Changing realism

My interest in creating visual art pieces began early in life. I began by sculpting toys from mud during my formative years as a child. In elementary school I enjoyed drawing with pencil numerous scenes and persons and placed them in sequence that when thumbed rapidly one after another gave the appearance of a movie. During my adolescence, I studied the plastic arts in high school. When, in my senior year at Eisenhower High School, one of my teachers, Ms. Esheleman, entered my work in various contests. A cubism piece was entered in the 1963 in San Bernardino City exhibition. It was awarded third place. Later,another cubism piece was entered in a national contest that was awarded third place.

At Chaffey College, California I took some basic design art classes. Later, I enrolled in several art classes at California State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB). These formal academic classes included, Art History From the Middle Ages Through the Nineteenth Century, Chicano Art History, and Block Printing (key block, color reduction, jig saw puzzle, dry etching, intaglio and colorgraph). I studied under the direction of Joe Moran, director of the art department at CSUSB.Joe Moran is a noted muralist.

In 1963 at the national Orange Show exposition, I exhibited a mural. More recently, I painted a 40ft. mural at Monterey Elementary School, where I presently teach. Later I was asked to do a 25ft. mural on a second school building wall.

For my exhibition with the Hispanic Research Center/Art Gallery at Arizona State University, I prepared 22 art creations. These works embody two very important elements that I have attempted to represent; the challenge of light under varied atmospheric conditions and the application of symbolism. The later, affords me a vehicle by which I can initiate a mission; that is to say, it allows me to present the reprehensible social conditions of today.