Hispanic Heritage Month Art Market, October 9, 2026 4:00PM

Item details

Date

October 9, 2026 4:00PM

Name

Hispanic Heritage Month Art Market

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Description

Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month through art, culture, and community at our Hispanic Heritage Month Art Market! 🎨✨ On October 9th from 4:00–7:00 PM in the Jackson Conference Center Ballroom, come explore and shop original artwork from talented Hispanic and Latino artists, while connecting with fellow art lovers and celebrating the creativity and cultural experiences that make our community so vibrant.

Enjoy refreshments, including a cash bar available and Mexican Candy Tasters for FREE, as you browse the work of featured artists. More info coming soon.

Whether you’re looking to discover a new artist, add something special to your collection, or simply enjoy an evening of art and community, we hope you’ll stop by and celebrate with us!

List of artists and statements below:

I am a photographer and visual artist. My work explores place and identity through photography, painting, and resin and wood sculpture. My photographs explore the relationship between built and natural environments, illuminating the subtle nuances of everyday moments. My paintings range from abstract geometric patterns and fluid, naturalistic forms to more grounded subject matter rooted in my cultural identity. My sculptures explore how material, proportion, and presence can alter our relationship to otherwise ordinary forms, translating small, familiar objects into life-size works that suggest something between a pendant, a stone, or another small object held in the hand.

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My name is Alyséa Gomez, and I’m a Chicana artist and tattoo artist based in Pueblo, Colorado. My work is inspired by Chicano culture, femininity, and the imagery and art styles I grew up around. I’m especially drawn to creating feminine figures, often blending Chicana and payasa-inspired imagery with bold linework, soft details, and my own modern style.

Through tattooing, drawing, and illustration, I create work that celebrates culture, identity, and femininity. As my work continues to evolve, I want to create art that feels recognizable to where I come from while still feeling distinctly like me.

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The journey of being and living as an artist came to Fernando when he was a junior at Rio Grande high school, in Albuquerque NM. His art teacher recognized his artistic potential of achieving success by introducing him to the business of gallery representation. She drove him, with two of his paintings, to the Green Parrot Gallery in Old Town. They took him on as the youngest artist to display work in the gallery.

Every piece of his art that was on display in the gallery sold, during his time attending high school, receiving a $150 check every time a painting sold. Fernando moved to Colorado the day after he graduated high school. It was then that he first visited Sangre de Cristo Art Center in 1976, and instantly he knew that he wanted to be associated with the art center in the future. He only stayed in Colorado until the end of the summer and then moved back to NM, then to Arizona, and finally to Oklahoma, where he attended college and began a serious career as a full time artist and business owner of Padilla of San Felipe. He received the status of Master Artist from the prestigious Master Artist Exhibition at the Red Earth Art Center in Oklahoma City. All the while Padilla was being awarded and recognized for his truly unique multi-mixed-media artworks. He dominated the mixed media art category with a 3-dimensional paper assemblage style and techniques in the Native American art genre.

He traveled coast to coast, from borders north to borders south; exhibiting in shows, galleries, and museums nationwide and to the countries of Germany and France.

During his art career, he was full of energy as a multi-tasker, hiring four associates to assist him in the business of Padilla of San Felipe. He certainly made his mark professionally, inspired many creatives, and mentored young artists to follow their art heart.

These days Padilla, is subdued, still alive with his own creative ideas, quiet, contemplative, and loves to regale of his amazing art career. He will tell you what he tells himself, “I’m not done”, he is a man of experience and maturity, a sly hint of playful onerous, and a delightful sense of humor.

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Polo Gonzalez is a Chicano metal fabricator from the great State of Texas, now residing in Pueblo, Colorado. His work focuses on the design and fabrication of residential projects, as well as private and public art installations. Polo’s practice combines precise geometric frameworks with organically formed steel elements, creating work that bridges structural fabrication and artistic expression. His work has been exhibited in galleries throughout Pueblo, Colorado, and he has contributed large scale structural components in both Colorado and Texas. He holds degrees in welding and metal fabrication from Austin Community College in Austin, Texas, where he developed the technical foundation that continues to inform his approach to steel fabrication and design.

As a Chicana artist from Avondale, Colorado, my journey into art has been deeply influenced by my cultural heritage and the supportive environment I grew up in. From a young age, I was inspired by my grandfather, a talented artist whose work left a lasting impression on me. With the encouragement of my family, I pursued my passion for art, and it has been an essential part of my identity ever since.

Throughout my life, I’ve been drawn to the expressive power of portraits. My work embraces bold colors, graphic line work, and modern elements that give each piece a unique and lively energy. I love pushing boundaries with my art, blending the playful with the profound to create something truly distinctive.

One of my most exciting artistic endeavors has been using skateboards as a canvas. Not only does this provide a sustainable way to recycle, but it also adds a dynamic, unconventional shape that enhances the individuality of each piece. I find joy in transforming everyday objects into something visually stimulating and full of character.

I specialize in digital art, acrylic painting, and markers, all of which enable me to experiment with texture, form, and color. Ultimately, my goal is to continue refining my own voice as an artist, blending cultural influences, vibrant aesthetics, and surrealism to create pieces that resonate with those who experience them.

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Jim “jimmy” Sanchez, a native of Pueblo, Colorado is a mostly self-educated artist who relies highly on his natural intuition and observation to produce works that portray his influences.

Growing up in a predominantly Chicano, Mexican-American neighborhood, with close relations to his maternal grandparents and Spanish paternal grandparents, Jimmy has never been short or inspiration for his art.

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Native Colorado artist Tonio LeFebre relies on his rich cultural upbringing to influence his work in a variety of mediums. LeFebre, of Piro Pueblo and Spanish descent designs and creates artistic works that reflect the teachings he received from elders in his community while growing up. Widely known for his

paintings of Native American and Chicano subjects, LeFebre also has a collector following for his silver jewelry, Pueblo belt weavings and moccasins.

In 2014, Tonio was chosen to partake in a project to resurrect the language of his Piro ancestors. Since that time the project has produced positive results in reviving an integral part of a culture believed to be long lost for good.

Tonio’s paintings have been chosen to represent various events and organizations such as the Pueblo Latino Chamber of Commerce, and the “La Cosecha” language and educational equity conference. His murals can be viewed at the Pueblo Heritage Museum, on the Arkansas river levee, as well as the West 18th Street Bridge, in Pueblo Colorado.

An extended portfolio of Tonio’s work is available at toniolefebre.com, on Facebook @Tonio LeFebre and on Instagram @lefebre_art_design, or he may be contacted at toniolefebre931@gmail.com.

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For Bryan Rivera, skateboarding has always been more than a sport. It is a form of art, movement, creativity, and community. Through Morning Star Creations, Inc., Bryan has been able to take his years of experience in skateboarding, construction, concrete, and woodworking and turn those skills into something that can be shared with others.

Much of Bryan’s work begins with his hands. From shaping concrete and building skateable features to creating spaces where young people can gather, move, and express themselves, his art is meant to be used and experienced—not just looked at. The photographs featured in this collection capture pieces of that process through Bryan’s own perspective. Taken simply with an iPhone, they document the spaces, structures, details, and moments that catch his eye. Bryan is not about being a professional photographer. They are about preserving the connection between skateboarding, art, construction, culture, and

the community that inspires his work. Through Morning Star Creations, Bryan hopes to continue creating spaces that bring people together while showing that art can live in unexpected places—even in concrete beneath the wheels of a skateboard.

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As a visual artist, Celeste AKA CelyChoo finds portraiture as a way to convey emotion, social narratives and personal stories. Portraits, for her, are not just representations of the external; they are a window into identity, struggle and hope. She is particularly drawn to experimenting with color, expression, unique features, and the juxtaposition of beauty with ugly. Her work is usually colorful with mirth on the outside, making it fun for the audience to admire.

Celeste graduated from Colorado State University of Pueblo in 2022 with a bachelor’s in fine art. Her work spans across multiple formats from intimate painting to large scale murals as well as illustrations and design. Through each medium she experiments with, she seeks to engage the viewer in dialogue about how it makes them feel, playfulness, and shared narratives.

Her work has participated in community art shows where she has had the privilege of sharing it with diverse audiences. Celeste has had several solo exhibitions as well, which have allowed her to showcase the evolution of her practice while experiencing connections with those that encounter her work.

In every piece Celeste creates, she strives to produce work that is not only visually compelling, but also full of meaning. She is passionate about using art as a tool to visualize thoughts that tend to be hard to say out loud. But a lot of the work is just for fun as well.

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I am Jazzelle Bustos, a Pueblo native and mixed media artist. I have been given the opportunity to share my love for my community through art. I studied cinema and new media in New York and returned home excited to share what I learned. My storytelling journey started inside New York's Bedford Hills women's prison, where I helped incarcerated women find their voice through art and collaboration. Since then I've painted a mural on the Slabs basketball courts, a Kachina piece on the Pueblo Levee, and a mural at Posada, hosted storytelling classes through S.O.A.R., and I continue to share my love for danza with Grupo Xochitl.

Storytelling is a beautiful way to share identity, culture, and voice. As a proud Chicana, much of my work focuses on my culture and my experience growing up between northern New Mexico and southern Colorado.

As a tribute to my grandma, I'll be making live prints with our favorite kitchen tool, a tortilla press. Every block is hand carved, and every print has a story behind it.

Happy Hispanic Heritage Month!