It is with great sadness that I am posting this news. Professor Ricardo Favela from California State University Sacramento passed away on Sunday, July 15, 2007. He was the one who introduced me to the medium of serigraphy and I feel very indebted to him. Chicano and Latino printmaking is an area that I will be specializing in for curatorial work. I will always thank Professor Favela for planting that seed. This represents a great loss for the department of Art and Art History as well as our students as he was the only Chicano professor in the department. He leaves a great legacy not only as an arts activist with the Royal Chicano Air Force and the founding of the Barrio Arts Program, but thanks to his leadership and vision the California Multi-Ethnic Archives at UC Santa Barbara house the largest collection of Royal Chicano Air Force serigraph posters.
Message received…
Dear friends,
I write this letter with great sadness to inform you that our beloved
teacher Ricardo Favela died on Sunday, July 15, 2007 in Dinuba,
California of a heart attack. Favela was a great person, a great
father and a great teacher and friend. Favela was a humble man that
fought for civil rights with his artwork and community activism.
Ricardo Favela was a founder of the Rebel Chicano Art Front aka the
Royal Chicano Air Force (RCAF). The RCAF is a Chicano artist
collective founded in Sacramento, California in 1969. Favela and the
RCAF Supported the United Farm Workers Union (UFW) during the Civil
Rights Movement. Ricardo was a faculty member at the California State
University, Sacramento’s Art Department were he taught printmaking and
Barrio Art for over 10 years. Favela’s students will miss him dearly
and through the use of serigraphy, they will keep his vision of
community empowerment alive.
His memory and legacy will live through his wife Clara Cid and their
children Margarita, Florentina, Manuel and Rosita.
Here are the details of his funeral:
Rosary: Wednesday at 6pm
Dopkins Funeral Chapel, 189 South J Street, Dinuba, CA 93618
Mass: Thursday at 10am
Dopkins Funeral Chapel, 189 South J Street, Dinuba, CA 93618
Internment will follow at the Smith Mountain Cementary
A memorial will be held on Friday, July 21 at the Toyroom Gallery (907 K Street) in Sacramento. For more information, please call 916-446-1400 or visit toyroomgallery.com
Art Blog 
Im shocked not only by hes Art but the fact we both have the same last name .those any one knows hes family nationality .well may he now r.i.p
Yes! I know his nationality… He was a decedent of migrant workers! Mexican-American. Tho he rallied hard for the “huelga” he never spent 2min in n a field picking anything!! And for the record….you should be proud of where you came from. I am!.
Ricardo Favela grew up with his 9 brothers and sisters working in the fields at the age of 8 years old. The first of his family to graduate from high school. His father gave him a choice farmwork or school. His mother was very proud of success. PBS has a RCAF film where he talks about his childhood and struggles.