Methodology
I was born in Amarillo, Texas in 1978. I started becoming an artist the way most do, by replicating the work of others. Initially, this was not out of a pursuit of becoming the best artist I could be, it was because I wanted my childhood bedroom to look cool. I couldn’t afford to buy artwork at the time, so it was a necessity to sharpen my artistic skills. Years later, it was a small challenge from a friend that would lead me down the path of becoming the artist I am today. My friend innocuously mentioned a beaded skull she had seen in a shop. We talked about it for a few minutes before she threw down the gauntlet to me. “Figure it out, I bet you can’t.” She didn’t insult me. She didn’t question any personal philosophy I hold dear. She simply challenged me to replicate a beaded skull. As a man forged from the dust of Texas, and from a lineage of hardheaded men I set off to make that skull. That was three years ago. Over thirty pieces and countless hours later, I’m on a path of life I never envisioned.
I’ve learned my art through persistence and passion for the artworks that I’m creating. My primary job is as a High School Special Education teacher. I specialize in teaching students with severe needs. I adapt some of my art projects and passions within my classroom. On occasion, I have my students assist with different portions of art pieces. I have sharpened my skills once again, not out of necessity to have the bedroom that I wanted as a kid but to have the creative life that I need. The complexity of my pieces has evolved along with my knowledge of color and design.
Although my methodology and graphic design is completely different than the Huichol Indians of Mexico we do use the same medium, beads. I have spent time speaking and learning with a small group of Huichol artists near Sayulita, Mexico. I fell in love with the Huichol Center for Cultural Survival and Traditional Arts and I now donate a portion of my profits annually to support this amazing group.
The Huichol Center for Cultural Survival and Traditional Arts, known in Mexico as the “Centro Indígena Huichol”, was founded by UCLA anthropologist Susana Valadez, whose marriage to Huichol yarn artist Mariano Valadez in 1977 launched her on the path to the realization of her life’s work. This non-profit altruistic organization, located in the remote town of Huejuquilla el Alto, Jalisco Mexico was established to support the endangered Wixárika (Huichol) tribe, as members of this ancient culture have been forced to transition into contemporary society and adapt to the realities and challenges of the modern world. During the last four decades, Susana Valadez, a Nobel Peace Prize nominee, has aided and collaborated with the Wixárika people to spearhead numerous strategies to collectively bolster their odds for cultural survival.
Susana and Mariano’s children, Angelica, Rosy, and Cilau continue to carry the torch, moving the momentum of these efforts forward, as the Huichol people still struggle against the destructive forces of extreme poverty, the dissolution of their traditional ways of life, the loss of their native language and the obliteration of their ancestral sacred sites. Over the decades the Huichol Center has worked hand-in-hand with countless numbers of people from an array of isolated Huichol communities to enhance their ability to prevail over the many obstacles that threaten the continuation of their enduring culture. The Huichol Center provides humanitarian aid while at the same time implementing several long-term, successful strategies to raise the quality of their lives. These inter-related holistic approaches support projects that include extensive ethnographic documentation, Huichol language education, programs that foster economic self-sufficiency through the production of native arts, incentives for the conservation of ancient shamanic traditions, and the elimination of hunger by teaching eco-technologies to ensure food and water security.