporary pieces that combine traditional and modern methods. Blanca thrives when working within the intersections of art and activism and is passionate about her community. In 2022, Blanca was chosen as one of 52 BIPOC arts and culture leaders selected for the inaugural National Leaders of Color Fellowship. In 2024, she was chosen for the fourth cycle of artEquity’s BIPOC Leadership Circle. She has served as the Exhibitions Coordinator at the Lawrence Arts Center since 2021. Blanca enjoys working with diverse communities to spread her love for the arts and strives to make art spaces more accessible and welcoming to everyone.
Artist Statement
Blanca Herrada’s multidisciplinary visual work focuses on her life experiences, frequently incorporating political themes or underlying meanings surrounding subjects like identity, familial ties, and unspoken feelings. Using oil paint as her primary medium, Blanca’s paintings are often fused with mixed media to create contemporary pieces that combine traditional and modern methods. Blanca’s work as a curator is rooted in uplifting marginalized voices and providing space for real, educational, and collaborative conversations across intersections to build relationships and understanding between people. Community is at the basis of Blanca’s praxis as an artist and an activist. She works collaboratively with community members and artists across disciplines to bring art into as many spaces and lives as she can.
Press
2022 – Core. Issue 7, December 2022, Brittany Noriega, Core Zine KC
2022 – 2022-23 National Leaders of Color Fellowship, Leaders of Color Network
2020 – Winter/Spring Catalog Features Work Lifting the Underrepresented, Andrea Albright, The Lawrence Arts Center
2019 – Lawrence Artist Celebrates People of Color, Cole Blaise and John McGrath, Behind the Mise En Scene, Flatland KC
2019 – How Artist Blanca Herrada Highlights People of Color, Vicky Diaz-Camacho, Broad Strokes for Flatland KC