The Art of Louis David Valenzuela

January 11 through February 28, 2003

Louis David Valenzuela is one of the best-known Yaqui artists living in Arizona. Valenzuela was featured in a one-man exhibition at Arizona State Museum. The public reception and opening featured remarks from Yaqui Language Specialist Maria Amarilla and a performance of Yaqui Youth Deer Dancers.

Valenzuela was born in Eloy and grew up in Tucson. His career in art began at the age of ten when he met a non-Yaqui painter and sculptor, Arturo Montoya. Montoya provided not only art supplies and some training for Valenzuela but also inspiration. It was in Montoya's studio that Valenzuela saw a bright shaft of white light on a painting of a Yaqui Deer Dancer - an event that convinced him he should be an artist.

Valenzuela attended the Chicago Art Institute and returned to Tucson in 1985 shortly after having learned of Montoya's death. He has worked in Tucson ever since and wants to teach children as a way of passing on the gift of encouragement he received from Montoya. He is particularly eager to assist students of the Pascua-Yaqui tribe and to make them aware of their strong cultural heritage. He currently serves as a youth mentor for the Pasqu-Yaqui tribe.

Valenzuela practices several art forms including painting and drawing, but he is best known for his willow wood and cottonwood mask carvings. Using traditional tools, he creates masks used in Yaqui Easter ceremonies. Carved Pascola masks are painted black and decorated with white, red and blue designs. Horsehair is used to fashion beards and eyebrows. His work is marked with his own personal signature a painted lizard.

The artist dedicated the exhibit to the Yaqui Tribe and to his late mentor Arturo Montoya.