MinerAlert
MinerAlert
Ignite: The Artistic and Educational Heritage of Gaspar Enriquez is an intimate look into the artists who influenced and informed the artistic and cultural heritage of Chicano artist Gaspar Enriquez. The exhibition will showcase work from the Puro Corazon portrait series, documenting artist who were significant to Enriquez’s life and work including Jose Cisneros, John Valadez, Gloria Osuna Perez, Rodolfo Anaya and Vincent Valdez. The centerpiece of the exhibition will be a newly commissioned mural created by a select group of former students who have vecome recognized artists and educators in their own right: Jesus “Cimi” Alvarado, Fabian Araiza, Francisco Delgado, Mauricio Olague and Aron Venegas. The exhibition will illustrate Enriquez’s impact and imprint on the El Paso community throughout his three-decade long career as an art educator at Bowie High School, and highlight the ways in which artists and their art can ignite positive change. Ignite will be complemented by a summer-long series of educational programs for area youth.
UTEP Alumni Gaspar Enriquez was born and raised in El Paso’s Segundo Barrio. He left home for California at 18 to earn money as a machinist, helping support his family and simultaneously taking classes at East L.A. Junior College. Returning to El Paso in the late 60’s still working fulltime, he earned a BA in Art from UT-El Paso in 1970, an MA in Metals from New Mexico State University in 1985. As he advanced his won artistic practice, Enriquez remained firmly committed to El Paso’s youth. He taught at Bowie High School for 34 years, until his retirement. His work is included in numerous public and private collections and has been exhibited at the El Paso Museum of Art, the Tucson Museum of Art, the University of Texas at Arlington, and the Mexican Fine Arts Museum in Chicago.
