As a visual artist my paintings reflect my philosophy, basically it is the pre-Hispanic indigenous Nahuatl philosophy from ancient Mexico. These are concepts that I learned by studying the ancient manuscripts called codices. Also, I learned these from the work I did with the Mascarones theatre group in Mexico, as we heard many stories kept in oral tradition by indigenous villages.
As a muralist, I got my first experience during the Chicano civil rights movement in 1969-71. I was already a passionate visual arts student, and the social movement made it clear that I wanted to use my skills to make this a better world. So we began painting murals wherever we could. I didn’t complete any, as my first one was being done in a student center that was burnt down. But in 1971 I became an apprentice in Mexico to the great Maestro David A. Siqueiros, one of the “Three Great Ones,” I was very young, and this connection impacted me greatly. After returning to the U.S. I came in contact with SPARC which is an organization founded by Judith F. Baca. I collaborate in many of the SPARC murals.
