José Montoya
Artist and Educator
Renacimiento y Vida
Brining a little sunshine to the barrio-allowing dark corners to come to life. That is how we resist. Behind the mural sits a dead garden, dried out by the City of El Paso. En un rinconcito de Chuco. Gracias a Doña Romelia Mendoza por sus consejos y sabiduría. Aquí están sus girasoles. Genial. #elpasoartist #elpaso #queerart #arteyresistencia #girasoles🌻 #chuco #chucotown #chucosunflowers
Educator
So many good memories of advising young adults as demonstrated by the song below. I didn’t have anything to do with the creation of the song, but it somehow ended up in my external drive. Working with college students has been one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve ever had. Passion for many things runs through my veins, but I always gravitate to art, justice and working with young adults. I am manifesting this energy back into the world. A lot of energy and creativity goes into workshop planning, and I am excited to soon start offering my artistic educator services – focusing on art and justice. Who could use José Montoya workshop?
The Art of Resistance: EP jo-tx
I’m very happy to announce that I will occasionally write for El Paso News. Recently I interviewed Joshua Lerma from the El Paso grassroots organization EP JO-TX. We talked about alternative pride events in El Paso as well as pride without policing or corporate sponsorship. Check it out!
State of the arts
I was invited to speak with Marina Monsisvais for KTEP’s State of the Arts. We talked a little about my background in social justice and some of the current projects I’ve been working on. I’m grateful to Marina for this opportunity.
Díalogo comunitario: the art of resistance
The murder of black people by law enforcement must stop. Our response to injustice must be quick and be swift within each action. I decided to move forward with plans to do a collective art movement based out of El Paso, TX. Back in March before toilet paper was scarce, I presented this idea to some friends and now I feel empowered to move forward. I sent out a call for artist and educators and was overwhelmed with the amount of interest I received.
Nobody can question that racism, anti-blackness, police brutality, homophobia, transphobia and anti-immigrant attitudes exist in El Paso. How do we move forward if we want to make a positive impact during a world-wide pandemic? Sharing our stories is a good place to start, specifically, how some of the most marginalized voices make bold moves to highlight injustice. Last night I hosted an Instagram Live session allowing El Paso artists to start creating a sense of community, specifically for those interested in social justice movements. I present to you the first set of dialogues as local fronterizx artists take on the issues that plague us the most. The goal is to have a collective, community-driven art movement in the near future. Please help us reach that goal—we will need all the support we can get!
As we move forward in our planning for this collective art movement, pl
