by Whitney Pipkin
The works of internationally known, Mexican-born Seattle artist Alfredo Arreguin are on display through Oct. 9 at the Skagit Valley College Art Gallery in Mount Vernon.
After describing life as an artist in both English and Spanish to the third-grade students visiting his exhibit last week at Skagit Valley College, Alfredo Arreguin sat cross-legged among his listeners.
The internationally renowned artist wanted a picture with the kids.
Art gallery director Greg Tate said that’s exactly what makes this month’s featured artist so unique.
“What I love about Alfredo is that, (unlike) some artists of his caliber who are internationally famous, he is approachable. He’s more about getting his message out about his work and his culture than making money,” Tate said.
Skagit Valley College’s art gallery is displaying Arreguin’s art — which otherwise can be seen at museums such as the Smithsonian and Seattle Art Museum — daily from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. through Oct. 9.
Tate said the opportunity to feature such a locally groomed and internationally known artist is “a real feather in (the college’s) cap.”
Arreguin said being included permanently in both the National Museum of American Art and the National Portrait Gallery is one of his greatest honors.
“Can you imagine how an artist feels to be exhibited in a museum of that importance to the nation?” Arreguin said with childlike excitement. “In Tokyo, they’re doing calendars of my work, and I just got an e-mail from a woman in Norway. I’m becoming quite international, because my imagery goes all around.”
As his name and art continue to spread, Arreguin is most excited for his message about Mexican culture and nature to reach more people.
That message was especially relevant to the group of mostly Latino third-graders from Madison Elementary School visiting SVC’s exhibit last week.
“You just watch them and it touches their heritage,” said Michael Shapiro, a teacher of one of the classes.
Tate said he invited the children to see the art and meet Arreguin in hopes that his common background might inspire them.
Arreguin is originally from Mexico but has lived in the Seattle area for more than 50 years, making his art relevant to Washington natives on many levels.
In 1988, the state commissioned him to design the image for its centennial celebration, which he entitled “Washingtonia.”
In SVC’s gallery, a school of salmon straining against claw-like waves on a tri-paneled or “triptych” painting spans one wall and bears witness to Arreguin’s Pacific Northwest roots.
The upstream struggle depicted in “The Suquamish” was the fruit of six month’s work for Arreguin and a gift to a friend who, while enduring chemotherapy for cancer, once told him, “I wish I could be fishing.”
“All of these works here are the experience of my life,” he said, the colors of his paintings flooding the white walls behind him.
Arreguin first came to Washington in 1956 after a family traveling to Mexico invited him to visit their Greenlake home. The family’s two “beautiful” daughters — whom Arreguin had offered to entertain by taking them dancing in Mexico — suggested he consider attending the University of Washington.
He moved to Seattle at age 21 and has called it home ever since, though he often visits his 104-year-old father in Mexico.
The Mexican government honored Arreguin in 1995 with its highest award for promoting Mexican culture abroad.
The vibrant colors and images of Mexico form a definitive backdrop for Arreguin’s art, while the experiences of his life inspire the content.
Mexican icons such as Emiliano Zapata, a leader in the Mexican Revolution, and artist Frido Kahlo appear in many of his works, their faces sometimes hidden in the leaves of a tree or flock of exotic birds.
But his favorite painting, “Family Portrait,” weaves caricatures of his wife and daughter into a jungle scene and places his own face on a monkey.
“My wife was complaining that I never do my family and always do Frida Kahlo,” he said, gesturing to the four paintings on one wall bearing Kahlo’s familiar image. “I use her as a symbol of beauty. She works perfectly in my work because I can use her as a spiritual element that I can disguise.”
It’s that spiritual element of nature that Arreguin wants to share with others.
“I’m a very prolific painter, because there are so many horrific things happening (in the world),” he said. “When I enter my canvas, I enter the spiritual world where there is no struggle.”
n Whitney Pipkin can be reached at 360-416-2112 or at .
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