A beautiful Southwestern native print entitled Su Primer Libro hangs in the library of the National Hispanic University in San Jose, California. A young Chicana sits on a sofa with her grandfather. They are sharing her first book. The grandfather is dressed in blue denim overalls, which were typical attire for New Mexican men in the early 1940s. I was so moved by the artwork that I began to inquire about the artist.
The artist is Edward Gonzales of New Mexico. Edward Gonzales illustrated two children's literature books authored by Rudolfo Anaya. The book titles are Farolitos for Abuelo and The Farolitos of Christmas, which received the Tomas Rivera Award for positive Latino imagery in children's literature. My subsequent interview with Edward Gonzales revealed many insights about him. Edward states, "I think that a lot of us share the same background."
Edward's paternal grandparents were from Northern New Mexico. "My dad was originally from a little land grant village established around 1780, called Sena," relates Edward. From Santa Fe, Sena is northeast towards Las Vegas, New Mexico, on the high road to Denver, Colorado. In the 1940s, his father a veteran of World War II settled in Los Angeles, California.
Edward Gonzales was born in Los Angeles on August 20, 1947. A year later, his family moved back to New Mexico. "My father didn't want us growing up not knowing our heritage," says Edward. "We still have some distant relatives, second and third cousins who remained in the L.A. area."
His grandmother would take the train into Albuquerque, New Mexico, to take care of Edward and the other grandchildren because both parents worked. "One day she brought me some colored pencils and paper to occupy me because my older brother was in school," recalls Edward. "She brought me a little comic book, she used to call it El Pato Loco. I started copying all of the pages of the old Daffy Duck comic book. My grandmother was amazed because I was only four years old yet she said I had a talent."
"My grandmother was very spiritual," expands Edward. "Her name was Remedios, which means remedies. She was a curandera--a holistic healer and a member of the Guadalupana Society. Every night she stayed with us she'd kneel in front of her makeshift altar with candles all around and she would pray the rosary. She was responsible for my first contact with art. She was the first person in my life to see my artistic talent and encouraged me to develop it."
When Edward's father got a clerical job with the Veteran's Hospital, the family financial situation improved. The family moved from the very poorest part of town, the east San Jose area of Albuquerque to the other side of town the northwest valley. "It was more rural there," says Edward. "We had orchards and farmers nearby. There were always the railroad tracks behind us. Although the north valley area was considered impoverished, we liked it there. It was a mixed neighborhood. There were some Anglos, but the majority of us were Chicanos from all parts of New Mexico who were looking for work.
"I attended La Luz Elementary School," Edward remembers. "I stayed in the area and went to Garfield Junior High School and the Valley High School." Fortunately for Edward, Valley High had a very strong art program. "I excelled in art. We were lucky to have an art teacher who was really into art. At that time they would hold annual art exhibitions. I entered many categories: Abstract Art, Figurative Art, Landscape, Sculpture and Printmaking.
"I loved all kinds of art," admits Edward. "When I was in grade school I read all of the art books in the local neighborhood library. I always saw merit in many types of art. I was well read in art history. In eighth grade, I was given an aptitude test from some East Coast college. I scored exceptionally high in this area. I scored the equivalent of graduate level knowledge of Art History because I was self-educated in art. I could have a discussion with someone about ancient art or different art periods, like the Baroque. I still have that interest in reading biographies about artists."
One of Edward's earliest motivations as an artist growing up in the Southwest was his search for art that reflected art other than cowboys and Indians. During his youth, the many art museums throughout New Mexico and the Southwest contained famous imagery, paintings, sculpture, textiles and ceramics that reflected Western and Native American art themes. However, the few Mexican or Spanish artistic themes revolved around church or religious art images, chile peppers or stereotypical "lazy Mexican men leaning against the cactus dressed in a colorful poncho and straw hat sombrero." In the '50s and '60s, stereotypical derogatory and racist images of Mexican culture were quite prevalent.
The galleries in Santa Fe even today have very poor representation of Chicano or Mexican art. It is still dominated by the cowboy, the Indian or the landscape. "It was my emphasis to focus on Chicano culture," Edward states.
"When I was in college, the Chicano Movement was under way," Edward recalls. "Then I was drafted and sent to Vietnam. When I returned, I still had this idea that the Movement was going strong. I felt that I wanted to continue. New Mexico has one of the highest dropout rates in the nation. Two out of five Chicanos drop out of school here. All of the screaming and yelling and protesting may have been over, but I still saw that we Chicanos had to address the problem."
"I had a different perception from the L.A. experience of what it means to be a Chicano artist," admits Edward. "I wasn't really hip with the L.A. Chicano mural movement. I feel some of them really missed the point of the Movimiento, which should have been a continuation of the social needs and the cultural support. We shouldn't have gone away from that. That's essentially why I'm still here because I don't want to go away. My perception of art is that there is beauty in the ordinary. There is beauty in the commonplace. There is a sense of aesthetics that I am attempting to portray. Beauty can be transmitted in a universal way."
"Recently I got an e-mail from a young man who was part of a dance troupe from Ireland," Edward relates. "He was staying at a motel here in Albuquerque. A private hotel owner here in Albuquerque said that he really loved my art and he ordered special prints for each of his rooms. The Irish dancer said that he loved my artwork because it reminded him of his own rural homeland. Art is a universal acknowledgement."
"I see the world as ethnic more than racial," Edward continues. "Viewing the world as ethnic we are all more alike than we are different. That is my perspective of the world and art. I have come to this perspective through the years. I didn't always feel this way. There has always been some conflict between the Native Americans and the Chicanos in terms of art, history and culture. There is always a love-hate relationship and a deeper connection that exists between us."
"It is a very odd mixed bag," says Edward. "I always get these reminders that we are a lot closer to the Indios than even we ourselves realize. Many of the Chicanos out here are half-Indian. One of my Chicano students from Northern New Mexico Community College once invited all of his tios and tias from the Santa Clara Pueblo. The guy's mother was Indian and his dad was Chicano."Another Pueblo artist who does these outrageous prayer feather-dream catcher arrangements wanted to trade some of his art for my prints. His mother was Pueblo Indian and his dad a Chicano from Tierra Amarillo.
"One of the unfortunate results of the Chicano and African American Movements was that it pushed people into choosing a single identity," believes Edward. "There is a big Spanish Movement. There is another faction out here referred to as the Genizaros. They are the descendants of the Spanish and Native Americans. Eventually the term was adapted to refer to the captured Indians that became Hispanicized. The word originally comes from a Spanish word that means the Turks. The Comanche were wearing cotton turbans and so the early Spanish explorers referred to them as Genizaros because the Comanches headgear reminded them of the Turkish mercenary soldiers. The definition of Mestizo refers to the mix between Mexican Indios and Spanish."
Edward Gonzales continues to capture Latino and indigenous images in his prints and paintings. The vibrant colors, warmth and nostalgia of his art intrigue young and old.