Tony Abeyta (Diné) created his first mural in 2000 for the Museum of Indian Arts and Culture in Santa Fe. In preparation, Abeyta studied the works of Mexican muralists of the 1930s and ’40s, as well as those by artists funded through the Works Progress Administration (WPA), a federal initiative established in 1935. Also of interest to Abeyta are the immense number of murals produced by today’s street artists.
“Artists can communicate our ideas with greater liberation and make an impact due to just the very scale of a work. Scale can change the way we as artists communicate our ideas. I love to work large with a freedom that challenges me to see my own ideas explode on a wall or canvas, and I believe there is a newfound relationship to context and to community. Through its very process, a mural must be deliberate and command attention that a smaller work doesn’t seem as likely to address. The tradition of public art, street art and even billboards requires a greater responsibility of the artist. Filling a vast space with information that is relevant or that communicates sociopolitical content can be one of the most fulfilling objectives that an artist can create for our communities in times that beckon change and commentary.”
— Tony Abeyta
Image (Left): Archival image of Tony Abeyta during the creation of A Place Where We Emerge at the Heard Museum, 2008. Source: Billie Jane Baguley Library and Archives.
Image (Header): Tony Abeyta (Diné), A Place Where We Emerge, 2008. India ink and charcoal, 19 1/2 x 15′. Heard Museum purchase.