ar t fo c u s • e n fo q u e ar t Í s t i c o
Esteban Villa:
The Artist as Essential Worker
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Prologue ooking back at my life I am amazed at how the people I met along the way affected my life. Fresh out of high school in 1957, I enrolled at California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland, California, with a predominantly white student body of about 600 students. I was immediately drawn to the only other brown faces on campus, Salvador Torres from San Diego, Jose Montoya from Fowler, and Esteban Villa from Tulare. Me from Modesto. We shared a common bond of having grown up in the barrio, worked in the fields, and spoke Spanglish. We would become lifelong friends and each in his own way make an indelible mark on the world of culture and art, a story as Villa puts it, “that needs to be told.” Torres would become a muralist and activist spearheading the creation of “Chicano Park” in the early 70s, under the massive pillars supporting the Coronado Bridge in “Barrrio Logan”, San Diego, housing the largest collection of outdoor murals in the US. Montoya would go on to become a renowned artist, teacher, poet, and Poet Laureate of Sacramento. Villa, his other half, would also become a teacher, songwriter, and muralist. Together they helped found the Barrio Arts program promoting art with Sacramento youth. I would go on to become a Chicano Studies professor, English teacher, writer and co-founder of the Mexican Heritage Center in Stockton. All together we worked to inspire a new generation of Chicano artists, educators and professionals. During a recent phone call to Villa, he mentioned he had an art exhibit at KVIE studios in Sacramento and invited me to see the show and write a review in our Joaquin magazine. We agreed to meet the following Monday. “Contact my son, Nathan. He takes care of all my business now. He’ll give you everything you’ll need.” But continued on next page
Richard Ríos, Stockton, CA
El Artista como Trabajador Esencial Esteban Villa nació en Tulare, California, en 1930. Comenzó su carrera docente en 1962 a nivel de escuela secundaria y siguió con asignaciones en Washington State University, DQU Davis, y finalmente en California State University, Sacramento. Reconocido artista, músico-compositor, y muralista, Villa es cofundador, junto a José Montoya, de la R.C.A.F. (también conocido como Royal Chicano Air Force), una cooperativa de artistas, estudiantes y profesores formada durante el Movimiento Chicano de los 1970s, que propugnaba derechos sociales y políticos.
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Prólogo n retrospectiva, me sorprende notar cuánto afectaron mi vida las personas que fui conociendo en el camino. Recién salido de la secundaria en 1957, me matriculé en el Colegio de Artes y Oficios de California en Oakland, California, con una población predominantemente blanca entre unos 600 estudiantes. Inmediata y lógi-
camente fui atraído hacia las únicas otras caras cobrizas en el campus: Salvador Torres de San Diego, José Montoya de Fowler, y Esteban Villa de Tulare. Yo de Modesto. Compartíamos el vínculo común de habernos criado en el barrio, haber trabajado en el campo y hablado espanglish. Nos convertiríamos en amigos para toda la vida y cada uno —a su manera— dejaría una huella indeleble en el mundo de la cultura y el arte, una historia, como dice Villa, “que hay que contar”. Torres se convertiría en muralista y activista encabezando la creación del “Chicano Park” a principios de los 1970s, bajo los enormes pilares que sostienen el Puente Coronado en “Barrrio Logan”, San Diego —y que alberga la colección más grande de murales al aire libre en continúa a la vuelta
photo by keith sutter
Esteban Villa was born in Tulare, California in 1930. He began his teaching career in 1962 at the high school level and followed with assignments at Washington State University, DQU Davis, and finally California State University, Sacramento. He is a widely known artist, musician/songwriter, and muralist. Villa is co-founder, with Jose Montoya, of the R.C.A.F. (aka Royal Chicano Air Force), a collective of artists, students and professors, which formed during the Chicano Movement of the 1970s, advocating for social and political rights.
novemBER 2020 Joaquín 13
