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The Artists

Finding Inspiration in Every Turn

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Born and raised in Guadalajara, Mexico, Xavier Martinez graduated from the Liceo de Varones in Guadalajara in 1890. Moving to San Francisco, he enrolled at the California School of Design (Mark Hopkins Institute of Art), where he studied with Arthur Matthews and graduated with honors in 1897. He then attended the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, studying with Jean-Léon Gérôme from 1897 to 1899 and with Eugene Carriere in 1900. After returning to San Francisco in 1901, Martinez became an American citizen. His landscape and genre paintings directly reflect his travels to places such as Mexico and the Arizona desert. Martinez taught at the California School (later College) of Arts and Crafts. In addition to participating in numerous group shows, he had solo exhibitions in San Francisco at the Vickery Gallery in 1905 and at the Helgesen Galleries in 1915 (monotypes), and at the California School of Arts and Crafts in Oakland in 1941. Martinez was a founding member of the California Society of Artists (1902) and the California Society of Etchers (1912).
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Based in Las Vegas, Nevada, and known for large-scale installations and sculptures that manifest his interactions with American pop culture and the Latinx experience, Justin Favela has exhibited his work both internationally and across the United States. His installations have been commissioned by museums including the Denver Art Museum in Colorado and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Arkansas. His latest major project, Puente Nuevo, is on view in Fort Worth, Texas, at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, through June 2020. He is the recipient of the 2018 Alan Turing LGTBIQ Award for International Artist. Favela hosts two culture-oriented podcasts, “Latinos Who Lunch” and “The Art People Podcast.” He holds a BFA in fine art from UNLV.

Natalia Anciso was born in Weslaco, Texas in 1985, the eldest of three children to Armando and Idalia Anciso. A fifth-generation Tejana, her family has resided along the Texas Borderlands since the Texas Revolution. Her family lineage has been traced to San Nicolás de los Garza near Monterrey, in the Mexican state of Nuevo León, as well as to Tejones y Sacatiles Indians indigenous to the areas surrounding the Zacatal Ranch between Relampago and Santa Maria, along the Rio Grande.
Tortilla art refers to fine art that uses tortillas as a canvas.[1][2][3] The tortilla(s) are baked, often coated with acrylic and painted or screenprinted.[2][4] The purpose of tortilla art is to reflect the Chicano cultural roots of the artist.[5] Tortilla art is a technique used in many countries. According to one tortilla artist,[6]
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