Joseph Chavez

Joseph Manuel Chavez is an internationally acclaimed Catholic artist dedicated to representling his faith through his murals, paintings (on canvas, wood and leather), copper engravings and painted pottery in the Santero style.

 

"Growing up in Deming, New Mexico, I was fortunate to be raised by loving grandparents, Nabor & Maria Chavez, who instilled in me a sense of pride for my ancestral past and love for everything beautiful," Chavez said.

 

"I grew up with an appreciation of the natural beauty around me. The striking colors of the land and the changes in the seasons produced vivid pictures that are still embedded in my mind."

 

Chavez has an illustrious career in various mediums of art. He is renowned for his work as a Santero, or painter of Catholic saints and religious icons. A Santero is dedicated to representing his or her faith through art.

 

Chavez's extensive study of Spanish Colonial art from the 17th and 18th century has produced a link between his ancestral past and his ability to create and produce traditional work with a religious tone of the era. His family ties date back to the Spanish colonization of Santa Fe and he is a member of the Spanish Colonial Arts Society in Santa Fe.

 

"In my work I strive to always intertwine my ancestral traditions with my Hispanic culture," Chavez explained. "I have bridged a sense of spirituality we all can acknowledge and appreciate.

 

Chavez has also mastered the art of hide painting, retablos and copper engraving. Hide painting is a specialize medium of actually depicting art on animal hides, including bison, deer and elk, with natural pigments. It's a craft that dates back to his ancestors when settling in New Spain (New Mexico) in 1610.

 

Retablos is painting on wood. This medium also dates back to the 17th century literally means "behind the altar," according to Chavez.

 

Religious images on copper is an art form that has brought Chavez world recognition. He uses scribes and engraving tools on sheets of copper to be inked and printed on a "torculo (rolling press).

 

His work in this medium has been highly collected and are limited editions, since the original image is then destroyed.

 

Chavez has done quite a few murals in his career and was the artist who restored the Santo Nino de Atocha shrine in Hurley, New Mexico at the Santa Nino Church.

 

Chavez now lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma where his studio, Arte de Chavez Gallery is located at 1401 E. Second Street.