Interview with Fernando Sandoval

This interview was conducted by Maria Galicia, Education and Programs Coordinator at USC Fisher Museum of Art.

I heard much about you through Dan—your shop and the wonderful work you have done with artists. How did you get involved in etching?

It started at Cedart, an art school in Guadalajara. At the same time, I was working at other etching studios where I was a printer. Eventually I wanted to leave Guadalajara and go to Oaxaca to work with painter Javier Arevalo and work on some etchings. I liked Oaxaca and wanted to stay and establish my own etching studio. I worked with many Oaxacan artists and little by little I gained experience. Until this day I have my workshop in Oaxaca.

Oaxaca is currently known to be the center of etching. Why do you believe that is so?

Oaxaca has had a very important influx of religious imagery from the beginning of colonial times. Through time it has been preserved as part of the cultural heritage. It is curious but when I arrived inthe city of Oaxaca there were few etching studios. There were institutes such as Bellas Artes, Taller Rufino Tamayo, and also a private one belonging to JuanAlcázar. I founded my own studio in 1988. During the 1980s there was a large interest in etchings by Oaxacan artists. In time Oaxaca’s political history allowed other etching shops to emerge. In that climate graphic pamphlets were used as political manisfestos in the streets. In 2006 a social-political movement emerged. It derived from the teachers’ strike and the consolidation of APPO. The conflicts that developed over months provoked more collective workshops to emerge. They were able to manifest their political point of view through graphics. One finds many etching workshops in Oaxaca today as a result of that wave of work. During the intense social struggle of the time (2006), Dan McCleary was working in the studio with us.