Tag Archives: Ettore DeGrazia

Gallery in the Sun (Part 2)

Standard

IMG_4343

I visited the DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun in Tucson in December 2015. To read about my visit to the Mission in the Sun, the grounds, and DeGrazia’s original home, go here: http://www.rubbertrampartist.com/2016/01/17/gallery-in-the-sun-part-1/.

This is the Gallery in the Sun with the Santa Catalina Mountains behind it.

This is the Gallery in the Sun with the Santa Catalina Mountains behind it.

According to the informational brochure I picked up in there, the gallery

was designed and built from the ground up by Arizona artist Ettore “Ted” DeGrazia, who achieved worldwide acclaim for his colorful paintings of native cultures of the Sonoran desert. Using traditional adobe bricks crafted on-site, DeGrazia built the gallery so his paintings “would feel good inside.”

Ted DeGrazia said,

The gallery was designed by me, I wanted to have the feeling of the southwest. I wanted to build it so that my paintings would feel good inside.

IMG_4284

This is the entrance to the Gallery in the Sun.

The gallery opened in 1965 and houses over

15,00 DeGrazia originals including oil paintings, watercolors, ceramics, and sculptures. There are six permanent collections on display and several rotating exhibitions each year.

As I visited the many rooms in the gallery, I was impressed by the huge amount of art DeGrazia produced during his life. Rooms with walls hung with art opened onto more rooms with walls hung with art. How did GeGrazia find the time to build a gallery made from adobe bricks and build a chapel and create over 15,000 works of art? I think he must have slept very little and had a wife willing do to all the cooking and cleaning. Of course, he must have also been absolutely driven to create.

Flash photography is not allowed in the gallery, but I was able to get some shots using just the light in the room.

One subject DeGrazia revisited many times during his life was the Virgin Mary, particularly Our Lady of Guadalupe. Here are four examples of images of the Virgin DeGrazia painted: IMG_4317IMG_4290

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

IMG_4320IMG_4322

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DeGrazia was friends with Native Americans and often painted scenes from the ceremonies and every day life of these people. Here are some paintings he did of the things he saw when he visited his Native American friends:

IMG_4293

IMG_4292

When I saw the next two paintings, I thought, that man was seriously on some LSD. But maybe DeGrazia had the vision that some folks hope to gain when they take hallucinogens.

IMG_4323

IMG_4324

The gallery opens into a courtyard where there are many cacti, several sculptures  and lots of cool found-object art pieces.

This mask is big enough to fit a giant, but I don't know who made it or why or how.

This mask is big enough to fit a giant, but I don’t know who made it or why or how.

I loved looking at all the different kinds of cactus in the courtyard.IMG_4283

 

 

IMG_4310

IMG_4304

IMG_4297  In the center of the courtyard is a fountain. In the middle of it is a sculpture of a Native American man wearing a deer headdress. DeGrazia created the sculpture.

IMG_4298
This self-portrait is one of my favorites from Gallery in the Sun. IMG_4327

I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent (at least a couple of hours) at the Gallery in the Sun. I recommend it to anyone who likes art, Arizona, cacti, Native Americans and/or the Southwest.

IMG_4330

This is what the door to the outside world looked like.

I took all of the photos in this post.

Gallery in the Sun (Part 1)

Standard

IMG_4338

I first heard of Ettore “Ted” DeGrazia in Phoenix in early 2015. Nolagirl took me to see murals DeGrazia had painted decades before. The building the murals were in was soon to be demolished and the paintings were not going to be preserved. The building was open for a limited time only so folks could see the murals before they were gone forever. (Read about my experience viewing the murals here: http://www.rubbertrampartist.com/2015/10/22/little-known-painting-by-ted-degrazia/.)

At the end of 2015, I spent a few days in Tucson after I got too cold in New Mexico. When I asked Nolagirl what I might want to do in Tucson, she told me there was a DeGrazia gallery in the city. The gallery is located at 6300 North Swan and is open every day (with the exceptions of New Year’s Day, Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas) from 10am to 4pm. There is no admission charge.

According to the informational brochure I picked up at the gallery,

DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun is a 10-acre historic district in the foothills of Tucson’s Santa Catalina Mountains.

IMG_4264

The Mission in the Sun against the Arizona Sky.

IMG_4281I started my visit at the adjoining Mission in the Sun.

According to the brochure,

it was built in 1952 in honor of Father Kino and dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe, patron saint of Mexico.

IMG_4266

This door is the entrance to the Mission in the Sun.

 

IMG_4277

This message is painted on the back wall in the main part of the chapel.

IMG_4273

DeGrazia’s painting of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the Mission.

IMG_4249

Unlike in most Catholic churches I’ve visited, Jesus on the Cross is not at the front of the Mission in the Sun. Here, DeGrazia’s Lady of Guadalupe is front and center. Visitors have left tokens of their loved ones on the alter.

The chapel has an open-air ceiling. DeGrazia said

The roof is open to the sky, as it should be. You can’t close up God in a stuffy room!

IMG_4275

This photo of the Mission was taken while I was standing in front of the alter. It shows the entrance door at the back of the room and the open-air ceiling. Some of DeGrazia’s murals are also visible in this photo.

IMG_4269

When one looks up through the open-air ceiling, one sees this cross made from cholla cactus rising above the Mission.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DeGrazia painted several murals in the Mission of the Sun.

IMG_4267

This mural by Ted DeGrazia is on one side of the door leading into the main part of the chapel.

IMG_4246

This mural by Ted DeGrazia is on the other side of the door leading into the main part of the chapel.

Angels

Jehovah's favorite choir?

Jehovah’s favorite choir?

IMG_4270  IMG_4278

 

The brochure says

Next to the mission are the artist’s orginal home, his grave-site, and the Little Gallery that hosts visiting artists during the winter months.

I visited the Little Gallery and met the visiting artist Silvia Hogue, who works in watercolor, pen and acrylic.

Next I visited DeGrazia’s original home. IMG_4258

IMG_4262

Horseshoe art outside the house’s front entrance.

I was immediately struck by how small the house is. The front door opens into a main room. To the right is a smaller room (a bedroom?). To the right of that room is an even smaller, darker room. Straight ahead from the main room is another large-ish room divided by a counter into a cooking area (wood stove still in place) and what was probably a dining area. When I visited the house again later in the day, I realized there is no furniture in the house! That house must have seemed really small when there was furniture in it.

 

IMG_4260

Unfortunately, I did not realize DeGrazia’s grave was on-site, so I did not visit it. Next time I’m there I’ll know to look for it.

On the grounds is a large mosaic mural DeGrazia created.

IMG_4253

From a distance, the casual observer might think this is a painting, but up close, the small tiles are visible.

IMG_4257

Many desert plants grow on the grounds. I don’t even know the name of all the plants I saw there. IMG_4341

IMG_4252

IMG_4336According to the brochure,

In October 2006, the 10-acre foothills site was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Tomorrow I will share my experiences in the actual art gallery.

To learn more about Gallery in the Sun, visit the website: http://degrazia.org/.

I took all the photos in this post.