LA CORUA
I'm an old gavacha who has plowed through many lives. Long retired from business as La Corua, a mythical guardian water serpent from the Pimeria Alta, I still create occasional works of art and other inspirations under this vanishing namesake. I no longer have work for sale. I produce as labors of love and to shine light on things that fill me with joy, sorrow, and wonder.
My site is always a work in progress... bear with me.
Newest painting: "Guardians of Tucson's Birthplace"
Long before the arrival of Spanish missionaries and the takeover of Euro-Americans, this spot along a precious desert river was a small O'odham settlement called Chuk Shon, meaning "Black Base", for the black rock-covered hill nearby. When Padre Eusebio Kino and others established missions in the Pimeria Alta, they pronounced it "Tuc-son"-- as best they could, and named the life-giving river the Santa Cruz (Holy Cross). Centuries later, now part of the United States, we recognize and use a completely anglicized version of this ancient indigenous name: "TOO-sahn." The signature black rock-covered hill that defines Tucson was later called Sentinel Peak and is now affectionately called "A" Mountain, after the University of Arizona.
The barrios (neighborhoods) that surround "A" Mountain today remain largely inhabited by Tucson's original Mexican-American, Native, black, and Chinese families. As always, tension between poverty and inequality against corporate development and Anglo gentrification is an evolving constant-- especially as family elders pass away and societal pressures increase on the young and growing populations made poor.
Yet, silently, eternally, guardians of the people and of the earth are here. They do not prevent changes, but they are here and are not forgotten. And they have been here since the beginning. They plant the seeds of survival and wisdom in every new generation...
The barrios (neighborhoods) that surround "A" Mountain today remain largely inhabited by Tucson's original Mexican-American, Native, black, and Chinese families. As always, tension between poverty and inequality against corporate development and Anglo gentrification is an evolving constant-- especially as family elders pass away and societal pressures increase on the young and growing populations made poor.
Yet, silently, eternally, guardians of the people and of the earth are here. They do not prevent changes, but they are here and are not forgotten. And they have been here since the beginning. They plant the seeds of survival and wisdom in every new generation...
En Memoriam
"Los que viven en la memoria nunca mueren."
A collection of works honoring asylum seekers, 2019
My largest single project.
My largest single project.
