Latina/o Artists Draw Inspiration from Central American and Mexican Mayan Communities

A Spring 2025 Artpace Opening Reception & Artist Talk for the International Artists-in-Residence exhibition introduced San Antonio art lovers to Laura Veles Drey, Anita Fields, and Lorena Molina. Having followed the news last week of the US government's role in deporting 200 Venezuelans to El Salvador where they were imprisoned in one of Central America’s most deplorable jails, I took special notice of the comments of Salvadoran artist Lorena Molina.

Artpace International Artist -in-Residence Laura Veles Drey, “Migration, Agriculture, Labor.” Courtesy of Artpace. Photo by Ricardo Romo.

Born in El Salvador, Molina is a multidisciplinary artist, educator, and curator. Her work incorporates photography, video, and performance art to explore themes of displacement and issues related to her experiences as an immigrant. Artpace Manager of Residencies Ada Smith Genitempo commented that viewing the work of artist Lorena Molina requires sensitivities to migration and spatial dislocation. She notes, “For many individuals who have experienced forced migration, the concept of ‘return’ extends far beyond a geographical location. It is tied to identity, memory, and a yearning for wholeness.” One of Molina’s installations at Artpace recreates a small garden of banana plants, herbs, and flowers planted in bright colored plastic containers and found objects that reminded her of family gardens in her homeland.

During the Civil War period in El Salvador between 1979-1992, thousands of Salvadorans were killed and thousands fled the country. Most of Lorena Molina’s family immigrated to the United States during the 1980s. At age 14, Lorena arrived with her mother in Long Beach, California. Her life took on new meaning when she enrolled in a photography class at a Southern California community college. Molina went on to earn degrees in fine arts – a bachelor’s at Cal State Fullerton in 2012, then a master’s at the University of Minnesota in 2015.

Lorena Molina. Artpace International Artist -in-Residence. Courtesy of Artpace. Photo by Ricardo Romo.

Following an exhibition in North Carolina, Molina told a student journalist for The Daily Tar Heel that she “cannot separate her creativity from the histories she is a part of” — a union that exists in much of her current work, including her Artpace exhibit, “This Must Be The Place,” which captures Molina’s ever-evolving ideas around home and personal identity. She described some of her earlier work as an effort to focus on spatial inequalities and the ways marginalized communities struggle to create a sense of belonging.

A Cumbia band performs in the middle of Lorena Molina’s Jardin [Garden]. Courtesy of Artpace. Photo by Ricardo Romo.

Another example of art that focuses on community and belonging, an exhibit of Chicano art curated by San Antonio artists Lionel and Kathy Sosa Al Otro Lado del Espejo [The Other Side of the Mirror], at the Museo de Arte de Querétaro, Mexico returned to San Antonio recently following an exuberant response by over 20,000 Mexican visitors. The Sosas and Museo de Arte de Querétaro Director Antonio Arelle Barquet organized this breathtaking Chicano art exhibit that opened in September 2024 and closed last month.

Andy Villarreal, Yucatan Mayan series. Photo by Ricardo Romo.

The Querétaro exhibition featured twenty-three artists from San Antonio, and the organizers are planning a reciprocal exhibit of artists from Querétaro. By all accounts, Al Otro Lado del Espejo [The Other Side of the Mirror] may well be the most successful Chicano art exhibit ever in Mexico. In Queretaro Harriett and I met up with San Antonio artist Andy Villarreal, and last weekend we visited with Andy Villarreal at the studio of Lionel and Kathy Sosa in San Antonio’s east side.

Nearly all Villarreal’s works over the past three decades have been influenced by Mexican and Indigenous culture and traditions. In his artist's statement Villarreal explained: “Mexican culture is a major source of inspiration to me and has become more prominent in my work of the past fifteen years. The intensity of my work derives from my pride and feelings towards my culture.”

Andy Villarreal, Yucatan Mayan series. Photo by Ricardo Romo.

Villarreal grew up in San Antonio’s Westside near Sacred Heart Church. As a child he loved to draw and paint, and he built on his dream in middle school to become an artist following a visit to San Antonio College [SAC ]. On a late Friday afternoon when the college students had finished their classes, Villarreal visited the art studio of professor Mel Casas. He was fifteen years old, but that day after meeting Casas, he decided he would one day study art at SAC with this prominent art professor. Villarreal realized this dream to study art in college with Casas in 1972, and after two years at SAC under the mentorship of Casas, he transferred to Corpus Christi State where he earned an Art Degree.

Lionel Sosa portrait of Andy Villarreal. Photo by Ricardo Romo.

Villarreal continued his art studies by moving to Phoenix to study at Arizona State University [ASU]. After earning his Master’s degree from ASU, he returned to San Antonio and found his first job teaching drawing at SAC– thanks to Mel Casas. Villarreal’s fascination with ancient Mayan culture began in 1995 following a trip to Yucatan, and he has returned there nearly a dozen times over the past 30 years. Over the last two decades, Villarreal has focused on painting works that reflect his visits to the Mayan regions of Mexico.

On Sunday afternoon last week, Villarreal had lined up a dozen of his Mayan paintings for us to see at Lionel and Kathy Sosas’ studio. The paintings are headed to The University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio based on a generous gift arrangement by local philanthropist Ron Heller. Villarreal acknowledged his passion for Mesoamerican cultures, primarily the Mayan culture. He explained that these paintings are his way of honoring the Indigenous people of Mexico. When Villarreal visited the Mayan regions of the Yucatan, he learned about the many historical issues the pre-Columbian Mayan people had to grapple with, including building community, negotiating wars and peace, and constructing elaborate religious structures and temples. Villarreal’s paintings include warriors, Mayan kings, pyramids, jaguars and other important icons of Mesoamerica.

Villarreal explained that “Mexican culture is a major source of inspiration to me and has become more prominent in my work of the past fifteen years…My work crosses cultures and portrays the human condition, the struggles, the harmony, the social injustice, and the celebration of life. Ongoing themes in my work combine history, mythology, and religion, past and present, real and contrived.”

Lionel Sosa, Mesero de Tigua Restaurant. Queretaro. Photo by Ricardo Romo.

As we closed our visit and interview with Villarreal, I could not help but notice a stunning portrait of him by Lionel Sosa. The Villarreal portrait stood out as did another Sosa portrait of a Mexican waiter from Queretaro. Lionel and Kathy have a home in Queretaro, and while Harriett and I were there, we visited several restaurants with the Sosas. Lionel enjoyed one particular restaurant, Tigua, and liked visiting with the waiters. Lionel strives to paint regular folks– the “salt of the earth.” The results are remarkable depictions that I hope will end up in a San Antonio museum.