GREAT DAY SA
Local artist takes recyclable items and turns them into masterpieces
Local artist takes recyclable items and turns them into masterpieces | Great Day SA
"We leave the place better than how we found it, that's what I'm trying to do" Jesus Toro Martinez, artist and activist
Author: Great Day SA
Published: 1:38 PM CDT April 22, 2022
Updated: 1:38 PM CDT April 22, 2022
This is Passport to Texas
The Art of Nature: Jesus Toro Martinez
When San Antonio artist, and native Texan, Jesus “Toro” Martinez, isn’t inside his studio at Lone Star Art Space, he’s nearby, collecting materials for his work.
Painting: An evening walk along looking at the Resaca off Retama St by St. Joe. Artist: Jesus Toro Martinez
Attendees pose in front of an installation by Jesus Toro Martinez during Luminaria at Hemisfair on Saturday. Credit: Bria Woods / San Antonio Report
Thousands of visitors swarmed Hemisfair in downtown San Antonio on Saturday night for the return of the light-themed art festival Luminaria. For many, the evening was a welcome return to semi-normalcy after the popular free event was canceled last year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Figures in silhouette walk in front of the Luminaria sign at Hemisfair in 2017. Following a 2020 cancellation, Luminaria returns in November. Credit: Bonnie Arbittier / San Antonio Report
Luminaria announces artist lineup for 2021 festival at Hemisfair
by Nichola s Frank October 12, 2021
In at least one case, a San Antonio artist reached far beyond the boundaries of the city to create new work. Visual artist Jesus Toro Martinez said he changed formats from painting to digital animation for his Luminaria project, created with the help of artists and technicians from several countries who convened over a videoconferencing platform to create Flores Silvestres.
Jesus "Toro" Martinez: The Creative Process
About the Cover Artist, La Prensa Texas
Posted by Dr. Ricardo Romo | Feb 12, 2021 |
Toro Martinez always begins his new art projects with preliminary sketches, and as often as possible paints his landscapes based on careful observations of natural light and physical settings. He describes his sketches as simple “internal thinking and conversations,” as he mulls over his subject matter and considers possible choices of colors he wishes to apply. His thought processes and creative approach are much like that of a novelist who writes and rewrites scenes.
Jesus Toro Martinez
About the cover Artist, La Prensa Texas
Posted by Dr. Ricardo Romo | Oct 30, 2020
Jesus Toro Martinez, a native Texan, works at Lone Star Art Space, an incubation studio for visual artists in San Antonio,TX. He received B.F.A. from the San Antonio Art Institute and an M.F.A. from Ravenherst University in the Netherlands and has participated in solo and group art exhibits at The Blue Star Contemporary Art Museum, San Antonio, TX, The Museum of Modern Art, Tampere, Finland, Galleria Amores in Mexico City, and MexicArte Museum, Austin, TX. Limner Gallery, Hudson, New York.
Jesus Toro Martinez is showing his wildflower paintings at the Mexican Cultural Institute as part of Contemporary Art Month. Staff file photo
Here’s a guide to San Antonio’s 2020
Contemporary Art Month
San Antonio Express-News
Deborah Martin, Staff writer
Feb. 26, 2020Updated: Feb. 27, 2020 10:41 a.m.
“Flores Silvestres/ WILDflowers:” Jesus Toro Martinez, who owns the Lone Star Art Space in the Lone Star Art District, is showing his own work in this exhibit. Martinez uses natural materials — bee pollen for yellow and tar for the pistils in paintings of sunflowers — to mix his own pigments. Through March 27, Mexican Cultural Institute, 600 Hemisfair Plaza Way. Info, icm.sre.gob.mx/culturamexsa.
The Magical Landscapes of Jesus "Toro" Martinez
About the Cover Artist Posted by Dr. Ricardo Romo
Feb 5, 2021 |
Jesus “Toro” Martinez grew up in Laredo in a working-class family, the youngest of seven children. He owes much of his early interest in art to his older sister, Herlinda. When Martinez was a young boy, he would accompany Herlinda to her art classes with Amado Peña at Martin High School. Peña, who would emerge as a nationally recognized Latino artist in the late 1980s, taught art in Crystal City and Laredo schools in the early 1970s before moving to Austin and later Santa Fe in the decades that followed.
Samuel Rivas, 18, of El Salvador, works on an linocut during a workshop at the University of Texas at San Antonio. A group of young migrants receiving help from Posada Guadalupe, which assists homeless migrants, have been taking art lessons from some of the city’s best-known artists. Jerry Lara /Staff photographer
Art by young migrants to be exhibited in San Antonio
San Antonio Express-News
Deborah Martin, Staff writer
May 7, 2019
When artist Jesus Toro Martinez asked the students in a painting class he led for young migrants to create a landscape depicting home, one of them teared up. Martinez asked him why. “He said, ‘Where I come from, it is beautiful green landscapes, trees, fruits grow everywhere, but you never know who’s right next to you. You have to be afraid of your shadow — it might be somebody who wants to kill you,’” said Martinez, who runs Lone Star Art Space.
Jesus Toro Martinez
FLAUNT
Micaela Stanley
July 8, 2016
The Texas native takes a unique approach to his work, focused on raw materials and visceral expression Jesus Toro Martinez’s art is the physical manifestation of the human experience, a tangible interpretation of our visceral world. The native Texan, and man of strong Latin heritage, aims to project his soul into everything he creates. His incorporation of the universal themes of love, romance, death, and hope is designed to inspire the bridging of cultural, religious, and philosophical divides in the hopes of restoring our larger sense of community and connection.
